Artificial Insemination ( AIH) at home as an alternative to IUI in the clinic

For many infertile couples , a very effective and simple treatment option is called IUI – also know as IntraUterine Insemination or AIH - Artificial Insemination by Husband . This is especially useful in couples with unexplained infertility ( where we cannot find a medical reason for why they are not getting pregnant in their bedroom); and for those with sexual dysfunction,  where they cannot consummate the marriage because of vaginismus, erectile dysfunction ( ED or impotence) ; or premature ejaculation.

In all these patients, artificial insemination allows us to bypass the natural sexual process , because we can deposit the sperms in the woman directly .

In an IUI cycle, the sperms are processed in the laboratory , where they are cleaned and concentrated; and the doctor inserts these inside the uterine cavity before , or just after ovulation – at the time of your peak fertility. This is much less expensive than IVF treatment, and conceptually it allows us to increase the chances of the egg and sperm meeting.

For patients, doing an artificial insemination is costly, and can be emotionally extremely stressful. Doctors charge money, and it’s no fun to take time off work, and then go to the doctor’s clinic, and wait endlessly for your appointment . Lying down in the scan room, with your legs up in the air , while someone puts a probe into your vagina is hardly fun . Doctors often treat scans as “routine” , and some can be quite rough, which makes the scans painful as well. Having to make make repeated visits during a treatment cycle adds to your stress , and your costs.

What’s worse is you are completely clueless about what’s happening and why. Doctors aren’t communicative, and you don’t know if your cycle is progressing well or not , because they don’t share information. Also, each part of the IUI treatment is done by a different doctor, some of whom are in different locations, which means you need to run around from one doctor to another. The doctor who does the scans – a sonographer , is often not your gynecologist, and finally when the follicle ruptures ( you ovulate), your husband needs to provide the semen sample in the laboratory which processes the sperm sample, and then delivers it the clinician for the actual insemination.

There is often complete lack of coordination between the scan centre , the clinic , and the lab , and patients often have to run around between them. This can be very frustrating , and getting your husband to take time off work to provide a semen sample on demand is also very challenging.

The good news is a much simpler and much less expensive option is to actually do the artificial insemination at home yourself,

A simple way of doing this is using the self insemination kit which we provide.

This allows you to do the insemination in the privacy of your own bedroom . Since you are monitoring your own ovulation cycle , you don’t need to waste time and money going to the clinic , which means doing a self insemination becomes inexpensive , and very cost effective .

Finally, do have realistic expectations regarding success rates please ! Human reproduction is not very efficient, and even fertile couples take time to make a baby in the bedroom, so you do need to be patient. The chances of success if everything is normal, and you do the procedure properly, is about 40% in 4 cycles.