# Medications for Your IUI Cycle

Medications for Your IUI Cycle

Your care team selects a medication protocol based on what fits your body and treatment history best. There are a few common approaches.

Oral medications — clomiphene citrate, known as Clomid, and letrozole, known as Femara — prompt the body to produce more of the hormones that stimulate growth of the follicles, the units that carry the eggs, in the ovaries. A typical course involves one to three tablets daily for five days, usually starting early in the cycle. Some protocols add, or exclusively use, injectable FSH or HMG, given as a subcutaneous injection — a very small needle placed just under the skin — with varying frequencies and doses whereas for some patients, no medication is needed at all, relying on their natural cycle instead.

For natural cycle IUI, you may be instructed to monitor your ovulation at home; whereas, in medicated treatment cycles, your care team may monitor progress with ultrasound and bloodwork. These tests can track follicle development, assess the uterine lining, and predict when ovulation will occur. Occasionally there may be too many follicles developing, in which case, your care team may advise you not to proceed with IUI to reduce the multiple pregnancy risk. This is called a 'cancelled cycle.'

Once the follicles are considered to be ready, an hCG injection may be given to trigger ovulation at a precise time although timing for intercourse and/or intrauterine insemination does not need to be exact since eggs remain viable for about 24 hours and sperm can live in the reproductive tract for up five days.

The goal of any protocol is the same — ovulation of one or more viable eggs at a known, predictable time. Your care team will walk through which approach makes the most sense before treatment begins.
