Tubal Reversals & Vasectomy Reversals

I recently got hooked on Yahoo! Answers (I have some great tips for anyone else who's into it). I hang around to answer questions about trying to conceive and about a variety of other things (my most recent answer was to a ridiculous question that asked whether you'd prefer to drown in mayonnaise or be stoned to death by pickles - yes, I'm serious) and I've come across quite
a few questions dealing with tubal reversal.

This morning I had another letter in my inbox - "I was married with 2 children (and) decided that I didn't want anymore children so I got sterilized (had a tubal ligation). 6 months later the marriage broke up. A year later I met my future husband who I would love to have more kids with, so my option is IVF.

We looked into a sterilization (tubal ligation) reversal but it has a high cost and lower success rate compared to IVF. We are now just beginning an eggshare IVF where I'm donating half my eggs to another lady. I am excited, frightened and nervous but I know this is the road I need to go down to get my end result."

I spent some time researching tubal reversals - different clinics claim different success rates, but overall - they're not highly successful. It seems that there are too many women who have had tubal ligations that they regret... and too many men who have had vasectomies that they regret. I find it ironic that people who felt they were "overly blessed" are now facing exactly the same issues as those who are going through (secondary) infertility.

After the original posting of this entry, I received the following question:

Q- I have had a tubal ligation, is IUI an option for me?

Unfortunately, the best I could offer was the following:

A - If you've had a tubal ligation, IUI will unfortunately not help you. With IUI, the fertilization still occurs in the fallopian tube, which, in your case wouldn't work.

IVF (in vitro fertilization), on the other hand, is an option. See more about IVF.