IVF

[swimming]

Has anyone has IVF on the NHS due to male infertility? Where do you even start with finding sperm? Did you go abroad or use a UK bank?

Hiya,

My husband is infertile due to cancer years ago. We had IUI with donor sperm and it worked first time.

We used a clinic with its own sperm bank but you will find most clinics will accept donors from most places but check before you order anything!

Edit: we went private. NHS waiting list too long. From first appointment to being pregnant was 6 weeks!

 

[Katydoo]

Hi there, unfortunately I’m newly 40 and just been informed im post-menopause. Is there a thread that anyone has seen on here about egg donation?

 

[Anotherdayanotherwalk]

Does anyone know how much it costs (I know it’s different in all areas but a ball park figure?)

We spent about £18k on one cycle about 9 years but we knew before we started that the particular clinic was expensive. Back then we could have done cycles elsewhere for around £8k.

 

[thankyoudelia]

Hi there, unfortunately I’m newly 40 and just been informed im post-menopause. Is there a thread that anyone has seen on here about egg donation?

Hi Katydoo. I’ve just stumbled across this thread. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to deal with but my partner and I have got a bit of previous on this. All in the distant past but the London Women’s Clinic were fantastic. They have great resources online about egg donation too. How are you? Have you got good people/counsellor to lean on?

 

[thankyoudelia]

Thank you so much for asking It’s a difficult time but it’s all very new, I’m not sure where I’ll summon the energy and emotional headspace for it. My partner is fantastic, my family not so much. I’m concerned I’m taking away the chance of a family for him if this last resort doesn’t work. If it does work, what if I don’t bond? A lot to think about. Im in the northwest. Due to covid there’s a lot of delays for appointments.

Don’t put the cart before horse. If you have a child (it children) through egg donation, you’ll bond. Get your name down with some clinics and remember that the thing is with egg donation, you can wait. You must not take this on all by yourself however. Please look into some counselling. Zita West were amazing for us. Please take some big breaths and try to take things day by day as looking after yourself is the most important thing through all this. Not least because when you ARE pregnant and DO become a mum you will not have time to breathe.

 

[Josie479]

I’m in America and my costs were $8,000. That was for two rounds of egg harvesting and storage for ten years. My employer at the time covered half of the cost so it was $4,000 out of my pocket.

Anyone looking to go abroad, I highly recommend Genesis in Greece. Friends have used their services with great success. One stopped ovulating and went for ovarian rejuvenation, was able to get pregnant naturally six months later. Two others did their IVF there which resulted in successful pregnancies.
Most of all they liked how kindly they were treated.

 

[Giggling Squid]

Has anyone has IVF on the NHS due to male infertility? Where do you even start with finding sperm? Did you go abroad or use a UK bank?

 

[PoppyKJ]

Hi,
I've had 3 cycles - luckily I didn't have to pay but would in the future. Access fertility do packages with refunds if not successful and multi cycles for the same price. It works out cheaper to do it that way than directly through my clinic so maybe look into that?

 

[judsmum]

I have had 6 cycles of privately funded IVF. Where abouts in the process are you?

 

[Giggling Squid]

I have no advice but am in a similar situation, so really interested to hear experiences

 

[Laurenia]

I have PCOS and had an ultrasound a few weeks back where I was told my eggs aren’t even maturing. I have also been put on two drugs to kickstart ovulation and neither worked sadly, in your experience ladies what is the next step? I feel the GP doesn’t tell you much information. What will the fertility clinic do? Will I have the option to pay for IVF? Does anyone know how much it costs (I know it’s different in all areas but a ball park figure?)
Feeling stressed and down about it all!

I’ve only recently had my first appointment at the fertility clinic so I may not be the best person to answer as I have just been referred for more tests so awaiting those before anything else happens.

Sorry to hear you’re feeling stressed and down though, TTC is so hard. Maybe try researching fertility clinics local to you as they would be best places to provide some figures depending on the treatment required.

 

[Pacho]

Just finished the medication part, about to trigger tonight for egg retrieval Monday. Like the other posts, feel free to ask any questions. If I can help I will

 

[judsmum]

Ah the very beginning trying to figure out which clinic I want

Ring each clinic that are near you and see if they have open days/evenings. Care Fertility have open evenings and are really informative and you get the opportunity to meet the people that will be looking after you. Take into account the different options you have through each clinic financially speaking. Look at HFEA website and see the live birth rates for each clinic.
Mentally, stay away from the pineapple juice brigade. You’ll come to understand what I mean by that as time goes on!

 

[Neonmoon]

I have had 6 cycles of privately funded IVF. Where abouts in the process are you?

Ah the very beginning trying to figure out which clinic I want

 

[Anotherdayanotherwalk]

Hi, I had one round of private IVF about 6 years ago resulting in twins . We weren't entitled to it on the NHS as my partner already had a child from a previous relationship. We had treatment at the ARGC and spent about £20k all in to get to about 20 weeks and after that I stopped going in for things like intralipids as it was getting unnecessary in my view. The treatment was very tailored - you have daily blood tests and scans first thing and then you are called during the day with your meds instructions which are constantly tweaked.

 

[Summernights]

Hi all, I have secondary infertility (no longer ovulating or releasing eggs) and I am in the process of being referred to the fertility clinic by my doctor. Myself and my partner have done lots of tests and scans but I’ve read a lot online about how you aren’t entitled to it on the NHS if you’ve already had a child, is this true ? We had a child 4 years ago and have been trying for a second for over a year…

 

[Medusah80]

Has anyone has IVF on the NHS due to male infertility? Where do you even start with finding sperm? Did you go abroad or use a UK bank?

My IVF (between 2010-2016) was because I am in a same sex relationship with fertility issues . The NHS provided a sperm donor,a bit like online shopping.
We sat down with a donor nurse and told her what we were looking for,she went through her book and found us a few donors (donors were from outside the U.K. )
We were shown silhouettes of the donors, read their profiles and listened to their voices then we narrowed it down to the 2 we liked .
After that we settled on one and were shown his baby photo and told which celeb he looked like .

Good luck on your journey

 

[Emmas83]

I had 2 full cycles of ivf and 4 transfers of embryos, 4th time was successful. Ours was nhs funded but I did end up changing clinics as our 1st one was honestly like a cattle market it was so busy I’d be hours away from work for what should of been a 15 minute scan, I didn’t want to tell them I was doing ivf so came up with all sorts of excuses So I’d say def research thr clinic and even better if you can visit. The hefa has all the stats for the clinics online so def check out their success rates on the there

 

[Zoombeeni2245]

I’d recommend going abroad for ivf if you are looking to pay privately. It’s much better value with in some cases higher expertises.

 

[Katydoo]

Hi Katydoo. I’ve just stumbled across this thread. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to deal with but my partner and I have got a bit of previous on this. All in the distant past but the London Women’s Clinic were fantastic. They have great resources online about egg donation too. How are you? Have you got good people/counsellor to lean on?

Thank you so much for asking It’s a difficult time but it’s all very new, I’m not sure where I’ll summon the energy and emotional headspace for it. My partner is fantastic, my family not so much. I’m concerned I’m taking away the chance of a family for him if this last resort doesn’t work. If it does work, what if I don’t bond? A lot to think about. Im in the northwest. Due to covid there’s a lot of delays for appointments.