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Infertility

IVF Clinics in Europe

71 replies

LondonSuperTrooper · 02/05/2014 12:09

I am looking to have IVF abroad as it seems to be much cheaper than the UK. I have a DS who is soon to be 7 but we've been unable to conceive #2 (I'm 40 years old). In the past 5 years I have had three pregnancies which all ended in miscarriages between 6-8 weeks.

I feel that I have been dealt a double whammy as it takes me 12+ to conceive only to have a miscarriage. I have now been diagnosed with secondary infertility & IVF has been recommended. We have limited funds so can only afford one IVF cycle using my eggs and if this is unsuccessful then I will have donor eggs cycle.

Has anyone had IVF overseas? I am thinking of Czech Republic, but have also heard clinics in Spain & Greece being mentioned. From my limited research, Spain & Greece are somewhat more expensive than IVF in Czech.

If you have any information to share than please post. I am completely clueless! I'm not even sure whether I have to make 1 or 2 trips to the clinics. And once you factor in the travel costs, will it be that much cheaper than having the treatment in the UK? I have been told that an average cycle in the UK costs 6.5-7k. For the price quoted in the UK, it seems I can just about fit 2 IVF cycles overseas... or am I completely wrong?

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suzylee73 · 02/05/2014 12:26

Hi, you are completely right!
I am 41 and my one and only NHS funded round failed so now I'm self funding. It is so expensive so I looked abroad, it's so much cheaper and the treatments offered are amazing. I have my consultation at the end of the month which cost 200 euros, that includes all the tests required for both partners!

I ruled out the Czech Republic because of flights but thats all.

I ruled Spain out because of cost but their customer service is excellent.

Cyprus is also good but flights are more expensive. They can offer you a cycle where they use your eggs but have a donor lined up just in case.

I'm going to Poland, you should check out the website //www.invitro24.co.uk/
I haven't been yet so can't really recommend them as such but they have the best website I have found. All the prices are there and it will tell you what visits you need. At Invicta they do all kinds of treatments that may be applicable to you with your repeated miscarriages too.
Let me know how you get on :)

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LondonSuperTrooper · 02/05/2014 12:31

Thanks for your reply & link to teh Polish website.

What do you mean that you ruled out the Czech clinics due to flights? I thought flights there were relatively cheap?

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LondonSuperTrooper · 02/05/2014 12:32

And please let me kow how you get on.

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suzylee73 · 02/05/2014 15:06

I would be flying from Manchester and I think it might have been the flight frequency. My short list was Poland and Prague, it was really hard to choose tbh

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Jelliebabe2 · 02/05/2014 19:35

Hiya, I just had ivf in Prague with Gennet. They have a sister clinic on London (City Fertility) which is convenient for us so we had all tests there and scans. As well as being cheaper, they have better results than uk clinics too. Out of five ladies I talk to on another forum we all got pregnant and all fairly difficult non standard cases. I would thoroughly recommend and wouldn't even think about using a uk clinic now. If you go on the fertility friends forum, there is a whole section dedicated to overseas clinics

Good luck

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18yearsoftrying · 03/05/2014 08:35

Thoroughly recommend IVI Alicante.

Worked for me 1st time....& my username says it all

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Ficidy · 03/05/2014 09:16

I also had IVF with Gennet in Prague. We went in 2012 and now have a 9 month old baby boy. I would highly recommend Prague. We're returning in August for another cycle.

When cycling abroad, you will need to have bloods/scans/various other tests done. So, you're talking about a few hundred here. The cost of IVF in Gennet is €1900 and then there's the extra cost of a few hundred euro if you have embryos to freeze (we didn't, unfortunately). The other things you'll need to pay for are the flights and accommodation and you'll need some spending money (but not a huge amount - Prague is cheap).

Feel free to ask me any other questions or pm me, if you wish.

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LondonSuperTrooper · 03/05/2014 12:09

Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate it. I will looking into your recommendations and work out costings etc.

Ficidy I may take you up on the offer on pm'ing you.

Ficidy & Jelliebabe Just out of interest what approximate costs should I allow for flights & hotel? I'm trying to sell having the treatments overseas to my DH.

Thanks again Thanks

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Ficidy · 03/05/2014 22:25

Hi LST,

I'm in Ireland, so the cost of flights is different for me.

Re the accommodation, we've done both hotel and apartment. The hotels work out relatively cheaper, but it's nice to have the extra space of an apartment when cycling. For an apartment, for a week, you could be talking from €500-€1000, depending on the time of year. April and May are high season in Prague, so the summer is actually a bit cheaper.

I have a close friend living in the UK and she did a successful cycle with Gennet too and said that she made huge savings. I know that she also bought her meds while in Prague (she did a preliminary visit for a consultation, a month before stimming), as they worked out cheaper for her. Here in Ireland, we just pay €144 a month for our drugs and anything after that is free, so I was able to buy my meds here and they weren't that expensive.

I also know that my friend in the UK flew with one of the budget airlines and she said that the flights were very cheap. Maybe Jelliebabe knows more about this.

I have also heard that Serum in Athens is very good, but I know flights there would be more expensive (and treatment is slightly more expensive too).

Let us know what you decide to do. As I said, pm me if you want. No problem at all.

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Barcelona123 · 04/05/2014 02:13

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

ladybunnikins · 04/05/2014 08:31

I only have 2 ampoules, 75 units each. You can have them for free but I'm in Leicestershire.

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LondonSuperTrooper · 04/05/2014 08:44

Thanks Ficidy. How many times did you have to visit the clinic before you were able to have the treatment? I've read of ladies have medications, scans checking for follicles and maybe upping their doseage of medications etc before egg collection. The clinic said I need to take around 7 days off work but I'm not sure how this fits in with what I've just mentioned above.

Barcelona I hope you can get your medications- what a blooming nightmare! Best of luck.

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Jelliebabe2 · 04/05/2014 10:46

We spent £600 on flights and hotel with lady minute hotel was lovely.

£1609 for the ivf included all the scans we needed at the London clinic and consultation. Drugs were extra of course but this varies greatly depending on what you need. I was on Max doses so paid £1300 in asda. You will need up to date blood tests first the London clinic can do them for both of you for £460 but if your gp is amenable you could save some pennies by getting them done there!

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Jelliebabe2 · 04/05/2014 10:46

Or last minute even!

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Jelliebabe2 · 04/05/2014 11:35

Barcelona look at the thread titled what a waste about 6 down from here!

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LondonSuperTrooper · 04/05/2014 11:40

Jelliebabe thank you so much for your information. This is exactly what I was looking for.

I'm now leaning to have the procedure at Gennet due to their having a clinic in London. Some of the other clinics have replied to my email saying that I may need to make 2-3 trips overseas.... Which de
feats the object of saving money!

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Ficidy · 04/05/2014 11:45

LST, I didn't visit the clinic before treatment at all. I just did my consultation over the phone. That's what most people do. My friend just wanted to get a feel for the place, so she just went over for one night. You pay €100 for the consultation, but this is redeemable against the cost of treatment. The only thing is, depending on the drugs you need, it could work out cheaper for you to take a flight over for your consultation and buy the drugs there. It seems, from what Jelliebabe said, that the drugs are expensive in the UK, so maybe look at that as an option, depending on what drugs they prescribe for you. I know my friend didn't pay too much for hers.

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bewleysisters · 04/05/2014 19:15

London - good luck with this, really hope your own cycle succeeds. Just to flag though that if you think you might consider moving onto donor eggs down the track if you need to, then worth finding a clinic you'd be happy to have this procedure at too. (You'll have built up trust, they'll have your test results and will know your history etc so much easier (and cheaper) to stay put). I know only very abstract at this stage, but different countries bring different issues with known and anonymous donors, share different amounts of information about donors etc. Just as insurance. Very best wishes.

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LondonSuperTrooper · 05/05/2014 14:04

Ficidy thank you so much for all of your info. I was hoping to have the consultation over the phone. Reprofit sent me an email asking me of when I can visit them for the consultation. From my research so far, the favoured clinics in Czech seem to be Reprofit & Gennet. The advantage of Gennet is their link with the London clinic. I've had a lot of tests on the NHS so I'm hopeful that I don't need to fiend pay too much for the remaining blood tests.

I'm starting clomid in July/August. If this is not successful then I'll be having the IVF.

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LondonSuperTrooper · 05/05/2014 14:07

Bewley thanks for your post. I'm open to donor eggs. I'd like to have one IVF cycle with my own eggs as I have no idea how good or how bad my eggs are.

The clinics that I'm interested do have the donor egg programmes so hopefully I can have it at the same clinic.

Thank you very much for your good wishes.

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wouldbemedic · 05/05/2014 21:14

We used Reprofit in Brno, Czech. Cheap, professional and worked first time. Very cheap to fly there, too.

I wouldn't assume the service will be any better in Spain etc.

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LondonSuperTrooper · 06/05/2014 10:10

Wouldbemedic thanks for our reply. Please can you tell me how many trips you had to take to Reprofit? How did you manage the scans? Did you have to find a UK clinic to monitor prior to the embryo transfer? And finally, where did you buy your medication from?

Thank you if you made it this far :)

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LondonSuperTrooper · 06/05/2014 10:12

Ficidy I can't click on your name to send you a PM. Please can you PM and I'll reply back?

Thanks ever so much.

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LondonSuperTrooper · 06/05/2014 10:13

Rightio, I've just figured it out! I'll PM you now.

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eurochick · 06/05/2014 10:16

I'm not trying to discourage you from going overseas by any means (I know many posters have had great success with this) but IVF here doesn't have to cost 6.5-7k. We used Create and our cycles were much less than this (3.5-4k from memory). We were quoted a similar amount by King's for a self-funded cycle. Some clinics are a lot more expensive, but not all are in the price range that you mention.

Good luck with your cycle.

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