Anyone had or having ivf in Czech Republic?

[lucieloos]

We are on cycle 13 of ttc#1 and starting to looking into options for ivf. I have low AMH and dh has low motility. Nhs is not really an option at the moment as the waiting list is 14 months here. We've looked into going privately in the UK and would be looking at paying around £7k for 2 rounds of ivf withi icsi including meds which we can't really afford.
I started researching clinics abroad yesterday and the Czech Republic has had a lot of good reviews. They have lots of clinics in Prague and some others just outside. I have been looking at one in particular called Reprofit which has better success rates than the UK and would come to around £2500 for one round including all meds, flights and accommodation.

They give you a prescription for meds which you start taking at home and also have a couple of scans here and then you go out to Czech for about 10 days for egg collection and transfer.

Just wondering if anyone has done this or thinking about it?

[bessie84]

wow - i didnt realise the price difference. i definaltey going to look into czech ivf now (currently having iui, if that fails, it'll be ivf) and the cost is shocking, like you say. ooohh glad i read this, thank you.

good luck with your ivf, will keep eye out for your news x

[purplemeggie]

Hi there. We're just kicking off a donor egg cycle with Arleta, which is just outside Prague. We did 2 fresh cycles and a frozen cycle with our own eggs last year. I'm 42 on Monday and my eggs really aren't up to the job, hence the decision to go for DE.

We had our initial consultation at Arleta last week and have decided to go ahead. We felt very well looked after throughout and felt confident in the clinic.

Having done IVF in this country - and been perfectly happy with the care we got - one thing that has surprised me is that it was so much higher tech over there. For example, they do all their transfers using ultrasound (I know some clinics here do, but ours didn't) - and my initial examination included a very detailed mapping of my uterus to work out the shape, the depth (to determine the depth of the transfer) and where the healthiest tissue was, so that when they transfer, they will deliver the embryos to the place where they expect them to have the best possible chance of implantation. And the cost is significantly lower than the UK.

Good luck with your decision, and with your IVF journey x

[lucieloos]

Thanks everyone, we have decided to go ahead with Reprofit in March. We just can't justify paying twice as much in the UK and we are going to treat it as a little holiday as well which I am looking forward to!

I have been in touch with the clinic and they want a few more tests results from me so I'm booked into the doctors to get some blood tests done. I'm quite excited now but don't want to get my hopes up too much as I know it could take a few tries.

[purplemeggie]

Good luck, lucie - I don't know anyone else having treatment in CZ, so it would be great to stay in touch. When you say March, do you mean starting down-reg then, or aiming for transfer? I think our transfer is likely to be mid-March, if all goes to plan with our donor.

[lucieloos]

Hi purple yes would be great to keep in touch. I don't really understand the whole process yet but I think maybe I won't be doing down regging? They have told me that I will start the stimms on the second day of af and then I will go out around cd10 for collection between 12-14. Does this sound right?

[lucieloos]

We will hopefully begin the stimms mid March.

[Fisharefriendsnotfood]

My dsis is due her second baby on Wednesday as a result of ivf in Prague. She cannot speak highly enough of her clinic. She would be more than happy to talk to you if you want to be put in touch please PM me. And best of luck

[purplemeggie]

Lucie - yes, that sounds like short protocol....that's what I did for my most recent round of IVF (in the UK). I was very worried about side effects - I'm a bit of a hippy and don't like taking medication unless I have to - but it was fine. Do you have your drugs already, or do you have a first visit/consultation to go yet? I was given mine when we went to Prague a couple of weeks ago, and I spent some time with Dr Google as the drugs have different names from the UK ones and I like to know what the active ingredients are!

[lucieloos]

I don't have the drugs yet. I need to see my gp which I am doing next week for some blood tests. Basically we went private last August for infertility tests and I had AMH blood test and pelvic ultrasound. They said the amh test is the best guide to fertility and if I were to have ivf with them they would base my protocol on the results of that but the clinic in CZ want me to get all the other blood test too which I think is good in a way.

My only problem is that dh and I don't have any annual leave to take off work in March (well we could maybe have the last 2 days off but that would be it) I really want to start treatment in March but sometimes AF can show up a day or two early so I'm really not going to know until at least the end of feb if we are going to be able to go ahead or have to postpone until April. Keeping my fingers crossed that AF will be late!!

I quite excited about it all now and just want to get started.

[purplemeggie]

Does work know that you're doing IVF? They may have a policy of allowing extra leave, if you feel able to share that with them. I'm lucky in that I have a very supportive line manager, so I told her at the outset, and I'm glad I did. My employer allows an extra 5 days leave to people doing IVF for their first cycle. I think it was unpaid, but it's a help, nonetheless.
I think that's right about the tests - you might as well have as many as possible up front to give it the best chance of working out.

[lucieloos]

I don't think they offer any extra leave here and I don't really want to tell anyone in work that we are going through ivf. I haven't told many people at all. Only told my mum recently as it was all getting a bit much. Have told two close friends as well but that's it.

What stage are you at now purple? When will you go out to CZ?

[purplemeggie]

I can understand that. We have only told people that we can absolutely trust not to ask how its going and want updates! There are a few other people who know in a general way that we're doing IVF, but don't know any details. And my sister knows all about it, because we have a 7yo ds, and she looks after him when we have treatment.

We had our first trip to CZ a couple of weeks ago, where we discussed our history (I gave them a full set of notes from our cycles last year), had a few extra tests and a very detailed physical examination. We emailed them with our first three choices of donor (they have a database with just the basis details of the donor: age, height, weight, blood group, hair and eye colour) and our first choice said yes, so now I'm on the pill until our donor gets AF, then I stop in the hope that I get AF at the same time and then it's like a frozen cycle. Because we have to synchronise cycles the clinic has to work out timings as we go to a certain extent, but we're expecting it to be about mid-March.

We've been ttc for 5 1/2 years, I had two chemical pregnancies and a miscarriage at 8-10 weeks in 2011, surgery to unblock my tubes (caused by c-section when ds was born) and a year of IVF, so it's been a long old road, and we're excited to be trying with donor eggs! I'm 42 and we've decided that if I'm not pregnant by the middle of this year, we'll draw a line under it, so this is our last big effort.

How are you feeling about the IVF? I was very nervous about our first attempt....it was something I went into quite reluctantly, but actually it was fine.

[lucieloos]

Aw that's brilliant! Not too much longer to wait for you. I really hope that it's a success. The clinics in CZ seem to have pretty good success rates with donor eggs.

I'm actually feeling quite excited about our first ivf. It's taken me quite a while to get over the fact it's probably not going to happen naturally though. I always wanted to surprise dh and my family and just have that magical bfp moment like most people get.I've kind of got my head around it now though and just want to get on with it as soon as possible. Once I'm pregnant it obviously won't matter how it got there.

In the back of my mind I'm nervous it won't work as well though. I know we would be super lucky for it to work first time and I'm trying to look at it as something that may take us a few tries but it will be hard. Mainly I'm just excited to have some hope though and a much better chance than we have of conceiving naturally.

I only thought to look into getting it done abroad recently and I'm so glad that I did as the cost in the UK was worrying me too as we were looking at getting a 2 cycle package for £7k which we couldn't really afford but with it being so much cheaper in CZ it is definitely one less thing to worry about. I can't wait for a little holiday too

How are you feeling about yours?

[purplemeggie]

That's good - I was very anxious about my first cycle and I'm sure it didn't help. Do you have an explanation for why things haven't worked out naturally? Do you mind me asking how old you are? It may not take several tries at all - you've got to go into it believing it's going to work!

Yes, the clinics are good value in CZ and their success rates are impressive. I'm happy that we're giving this our best shot for a final attempt, and it's costing much less than it would in the UK.

[lucieloos]

I am 35, turning 36 later this year. I have a low AMH of 7.2 and DH has low motility. That's all we know really. I think it would have been hard enough with the low amh but with the low motility as well it's made it even harder .I've had an ultrasound and everything looked ok on that, they said lining looked really good, no cysts or anything so just hoping that this will finally be our chance!

[purplemeggie]

Well that's encouraging. Fingers crossed it works out for you x

[DevonshireDumpling75]

Hi lucieloos - I realise I’m a couple of weeks late to the chat and things may have moved on for you…

We've just been told we need IVF (husband has low count and low morphality and I'm 40 in April). As he's a light smoker we've been told we can't have funding on the NHS :-(

So I've been researching like mad and, like you looked at the Czech Republic and have pinpointed Reprofit as the clinic I'm most interested in. We need a couple more months to get our heads around it all, I think but with the cost of IVF in the UK that's the way we're leaning.

It would be really good to keep in touch and let me know how you get on at Reprofit - are you able to go next month? It's all so scary when it's new but it really helps to know that there are others out there doing the same thing! Good luck xx

[lucieloos]

Hi Devon! I'm still here. We are making progress with our ivf. I've had my blood tests done and completed the initial form that the clinic want with all my details. I've been allocated a doctor that I can talk to via
Email and ask questions. Today she has told me what me protocol im going to be on and sent me a prescription for my medication so I'm going to research the cheapest place to get that next. I'm going to be starting the stimms early april and then going out to Czech 10 days later.

I have to say I have found the clinic brilliant so far and really helpful. I'm still kind of getting my head around it all but am a little excited now as well.

If you want to know anything specific then let me know and I will try to help

[DevonshireDumpling75]

Thanks Lucie! Wow, April good luck!

Do you follow the cyclebuddies thread on Fertility Friends? There's a lot of good support on there :-) I've heard that ASDA are good for prescriptions, you can also get them sent over from the clinic. Toffeepop on FF has done that and it was pretty cheap but she had to pay for the postage.

I probably will have more questions but we're still early days, it's only been a few weeks since the fertility clinic here went through our results and told us the news and we're still coming to terms with it, we always thought it would just happen naturally but I realise time is of the essence so this is our next journey.

Keep in touch and wishing you all the best :-)

[lucieloos]

Yes I am on the fertility friends thread it is a really good support group. I have started pricing up the medication and so far the Reprofit pharmacy has come out quite a bit cheaper. I haven't rung asda yet though.

I know how you feel coming to terms with things. DH and I have felt exactly the same. There have been lots of tears. I thought it might take a while but really thought it would happen naturally too. I'm just trying to think of the ivf as a way of boosting our chances for one month. If it doesn't work we will still try naturally whilst waiting for another go. I have accepted it a little more now that I have got the ball rolling. We have been given a 40% success rate which is not terrible odds.

Anyway good luck to you and definitely keep in touch x

[DevonshireDumpling75]

40% that's amazing! We've been told 15% so it still feels very low but it's a better chance than they've given us naturally. I think it's all about acceptance, my OH is having a hard time getting his head around it all at the moment. We'll get there.

It's just so great to hear everyone else's stories and to know we're not on our own xx

[lucieloos]

Do you mind me asking what your age is and your amh and motility results? Have you had any other blood tests done like fsh, lh etc? Is the low amh and motility your only problems?

[DevonshireDumpling75]

I'm 39 and I can't really remember the test results for OH exept the overall result was 14% - that was a calculation based on motility/morphality combined. I need to get the results from the clinic as I don't remember mine either, apart from them saying they were all OK. I'm having an ultrasound today just to check there are no blockages. Sorry! So new to all the terminology, once I get the results from the clinic I'll have more of a clue. They basically advised IVF because of my age and OH's mild sperm disfunction (that's how they put it) so those are the only problems...