ICSI- How much could you spend in a year?

[IVFNewbie]

Hi All

We are about to embark on ICSI and need to plan expenditure. I can't seem to find this info readily online so am looking to canvass folks on here. We need to go private as we don't match the criteria set by our local NHS and are likely to need a number of rounds. My question is, how many 'rounds' of ICSI could one do in a year? If it's, say, 4 rounds at £8k each, then we would need to budget at £32k (assuming we aren't successful the first 3 times, of course).

What does anyone think?
Thanks!

[Sunnyshores]

It was 10 years ago I did it, so do check elsewere, but - month 1 taking the drugs, month 2 egg collection, transfer 2 week wait. if unsucessful they wanted you to have one natural period. So you could start again in month 4. So the absolute max number of cycles in 12 months was 3.

[2014newme]

To be honest the process is a physical and psychological challenge and I wouldn't suggest having that many cycles in a year. We had 4 cycles over 5 years with time off in between

[Nan0second]

3 cycles but if you get any embryos to freeze then frozen cycles are much much cheaper (max £2k). 8k is probably the cheapest way you could have icsi - if you did need 3 cycles, they would probably start recommending (expensive) extras like intralipids or steroids or even pgd.
Some places (like care) do a prepay scheme where you get 3 cycles for a set amount - worth investigating?
Good luck

[Sunnyshores]

Agreed, it is a horrendous process, but for me I just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible (but properly obviously). I could mentally take a year out and concentrate 100% on IVF, 12 months, £30k, 3 goes....then Plan B.

I dont think I could have done it over 3 years, on and off and on again, or done it for an indefinite period. Perhaps if it hadnt worked, I would have carried on, I dont think so though. But I am a control freak so needed a
plan.

[Blueroses99]

The pre-pay plans are a gamble but good value unless you're successful on your first go (in which case the theory is that you won't mind having paid more). Have a look at Access Fertility. They are not tied to any particular clinic. I paid £13.5k for 3 cycles plus an extra £1500 per cycle for drugs and extras.

[Blueroses99]

Also, I've just done 3 IVF cycles in 15 months, it is hard on the body!

[IVFNewbie]

Thanks everyone, it's really appreciated that you're taking the time to reply and share.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

As others said likely to be 3 fresh cycles a year given the time for drugs recovery/month off

If a cycle fails hopefully you will have one or two frozen so I would use those first fets can be done month on month off

We did 2 fresh may and august. Both failed and neither had any to freeze :(

Took a year off to lick our wounds and save again - 3rd fresh cycle failed but we had several left to freeze

Extra drugs and personally I think a better clinic as 1&2 at same in uk and 3rd was abroad

4 a fet failed

5 a fet is bubs currently 33w preg 👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼

So tops in a year would be £24kish for 3 fresh cycles

[bananafish81]

We did 4 IVF rounds in 12 months

Ours was more because the third was with genetic testing and a transfer in the fourth

First two rounds were about £7-9k

Third was £12k (freeze all with PGS so no transfer)

Fourth was £2k (frozen transfer)

[bananafish81]

As long as you have 3 months off between fresh cycles then that's fine on the body

You might prefer to have longer off emotionally but not everyone finds IVF physically gruelling

Emotionally the last year has been hell, but I don't find IVF physically difficult

[EarlGreyT]

We did 5 fresh long protocol cycles in 17 months and 4 of them in a 12 month period. Our consultant didn't think there was any benefit from a success point of view in having a break between cycles, but some clinics do.

To answer your question, purely from a time point of view, the number of cycles it's possible to fit in a 12 month time frame is variable as it depends on whether you're doing short protocol or long and whether it's a fresh or a frozen cycle.

As per banana above, I didn't find it physically difficult (apart from the cycles I had prednisolone for), but emotionally it was.