Recommendation for a London Fertility Clinic

How often did you go for acupuncture?

Just thought I'd give another vote for acupuncture and Daniel Elliott in particular. My ICSI cycle in October was BFP and I saw DE regularly including the standard German protocol before and after embryo transfer. Also, anyone harbouring hopes of twins .... Daniel Elliott, along with many other fertility acupuncturists has a very, very low twin rate. Less than 4% cf national average of 25%. Their view, I'm paraphrasing badly, is that twins are an 'abnormality' in that the door should close after the first embryo implants......twins are a sign of the body being unbalanced. Interesting view.

Bella
I think I will go to Lister on that Monday too.

Hi bella

I've had two cycles of IVF, one at the Lister which resulted in my little boy and an unsuccessful cycle at the ARGC under Mr Taranissi. Obviously the clinics results are crucial but in my experience you should really consider the geography. At the time of my 1st cycle i worked very near the Lister and so the constant round of blood tests and scans was not too unbearable. But once you factor in travel it can really increase the stress. The ARGC do daily blood tests so i was travelling for 2 hours a day - not too easy to fit into your daily routine We've since decided the ARGC are not for us - partly because of travel but also for other reasons (you should be warned they are always manically busy - they are very popular so you can spend a lot of time waiting around there to be seen for scans etc)

Hi Bella
Thanks for the details of your acupuncturist, I will make an apptmt asap. maybe I will go to the open evening - is it ok to go on my own (i.e without dh - who would hate it?)

Bella

I am very very sorry to hear about your m/c.

Yes, DH is trying vits and healthy living etc, but I don'tthink we are going to hang about now because I will be 34 in January (DH is 35).

I have heard about the Lister open evening, but to be honest I would rather have a private mtg with a consultant, rather than attend an open evening!!! What do you think?

I would love a recommendation for an acupuncturist in London - that would be great.

By the way, why have you decided to go for the IVF route now?

Hi Bella

Last month I had lap and dye for endometriosis, which was lasered successfully, and so we had out hopes up. But this week we have found out that DH's sperm count is low (14.5mil)
so I have decided to go for IVF in January.
fed up ttc now, been at it for 2years, and feeling v despondent at the moment.
How long have you been ttc, and have you had any other tests etc?

Based on my own experience I wish that I had gone private earlier. I started off with NHS and plodded through their course which was in part designed to keep you waiting as long as possible (in case you got pg wothout assistance). Going to the Lister was just a breath of fresh air - our first consult was for an hour and a half where I feel that we really did explore every option, and discuss everything thoroughly.

That said, if you're going to have all your initial investigations done privately the cost will soon mount up (as some tend to be done under GA).

Bella
I am in exactly the same position as you... have been ttc for 2 years, now deciding to go for fertility treatment in Jan 06 and am researching london clinics at the mo, so all these posts have been v helpful. Am now going to get infor from both ARGC and Lister and will choose between those two. Let's stay in touch??

Sorry Portree - I wasn't being clear. I meant NHS hospital based units. Not NHS funded. I know they charge - I have the bills to prove it . I was just thinking of emergencies. When I was at the C&W there was (ahem) a small problem when I kicked the consultant doing the retrieval in the face and caused damage to both of us, and there were instantly four qualified consultants from the NHS side of the hospital in the room with me sorting it all out. I just meant that having NHS back up close by can be helpful. And of course when I came to I wasn't in the ACU anymore, but in the NHS obst/gyn ward. And the same thing when my next catastrophe struck. (oh dear!!)

Hi everyone
Just to give you a bit of hope, my DH had sperm motility of 25% and we got our BFP in July after 15 months of ttc. I never thought it would happen for us but it did and I am now 17 weeks pg. What I am trying to say is please dont give up hope, especially you Bella, if your DH's motility is less than 30% but not that low, then it can happen and I am sure you stand just as good a chance as anyone.
Hope this story helps a bit.
Bev

Janinlondon, Hate to be pedantic but UCH don't do NHS treatment. Their ACU is private only and as expensive as the other private clinics. I think EGA do go to IUI level on NHS though. You do raise a good point about admission to hospital, rare though that is. That said from what I understand, most private clinics (eg ARGC etc) which are clinics and not hospitals transfer patients for NHS admission if the need arises.

Hi, we also had a problem with low motility or at one stage anyway, my fertility history is a little strange. Tried to coneive naturally for 3 years with no success, 2 x icsi, 1 x fet which all failed. And then somehow got pregnant naturally only for it to end up as an eptopic pregnancy. DH had another sperm test and even worse motility and after having surgery for the eptopic advised ICSI again, got pregnant after 3rd ICSI treatment. Was breastfeeding DD and she was 9 months old and fell pregnant naturally. So now have 2 wonderfull DD's. A bit crazy after years of thinking we wouldnt ever have any children.

I've heard good things about the Lister too. a friend has just used donor sperm and went to Guy's and had a v positive experience.

Can I put in a late vote here? I know the best results tend to be from private hospitals, but if you don't have unlimited funds it might be an idea to consider an NHS hospital unit (UCH, Chelsea and Westminster, Thomas's for example). In the (probably unlikely) event that something goes wrong during your treatment, and you need hospitalization, a private hospital would knock your budget for six. An NHS-housed unit on the other hand would simply transfer you to an NHS hospital bed. I was hospitalized twice during my four rounds of treatment, and I hate to think what that would have cost us if I'd had to pay for a private hospital bed. We were at the C&W incidentally. Hope this helps. Just a thought.

You don't say if you're going down the IVF/ICSI route, so I'll assume this may be a possibility. We've had loads of fertility treatment - severe and unusual male factor.

The 'best' clinic in London in terms of successful pregnancies is ARGC. Not sure what age you are but if under 35 they achieve about a 60% pg rate which is very, very high. Lister 35%, ACU at UCH 42%, LFC 33%, Nuffield Woking 50%, Care Nottingham 36%. Last time I researched those were the top ones in the country. The HFEA website is a good source of information but the data is a few years out of date so worthwhile getting the most up to date stats by contacting the clinics directly.

Clinic choice is a difficult one and in our case was directed by DH's uro so I think your dx can affect the clinic that's best suited to you. Haven't been to the ARGC but I believe it is not for the faint-hearted. You need to be prepared to go for daily bloods/scans if doing IVF for about a 10 - 14 day period, sometimes having to return for more bloods in the afternoon. They monitor progress v v closely which is a good thing. They do lots of immunology testing, the value of which is much debated amongst the medical community. They treat with steroids, humira, IVIG etc. That said they do get results and 75% of their patients have been unsuccessful elsewhere. You do have to have FSH

Lord Winston is at the Hammersmith and very rarely sees patients - you must have a very interesting case, and be prepared for a wait to get to see him.