I know IABU posting this here but I'm really hoping for some info on private IVF

[Rainbunny]

So I live in the USA currently and we have enough insurance/resources to do one round of IVF and possibly a second round - but that would be a stretch. We actually have very good health insurance but IVF in this country is insanely expensive! I've heard that private IVF is much cheaper in Europe, does anyone have any recommendations? I think it's probably cheaper in the UK too which at least means I could stay with family if we did it there. Sorry for taking up the AIBU page but I'd so appreciate any response!

Your probably best looking into the fertility friends site. There are loads of couples that look to go abroad for treatment. I could never get my head around it all, flights, hotels & treatment surly bumps up the cost.
Not very helpful, sorry!!
Wishing you all the best with your journey.

I know someone who was very happy with ivfserum in Athens.

Definitely check out fertility friends, they have boards for clinics all over the world. Good luck!

Oh, and I'd say you're looking at £6k+ in the UK. My last cycle including drugs came to about £8k.

I'd second Care. I went to the Sheffield branch and they were wonderful. Good luck!

Thank you for your replies! Much appreciated! I must say I've been reading information that indicates the Czech Republic is a low cost option. Does anyone have any experience of IVF there?

We did not end up going to the Czech Republic as we finally reached the top of the NHS waiting list and had successful ICSI, however it was on our list of places to go due to the very good reputation and low prices. There are a few private clinics near Prague which we liked the look of, cheaper, more advanced, faster than the UK. Just start by googling IVF in Prague and you will see threads about it on there.

The Athens clinic is world renowned for success with very difficult cases. I'm not sure whether it's much cheaper than the UK but it's advanced. I also know of someone who had success at a Spanish clinic but I don't know why they chose there.

To be honest, I feel the UK is a bit behind some other European countries and is also very expensive. £6-8k is standard at a UK clinic, if they can offer anything fancier it will be more. The Prague clinic we looked at was much cheaper, I think about half, even inclusive of flights and accommodation.

Also, it might be nice to see family in the UK but don't underestimate what it's like going through IVF. You might well just want your own space and to be with your DP for much of it as its a bit of a head fuck and can be uncomfortable. You will want to be in as relaxing surroundings as possible and I know for me that wouldn't be staying with family!

Good luck.

Thanks for info Re: Prague. Well I think we'll do a cycle here in the States and likely frozen egg cycles and then see where we are... what a bloody process!

There are lots of very good clinics in London - The Lister, The Bridge and the really excellent ARGC. The price will depend on whether you need IVF or ICSI, embryoscope etc.

The regulations and ethics are very strict in the UK compared to quite a few countries (limits on number of embryos transferred per cycle to reduce risks of multiple births to both mother and baby, gender selection not allowed etc)

I had one advanced blastocyst transferred on my first cycle in London which was successful. Wonderful doctors and wonderful treatment. They also gave me success with FET from a blastocyst they vitrified on the same cycle. I paid £4.5k for IVF and just £1k for FET.

Good luck wth whatever you decide!

Hi Rainbunny you could ask MN to move this to the infertility board...there's a lot of us there at different clinics who can help too.

I am Oxford fertility unit, they are ok - we've done two cycles with them (they both failed). It cost us around £6k for the treatment and just over £1500 for the drugs. The treatment included ICSI as well.

I went to reprofit in Brno - great place, much better than our local NHS and private care clinic (better success rates, direct email access to your named doctor) . PICSI (additional technique to icsi) with assisted hatching came in around £3000 with medication I'm currently 21 weeks as a result so I'm happy with it!

Honestly, Brno itself is pretty boring but Prague is a train ride away and lovely

You can also fly directly from London to Brno for about £15 so could technically stay with relatives for some of it (ie. Wait between egg collection and transfer)

Mehmehmeh - I should really. I was posting late at night my time (Pacific coast USA) and really wanted some traffic, sometimes it seems tougher to get responses on the other boards.

What is the reason you need IVF?

Different clinics have different specialities so you may want to go to a clinic with expertise in your or your DH's issues.
Do you have a definite diagnosis or fall under the 'unexplained' category that might need more investigations?

The U.K. is probably the most expensive place in Europe to have IVF but it sounds like you would save on hotels if you can stay with family.
Czech Republic, Spain, Greece and Hungary all have clinics with great reputations for treating overseas patients, and the Fertility Friends site will have more info on them all

Good luck

My friends have just finished their only cycle on the NHS which sadly wasn't a success. The NHS consultant recommended a clinic in the Czech Republic as he knew they couldn't afford UK prices.

Depending on how much money you have and how old you are, some companies do finance deals; eg a single price (say £11k) but you get as many cycles as you need before getting a viable pregnancy. So if you get pregnancy first time then financially it's not great but you have your baby, but if you need 2/3/4 cycles it's definitely worthwhile.

Blue2014 - thank you! I will definitely look into the clinic in Brno. Can I ask how much time you actually spent at the location? Given that we'd be coming in from the States we'd be there for the duration (well I would my DH would likely only be able to be there for the essential times as his work is very busy).

There are lots of appointments, some at very short notice, during the whole process. During some of it cycles I was at the clinic every other day, on another cycle I may have been just a few times over a number of weeks, depending on how I reacted to the drugs. So the more flexibility you have in terms of appointments and where you're going to be based will be a factor.

We had ICSI privately at Guys and between 2 full fresh rounds and 2 frozen cycles we clocked up around £20k in tests, clinic costs and drugs.

I'd agree too with the poster above who suggested finding the best place for your specific 'problem', rather than just the lowest cost (or most convenient) as they do specialise and results can vary.

Good luck, wherever you go!

Just saw your last question about timings OP, I think our cycle timeframe from starting de-regs to transfer was around 4-6 weeks, then you wait another couple before tests and scans start again if it's successful (I may have mis-remembered this now, it feels like an age ago now but only 3yrs!). Frozen cycles took us a fair time longer as I was slower to respond to some of the drugs.

Sparechange - I have undetermined fertility issues - every test & procedure we've gone through has us looking good on paper, so it's very frustrating. Dh is fine, his sperm is good so it's me. Honestly my age has to be the number one thing (I'm 40, we've been trying since I was 37). Actually though our fertility doctor disagrees somewhat, my levels are quite a bit better than average for a woman my age whatever that means. We've already been through unsuccessful 4 IUI cycles. I'm waiting until September (when life will be calmer) to start our first IVF cycle. I just have a fear that since our insurance will only stretch to two full cycles (with us topping it up) what could we do after that. This has been a very informative thread thank you to everyone who contributed, here's hoping I'm getting to far ahead of myself and that the magic happens without needing to travel for this.

OP,
What is your AMH and antral follicle count like?
You may want to research mild and natural cycles, which only some clinics do. It isn't for everyone but has good results for people with lower ovarian reserves and diagnosed or borderline PCOS.

Havr you ever been pregnant? Any previous miscarriages? There are tests that can look at your blood clotting ability as well as immune system in case they are 'attacking' embryos as foreign bodies. They are still slightly conversial so again, not all clinics will do it.
It is also worth checking your thyroid is under 2.5 as recommended for ttc

Spare-

Here are my results:

Antral follicles (FSH you mean?) is 8.2
AMH - better than average for my age apparently 1.19 (could be better though)
Thyroid - 2.06 (normal)
Prolactin - 10.6 (normal)
Estradiol - 55 (normal range)
Negative for PCOS

I have never been pregnant (used the pill and IUD's throughout my adult life until TTC). Interesting point about blood clotting though - I had some issues with clotting in my teenage years (random nosebleeds that wouldn't stop) that seemed to go away. Worth checking though? Undetermined infertility sucks, I'd rather have a specific diagnoses. I even double checked my blood type as I've read that O type women have higher FSH levels (I'm AB+). I'm treating my difficulties as age related with nothing else showing up.

I was there 10 days in total but that was too long, it was the 5 day wait from collection to transfer that did it (and I personally need not have stayed around, my doctor wanted to wait for 5 days blasts only - I know I was lucky with this)

My DH has low count and morphology, turned out I have very low AMH (lower than yours and I was 36)

Brno is within easy reach of Vienna, Prague, Bratislava and other European cities. If could make a nice break

FSH is different to AFC...
FSH is a hormone in your blood, which your body produces to grow follicles. The higher it is, the harder your body is working to produce an egg but yours isn't particularly high (above 12 is considered problematic)
Antral follicle count is how many developing follicles are on your ovaries at the start of your cycle. That number plus your AMH is considered the best measure of your ovarian reserve and therefore how you will respond to the IVF drugs.
Your AMH is quite low. Anything under 1 is considered problematic, but, there are clinics that specialise in low AMH patients and have great results. But those clinics aren't using standard protocols so you might want to specifically ask what their low-AMH protocols and success rates are.
You might also want to research natural and natural modified cycles as a comparison.

You could ask for a thrombollia screening test to check for clotting disorders. The test is quite expensive so if you can persuade a doctor to do it as part of a general health investigation rather than a fertility investigation, you should get it covered.

There was an interesting piece of research published last week about the success rates for IVF patients given blood thinning injections during treatment and early pregnancy. My first clinic gives Clexane as standard but the clinic I was sent to for my NHS round made me fight tooth and nail to get baby aspirin so you really do need to make sure clinics are reading research and willing to use drugs that are potentially beneficial, and not just put you on their one-size-fits-all production line