Has anyone gone private for infertility?

[Dixywitch19]

Sorry for posting on aibu I’ve posted in infertility before and had 0 responses and I feel at a loss.

I’ve been prescribed 50mg clomid as I don’t ovulate. Just had my day 21 bloods and I haven’t ovulated so feeling very defeated.
I don’t get on with our consultant she’s extremely blunt and feels so impersonal. I’m having no scans etc as my hospital don’t have the funding to do this so I only get day 21 bloods.

Feel like I’ve been left to my own devices and it’s honestly hurting so much now.
I’m wondering if we go private if I’ll feel better and we’ll have more tests scans etc and a wider range of medicine options?
My hospital don’t do letrozole either so once I’ve had the 3 rounds of clomid we’re basically looking at ivf (would be private ivf as we have a child each already)

Thank you.

We did for my first child we tried clomid, other drugs which I can’t recall and IVF injection drugs to try and make me ovulate (PCOS) we could not go to all the way to IVF as there were no viable eggs to harvest. I did get a lot better service going private and there were a lot of options tried and I got regular scans while taking the drugs to check on progress unfortunately nothing worked for us, you will get more options and help but we spent a lot of money. I now have 2 DD conceived over 5 and 12 years later naturally and complete surprises.

When TTC first time, I was 28 and was told too young for NHS investigations, they wanted me to come back at 30. I didn't love that idea, so went straight to private, got a diagnosis that appointment of PCOS, regular scans plus 4 months of Clomid for about £500.

I was very lucky to conceive that first month. I would highly recommend going private, it isn't that expensive really and you get a much better, more thorough, speedier service.

I went private with all my infertility issues, 6 ivf and 1 fet, 1 live birth

We went private because my DH has a child so we didnt qualify for funding. It wasn't completely without issue but we waited much less time than friends on the NHS, the service did seem better and more in depth, they seemed to throw everything at the first IVF attempt (I.e. dna fragmentation testing and treatment, and possible icsi which we didnt in the end need) rather than just basic IVF which some friends had before they were permitted more intervention on NHS, and had good statistics for success. We conceived first time IVF and have 4 frozen top grade eggs. Obviously alot of that has to do with us having unexplained infertility and then an identified dna fragmentation issue which was treated and no serious conditions so once that issue was resolved we had good quality eggs and sperm to work with. I would still have said private was a good choice as they just seemed to be really specialist.

We went private initially because we couldn’t just take time off work for the all the NHS appointments. Privately you have much more flexibility to schedule them at lunchtime or in the evening.
More flexibility on the treatment also.

We ended up doing 1 IVF, ended up with 10 frozen embryos, 2 failed FET then the 3rd time we tried two embryos at the same time... and we have our twins

We went private because in our area you must be under 35 and have been ttc for more than 2 years to qualify for NHS treatment (other than bloodwork). Our clinic also treats NHS patients so I don't know how different it would have been, except no waiting lists.

We went private because there are limited options for same-sex couples, but we got loads of support through the NHS for me because I had fertility issues, so keep in mind this may be a possibility. My private clinic did some bloods and scans but the NHS recurrent miscarriage clinic did other bloods, and if I'd successfully got pregnant apparently they might have started prescribing the blood thinners I have to take. It wasn't enormously expensive stuff in the scheme of things but obviously every little helps! The biggest thing they did was I got a scan of my tubes on the NHS which I seem to remember was a couple of hundred, maybe more, to do privately.

We went private for ivf. We started it in June 2018 and I got pregnant in November 2018 so it was a quick process from initial consultation to being implanted, i did start down the nhs route but I didn't feel like anything was happening!

How long have you been ttc? We've been ttc for 3 years now. Went to see the doctor after about a year and I was eventually referred to a gynaecologist but the process is slow. If you can afford to go private I would say go for it.

I went private. Its so much better. NHS Dr gave me tablets for diabetes at first as he said it couod help. Took them for a year and still didnt catch. Went back and asked for ovulation tests and found out i didnt ovulate. They then gave me clomid and told me come back in a few months.

I wemt private and checked my tubes, egg count and quality and parrners sperm. This fast tracked me to IVF with NHS because i had already paid for all the other tests privately. Ended up catching on our first IVF appointment to arrange dates etc. Very lucky.

@Newmumatlast can I ask what you did for the dna fragmentation issue? We have a DNA fragmentation issue too.

I had a laparoscopy via the NHS but then 3 rounds of IUI privately at one clinic. I then had IVF at Guys and St. Thomas privately followed by FET 5 yrs later. The IVF and FET were both successful and I couldn't fault the clinic in any way. It was expensive but an excellent service and it made a stressful, unpleasant experience just that little better! Wishing you every success!

Thankyou so much everyone

@Mrsboombastic99 we’ve been TTC for 2 years now, the amount of times I’ve been told ‘you’re still a baby’ is unbelievable (I’m 26 and my husband is 30)
Our consultant told me I had PCOS when I asked her how she got to that conclusion she pointed at my face and said ‘you have a lot of spots’!
I had one on my chin because I was stressed from wedding planning 🤦🏻‍♀️

I don’t ovulate on my own, I can’t remember the last period I had without prevera.
I’m going to look into private clinics close to us. We’re Leeds based if you have any recommendations!

Thanks everyone I really appreciate it.

@Dixywitch19 I would really recommend going privately if you can afford it. I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant with a clomid baby. Due to PCOS I didn't ovulate at all, but my private clinic did full monitoring (every other day throughout the cycle) and ovulation stimulation injection when my follicle got to the right size. This was the only way I could get pregnant, but it avoided the need for IVF. You also get a much better level of service (so no patronising comments re age for example).

@Dinosauraddict thankyou!
Clomid doesn’t seem to be working except for making me an emotional wreck - I cried at everything through that week!
What mg were you on when you fell pregnant if you don’t mind me asking?

Good luck @Dixywitch19 - yes if you can afford to go Private you should. Being up north is a bonus as clinics are often cheaper than the south.

We had IVF due to being a same sex couple but I also have PCOS. Also tried clomid for 3 months first which did not agree with me at all and gave me bad anxiety.

The good news for you is women who have PCOS often respond really well to IVF as the likelihood of collecting a lot of eggs in a single IVF cycle is high. This means you may only need one cycle to get pregnant and could potentially have frozen embryos to use if you want to have more kids in the future.

I feel for you OP. I used to live in Leeds and I found the NHS there woeful for fertility (and indeed maternity care too). I didn't realise how bad it was until we moved to the North East and my new doctor had me referred to the hospital for a scan confirming PCOS and then gynae to help with TTC #2 in the space of weeks. I never got any help in 6 years of TTC in Leeds.

If you can afford it, I'd go for it. I was considering going private but I randomly gave Soy Isoflavones a shot and ended up pregnant with DD.

Yes, we went private. It wasn’t a warm, fluffy experience but it was successful.

@Dixywitch19 I got pregnant on 50mg, but needed the ovatrelle stimulation injection as well to make me ovulate on it, and my follicles grew slowly so I ovulated later in the cycle (a 21 day blood test wouldn't have shown ovulation even though I had ovulated)!

We went private. Had to, the NHS heat states that they needed FSH to be 9.9 or under and mine was 10

We went straight to ICSI as DH has a low count. We've done 2 fresh cycles with 2 blasts that both failed. We then had a single Fet (as we only had one) that was positive but I think I'm currently miscarrying.
Not sure where to go next tbh as it's eye wateringly expensive. And the strain is unreal. We've been TTC one way or another for 3 years now and it feels like it's taken over our lives.

@sayanythingelse we’re actually at a Bradford based hospital as we used to live there and they haven’t moved us yet - they’re honestly awful.

They told me I had pcos @Scarlett555 then I saw a different specialist who said I don’t have pcos so I actually have no clue! They don’t tell us anything just seem to throw diagnosis around.
They wanted me to have a hsg then rang me the week before to cancel it and move forward with clomid at the next consultant appt
Fast forward to that appt she asked me why we’d cancelled it when it’s needed when it was her who cancelled it! She found it in her notes that she’d written I didn’t need one and didn’t even apologise after practically shouting at me for cancelling when it wasn’t me!

Sorry for the rant.

Anyone have any insight as to how much it would be to go private? For the meds and scans etc.

@Dinosauraddict I’ve done ovulation tests every day since cd8 - currently cd22 and still a blank circle on the clear blue tests.
I usually get really sore boobs when I ovulate and I’ve had absolutely nothing 😔

@zemblanity it really is draining isn’t it. I feel like I don’t think about anything else which is so difficult.

I’m still clueless with all the treatments and names (like fet and isci) if you have any insight for me that would be amazing.

I’m so sorry you think you’re miscarrying, my heart goes out to you

Dixy fet is Frozen Embryo Transfer.
ICSI I can't remember what it stands for (I'm sure someone will come along to explain at some point!) but basically IVF is when they collect the eggs from you and put them in a Petri dish and put your OHs semen in the dish next to the eggs and leave them to do their thing. ICSI is when they select a sperm and inject it into the egg (the thing you see on the news when they talk about ivf)
As we have low count we had to do this as they felt there were enough sperm to fertilise themselves.
I can't help you with clomid stuff as I've never taken it.
Thanks for yours thoughts, I'm pretty gutted as I'm getting on a bit age wise now so we're running out of time.

Wishing you lots of luck on your journey

@zemblanity thank you for that that’s really helpful.
I feel so down about it taking so long so I can’t imagine how you feel having to go through so much and then a loss.

Fingers crossed for you that you get your baby 🌸

@Dixywitch19 if you go to a decent private clinic their first step will be checking your diagnosis to confirm if it's PCOS or not and also checking if you've had all the tests you need (e.g. HyCoSy - no point making you ovulate if your tubes don't work for example). My clinic was SE so fairly expensive but £550 ish for an ovulation stimulation round including all medication and monitoring - a lot cheaper than IVF, and in my opinion was worth it.