To pay for IVF instead of waiting 4 months?

[Saturnlan]

DH and I have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility and my AMH is on the lowest end of what is considered “adequate”. We are early 30s and are eligible for NHS funded IVF but the wait times at our clinic are long, and we still have another 4 months to wait until we can start the process, which even then may take us in to next year what with Christmas. The wait is driving me crazy at this point, and it is all I can think about. The clinic is also very unresponsive and it’s felt like an uphill battle to even get to this point.

We could easily afford to privately fund IVF, though it’d set us back a couple of months with our home buying plans for the future. I’m so incredibly tempted to pay privately and start the process right away, but equally is it incredibly wasteful of us to blow the money for the sake of waiting a few months? Advice appreciated

This is sound advice.
We needed ivf so totally hear how hard it is waiting.
Which clinic is it? Is that the only one available to you locally?

A 4 month wait is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I’d wait rather than use my own funds that are for a house.

If it’s only going to take you 2 months to save back up then absolutely do it x

Given this and the fact it would only take 2 months to resave, plus your reduced ovarian reserve I would go private right away.
The nhs ivf journey will not only start later but will be slower all round at every stage to reach embryo transfer.
If your private cycle is unsuccessful you may then be at the top of the list for your nhs cycle.
Golden rule in fertility treatment, it’s much more common to regret what you didn’t try than what you did try.

I'd wait. It always seems like it's going to be £8k including meds but the round I paid for coat me about £14k once you pay for all the extras. You're young and 4 months will make zero difference to your chances. I would do the NHS round and use it as a practise round - you will learn so much and if it doesn't work you'll be armed with loads more info to take to your private clinic.

If you would go on to do more privately then I'd do private from scratch as they often use the first cycle to perfect/tweak doses etc.

Op I'd hold off, 4mths isn't that long in the grand scheme of things.
You have no idea if it will work first time or not.

It's up to you, it's your money. If you can gain it back quite quickly, I'd say go for it. But on the other hand, it's only four months. Perhaps take the four months to save up even more just in case, and go on a couple of holidays that may be otherwise harder to do with kids. Eat well, exercise, get a plan in place, and 4 months will fly by x

I'm one of those that said it isn't long and have felt many times it's a long wait but the changes you can implement is far greater than rushing. We started ivf in the middle of covid, I was 39 with low AMH. Didn't give the body enough time to prepare for the cycle, which ended up being 10 cycles and going overseas to get results.

Those 4 months will fly by getting ready for the first round.

I totally get it. 4 months seems like forever when you're dealing with infertility.

I couldn't stomach the private costs in UK, even though we could afford it. It's daylight robbery. What UK clinic are you thinking? Costs can easily go north of £20,000 very quickly. There are a lot of add-ons and tests/scans that aren't included in basic costs. So we went privately abroad (Reprofit, Czech Republic) and the clinic were fantastic. I reckon we saved about £15k.

I'd wait for NHS. Time is on your side. You may have embryos left over from NHS round which would make your self funded round far cheaper. Plus, ime, private clinics were sharks trying to add on nonsense upsells. I'd stick to NHS to get a straight forward idea of the lay of the land without the salesmanship complicating matters. I cried after a private appointment because it was so clear the doctor was trying to take advantage of my vulnerability. The NHS service was very matter of fact and no nonsense.

I’d go private as soon as I could do. I privately funded my round and discovered during it I now have low ovarian reserve (I was 31). I got incredibly lucky as it worked first time, but I needed extra stims and only got 4 viable embryos at the end. Assuming you’re adequately and securely housed, I’d crack on!

If it will only take you two months to resale then go ahead and go private

4 months isn't that long to wait at your ages, and you never know you could get pregnant naturally in that time!
Keep your savings to pay for a second round if the first doesn't work

We went private without using NHS for first round. We had some incorrect advice and just went for it…

Anyway… we used consultant in hospital for our first private round which was unsuccessful.

We then applied for and got NHS funded cycle. The same consultant pushed this through for us and we continued with him the same way we had with the initial private route.

We paid extra for scans and private appts around the NHS funding but it was not the same as paying for a whole cycle. We were surprised by this and I’m not suggesting its what happens for everyone but it may be worth choosing a consultant in a hospital you would qualify to use who you then could continue with if unsuccessful.

Good luck!

I'd be concerned that 4 months might turn out to not actually be 4 months on the NHS.

My friend has just gone through all the rigmarole of waiting for NHS treatment because she was entitled to three free rounds. She's been passed from pillar to post, from one hospital to another after some hospitals lost their licence to do IVF, been told things like there's a 6 month waiting list but you can't get on it until you've had a referral which has to happen after you've had certain blood tests done and there's a 3 month wait for those etc etc... You get the picture. In the end she was getting too worried about her declining fertility so she's gone private and wishes she'd just gone private a year ago rather than fucking about trying to get it for free on the NHS.

If you can easily afford private treatment I'd say it's a no brainer. Choose your clinic carefully though.

I wouldn't. Speaking from personal experience, the drug protocol they give you is the standard prescription based on your test results but depending on the outcome of your round this may need tweaked to give you a better chance next time. You don't know how you'll respond to the drugs and I wouldn't spend thousands of pounds to find this out when it's a relatively short wait for your NHS rounds. I understand it doesn't feel like a short time, I'm say this as someone who got caught up in the Covid-19 clinic shit downs.

I would wait and focus on buying a home in the meantime. IVF privately can get very expensive very quickly and could well drain all your savings and push your dreams of home ownership right back. Buy your home and continue saving whilst you use up your NHS rounds, then move onto private if you need to.

I really wish you all the best ✨

I'd spend the money on a private laparoscopy to see what the issue is. There is always a reason for 'unexplained' infertility.

I'd also wait the 4 months. Definitely take the advice to prepare your body for the treatment, it starts with the egg as recommend by PP.

Make sure your partner also cleans up his diet/lifestyle and starts taking supplements to support his sperm.

Do you have any private medical cover through your work? That influenced me waiting for NHS, my private medical covers up to £15k of fertility treatment, but only after we had one cycle with the NHS. This means that they are now paying to store my frozen embryos and I will probably get another 3 frozen transfer through work if I want any siblings.

And in terms of timings, it really does depend on your local NHS trust and clinic. We got our funding through, they asked when I was due next and started within 2 weeks!!

I totally get that some of the others on here have also gone through it. I think at the end of the day it has to be whatever is right for the individual couple.

Hopefully, if they've been trying for a while they've already put a lot of things in place that will help to get ready.

You absolutely will not be able to use NHS rounds for a second child! Once you have a living child you are no longer eligible for NHS ivf.

I completely understand your anxiety about waiting, and about the poor communication from the clinic. I would say wait, but in the meantime maybe look at doing things like your DH starting proceed / impryl, try to get yourselves physically/ mentally ready. Can you take a few weekends breaks etc? We had 3 months from referral to starting and at first it felt it would be forever, but suddenly the appointments were being booked in.

Wishing you all the best 💐

I completely understand your anxiety about waiting, and about the poor communication from the clinic. I would say wait, but in the meantime maybe look at doing things like your DH starting proceed / impryl, try to get yourselves physically/ mentally ready. Can you take a few weekends breaks etc? We had 3 months from referral to starting and at first it felt it would be forever, but suddenly the appointments were being booked in.

Wishing you all the best 💐

What is your AMH number and your AFC? I would base my decision solely on that. Mine was 5.1 pmol and I was told it would be ok to wait 3 months which in hindsight I wish I hadn't done.