Egg donation clinics

[Tillyminto]

Just received the devastating news this morning that, at 40, I am on the cusp of menopause. We have been trying for our second child for about 12 months and thought that my difficulty in falling pregnant were due to a now resolved thyroid problem.

However, as I mentioned, it seems my ovaries have all but shut up shop. My doctor has recommended that I look at egg donation. I am living in Switzerland but, as egg donation is not an option here, she has recommended I try in my native UK.

Can anyone recommend such a clinic and what sort of costs we are looking at?

Still feeling pretty raw at the moment. Managed a cup of tea since returning from the docs but can't face lunch. :-(

Hi. Sorry to hear your news, that must be very hard to hear. I respond as a long time TTCer who knows nothing really about egg donation but have picked up things here and there. Egg donation can be expensive in the UK in comparison to other locations...perhaps these are some ways to find out more from ladies who have researched and or have experience.

• post also at 'infertility' here at MN
• take a look at the fertility friends website, UK based also with overseas section.

Good luck to you.

The problem in the UK is that egg donors can now be traced by the child aged 18 - both egg and sperm donation are not anonymous anymore.

This thread has within it some links to rules and regs in the UK:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/1514047-Would-you-be-my-egg-donor

Check it out. There are some other active threads over at 'infertility' on the different issues, on UK and overseas donations.

Thanks for the advice and the links, I'll follow up and do some research later.

I already have a beautiful 6 year old son so I should count my blessings. The heartbreaking thing is that he asks almost daily for a little sister.

Parenthood. Hardest job in the world, eh..

firstly (((hugs))) to you.

secondly i dontated eggs this year and recently got the news that the couple who got my eggs are pregnant with twins!

i donated through the lister hospital in london, they are meant to be very good and well respected.

there is also the bourne? hall in cambridge (they have clinics in other places) who are very well respected.

if you look in the infertility bits here you will find more info and there are organisations who can try and match you with a donor, i went through 'atrui' purely as i found them by accident and they seemed really nice and have been amazingly supportive with my journey to become an egg donor :)

i imagine it all feels a horrible shock and also a bit bleak? and yes the rules have changed and legally my details can be given to any chld that comes from my eggs, but i am not and never would be in any way a parent to them. the child has a mum and a dad and if you go down this route and have a child they would be your child. it is all covered by strict guildines in the uk and very well regulated.

there are people willing to donate eggs so if its a road you want to go down, then dont give up hope xxx

I was diagnosed with an early menopause at the age of 38 whilst ttc for the first time. I was devastated.

I have since gone on to have 2 children with egg donation (2 different donors). I recommend both the assisted conception threads on here and the fertility friends website mentioned upthread.

There are a few benefits not using the the UK:

a)UK donors are not anonymous which puts a lot of donors off so the waiting time is longer, the flipside is that you may want your children to be able to find their donor in later life
b) because there is no monetary recompense many donors are themselves undergoing fertility treatment (they can get treatment cheaper if they egg share) - to put it brutally the donor eggs may be from "older" women in their 30s and of poorer quality thereby giving you less chance of conceiving
c) UK is more expensive than elsewhere.

I went to Marbella, Spain to Ceram. They have English speaking nurses and it was all very straightforward. Out of 3 cycles with 3 donors I conceived 3 times. All donors were under 25 years old and had similar colouring/height/weight to me. Sadly my first conception ended in miscarriage at 9 weeks but the other pregnancies have been reasonably easy. I also recommend having any other possible factors checked out. After my miscarriage my NHS GP kindly sent me to have loads of tests - the kind you normally only have after 3 miscarriages - to ensure I didn't have other issues preventing carrying a child to term. I was found to have a thrombophillic condition that means I must inject blood-thinners when pregnant. Since then I have carried 2 children to term.

Costs were around £7k inc all treatment and drugs.

A friend of mine was in your position in that she had one child and was ttc no. 2. She underwent 3 rounds of own egg IVF to no avail before using an egg donor and now has DC2 via donation. Both she and I are enormously grateful for the miracle of modern medicine and the wonderful donors that made it all possible.

Once you are over the shock of diagnosis I hope you can set yourself positively on the path to egg donor IVF - I have nothing but praise for it!

Good luck.

Thank you, Stangirl, so much for sharing your experience - it's somehow reassuring to know that other people have been through it and have come out the other side. I'm still unsure what to do but it's still early days.

It looks like DH and I have got some serious thinking to do.

Would not recommend Lister Hospital. Not what was expected. I went to Lister hospital for egg freezing. I had Dr Jaya Parikh who performed the surgery. On the cycle I was due to start, my follicles were low compared to the previous cycle. I was concerned but Dr Parikh seemed very commercial and money driven and persuaded me that l never know if the next cycle is going to be good cycle in terms of higher number of follicles. So l went ahead. She also said there was a polyp in my uterus that needs to be removed. In fact l never had a polyp and Dr Parikh proliferated and the dialator went through my uterus and l had to do an emergency laporoscopy to check for internal bleeding. I also only had 2 eggs retrieved. Very disappointing. I went to private thinking that I will get better service but please be cautious. I was otherwise healthy now l have scars from laporoscopy and a damaged uterus. Be warned of Dr Parikh, she is not good doctor, and she became very defensive, no apology at all from her. I want to write this, so that other patients do not go through what l did. I also asked for refund and they refused to give me back the £5.8k I spent on the egg freezing. My social life has taken a bad turn as a result, it has left me psychologically damaged.