Can anyone talk me through what actually happens with IVF/ICSI?

[porridgewithalmondmilk]

I'm thinking in particular of the timescale (private client.)

Let's say I was to ring the clinic tomorrow and said I wanted an appointment ASAP - what would then happen? :)

Most clinics want a gp referral letter. Then you make an appt to discuss with consultant. Then if they have no waiting list or any tests I think you can start the next month ( day 21 on long protocol) then the whole process takes about six weeks til test. You do need HIV, semen tests etc. but it can be quite alarmingly quick - worth giving yourself space to understand what you will be doing first in my experience. Some of the most successful clinics have long waiting lists though... .

Thanks wife - as far as I know there aren't waiting lists (or so I have been told!)

I would be using donated sperm so I assume that would already have been tested.

What is long protocol please (such a novice to all this!)

have you had IVF? x

A lot of clinics will take self-referrals. I never required a GP referral outside of the NHS (went to 2 different private clinics for various things).

If you have already had all the basic tests, you have an initial appointment. I booked it in October for mid-December but could have had it earlier (not sure exactly how early) - we wanted it for after our holiday. We could have started quite soon after that, but I would have needed all the monitoring and egg collection over Xmas and NY, so we decided to wait a month. We started mid-Jan.

I called the clinic on Day 1
They booked me in for a scan on day 6 of my cycle
I had a second scan on day 9
I had a third scan and blood tests on day 11
I had a fourth scan and took my trigger shot (to make the eggs ready to be collected) on day 13
I had egg collection on day 15 (needed to take that day off work because it is done under sedation)
I was told that fertilisation had occurred on day 16
I had embryo transfer on day 17 (ET is usually 2 to 5 days after EC)
I then had an interminable wait to test!

I did a natural cycle, which would be similar to short protocol.

Short protocol is done within the length of your natural cycle. Basically you take stimming drugs to make your ovaries produce lots of eggs instead of just one. Long protocol starts the cycle before the one you want to use. Some clinics get you to take the Pill from day 1 of that cycle, then on day 21 you start downregging drugs, to induce a sort of menopause. This shuts everything down to give the clinic a baseline to work from. At some point you have a period, at the end of that you are scanned to make sure your womb is empty and your ovaries are quiet. Then you would start on the stimming drugs. There are lots of variations around this and each clinic has its own way of doing things but this should be a rough guide.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Euro that is really helpful. How do you know about your cycle - or is this something the clinic go through with you in the consultation period? I feel like such an idiot - I know barely anything so sorry if I ask stupid questions!

Is it very uncomfortable when you go through the sort of menopause? Do you feel unwell throughout?x

The clinic will look at your test results and recommend which protocol you should be on and what sort of monitoring you will have. Some clinics monitor more closely than others - I have seen people on here have daily bloods and scans during the stimming phase. You can ask about this at the consultation.

I'm not the best person to ask about the effects of downregging. I am the only person I have heard of actually cancelling a cycle because the drugs made me feel so awful! My reaction was extreme, although I think it is fair to say most people don't exactly enjoy that phase. Don't let my experience scare you though - the Pill made me suicidal when I was younger. I just have an extreme reaction to artificial hormones. After we cancelled the cycle, we switched clinic to one that did natural cycle IVF (no downregging/stimming drugs, they just do IVF with the one egg you produce naturally). So my experience is a little unusual, but in terms of timing and process is quite similar to a short protocol cycle, or the stimming phase of a long protocol cycle. (Bear in mind some people respond more quickly to the drugs than others so some people use the stimming drugs for longer than others - that is why the clinics monitor).

I should add that, my extreme reaction to the drugs aside, I didn't find the process physcially difficult. It is psychologically very, very tough though, so make sure you have a good support network in place (this site has been invaluable for me).

Thanks again Euro. Sorry it was so rubbish for you, sounds horrible.

It is going to be tough psychologically, I think and I probably will rely on here and another forum heavily! It is a relief it isn't physically difficiult though.