IVF Clinics in London - Should I Switch or Stay with My Current Clinic?

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to whether it's a good idea to change clinics after a couple of cycles? After a naturally conceived miscarriage in December 05 I've had 2 cycles at the ACU at Chelsea and Westminster. Had dd from first cycle, 2nd cycle failed but was able to freeze some eggs and became pregnant from that cycle but miscarried 3 weeks ago at 9 weeks. I'm 42 in July so realise that age is obviously affecting the quality of my eggs. In a way the clinics are not really doing that much with IVF. Once the correct drug dosage is achieved and providing they can take out and return the eggs okay there's not much more involved. On the failed cycle had a different doctor put them back - don't know if that made a difference. The Lister obviously has a good reputation, deals with many more women and has a better success rate for my age group - 23% compared to 16% for Chelsea and Westminster. Then of course there's ARGC which seems to achieve better results by monitoring women more closely.

Have an appointment booked at the Lister for end April and waiting to hear back from ARGC just to hear what they say - but of course they will want to sell their clinics. Anyone have any advice? TIA

[faulty2015]

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. My social life 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 is taken a bad turn as a result.

[sammiee2009]

HI

I would happily recommend "Harley street Fertility centre " in london. The consultants and nurses were fantastic.

My huband and i tried actively for a baby for 2 1/2 years but it just didn't happen so we were referred to Harley street centre for a course of IUI.Unfortunately we had 3 failed IUI attempts so thought we would give IVF a try.

And hey presto it worked! we just couldn't belive it.Are little miracle is 20 weeks old now and we are trying for baby number two you just never know it may happen.

I would recommend acupuncture and pregnancy vitamins as i had 21 eggs on collection day .

So keep going ladies and all the best

sam

[soosy]

Sorry i didn't get back earlier life has been very busy, in the middle of IVF cycle and rushing back and forward to London. You can contact me but I don't know how you go about it! I am hoping not to have the consultant we were talking about and am thinking of mentioning it!

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Oops - wrong thread. Sorry.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Talking Tots is great. Don't know if they have classes near you but it's 30 minutes of dancing, being read stories, "throwing" ball to one another. dd is 19 months and loves it. It's great for encouraging listening, taking turns and general communication skills. Classes are £7 per class in London - they last for about 30 minutes and there are a maximum of 12 in a group.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Bump.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Thanks LadyMuck. With my dd I took the progesterone until I was 12 weeks and had the nuchal scan.

It's great on FF that people have so much information about the clinics I am interested in and are so generous to post such detailed responses - a bit like MN really.

[LadyMuck]

I was at the Lister and ended up taking progesterone until my nuchal scans. Sorry it was quite a while ago now so I can't remember the details, though I have memory that this was longer than norm, though they were adopting a better safe than sorry approach.

FF was more American based in those days (my youngest is 6), but I was on a UK yahoo group, and we're still in contact some years later. I think that it does help knowing that others are going through the same though. It gave me an outlet to be able to discuss it all without freaking out RL friends.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Bump

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

I know what you mean but DH thinks as I've just finished bleeding from the m/c waiting til end April is probably a good timescale for us -but then he is much more patient than I am. I'm hoping that ARGC will have a cancellation. Fertility Friends is a great website - loads of detailed info from people there who have been to either or both the Lister or ARGC and other clinics. ARGC seems to provide support after a positive pregnancy test - increasing progesterone, IVIG - whatever that is - if your HcG levels aren't doubling as they should. This made me a bit suspicious as our clinic was quite clear that if things didn't look good and a m/c was threatened there was nothing that could be done to stop it. 2 days after I stopped the progesterone I started to bleed. I wonder if such interventions by the ARGC have ever prevented a m/c.

[Onlyaphase]

Isn't it awful when you have to wait ages for appointments! I'm so bad at waiting for things, really can't deal with it at all. I can't start treatment again until June and it just seems like years away. You have my sympathies!

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Thanks for your feedback FanoftheLister. Glad to hear you were successful.

[FanoftheLister]

I don't have any views about changing clinics but (as my name suggests) I cannot praise the Lister enough. We owe our beautiful daughter to them.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Thanks for posting LadyMuck. We have our appointment at the Lister at the end of April and waiting to hear back from ARGC. That could be a long wait but we have been told that they do get cancellations.

[LadyMuck]

Well both the Lister and the ARGC have excellent success rates with women, especially older women. But as someone else has mentioned, a clinic is only as good as its latest sets of results, so it is worth checking what the most recent results are for women in your age group for each clinic.

I was a Lister patient, and they recommend thinking about thinking about a course of treatment being 3 cycles in total. They would also disagree with the view that the clinic doesn't do much as they do view that the role of the embryologist is key.

My perception of the 2 clinics is that the Lister is a bit more relaxed. We took the decision to limit the number of eggs to be fertilised as we didn't want to destroy surplus embryos (knowing that this would reduce our probability of success). I'm not sure whether ARGC would have been as generous. But I don't think that there is necessarily anything wrong in their approach.
I'd be tempted to start with Lister and then view the ARGC as a back-up.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Bump

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Thanks Onlyaphase - will check out that thread.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Hi mummytowillow

Thanks very much for your response. We've both got wonderful little girls of 19 months and it just makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it?

Will definitely look into your recommendations.

[mummytowillow]

Hi

I had my first ICSI at The Lister, sadly it didn't work but they are very good at what they do, ARGC are also very good, BUT they do daily blood tests, so if you have to travel it can be very stressful, also very hard on your wallet, but he does get very good success rates, if I had to choose I would go for The Lister. (SEFC in Tonbridge have excellent results as well)??

We decided to try Guys ACU, self funded as our GP told us they were good, our 2nd cycle worked but I sadly miscarried, but our 3rd worked to and we have a wonderful little girl (19 months), I threw everything at this cycle as it was our last go, acupuncture, Zita West vits, sick leave, bed rest after ET and those horrid Gestone injections! If I can recommend anything I would say acupuncture and Zita West vitamins, I swear buy them, not cheap but worth it!

I wish all of you so much luck on your journey and hope you all get your dream.

xxxx

Feel free to pick my brains if you have anymore questions!!

[Onlyaphase]

Hi Soosy lovely to hear from you. I was wondering how you were getting on, if you had changed clinics and were starting treatment again, as I remembered you would try and schedule this over the Easter holidays. Best of luck anyway

Lottie congratulations on your wedding and hope your scan goes well

I get my AMH tests results this week - has anyone else had this test? I was happy enough for it to be done until the nurse said that taking the test was a bit like sudden death - if the results are crap it is game over. Cheering to hear this, yes?

Oh and Chocolately the Assisted Conception thread is here handily called Assisted Conception and the bits inbetween

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Hi londonlottie

Not sure how to turn off those emoticons -did see there was the option on one page but can't seem to find that page again now. If I do I will let you know. Congratulations on your wedding. Maybe the fact that you've had a lot else on will be positive in that you won't have had time to obsess too much? You may well be trying to protect yourself. All I can say is that each time the signs haven't looked good - on my first cycle - things have worked out - our dd. With the second and third cycles - better response, pregnancy from frozen cycle - no joy. You just never can tell. Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

[extremelychocolateymilkroll]

Hi Caitni

I know of two other girls who had success at the Lister. Both on their first cycle had a baby. One of the girls had to have IVF because her husband has had chemo and she has had 2 babies. The other girl's husband had ICSI. Another thing I was told was that over a third of women treated at the Lister are over 40. One friend in her mid thirties said she always felt like she was the youngest person there. There are lots of really positive comments on MN about Sam Adbullah and on Fertility Friends from what I have seen.

I would advise braving those flashing emoticons (until you've worked out how to turn them off) and loveys/huns as I've been getting a few really good replies from Fertility Friends. As lottie says, many IVF doctors feel that a lot of the daily scans at ARGC are unnecessary. Surely if they were felt to be necessary at other clinics they would also do them?

Hi londonlottie

Thanks for your reply. Sorry your first cycle didn't work. I know lots of people who have been successful on their second cycle. Some people feel that the first cycle helps the doctors to establish the correct drug dosage. I've never heard of the three-cycle deal before. It's good that you've got a free cycle on the NHS. I don't know anyone who has been able to do this. In my area you have to be 36 or under to qualify. Best of luck with your cycle at Guys. When does that start?

What is the Assisted Conception thread called?

It's really great to hear from people with similar stories.

[Caitni]

Wow, thanks for telling me about your friend and her experiences with Dr Parikh!! Much appreciated as any positive anecdotes help...

I've not had any tx anywhere yet, as we were only diagnosed with male factor in Feb and I needed a bit of time to get my head around it before we started . But Dr Parikh was so sympathetic and nice that scheduling treatment for May/June was no problem.

I think the daily scans at the ARGC must definitely help explain their phenomenal success, but for me it would be impossible to have that and continue with daily life (and I've told my employer about my plans and they're supportive - must be verging on impossible if you don't tell your employer!).

Keep us posted about what you decide - and thanks for the tip re turning off all those emoticons on FF. I never managed to stick around on the site long enough to figure out how to make it all stop