Going private-please help?

[bilbob23]

Hi, can anyone help me please? Did anyone go for a private consultant rather than wait for their referal? I've been told that there is a wait of 30 weeks! The referal is for investigations as my cycle isn't regular at all-GP thinks PCOS so I'm trying to loose weight. I don't want to wait 30 weeks as I will be nearly 35 by the time they will treat me. Can anyone give me some idea on Private options? Cost? Thanks.x

The wait for NHS treatment (IVF) in my area is 18 months. We are 36 and 37 and have only been on the waiting list a few months so felt that we just couldn't waste any more time waiting around. We have just started our first private cycle of ICSI. I think cost/clinic recommendations will completely depend on the area you are in. As a guideline an initial consultation at our FC cost £150. We didn't have any further investigations as we'd already had tests on the NHS. Alternatively a fertility MOT costs about £250. I would think most clinics will have a price list avaiable online or on request. Hope this helps and good luck.

Thanks for the reply-so to find out if I needed any fertility treatment I would have to have a consultation and then a fertility MOT? I am a stone and a half overweight so would the consultant just say for me to loose weight before any treatment? Do you mind me asking how long did you have to wait for private IVF? I will be 35 next year and don't really want to wait too long. Thanks again @happylass.

Going private was expensive for me, but nhs is painstakingly slow. We paid £210 for consultation, but had to have a few other tests, scans privately as well. In total cost probably £500-£700 before ivf. But it was very quick, like a few weeks later I'm starting ivf cycle. My initial private appointment was booked less than a week after initial phone call.
I've got no regrets, I couldn't bear to be still waiting in limbo now. It's worth every penny if you can possibly afford it.

Thanks Seb101, if you pay privately would the fact that I'm a stone and a half overweight be a problem? It seems that I'm not ovulating because only had 4 periods since coming off the pill end of October!

I'm overweight too, by 3 stone!
As long as your BMI under 35, my clinic are happy to treat you.
Don't think you'll have any problem at all with your weight.

Bilbob at my clinic there was a 10 day wait for the initial consultation then we could have started treatment straight away. My clinic (and I'm sure most others) holds a free open evening once a month where you can go along to find out about the treatments on offer and ask any questions you may have.
With my NHS clinic your BMI has to be under 30 for both partners but my private FC has never mentioned anything about weight. I'm sure you'll be fine.

It depends what you mean by overweight - past 25 bmi or 30?
The reason though nhs dont treat over 30 bmi is it affects success of ivf (only a statistic though i guess)
20-25 was most successful on a chart i saw.
It can take a while to get periods back depending on the pill you are on i have seen people say the long term contraceptive injections take longer.
You should be able to gave blood tests for pcos with your gp.
Then a scan at the clinic.
I would pay for the consultation and tests - if you have something wrong you wont need to try for the 2 yrs.
You could find the periods get better with weight loss.

Thanks for the replies-much appreciated, my BMI is 28.5, I've never been in the healthy region, always been a size 16, sometimes down to a size 14 after losing a stone. I was on microgynon 30 and my last cycle was 103 days, I went for some acupuncture and I had my period but nothing since-day 44 today. I asked my GP if she thought that my irregular periods were due to the pill and she said probably not, I've had blood tests and they've been normal but they haven't been taken on the proper cycle days due to my irregular periods maybe? I think I will phone my gp and ask her for a private referal, don't feel there is much point in waiting to lose weight and then go for a consultation if it isn't anything to do with weight. I should've come off the pill years ago!! But when most of my friends have fallen pregnant in the first month of coming off the pill I think i was a bit deluded!!

I'm aghast at some of these wait times - I experienced nothing like this. It is so unfair and a total postcode lottery bilbob in your position I wouldn't wait. If everything else is fine your first line treatment is likely to be Clomid anyway, which is very cheap in comparison to IVF.

I too wish I had come off the pill before I did. Bloody thing was masking all the idiosyncrasies of my PCO cycles!

Your BMI is fine for NHS funding - as long as below 30 NHS will treat.

From initial referral to diagnosis took 13 months for us on NHS. No NHS treatment for us Neil official diagnosis.

Sorry should read no NHS treatment offered until had diagnosis. thankfully, or otherwise, both classed as infertile so could progress straight to treatment. If no diagnosis made then in my area people then had to wait 2/3 years from TTC to have IVF. However, it was the waits to see the dr - 3-6 months between appointments that took so long. Once diagnosis made, no wait for treatment, well no more than normal NHS waits.

My private clinic treats people privately if BMI under 35.

I phoned the Dr this morning-she has made an appointment for a scan and also a request for an appointment with a Private Consultant-the nearest one is an 60 miles away! Postcode lottery or what!?! Nevermind I feel that things are moving, I would just like to sort things out now so that I can think about really TTC in the New Year.