ABC Infertility

[Bubblegum89]

Looking at potential IVF options and to stay with our current fertility clinic, we’re looking in the region of about £6k for IVF including medication. I have come across ABC in London a few times and I’ve also seen women on ttc/infertility fb groups talking about having their IVF done there.

I understand it’s known as “shoebox” IVF which is why it only costs £2500 including meds, scans etc. Which is amazing to be honest when you don’t have thousands and thousands to spare like we don’t. I was just wondering if anyone on here was considering going, is currently or has been through IVF with them and if they’re worth it? I feel like it may be a “too good to be true” situation but if it’s not, it would really be a step in the right direction for us money-wise

@ouryear19 congratulations 🎉🙂

Hi! I booked my first consultation for next month. Can you tell me plese what test they want to have ? Can i have them before with my gp ?

Hi

First of all thanks to all who are contributing to this forum. Honestly this forum does give a lot of hope and strength...

I came across abc ivf recently. Like many others I am also thinking it is cheaper than others so how reliable they are?

For me £2,500 is a lot. My saving of years!

My case is unexplained infertility. I have 1 son born in 2016 through natural pregnancy. Somehow had lots pain in the end of 2017 but NHS couldn't find anything wrong. The pains got worse and unfortunately in April 2018 i was told that my left ovary is twisted which is causing pain, so it needs to be removed.

Anyway all was set after that. After the recovery time we started to try conceiving our second baby. Until now we are unsuccessful. Been to gynecologist several times, all reports are normal. theres is nothing that why I can not be pregnant. My other ovary is strong and ovulating normally. My BMI is 21 and i am only 31 yet.

So can someone please have any experience using ABC IVF with 1 ovary. As i said all my reports are normal even my partners but its been nearly 2 years since we are trying.

Thanks all in advance for your time and sharing your thoughts. Best wishes

@myhope27
Hi I don’t have experience with having one ovary but I too had a natural pregnancy in 2016. All my tests said I was ovulating normally no problems and husbands also came back clear and so we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility.
ABC were amazing. I would definitely recommend them for unexplained infertility. We were successful first time with them after two years of trying. Best of luck.

HI,

Only discovered these today! Has anyone had surgical sperm retrieval / TESE with them and if so how much extra did it add on?

xx

Hello all , thanks to everybody for being so honest and open on here. It's been so useful.
Just wondering if anybody has attended or is attending the ABC in Oxford?

We're booked to go to the Fertility Partnership clinic also in Oxford and have now come across ABC and unsure what to do.

This is all very confusing and I'm so worried about making the wrong choice!

Thanks,
Jess

Hi all, I've booked an appt for abc ivf in Manchester clinic, anyone else been , or currently u set treatment? Also would be really keen to speak to anyone who needed TESE

X

I'm with Create as I don't meet ABC criteria, I'm just awaiting delivery of my drugs and should be starting my first cycle with my next period hopefully next week, I'm at Wilmslow too though

Was anyone here over the 30 bmi at the initial consultation at abc fertility?

@Hopeful1990 I booked a consultation when my BMI was 34 and had to cancel as they wouldn't do the consultation when it was that high. I knew they wouldn't treat me at that BMI but was hoping for a consultation as we were deciding between 2 clinics. Getting it down now before booking another consultation in the next month hopefully. I called and asked if it would be ok and they advised to cancel for now

@ijustlikefood - good luck 🙂 xx

Which clinic was that at? My bmi is currently 31.3 and so far I've Brought it down from 33.3. I spoke to one of their advisors on the instant chat this morning and they said I couldn't go ahead with the actual treatment but my bmi doesnt really matter until the treatment consultation which I the 2nd appointment. Now I'm worried because our initial consult is in 2 days.

I just called abc fertility to ask them about my bmi cos it was causing me major anxiety. The lady said she would check with the clinic cos it depended on where we are booked in. Thankfully the clinic we are going too has said it's fine. I'm so relieved.

That's great. Hope it goes well 🙂

Hi all, this thread has been a great source of information and support for me, I have read it a lot even though I haven't posted on it before. I wanted to share my story to date in case it is helpful to anyone. Also in the interest of balance I wanted to post before I know the results, so it isn't a case of only people for whom it went well / badly posting (as I don't know yet either way).

I am 30 years old, with unexplained primary subfertility. I have had one pregnancy in ttc for about two years, which was a "blighted ovum", and had a mmc at 10 weeks.

I have a BMI of 26, and an AMH of 8.5. ABC IVF were still happy to have me as a client even though my AMH is low for my age, as when I went for the consultation I had plenty of follicles growing (AMH isn't always a reliable indicator of how you respond to IVF apparently. Either that or NHS bodged the tests as they did with a few others which had to be redone). This has been my first round of IVF.

I have been on Bemfola 150 and Cetrotide 0.25 which have made me a little tired and headachy, and now towards the end of my injections a bit sad and irritable too, although some of this may be to do with the emotions involved rather than the medicine, it's hard to tell. Regardless, I haven't felt so terrible at any point that I haven't been able to go about my usual life. Although I have nothing to compare to myself, it feels like it's been easy compared to the horror stories I have read about with conventional IVF.

As others have said, I have found the staff to be very kind and they seem very knowledgeable. The clinic is easy to access with no waiting times. I have had seversl scans and blood tests, so it feels as though I am being well monitored.

I currently have 10 follicles which to me look to be accross quite a range. One is "leading", which may or may not become post-mature whilst waiting for several mediums to catch it up. One is very small and is not likely to mature. Once I have egg collection, ET etc I will update.

Thanks for the update QS,

All sounds positive. Fingers crossed for you.

Which clinic have you gone with?
X

Hi @Jessloug thank-you. I am trying not to get my hopes up. I am at the ABC IVF Bristol clinic x

@QS88 I have just had treatment at ABC bristol too and got my bfp first time. Now 10 weeks. They are just the most lovely people there aren't they! Gill was my consultant, and I couldn't fault one thing. When I have to pop back now it's almost like seeing family.
Good luck for ER and T! 🤞

@QS88 - good to know, thank you

@FlapJackered - congratulations 😁 that's great news

X

@FlapJackered That's great news! Congratulations . Yes the staff are lovely. Feels so strange after years of being ignored / told to just be "patient" when you know something is wrong to get some actual help. I'm sure lots of people who start IVF feel the same way. If the cycle doesn't work, we will probably try again at the same clinic.

Hi ladies!
I like to join this chat as it has been so useful seeing other people going for the abc clinic. We have chosen the London branch and our first initial consultation is on March 24th -
We initially got tests done on the NHS for ivf and hope I can get those results such as my smear tests results in time for our appointment as well as other blood and semen analysis reports. We wish not to waste any more time. I am 28 and my husband is 34 and we have unexplained infertility.
Would like to hear of anyone starting therapy at the London clinic

Hi all,

With everything going on at the moment I'm sure we all have similar feelings right now 😔

Just wondering if anybody about to start or going through treatment has had an update from abc?

Was hoping to have a consultation in the next couple of weeks to start treatment next month but it looks like that might not happen now.

Looks like there could be yet more waiting for us all... Hope everyone stays healthy x

I spoke to abc yesterday, as had my egg collection Monday. They said they were basically carrying on as normal (but with extra cleaning / making sure no-one in the building is high risk etc), until they either get sick and have to close, or the government said they had to close. They also offered me free egg freezing for 6 months if I chose to do this instead of a fresh transfer. We're going to go ahead though with the fresh transfer tomorrow or Saturday though (God willing), as a) it looks as though corona will last at least through the summer and we don't want to wait that long b) boyfriend and I are lucky that we can both work from home and self isolate c) if we do have a successful round and the peak is end of May then we should at least be our of the first trimester and most dangerous bit when the peak hits. It is a real worry though, and selfishly couldn't have come at a worse time.

They told me aswell that the main board of embryologists (whatever it is) has advised that there are no known risks of coronavirus for embryos, and that it was safe to carry on IVF as usual. The main things I do worry about though are a) decreased immunity in pregnancy leading to a higher risk of complications (although so far this doesn't seem to have been the case for corona), b) high fever especially in early pregnancy leading to increased risk of miscarriage or birth defects c) I'm paranoid about the virus itself causing problems like zika did, although as far as I'm aware there is no evidence of this being the case for corona

Lastly, if you haven't started yet, what would you do if you had taken all the injections and then one the day of egg collection the clinic was shut? That could be really rubbish