IVF abroad - things I wish I'd known . . .

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Hi everyone - I recently had donor egg IVF in the Czech Republic and thought some of you might find my "lessons learned" useful. I think I would have valued a post like this when I was doing my research, so thought it might help someone else trying to make a decision whether to have treatment at home or go abroad.

1. If you're unlucky and your procedures fall on weekends or holidays, you can end up spending more than you bargained for on flights and accommodation. One set of flights for us ended up costing £300 each due to bad timing - all in all, that one visit cost close to £1000.

2. Factor in costs of ultrasounds and prescription meds, and how easy it is to get these in the UK (e.g. is there a UK partner clinic that will issue prescriptions to you?) We spent around £200 on ultrasounds here, and around £400 on meds that we could only get once we were in Prague.

3. Find out whether you will be able to communicate directly with your doctor. We had to go through a "patient coordinator" and if we had questions we could only email them and then it could take several days to get a response. This felt like an additional series of obstacles, caused some misunderstandings due to language barrier, and definitely added to my frustrations and anxiety.

4. If you go for a "guarantee" package, check for admin fees. We paid for a package that included a FET guarantee - i.e. that there would be at least one embryo to freeze and we were told in emails that the FET procedure is included in the package price. Now that we're trying to arrange the FET, we're being told there is an additional "admin fee" of €700. They managed to hide this as a tiny one-liner in the contract - so although I have emails confirming it's included, we still have to pay the "admin fee" as it's our own fault for missing this in the contract.

5. Beware of other hidden expenses - prior to the frozen transfer we've been asked to have another consent form signed and notarised, as the clinic needs one for every procedure. So that's another £80+. You'll also need STD tests and other examinations prior to starting treatment - check that these are included.

I guess the overall point to consider is that if you're going abroad primarily to save money, you might not save as much as you think. Our base package cost was £6500 but in reality we spent around £10k.

I do think I had a bad experience with our chosen clinic - I had to correct them a couple of times when I was there having embryo transfer (nothing serious, just which package we were on etc.) but it was unnerving.

Happy to answer any questions, and good luck to everyone starting out on this path

Hello Heart2god, yes of course and apologies for the late reply. What would you like to know? I had my frozen transfer on Thursday and happy to go though what I’ve experienced etc. They are a great team x

Hi everyone. Brand new to MumsNet and heart pounding reading your stories and posts as I am completely overwhelmed at the thought of embryo donation but having spent years exhausting every other option, I feel it’s tge only one left open to me ... and I simply can’t give up on being a mummy. I’m now single so facing this journey alone but have great support around me once (if) my dream comes true and I am blessed with a child! I am looking at Team Miracle Cyprus IVF centre Nicosia (Nicole). Cyprus will allow me to have embryo donation whilst single where many other countries won’t hence shortlisting this location.

1. Anyone used them?
2. Anyone been in my position?
3. If chosen another clinic in Cyprus, why?
4. It looks like my costs will be around £6k is this what others have paid?
5. I’ve been sent the list of what I have to do (tests, scans etc here in the UK) any advice on this?
6. Am absolutely overwhelmed by trying to choose a sperm donor - where to start!? And they’ve said they will ‘select’ a suitable female donor who is similar to me physically so am worried I won’t know ANYTHING about their personality/family/psychological health ?

ANY or ALL advice - good and bad stories - welcomed. I am in the UK. Feeling scared overwhelmed but absolutely determined! Look forward to hearing from you? Xxx

@Rememberallball - such amazing news on your twins! Fantastic 💗 so happy for you. Do you have any advice for me just starting out and feeling bamboozled at the thought of it all 🙏

@scoobette69 - sorry if I’ve missed messages; how did you get on 🙏🙏💗💗

@BabyHope2457,

We used Gynolife clinic and they were excellent. We enquired through A website which gave us a €500 discount taking our first cycle cost to €4,500 plus flights and accommodation costs - first time round we booked accommodation through the clinic and 2 weeks cost us €1,200 half board; flights cost us about £400. 15 months later we were looking at around £600 for flights so looked into a package holiday and found one for £1,100 for the 2 of us for 2 weeks and then we paid clinic €200 for transfers to our appointments. This was much better for us as we chose the hotel and had a much nicer place than the previous time and knew straight away where we would be.

I would also recommend writing down questions as you think of them and asking the clinic for answers.
Don’t feel pushed into doing anything before you are ready to and, if you aren’t happy about something, ask for alternatives.
If something doesn’t make sense, ask until it does make sense - I come from a medical background so understood a lot but still asked questions and challenged when I was told one thing then another by someone else!!

@renenbefallball Thanks so much. Am going to look at them now! Did you use them for both male and female donors you chose yes? And how many times have you tried now if you don’t mind me asking 🙏 Aporeciate your support x x

@BabyHope2457, we only used them for egg donation and used my husband’s sperm. We were successful with our second attempt

Thanks so much for replies and help. I’ve joined the clic I’m looking at’s FB support group - it’s been excellent !!! Xxx

Hi, i know this was a long time ago but which clinic did you go to please? Congrats btw, did you settle with one little miracle or have another? Mim x

Hi @mixster, we used Gynolife in Nicosia. We had 2 embryos implanted and now have a pair of active 9 month old boys who arrived 6 weeks early last summer. We won’t be doing it again on medical advice from my fetal medicine consultant here in the UK.

Hi, thanks for getting back to me and congratulations on your twins!!

May i ask how many times you had to visit and for how long, also (if you don't mind) the approximate cost?

Many thanks!

We had 2 cycles of IVF and went out to Cyprus for 2 weeks both times. Beforehand we had to both have blood tests prior to starting the process and I had to have 2 scans as part of the cycle - these were done privately at a high street place. Plus private prescriptions for meds (as I used donor eggs my only drugs were estrodiol, aspirin and folic acid plus the contraceptive pill to get my cycle in sync with the donor) then, once in Cyprus we had 3-4 appointments at the clinic - to meet the consultant, sign paperwork, and have a scan, for DH to provide sperm the day of egg collection (on both our cycles this happened on the same day as my initial appointment and paperwork signing). Then it was returning for embryo transfer and provision of post transfer instructions.

The first cycle we travelled out to Cyprus early in my cycle and had almost a week between my first appointment and my second but then had to wait for the correct point in my cycle for embryo transfer then travelled home just 2 days later. Second time around we had the second scan at home then flew out a week further into the process meaning we had 8 days between embryo transfer and flying home - this meant we were able to have an early blood test before coming home and had a week of relaxing in the hotel doing very little.

Cost wise medication depends on the doses you’re prescribed but I was also put on clexane injections which cost €30/10 and progesterone gel that were a similar price and bought in Cyprus via the clinic. The IVF itself was €5,000 (with a discount given for initially contacting them through a website that offered a voucher for referrals) and the second time we were given a 50% discount on the cost because the first cycle had been unsuccessful. Accommodation through the clinic (first visit) was €1,200 half board for 2 weeks plus flights were around £200 each. Second time round we booked a package holiday that cost £1,100 including flights and then paid the clinic €200 for their transfers package (car to take us to all appointments at the clinic, plus airport collections if required)