CRGH - any recommendations or comments?

[catlike1979]

DH and I have been ttc second child since Jan of this year. We've conceived naturally twice this year (amazing as we had to have IUI for DS after unexplained infertility), but sadly I've miscarried each time, the last mc just a few weeks ago. We are now considering IVF with PGS to try to minimise risk of yet another mc due to chromosomal abnormalities, we're also considering separate recurrent mc testing.

I've come across CRGH and their success rates look really good. Can anyone comment on them, and specifically which consultants you'd recommend? I'm nearly 39, and would be really keen for IVF with PGS testing and if we're super lucky, banking embryos for a possible third DC although I know that is probably too lucky to actually happen in reality!

thanks so much x

[Pldog]

@SPR40 hi, thanks for the information. May I ask when you choose doctor, i.e. Dr Chami based on other people’s recommendations or Google reviews? Thanks.

[SPR40]

@Pldog hiya this is quite an old thread but if you Google CRGH mumsnet some of the newer ones will come up. Quite a few people have had Dr Al-Chami recently, including me and I had a positive experience. But as I said I thunk there are about 4 threads for 2023 on CRGH 😊

[Pldog]

Hello, I’m looking for doctors at CRGH too. Would you recommend dr Seshadri? I saw doctors profile on their website, it’s really hard to choose. Thank you.

[Cariad2017]

Catlike - By all means go and speak to CRGH and see what they have to say, but as someone who whilst fertile suffered two losses in quick succession, followed by a healthy pregnancy (all in the course of a year), and who had now undergone a first cycle of IVF (which may well result in miscarriage as I had a fairly devastating scan earlier this week), in your shoes, I would really challenge any clinic as to the pros and cons of IVF in your shoes, including how many freezing quality PGS normal blastocysts they would expect you to get from a single cycle.

What I think I’d underestimated was how much of a lottery a first cycle can be (even if you’ve conceived a child without it previously) and even if your AMH and FSH are excellent for your age, as they might not get the protocol bang on so (as happened to me) which means that you can end up with far fewer eggs and blastocysts than they would hope. (I’m 36 and only ended up with 2 blastocysts, neither of which were brilliant quality). I guess what I’m saying is that if we lived in a world where IVF could guarantee you a large number of blastocysts, all of which can be PGS tested, then it would probably be a no brainer for you, but sadly we don’t, so you might find you need more than one cycle to bank enough blastocysts that will survive the thaw/ guarantee you a healthy pregnancy.

Miscarriage is utterly devestating, and it’s one of the worst things you can go through but I’m not convinced IVF and PGS testing will be your panacea.

I wish you all the luck in the world, but I would definitely keep trying naturally in the interim (whilst at the same time getting some testing for recurrent miscarriage) as you may well find that trying naturally gets you to where you want to much faster than IVF.

[cannonball8726]

We opted for private treatment at CRGH. We had been referred for NHS treatment at Barts but were waiting for an appointment and just wanted to get started without delay. We chose CRGH because of their success rates - and because their location was convenient for our workplaces and home.

We had ICSI in July and I felt like I was in excellent hands. The doctors, nurses, embryologists and admin staff were all fantastic. Treatment is expensive - there are lots of pricey add-ons (I had to have hysteroscopy, we paid extra for IMSI and my drugs were expensive as my protocol included human growth hormone, their luteal support is also pricey and feels slightly OTT!) - but it was worth it as I'm 12 weeks pregnant. We were prepared for the cycle to not work but I wanted to be treated somewhere with good success rates, rather than go through extra failed cycles at a place with lesser success rates. This is possibly a slightly naive view (and success rates in themselves are controversial) but we spoke at length about whether we should go somewhere cheaper or wait for IVF on the NHS - and decided that CRGH was right for us. When we were waiting to find out the outcome of the cycle, we had decided that even if it was unsuccessful, we would go back to CRGH.

Dr Ozturk, Dr Saab and Dr Serdal are often recommended on these sites but we had Dr Seshadri and were very pleased with her care. Best of luck with whatever you choose.