Ivf add on costs

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Has anyone had any experience with Embryoscope and can let me know if it's worth it? Also does anyone know if freezing is worth it. Weirdly I don't like the idea of the babbling in the freezer 😂

We have been offered Embryoscope at £750 and freezing at £500 so we can come back a month later for transfer. It's a lot of extra money and so I'm not sure if we should do both, just one (but which) or none. We might only be able to have one go at ivf so part of me wants to go all in. The other part though thinks an extra £1250 on top of what we are already paying is going to be a stretch if it was for things not really increasing odds. There's not much online I can find about either so I'm looking for Mumsnet advice!

We have been ttc for four years without a single bfp so something is wrong but the tests have just come back unexplained. My first pregnancy with my son was perfect and I conceived almost instantly so we are at a loss.

If anyone has any advice or experience we would appreciate it.

TIA

Assuming you're talking about a fresh cycle and not a freeze-all, then if you have embryos to freeze, for god's sake freeze them. The cost of doing an FET is far lower than the cost of a full cycle, so if a fresh transfer doesn't work, having frozen embryos to continue with is... well, it's a great position to be in. (You may not end up with any to freeze anyway, though. I've never had any suitable left to freeze after transfer of the best embryos.)

To throw something else in the mix I would spend money on a scratch if I had another round. Frozen transfer has got a higher success rate so I think it's worth considering at least. Embryoscope my clinic used as standard so I don't know much about it.

I had a scratch as part of a research study and it has been found to increase success. I had that and a fresh transfer and was lucky enough to get a bfp. We were unexplained too.

Your freeze cost is really cheap but does that include the transfer later on? For comparison my freeze all cost us £1350 for the freeze (and storage) and it's £1250 for each transfer

We also had embryoscope as it was explained that it helped to keep a good environment for the developing embryo as they don't have to be physically taken out of the freezer to be observed all the time. Also the embryologist can review the time lapse footage and is better able to select the best one for transfer

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted yes that includes the transfer. It's only one month of freezing though and if we don't use them they will be destroyed. It's recommended by the clinic and I've seen somewhere before that freezing them and recovering a bit is helpful for implantation but I've not seen as much research for Embryoscope

£500 for a month of freezing sounds costly

Sure mine was £500 for the year

Surely after a month you would pay for the others if do a fet

@Blondeshavemorefun we could simply do the collection and pay £900 for a year of freezing but then it's £1800 for a FET. So I'd rather do the freeze all.

On the subject of a scratch, my understanding is that the most recent evidence suggests it doesn't, in fact, have any impact on success rates.

As per previous poster there was recently a robust trial on the scratch and there’s no evidence for it. Lots of clinics no longer offer it.

I did a lot of research on embryoscope - it is most useful for people who get lots of embryos and helping them decide which one to use - this is where the evidence is.

We had lots of embryos (14) on day 1 but no good quality blasts by day 5. The embryoscope was incredibly useful as it told the clinic that the sperm was most likely a factor and they suggested surgical retrieval for the next cycle. For cycle 2 the clinic gave us the embryoscope for free (£600 in cycle 1) as they said it was so helpful for us we shouldn’t do a round without it: currently sat next to my almost 4 month old so I am fully in support of using it!!

Also more likely to have success with a FET than a fresher transfer - again evidence of this!

Hope that helps.

Hadn't realised that about the scratch!

Frozen embryo transfers are more likely to result in a live birth than fresh transfers (assuming you have anything to freeze - you might not). So the cost of freezing is definitely worthwhile.

For me Level 1 and Level 2 testing was the differentiator though and resulted in my pregnancy. worth every penny.

Thanks for the replies. Does anyone know the odds of having good enough to freeze embryos and what the survival rate is for thawing? Looked online and it said 14% 😮

Survival rate for thawing is 99%. But the percentage of having anything to freeze is low - most women don’t. I only did because I have pcos and so have a high egg reserve - producing 30 eggs at a time to get 4 embryos and I was told those were great odds.

I only ask because freezing might not be an option and then we will have spent money on ivf and freezing and get nothing at all as it'll be a waste if there's no eggs or embryos. I'll be on the highest dose for the injections as I have quite low reserves I think which might mean poor collection I guess.

I'm now 99% we shouldn't do ivf as I don't think we'll get any embryos and it'll be a waste. Surely if we were going to have a baby again it would have been during the four years of ttc.

I was ttc for 5 years before ivf, never got a pregnancy. It depends on your circumstances - your consultant can talk to you about your specific odds. But I think if you can’t afford freezing then there’s no point doing IVF as frozen cycles are not only more successful they are also cheaper and you really should be planning more than 1 cycle/transfer (as the people who conceive in their first transfer tend to be under 35 and with male factor so no female issues).

Have you looked in Access Fertility? It's a refund program. Embryoscope and freezing is included, it's absolutely worth it if you need more than 1 cycle, which most people do.

If you get any freezable embryos, then do freeze them. Thawing rates are super high although some embryos look a bit worse for wear afterwards.

Success depends on the quality of the clinic, your personal circumstances and good luck.

IVF usually fails so you need to be prepared that you might spend thousands or tens of thousands and not get pregnant. Or you might just be that lucky couple who get two babies on your first go.

This is pretty much our only chance because by the time we finish it I'll be too old to do another round. It's not a case of not affording it. It's more a case of the fact that we will pay for it all but if they aren't good enough to freeze then the whole thing will have been a waste because they'll just have to destroy them and that would be heart breaking. I don't know if I want to risk it just be £2500 for a bunch of injections and then nothing. I've not even had a pregnancy test come back positive since 2015 and all tests seem to just come back as our numbers being ok but not great. My reserve is low with one clinic being tested at 13.9 but she said for my age it's normal. We have both pit on weight since then as well so I worry that's a factor. My bmi is now 20 whereas in 2014 it was 18 so I'm trying to drop weight too.

I know we should have started ttc earlier but eve only by married three years as we met later in life. I just thought it would be easy 😐

@JoJoSM2 I actually don't want to do IVF at all so this is the only one we are doing as a compromise because my husband wants to try it. If it fails I get to adopt and that's what I really want to do. I guess £3250 can be saved again but I'll most likely be too old by the time we do and we won't be able to try more than once.

The clinic can't destroy your embryos against your will. If you ask for them to be frozen even if the quality is poor, then they will freeze them.
BMI of 20 also increases your chances compared to being underweight.

Also, to put it out there- if your husband wants a biological child but you aren't fussed, you could also consider using donor eggs to be fertilised with your husband's sperm. That tends to have very good success rates.

@JoJoSM2 we have a biological child already. He was easily conceived. Perfect pregnancy and model birth. We thought it would be easy again but nothing at all since. I even gave up bf last year to see if that helped our chances but it hasn't.

If you only gave up bf last year, have you actually been trying to conceive for very long? Some people conceive while bf but equally raised prolactin levels can make it hard for others? (As far as I'm aware). Anyway, good luck!

@JoJoSM2 we started ttc February 2015 when my son was six weeks old. I fed him till he was three and a half and he naturally weaned on his own terms with a bit of encouragement that it was ok not to need me and I would still be able to put him to bed etc. I asked about if it was stopping us and was told at his age it was only a couple of feeds a night sometimes and wouldn't affect anything. I regret giving up especially as it hasn't changed anything. My periods returned at six weeks post partum and I've been regular ever since. That was the weird thing though as before I conceived my son I hadn't had a period in three years!

I was a poor responder and they nearly cancelled my cycle. I had 4 follicles and got 4 eggs, they all fertilised and made it to day 5. One transferred and two good enough to freeze. Being a poor responder doesn't always mean doom and gloom.

Just my thoughts.... my clinic only made you pay up to where you were at. So if it had got to the transfer stage for example and there was nothing to freeze then you didn't pay the freezing costs.

In 36, been trying 5 years, never had a bfp, unexplained infertility and now 16 weeks pregnant on our first try IVF fresh cycle and have 2 high quality embryos frozen

If you are unsure about your clinics policies then shop around and speak to others would be my suggestion