Feeling hopeless second failed ICSI - Can anyone recommend a private clinic

[Nattiekattie]

I' m feeling very hopeless about everything at the minute. I started my IVF journey 2 years ago my EMH level was 5 and hubby has issues also so we were advised to have ICSI.

My experience at an NHS hospital has been awful and the treatment by the staff resulted in more stress and pressure. So now I am considering trying to fund a private round. Which would put a lot of pressure on us finically but I don't really care about they money. It's just I can't face the heart break over and over.

Sadly I've had 2 failed rounds of ICSI the first round I only got 1 mature egg and it resulted in a negative test after a FET. And my most recent round I got two eggs which did not respond to fertilisation. I just feel like a big let down and wonder what's the point as the quality of my eggs seem to not be very good.

Would going private even help and if so can anyone recommend a clinic?

Sorry to hear that Nattie.
It certainly wouldn't hurt to go for a consultation at a private clinic but to get the most out of it I'd suggest you request your notes from the NHS first so you can share them (you are entitled to them, I paid £30 for mine).

It depends where you live and how far you're prepared to travel but if you were doing short protocol IVF you would hopefully not need lots of visits so maybe be prepared to travel for the right clinic.

While it's expensive there are options with finance plans from clinics, or Access Fertility, or what I did was max out a few zero interest credit cards.

Thank you for getting back to me, I am in the North West. I was looking at Care in Manchester. My sister even suggested opening a good fund me page for friends and family to donate to.

I'd go with Create - they specialise in women with low AMH or who respond poorly to conventional IVF. They are also cheaper as they only do low dose or sometimes no drug IVF

I did a 3 cycle package of natural modified IVF with ICSI incl all drugs for £13.5k - took a bank loan over 5 years for £275 a month. I'm pregnant with twins from the cycle where I only got 2 eggs but they were the best quality I've ever had and I have two more frozen from another natural modified cycle

@Nattiekattie

Just on the go fund me idea....I've seen it work and I've also seen it cause loads of drama because people will just question if you can't afford IVF at £275 a month how you expect to afford childcare if you do have a child (£800 a month plus for a childminder) or the cost of giving up a wage to be a stay at home parent. We asked for help with cost of IVF but was sat down with a calculator and a spreadsheet and said to imagine we had a child already and we had to pay full time childcare or even part time or the cost of one person giving up work and to set that aside for 12 months in a bank account.....we didn't ask for help after that. It was hard but we managed it. that's how we funded a lot of our IVF (combination of this, remortgaging and the loan)

@ivfbeenbusy thanks for the recommendation. I'll read up on them. And wow I can't believe that was your experience from your friends and family, that really does shock me. The people important to myself and hubby would never treat us like that and have offered to help us as they already see that we are at a disadvantage and wouldn't want us to have that financial burden on top the fertility struggles. I've even seen people on here have strong views about people on here having IVF treatment on the NHS as "it's a life style choice" but they support funding for cancer treatments having a condition I was born with is not a life style choice. Smoking and getting cancer in my opinion is. But we are all entitled to our opinion I suppose.

Hi Nattie

I'm sorry to hear about your failed IVF rounds, I'm in a similar situation. Two rounds with ICSI and both times got 3 eggs with zero fertilisation each time. Have you tried any supplements to improve egg quality?
I've also heard going abroad is a similar price with better success rate so maybe have a look at that?
Don't give up just yet xx

@Lollypoll thanks for your reply. And so
Sorry to hear what your going through. I take quite a few different vitamins including CoQ10. Have you gone private or NHS so far? I have thought about abroad but it seems so extreme, it just feels confusing.

It just feels wounding every time xx

We've been NHS so far and I've managed to get a third due the fact that I've not completed a full round yet plus they made some mistakes! But while waiting for my appeal I started looking at my options. If this round doesn't work I think it's time to use donor eggs and going abroad seems the best place for this. My clinic does both private and NHS so I can't see it making any difference but I've heard good things about private clinics in the north west! I'm taking DHEA now along with proceive and COQ10 but god knows if it's going to make a difference! It's all a bit overwhelming researching it all but soon you will become a master 😂

Hi @Lollypoll

Sorry to hear they made mistakes I'm just wondering if you are able to explain a bit more. I feel that my clinic also made wrong moves. And also how did you appeal?

Could you go to a new clinic with your final round? I know Care accept NHS patients so it might be worth looking at transferring clinics all together. I wish I had done as I had no faith in the Manchester based NHS hospital.

I've just had my first and only funded IVF round at St Marys. It sadly didn't work and also only had three eggs, but two follicles over-matured, so I could have possibly had more with a sooner trigger who knows. I have heard good things about Manchester Fertility. We will also go private now. I was considering doing another round with St Mary's as I feel we may have just been unlucky this time, as it happened the one egg that fertilised had a defect in its shell. Gutted. I also wondered about Create and natural IVF... but I did respond to the drugs, so wonder if it's worth doing one more with St Marys or Manchester fertility and then trying Create if not. @ivfbeenbusy would you mind telling me/us more about how the natural IVF works? Did you have to do multiple rounds?

Hey @Sian7919 I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you. Both my rounds were with them and I 100% regret trusting them with a second round. My care has been shocking from start to finish. I am going to have consultations with different clinics before I decide who to go with. I think it's worth paying for a few so I can make a more informed decision. How did you find the care with St Mary's?

Hi @Nattiekattie I'll dm you

Hi I've had my NHS round with St Mary's (currently in the TWW), and for an NHS round I thought the care was really good. It seemed to be much better than my sisters NHS round in London.

However, I think you get a much more tailored treatment with the full private clinics, and if I was paying, I wouldn't go to St Mary's. I would want more regular monitoring in the stims stage, and blood tests, adjustment of doses, and injections in the morning and evening (this is supposed to yield better results). My sister did two private rounds with a similar protocol and got 8 eggs from each, she got nothing from her nhs round (in the middle of both of the private rounds). When your reserve is low or you're not a good responder you need more monitoring.

I had all my fertility tests done at this clinic in warrington which came highly recommended to me: www.reproductivehealthgroup.co.uk/

If this round fails, I will probably speak to them about doing a three cycle harvest there, if I want to continue with IVF at all.

@Nattiekattie my clinic appealed for me so I don't actually know what was said and it took 6 months to get a reply. They basically just did exactly the same as the first round which gave exactly the same result 🙄 but other than that the communication following my egg collection was awful and nobody would give me any answers. By the second round I was a research pro and demanded to know why I hadn't been given AOA which could have helped my fertilisation result. I've stuck with them for my third round but only because I've been granted AOA and they've changed my protocol plus covid has affected so many people I think it will be hard to change clinic quickly for nhs patients. What did your consultant recommend in your follow up?

@79andnotout it's just a lot to go through and be disappointed at the end of it. I feel like I'm really grieving but I know I have to toughen up as it will eat away at me. Thanks for the recommendation I'll check them out xx

What's an AOA @Lollypoll

Artificial Oocite Activation, it's an add on where they put the injected egg into a calcium solution to help kick start fertilisation. It's not proven so they don't normally offer it patients but I would defo mention in your next consultations and see if you meet the requirements.

@Nattie yeah it's really tough to get to the end and have nothing. I only got two eggs from my round and only one fertilised so it was a very close thing. It's a mental minefield.

Just a summary of clinics from me.

We've transferred our care to CARE fertility and are using them for our NHS rounds. Can't review them yet but they seem good.

Manchester fertility - we paid privately for our initial testing with them. We got the results but their care was appalling. They were super slow, didn't respond to complaints and we'll their communication was abysmal.

My friend is at CREATE, she is 42 with a low AMH. She really trusts them and is getting on well there after a terrinle time at St Mary's. They are doing natural /modifidf due to her low AMH and it does cost less.

Thanks @Vea1601. I'm torn between Care and Creative so I'm definitely going to have a consultation with both and decide from there. My gut says go for a package with Care and if it doesn't work I get my money back and try with Creative.

@79andnotout I think mental minefield is a good expression it's definitely mentally, physically and emotionally hard. The whole process I had hope and it's like a crushed dream and the morning of a child that never will be it's hard to explain as to others it was just an egg zz

@Lollypoll I actually think they might have done that xx