IVF clinic recommendations in Essex/South East

[Crazydoglady123]

Hey,

Looking at going private now for IVF. I've signed up for a open evening webinar at Simply Fertility but wondered if anyone on here had any recommendations for clinics in my area.

TIA

Hi @Crazydoglady123 , I’ve just had a cycle at Herts and Essex Fertility clinic and really rate it. It was my second cycle, first was at a London clinic where we had various issues; the experience at Herts and Essex was infinitely better.

Thank you @sazzt for your reply. Is the London the one at Nuffield Health? Can I ask what problems you had as I've contacted them for more information

Hi @Crazydoglady123 no it was London Womens Clinic Harley st where we had issues

I can recommend simply fertility in Chelmsford...successful fresh transfer last year but ended in miscarriage sadly. They were very quick to respond to emails/phone calls. They are a little bit more expensive than other clinics but there are no wait times. Only small issue I had was, lack of some privacy waiting for egg collection/transfer (it’s in a little bay of 4 beds) - you can close it off but still see everyone else as you walk in and out. I think Nuffield health in Chelmsford don’t do egg collection there or transfer and have to travel to London. For me simply is far the easiest and has good success rates. Bourn Hall in Wickford I wasn’t that impressed with plus they take nhs patients so may be a backlog x

@JandL2020 ah amazing! It's all such a headache reading through success rates, treatments, pricing options. I hope after the open evening on Monday it's a little clearer! Did you have to wait long at Simply after your initial contact?

@Crazydoglady123 no not at all. Initial consultation was over phone, discussed results - they took my scans/results I had previously had done at another clinic/nhs. All they wanted to do extra was check my follicle count then agreed a time to part the pill to regulate my cycle (it was already regular but apparently the pill helps), then i started stims, scans every other day and blood tests to check not a risk of OHSS. On call service when I had concerns. Only thing they do different is they don’t do beta blood tests, so you have to wait for viability scan which can be agonising. I had a sudden lose of symptoms so I knew it would be bad news but there was still a faint heart beat. If I had a blood test it probably would have shown a drop in hcg levels and not viable so could have prepared myself better. So it’s not perfect but by no means bad either. They are professional and the nurses show empathy...even had a laugh with a couple of them! xx

@Crazydoglady123 I have to add something else. I don’t think I was ever offered to have counselling before or after my miscarriage. I’m hoping this will be offered before my next transfer. Still grieving but no had support in that respect. So once you’re pregnant and signed off back to nhs they don’t really care :/.xx

@JandL2020 sorry I must have missed about your miscarriage in the first comment. So sorry for your loss! That's bad they didn't give you any counselling 😕 My OH has had both of his SA there but I haven't seen the place yet myself. Thank you for all of your feedback. When are you starting again?

No worries @Crazydoglady123. It’s a nice building - no stairs with wobbly legs. I would have someone with you waiting in car if you are having endo scratch - felt a bit of discomfort after. Partners are allowed in for egg collection and transfer. I’m starting again in May. I’m aiming to lose a bit of weight first, and running a half marathon in April 😬 i am tempted to start sooner but I’ve been redeployed in my nhs job and it’s really busy. Hoping it calms down by April. Feel free to private message anytime with anything xx

Thank you sooo much @JandL2020! Can I ask what your infertility problems were that lead you to it? I've been TTC for 24 months now and done three rounds on Letrozole and had my first round of Clomid this cycle. The clomid caused my ovaries to go into overdrive and I ended up in loads of pain. My fertility clinic said they couldn't bring me in for even a scan so I paid for a private one last week and found I had enlarged ovaries, loads of free fluid in my pelvis and 4 ruptured haemorrhagic cysts and a large rupturing haemorrhagic cyst. The sonographer and the fertility nurse both said I will have probably released 5 eggs on this cycle. I'm CD28 and keep getting BFN tests so sure I'm going to come on soon. My consultant wasn't that fussed when I told him my scan results, just said to call and book a scan with him on day one of my next cycle. If I am BFN this month then I've just had enough as I had 5 x the chance this cycle to get pregnant naturally and also just feel no support with my NHS clinic over this.

@Crazydoglady123 I’ve lost count of how many months it has been but came off the pill in august 2018. Starting “properly trying” in January 2019 but then my periods started to go irregular at this point (not sure why) then everything settled down after a few months. 28 day cycle there abouts ovulating. Had all of tests done, we are unexplained. I have polycystic ovaries but not the syndrome so a high ovarian reserve but not necessarily great quality. Other half’s sperm came back as “normal” after taking proxeed for months. Before this there was a mild low sperm count, and 2 % morphology. We had standard ivf not Isci. I also had clomid and also hated it. Did not react as badly as you (sounds horrendous btw hope you’re okay!) but I felt very depressed, irritable and I didn’t want sex which is defeated the purpose, so after 2 cycles I gave up. Then I think covid hit (March last year) and couldn’t be monitored so I didn’t take 3rd cycle of clomid. It’s really bad they didn’t monitor you and it’s such powerful stuff and you became unwell with it. Simply would closely monitor you given your history whilst on stims as you’re at high risk of OHSS. I only had 12 eggs collected but after transfer I started to feel horrendous after a week...was told it was mild OHSS. It didn’t feel mild I was so bloated abdo pain, vomiting. Nurse at simply (called babie btw just to pre warn you) said it was normal take a pregnancy test you’re probably pregnant. I was so close to walking into a&e! Xx

@JandL2020 you literally sound the same as me! I also have PCO not PCOS and same with OH SA. His first was bad but second was only slightly low morphology but okay. It was Jan 2019 we started TTC. I'm glad I'm not the only one who dislikes Clomid! The bloating I had with the cysts the last couple of weeks has been horrendous. I don't even know how long to wait with all these BFNs. If the cysts were secondary to ovulation then it's been 2 weeks since I would have ovulated now so no idea where AF is. That's bad they said you could just be pregnant with yours. I was worried I had OHSS and for something that can get so bad you want support from your healthcare contact.

Ha we are so similar! Have you persuaded your OH to take supplements? Clomid is the devil 👿 I’m surprised they didn’t recommend you not try and conceive this month if you had enlarged ovaries but it may have been too late at this point as nhs didn’t monitor you. I agree I didn’t feel my concerns were being fully listened to...as my symptoms would fluctuate...if you weren’t vomiting 24/7 in 10/10 pain it didn’t warrant a referral to a&e. I had one really bad night my other half was so worried he early took me to hospital but I got through it and just rang the nurse the next day. The nurse discussed with consultant and looked at my bloods, no of eggs collected so they didn’t feel they need me to come in to check fluid scan etc. I will never know if that’s what caused the miscarriage but I’m pretty sure i wasn’t in great physical shape to grow my babies. Weeks later I was scanned after miscarriage as still getting faint positive tests and the doctor said my ovaries were very enlarged. I was only on low dose stims with 12 eggs collected! Xx

Oh wow, that's not a nice experience you've been through at all! I really feel for you going through that and then having a MC 😢 I know how painful what I've been going through has been! No, the OH is rubbish at taking stuff. I've brought them all for him but he hardly ever took them. My private scan was on CD21 of my first Clomid cycle (so a week ago today) so we had no idea until the last time TTC was super painful! This is what wants me to go somewhere now that will monitor me rather than feeling abandoned again if I am at risk of OHSS or even, more cysts. I've spent the last 10days looking pregnant from all the fluid and my stomachs been churning and gurgling like somethings fermenting in there 😕

I've spent the last 7 days panicking I'm going to have quintuplets 🤣

@Crazydoglady123 I couldn’t have imagined doing the deed during stims/after transfer, I looked 6 months pregnant and could hardly walk was so uncomfortable. I still have a little belly now but that’s probably just fat 😭 When I was a scanned during clomid they saw I had two mature follicles so they said “you know you’re at risk of twins”...as soon as I said that to my OH he freaked out and we hardly did it that cycle. I’ve found it best not to tell my oh anything now 😂 he will take the supplement if I mix it with orange juice and make it for him otherwise he wouldn’t drink it. He also can’t swallow tablets 🤦‍♀️🤣

@Crazydoglady123 and definitely going private is way forward. You feel more in control. I was happiest I’ve ever been last year during IVF process. Now I’m limbo again but have a plan, which I know a lot of couples are not fortunate to be in. So I have to be grateful and look forward at the positives xx

@JandL2020 yeah I couldn't DTD the last time and then the pain got worse which prompted me to get the scan. It's good you have a plan though! It definitely helps mentally having things planned and in control to a degree.

I'm going to call the fertility nurse at the hospital today as still no sign of AF, still no BFN and I'm just not sure WTF is happening to me atm. Its driving me insane. I'm sleeping really lightly and every night needing a wee in the night which I never do. I also feeling hot this week (no temperature though). I'm a really cold person usually and (don't laugh) sleep in a hoodie and jogging bottoms every night but atm even in just one of the OH t shirts I feel so hot. I don't know what I expect them to do. Whether I can see if they'll take some bloods maybe and see. I can't help but shake out of my head that I've released 5 eggs and DTD loads the first half of this cycle and with the amount of fluid and pressure in my pelvis could it cause an ectopic or something? I'm just clutching at straws I know but it just doesn't seem normal atm.

@Crazydoglady123 definitely doesn’t sound normal. I hope you get it sorted soon and feel better xx

Thank you @JandL2020. They don't want to do anything, I've just got to wait and keep testing. I live near Simply Fertility and yet somehow on the NHS ended up at Ipswich Hospital for all of my fertility treatment so far 🙄

@Crazydoglady123 that’s so strange, I would have thought broomfield was your closest. Beyond clomid there’s no more funding for IUI or IVF so better to get things started at simply xx

@JandL2020 I know! Or even Colchester at a push! I can't wait for the webinar Monday. Did you do one of their webinars or go straight for an appointment?

@Crazydoglady123 I attended the webinar first and asked some questions at the end... they go through a rough time line, fertility assessment, what protocols on offer and most common (I was on short)...then of course they focus on success rates and add ons...most of which have no evidence for. I went for a most expensive option as it included freezing of embryos and other add ons...it wasn’t much more than the standard package and at least they won’t hit with you another bill at the end. Went on for about an hour. Have a cuppa ready 😂 my OH didn’t attend as he thought his part was insignificant..but as it turns out, if you live close by, OH can produce sperm on egg collection day at home, so takes the pressure off them to produce in a clinical setting (which my OH hated pre covid times) Xx

@Crazydoglady123 the treatment cost also covers blood tests which wasn’t so clear in the pricing list. Was expecting to be hit with £500 bill but was delighted they told me it was included. So all in all £4900 and something I think it was I thought it was good value and a small price to pay really. Can’t remember how much meds were but I had to pay for some extra cos I wasnt responding as well as expected...gonal F is mega expensive so that won’t over prescribe unless it’s really necessary. I still have a little in the fridge which is in date until April...I can’t seem to throw it away 😞 Xx

@JandL2020 oh wow thank you for all of that! Is it one to one then? I just assumed it's with lots of people on there. I remember his first SA was done there and the second they said he could do it at home and just take it in there. It's nerve wracking and exciting at the same time 😬