Create Fertility - Experiences

[Sunflower360]

Hi 👋

I was hoping for people's experiences and thoughts on Create Fertility? I am considering them, so any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I am currently going through a short protocol with high stims with another clinic, baseline scan showed 4-5 follicles (expected that as I have low AMH/low ovarian reserves) but through my high stimulation am only showing 1, maybe 2 follicles that are growing...so cycle is not looking great.

So I wanted to consider Create as they specialise in natural modified and mild IVF, but would appreciate feedback on people's experiences as we would be going in multi cycle with my low AFC/AMH and want to ensure it's the best decision in those circumstances.

Thanks!

oh that’s good to know @HopefulElle might be my decision made for me then

@HopefulElle each Trust is so different, shocked that is a year from your investigations, we got started treatment within 6 months of the first test, once we had ghe final consultation I could start that following cycle, but it qas just 1 funded cycle and any AMH under 5.4 were excluded, so bizarrely I wouldn't have been able to do it now through the NHS even though the last 2 cycles I got more eggs and embryos than I did with them!

@VSRCM how are you today? Did you have the HCG test.

Hope everyone is ok

@Sunflower360 been waiting since 3pm and still no call 😡I am assuming they will call today as that was what they said. But then again, I don’t have a lot of confidence in them doing what they said they will.. I was the first patient in today, woke up early to get there by 7:30am and had to wait 20mins to get my blood taken. It’s been a stressful enough day! 😭really don’t want to pay them more for the FET

@VSRCM That's not good at all, bloods are normally back by 3pm, did you try contacting them?

@Sunflower360 yes I been emailing my nurse since 4:30pm. She has just called me to say there’s been a delay with all the bloods today. Just impossible!

They might call again later or tomorrow morning..

@VSRCM thankfully they got back to you, hopefully you get a call later if not tomorrow

@VSRCM I had a right mare with getting a phone call today too! Had bloods done this morning and was waiting to hear back to see what trigger I needed to take dependant on my Estrogen levels.

This morning they said I may have to come in and collect a different trigger but would need to come in by 5.30. I had to call them myself at 4.45pm to confirm! Even then no nurses were available so had to wait for a call back! Talk about stress inducing. Turns out I'm doing the trigger I already had but they still needed to confirm the dosage.

Hope you get a call soon

@Maddie23 oh yes all sounds very familiar! It is not very well managed most of the time.. another nurse called me at 7:30pm to say I won’t hear back until tmr morning now. I asked them what happened and she said they usually send the bloods to a lab in Northampton by 12ish to get the results by 4. Something wrong with the machines today and they Northampton had to send it somewhere else! I don’t know why I thought they had their own lab!

Good luck on your egg collection! 🍀

@Maddie23 hope your egg collection goes ok @VSRCM hope you get some update soon, it's not great but sounds like it affected a few clinics by the sounds of it

Defo a negative. Weird how I already knew but still difficult hearing from them...

Trying to get an appointment in with the doc now, they said 2-3 weeks wait. I hope it's sooner as I need a plan! I mentioned endometrium fragment check to the nurse (as advised by the doc last time) and she said it's called Emma Alice test and it's still relatively new to the clinic so not sure if they will know what they are doing.. also no idea of costs at the moment.

In my head my options are:

• FET with Create in Dec (do they close over Christmas?)
• Another cycle in Prague in Jan (and use it like a holiday, although my husband is saying it won't be a holiday...)
• Transport embryos to another facility and FET in Jan

@VSRCM, I'm really sorry to hear that. The news is hard to hear regardless of you knowing in advance, as you hold out hope.

Create don't do collections if you start your period after 30th November. I think that may apply for transfers too, but it may be worth checking.

Suppose Prague could be like a holiday as it would just be the scans, but then again, will you feel relaxed, and will you be thinking about IVF food/diet? For me holidays have always been about eating tonnes of food I know I shouldn't eat 😂

Transferring to another clinic could be an option, but in all honesty, and this is just my opinion, I think there are pros and cons with each clinic. IVF is an ever evolving procedure and reality is each doctor has their own thoughts and opinions, as I discovered when exploring consulations with 3 clinics when deciding to go private. For us Create came out on top and aligned to us.

You have to challenge and ask questions, like I was advised I did not need the repeat miscarriage tests as I only had one chemical, and Create were right in advising that in so much I had only had one miscarriage (and it was good to know they didn't just want to take my money for it), however I wanted to do it to rule it out. Yes it cost but I found out I have high anti thyroid antibodies and need steroids for a transfer, whether it'll work is a different question but from what I've read from the research it can, but then the reserch is not exhaustive, so it's better to have steroids regardless just in case.

What I'm basically saying is, the results could be the same whatever clinic you go to. The biggest thing is trusting the clinic in making and supporting the decisons you make...if that's gone for you then perhaps exploring options is the way forward.

So far with Create I've found them to listen and provide pragmatic advice without overselling anything, but that's just been my experience. Plus when they said they would keep a clinic open to do an egg collection or transfer on a Sunday that gave me confidence that they would make the right decisions where needed. When I was with the NHS clinic they stated they only do egg collections on set days of the week... that said it all for me that they operate for themselves and not the patients.

Sorry long winded reply, hope you manage to decide what's best for you.

Thanks @Sunflower360 for taking the time to write that. It’s a lot more helpful than my supportive-but-nothing-to-comment husband! I’m just so impatient to get started again. Was really hoping I have a reason to not drink this Christmas!

I know the sensible, logical and practical route is to carry on with Create, and I do trust that the clinicians are advising/doing what’s best. I’m just so frustrated with the service as a whole. I said to my nurse if it wasn’t for her I would have left by now😅

I think a part of me is worried that the 3 frozen aren’t enough for a successful outcome, and that I’m nearing 42 (success rate drops steeply from 42!) hence the Prague route..and they do a few things that Create don’t i.e., embryo glue.

I think the soonest I can do anything will be Jan anyway, just got hold of the Dec dates and don’t think my period will come in time for a Dec FET.

On a different note - Any sign of AF arriving in time for your next cycle?

@VSRCM are you with London? I must admit I've also found comms very patchy and also the nurse has been the most helpful.

I got changed to natural modified this cycle, no one sent me a revised treatment plan and it was only by chance when a doctor called with my blood results that I actually found out my new dose (to be done later that evening). I also had to go for an extra urgent blood test on Saturday morning and only found out from the receptionist there that I had to pay extra for it - unclear that it wasn't covered as part of the package considering it was a standard hormone test as I would have at a scan.

My good news is this time I have at least one big follicle and others catching up, so looking like I might make it to egg collection later this week.

@GirlAgirlBboyC I'm with Birmingham. It's all very inconsisent. Sometimes I get charged for additional medication they provide directly, sometimes I don't. I was told by the patient coordinator they charge £50 per prescription, the nurse says no charge.

I find the receptionists don't read the emails properly, nor the instructions on the piece of paper after each visit (when you take that paper to them after your scans etc.), I needed to spell out to them what the doctor ordered i.e., tell them verbally what's written on that piece of paper every time.

So my approach is go to my nurse for everything, and she manages to sort it out with the admin staff for me (appointments, charges). Bless her, I hope she gets a big bonus this year doing the PC's jobs on top of her own!

I do mean it when I say the clinicians know what they are doing, it is a shame the admin people do such a bad job they give the company a bad name.

I hope you have a good and eventful egg collection ahead! I would challenge on the charge of the blood test, it is all part of the support package (if you opted in for that).

@VSRCM interesting that it's a bit messy in different areas then! I don't normally see a receptionist as I go to a local branch of the central clinic for scans etc - basically a nurse in one room, PC/admin in another (and across the hall is the apparent newborn baby check up which is a bit of an odd choice).

I do feel like they've been diligent in terms of really doing the checks and in my case, cancelling the cycle rather than just moving forward with likely no success. But as a project management/comms professional I do feel it's left a lot to be desired.

I asked in my recent consultation and you can have collections and transfers at the Wimbledon branch over Xmas period and they can move frozen embryos from another clinic to Wimbledon

@VSRCM AF I'm hoping will arrive next week...fingers crossed then I need a scan on day 2 to see if I can even go ahead to make sure the residual follicle/cysts have gone @GirlAgirlBboyC good luck with the egg collection!

Also agree with you both, the admin side of things is not great at all, as I am constantly double checking things and asking questions, but when I've challenged they've always responded fairly and addressed any queries... hence me going straight to the nurse since pretty much the first cycle too, get a much quicker response!

@Doxy21 Is there a charge for that?

They didn’t say there would be a charge but I can’t be certain

Practical question, if egg collection was on a Friday, would a day 3 transfer be Monday? (Assuming anything to transfer obviously) - is the first day effectively day 0?

@GirlAgirlBboyC Yes, transfer day is day 0.

Thanks @VSRCM . I'm lucky my work are pretty flexible but it's potentially tricky with the weekend falling between. This whole process is full of unpredictability!

@GirlAgirlBboyC Fingers and toes crossed for you🍀how many fertilised? 80% make day 3 so you will have something 🙂My clinic advised a day 5 when they couldnt decide which day 3 embryo to transfer.

I have read that the best environment for a day 3 embryo is the womb.

@VSRCM nothing yet! Collection is on Friday, I'm on natural modified so low numbers expected, so whether anything fertilises is the big question! But because it's so low we're looking at fresh transfer if there is something rather than freeze. So many what ifs

@GirlAgirlBboyC of course! Sorry I don’t even know what day today is because of the bad news I had yesterday!

For me, I try my best to remain as happy and peaceful as possible days leading to collection. And not forgetting the nutrients-full diet, for both egg and sperm!