Belfast Fertility Clinics

[Sunshine180]

does anyone here have any experience with fertility clinics in Belfast. For background my husband and I have been TTC for 2 years now and my dr has referred me to gynae but the waitlist is currently 3 years. My husband has booked for his semen analysis and if it comes back ok I assume the nhs will just tell us we have to wait on my gynae appointment so I was going to look into going private.

I have seen In Ovo do an IVF package for £5k has anyone with experience of them experienced are there many hidden costs on top of this please?

@Patientlywaiting37 i think we will be Feb/March with RFC. We might be on similar timelines. Are you doing short protocol?

@Sunshine180 yes, I believe so. Northisterone first (probably towards end of this month), then 10 days of injections or so all being well. Is this your first cycle with RFC? I did a cycle there last year.

@Patientlywaiting37 that’s good you’re getting started soon. How are you feeling for it?

Yes first cycle, how was your experience with them? Did you do a fresh and frozen transfer? I got the letter to say we are top of the list yesterday so need to ring tomorrow to accept treatment so will hopefully know more about timelines then.

@Sunshine180 We had a really good experience with the clinic. Unfortunately we had a biochemical/missed miscarriage with our fresh transfer and a failed FET, but the staff were all lovely and looked after us really well. They were fairly responsive to portal msgs too which was great given I ask lots of questions! It's usually within sort of 4 to 6 weeks of getting your letter that you get scheduled depending on individual cycles, so that's exciting!

I'm feeling positive and ready to try again. I think it helps that we are signed up via access - gives a sense of some security. TFP staff so far have been lovely and its a similar experience to RFC.

@Patientlywaiting37 im sorry to hear about your failed first cycle. Fingers crossed this upcoming one will be successful for you. Did you have any additional frozen embryos from RFC?

we were actually due to start with TFP before Christmas. We had did our consent forms and everything and were going to pay for our cycle on the Wednesday and ended up having our NHS appointment unexpectedly on the Monday and they told us the waiting lists were much shorter than we expected so we decided to wait and try NHS first. From my consultations with TFP they seemed really lovely also though.

@Sunshine180 Thank you. We had two frozen embryos. We used one for our free NHS FET which failed, so we have one left frozen at RFC. Going to go fresh again though whilst we are still young(ish!)/healthy etc.

I hope everything goes well for you in this upcoming cycle!

@Patientlywaiting37 that was good you got 3 embryos. Good idea about the full cycle again though, it does seem to make all the difference being younger. I am 28 so hoping that will help us out a bit but you just never know.

did you have any time off work for your cycle? I would really like them to give me a sick line for some of it as I find work stressful enough at the best of times but I’m not sure if that is something the consultant would do

Can I check if anyone has any pharmacy recommendations, or has everyone’s clinic used Fertility2U? I am with Therapie, so I have a prescription, and just trying to find the cheapest at the minute.

@Sunshine180 I didn't take any time off, except for my egg collection day, though my ET was on a Sunday otherwise I would have taken it off. I did work from home during injections as I had that ability/option though that was mainly because I travel to work and it wouldn't have worked with injections times. I think you just need to do what works for you to ensure you give yourself the best chance

@Patientlywaiting37 were you scan appointments during your stims mostly early in the morning? How did you find the EC?

I can work from home too luckily so if I can’t take it off I will probably mostly wfh but I will talk to the consultant and see what he thinks.

Hi everyone! Sorry for jumping on this threat but I have started IVF with TFP Belfast and was wondering if anyone else on here has?

I started my ovaleap injections last week. This is our first cycle so it’s all new and daunting to be honest. Would love to know if anybody else is going through treatment right now 😀

@Sunshine180 sorry, only seeing your post now! Apts were mainly in the morning from memory. EC was ok for me, but definitely need to take that day off!

@StillTTC7 I am due to start my cycle with TFP next month! How are you finding things so far? Are the ovaleap injections difficult?

Oh exciting! Things are going okay thanks, I have a scan tomorrow morning to see how I’m coming along so will know more then!

My husband has been away with work so I’ve had to do the injections and I’ve surprisingly found them okay! They’re honestly not bad at all!

Will this be your first go with TFP then?

@StillTTC7 how are you getting on with your injections? Did you get your first scan?

we got our first set of consent forms through tonight so hoping it won’t be long now until we can get started!

Hi @Sunshine180! Yes had the scan thanks a some follicles are growing, but they’re not there yet. So doing more injections until another scan on Saturday! I am a whizz with the injections now I must say 😂 though I am feeling sharp twinges in my ovaries.

That’s great news! One go at them should get you through, so many videos though. Depending on where you are in your cycle it can be really fast after getting the forms sent in!

@StillTTC7 that's great that you’ve got the hang of the injections! Fingers crossed you will see some good growth at your next scan. Do you have an estimated date for egg collection?

we completed them tonight but I think it was just the data consenting and they still need to send us through the ones will all the videos! Hoping they will send them through tomorrow and we can complete them tomorrow night now that the first set are done! I have just finished my period so will be due again around 16th of Feb, would really really love to be able to start in that cycle but not sure if that is a bit optimistic!

@Sunshine180 yeah they’re honestly a breeze after the first couple so definitely don’t worry about them! All being well on Saturday (🤞🏻) egg collection will be on Monday. Bit nervous about that part if I’m honest.

Oh yes that’s right sorry! The videos are a nuisance but you can get through them quick enough. My cycle timing was much like yours, and we didn’t have enough time to get the planning appointment and drugs ordered so had to wait for the next cycle. It could still happen but just a heads up so you’re not too bummed if you have to wait! But honestly the next month just flies through!

@StillTTC7 thats good to hear! Have you had any side affects from them except the twinges you mentioned? Aw not too much longer to wait, hope it all goes well for you. Have you planned to take some time off work for the EC?

Yes I think it probably is cutting it a bit tight with the way my cycle is falling but at least if we have everything ready to go for the cycle after that it would then be exciting to have a proper start date after all of the waiting even if it is a month later. When we had our first appointment I was surprised that they had ones available the same week when I rang though and they have been really quick getting us set up on the portal and everything since we got our top of the waiting list letter so still have a little bit of hope for February!

@Sunshine180 weirdly I have had some nausea, but literally just wee bouts! So it’s been all pretty easy going so far, I had heard horror stories but definitely not the case!

Aww that’s great news! It feels great to finally be making progress doesn’t it? It seems to take an age to get to the actual starting point! Are you with NHS?

@StillTTC7 thats good you’re not feeling too bad! What dose are you on? I think I’ll be starting on the lowest one, 125mg I think it is?

Yes it’s so exciting that it finally feels like we’ll be starting soon! Has it taken you long to get to this point?

Yes we were due to pay for our treatment and start with TFP just before Christmas when we got our nhs appointment letter and then they told us there isn’t really a waitlist at the minute so we decided to go nhs. So we’ve already did our consent forms and everything with TFP so we’ll be able to fly through them! Lol.

@Sunshine180 I’m on 375 so high enough but some wiggle room! Sorry I forgot to say I am able to take Monday off if collection goes ahead, my work is very accommodating which is good. Just because it’s anaesthetic.

Aw it’s going to fly in, every little step feels like an achievement! I think we had our initial consult last May, so long enough but not the longest!

Wow that was fantastic luck! And yes you’ve got insight for the forms 😂 I actually got the NHS call yesterday for the initial appointment next week. I’m a bit of a realistic optimist, so yes I want nothing more than for this treatment to work, but it’s nice to know NHS is not far round the corner if needs be. I’ve heard great things about them, and didn’t realise you could go private with them too!

@StillTTC7 that’s great your work is being accommodating. I don’t really want to tell me work but not sure if I’m going to have to. I know they will be really accommodating if I do tell them but I just want to keep it private tbh, we haven’t told anyone.

I know I couldn’t believe it when we got the letter! So we had our initial consultation on 18th December and we were told it would be a 4 month wait from there but then we received our top of the list letter on 13th January so not long at all. We didn’t need to have a follow up consultation after our initial one as we had already had all our tests so think that sped things up a bit too.

Yes I’m the same about trying not to think about any future cycles and just be positive for this one - fingers crossed. I did ask if we had extra embryos with RFC what would happen though cause you are only entitled to one fresh and one frozen transfer on NHS and he said after that they would still store your embryos and it would be £1500 for a frozen transfer which I thought was reasonable compared to some places. I assume medication would be on top of that.

@Sunshine180 yeah, I don’t have to say too much but they know the jist of it. And I get you, I wish we had kept it private. But it’s also been lovely to have some family support as my hubby as been away loads with work.

Oh my goodness that is so quick! Perfect timing for you then! It’s good to hear it’s moving along then.

Oh I didn’t realise you were entitled to frozen transfer as well, that’s great news! But yes not too expensive compared to fresh actually. And I think you can do non medicated frozen cycles if you wish, you just need the trigger injection I think and progesterone so will keep costs down if needs be.

Did you take any of your test results or anything from TFP to the NHS consultation?

@StillTTC7 yes I know what you mean! Sometimes I wish I had more people to talk about it with but this forum is great so can talk to people who understand how it feels.

Yeah it’s moved so quick, even when we had a consultation with TFP in December they had said we could probably start on my March cycle so it didn’t make sense for us to not wait for NHS once we got the letter. Did you have to wait at all with TFP?

We had our tests done a mixture of NHS and private but the NHS were happy to accept the private scan and AMH test that I had done, they just did another scan at the initial consultation to have on their records. We’re being treated for male factor so I’m not sure if that is why they happily accepted my private results because my husband’s SA was done with the NHS anyway.

When I first got referred to gynae to go for a scan I rang and asked how long to waiting list was and was told 3 years!! so I went for a private scan with dr roberts (who works at TFP but we did it at another clinic he holds) and took the semen analysis results with us and he did the fertility referral. Our GP was a bit clueless about it tbh so I was glad he was able to do the referral.

have you had any tests done with your GP or did you just go private to start with?

@Sunshine180 yeah it’s great, I didn’t know about it until last week so it’s been a revelation!

Ahh yes I get you. That was good though. Can’t believe a scan was going to be 3 years! Absolute madness isn’t it! Thank goodness you were able to navigate the channels though, it’s really a minefield isn’t it? No real wait for us, just trying to get appointments booked on days we were both off work caused some delays I guess!

I rang the GP in January 23 and asked to get tests and referred to NHS. Did the ‘day 21’ blood tests with my GP. I got a call to say ‘all regular, doc says keep trying’ basically. I knew something wasn’t right so just went private. Straight away we got the results which contradicted the GP, so stayed private. I then asked the GP again to refer me to NHS but like yours, totally clueless. Made me do day 21 test twice more, before another GP referred me on the first phone call 😂 if you don’t laugh you’d cry I suppose lol.

Looking forward to hearing what your treatment plan will be like, some are so similar and some so different!