IVF Abroad...

[PeachTiger]

I wonder I'd anyone has done IVF abroad? It would be lovely to talk to someone who has been through it and maybe suggest clinics, we were looking at Cyprus but happy to look anywhere. We have previously had ivf with icsi (male factor) back in 2015 through the NHS which resulted in our wonderful daughter and we would love to extend our family as we know fertility treatment is our only option.

@PeachTiger I've just done a round in Prague (currently 5 weeks pregnant from it) - happy to answer any questions you have if its any help!

I also went to Prague and I'm currently 17 weeks pregnant. Cannot recommend my clinic enough!

Hello! This is something I’ve just started looking into also! I think if we go abroad we will end up in Czechia so am intrigued to know which clinics you used @Ru19 @teampacey if you don’t mind sharing!

Following along with interest, we're currently looking at clinics in Prague. Would love more details @Ru19 and @teampacey if you're happy to give them. Congrats both on your pregnancies!

Of course! We went to Gynem IVF. They do ICSI as standard which was good for us as DH has a low sperm count after a vasectomy reversal. If you want to message me happy to answer any questions.

Of course - I went with Unica. I also had consultations with gennet, gynem and fertility port, but had a better feeling about the suggested protocol and doctor with unica. Gynem would have been my second choice though.

I was a little worried just before starting as I read a review on the Prague Facebook group where someone said they’d had a consult with another clinic and mentioned they were doing a few - the doctors response was ‘whatever you do, don’t go to Unica, their lab isn’t great’.

We obviously had a positive outcome though and really liked the clinic and staff, but just thought I would mention!

From the round, we got 7 eggs, 5 mature, 3 fertilised & ended up with 3 high grade blastocysts. Our fertilisation rate wasn’t as good as my round in the UK, so I did wonder whether the lab had something to do with that, or if we were just lucky the first time around.

Cost-wise we ended up spending around £7500-8000 for the round, including medication (half the cost of what it is in the UK), flights and accommodation for a little over two weeks. I think had we not gone just before Christmas, accommodation would have been quite a bit cheaper though and I ended up having to do 14 days of stims (I have a fairly low AMH and am slow the respond) which also added a fair bit onto our costs too.

Another clinic we read up about whilst we were in Prague was Prague Fertility Centre - lots of positive reviews online and a very good lab apparently, so would recommend looking at them too.

Any other questions please ask!

I used Cyprus Dr Firdevs and currently pregnant only issue with Cyprus is as it's a holiday destination the flights can be expensive unless you go out of season. Turkey is supposed to be really good and much cheeper than all other places as everything is included in their pricing

Thank you ladies :) will be having a look this week. Congradulations on all your pregnancies.

Thank you everyone for the information, congratulations on the pregnancies and thank you @PeachTiger for posting this thread!

@camelinastorm I’ve been looking into Miracle IVF too actually, I’m mainly being put off because the flights are pricier and seem less frequent than somewhere like Prague. I also get VERY travel sick 🙄 How easy did you find travel? We’d be probably using Manchester Airport. Feel free to PM me if it’s easier!

@RoseannesMamma yes the flights are very pricey most of the year nov- march are cheeper, however if you get travel sick I'd be cautious. It's a 5 hour flight to Pafos/Larnaka and then 2 hour drive to the north either via bus or car, I have friends who love there who have helped and also a car there, as we used to live there and my car is still over there for the reason of continuing treatment .

@teampacey Gynem is on our short list, we've got a consultation with them next month after I get my bloods and stuff done. I realised I'd done everything backwards when all the clinics were asking for bloods and scan results and we didn't have any! We've taken a break from it all for a year so everything's out of date. I'll PM you now, thank you.

@Ru19 Thanks for all the info. I remember looking up Unica but they haven't made the short list...can't remember why now! PFC is also on there so it's good to know they're also well thought of. Did you notice much of a difference in care vs the UK? I've been speaking to Serum in Athens too and have noticed they email back pretty much straight away, even on the weekends/evenings.

@FireFireBurningBright the care was miles ahead of our private clinic in London (Create Fertility in Wimbledon) - we had our coordinator on email and whatsapp and responses were usually same day. The clinic as a whole also just felt so much nicer

We've set up consultations with Gynem, Serum and Europe IVF...hoping to suss out the vibes from each of them a bit more when we speak. It's so hard to know which one to go for isn't it?!

Thanks @teampacey and @Ru19 for your help, hope you're both doing well :) And good luck to everyone else on their journeys x

Thank you everyone for the info on here!

How have your consults gone @FireFireBurningBright ? I’m still trying to narrow down my options but I’m thinking of setting up consults with Gennet, Gynem, Europe IVF and I’m still considering Miracle in Cyprus… definitely tricky to narrow it down!

We've literally just had our first consultation with Serum. The doctor was very nice and very straight talking which we appreciated, even though he did basically say my ovarian reserve and my DP's sperm are terrible 😂My AMH has dropped from 15 last year to 7.1 now, and although my AFC was 13, the sizes of the follicles aren't that great, apparently. And we knew DP's sperm is rubbish anyway.

He was very keen for us to do a hysteroscopy with implantation cuts and also seemed keen for PRP. This is all stuff I need to read into more and we're very keen to compare suggestions with the other clinics before making a decision.

How are you getting on? Any closer to a shortlist?

Glad you’ve had a successful consultation @FireFireBurningBright ! We’ve got consultations with Gennet and Gynem next week and waiting for Europe IVF to get back to me. Husband isn’t keen on Cyprus and I already feel like IVF is my idea that he’s going along with 🫣 I know that’s not the case but I get a bit worried about things! He’s more keen on the Czech clinics so sticking with those initially!

I’m so scared I’m rushing into this but also 5 losses last year felt like the longest year of my life!!

Have you had any of your consultations yet, @RoseannesMamma? Hope they all went well! Oh bless you, you've been through a lot. I think the Czech clinics are top of our lists too, for price and ease of getting to.

We spoke with Gynem and Europe IVF today and now have 3 different lots of advice to try and work through! Serum was very much keen for hysteroscopy, endometrial biopsy and PRP and said our issue was my low AMH, endometriosis and different sized follicles, as well as poor sperm quality. Gynem were very much of the thought it was due to sperm quality and that my issues weren't too bad at all. And then Europe IVF are very keen for us to do at least 2 egg retrievals with PGT-A testing with a view to do FETs further down the line. They also didn't think my AMH/AFC was too much of an issue. So we're a little puzzled with what to do next.

Wishing you the best of luck with your appointments though, keep me updated!

Oh no @FireFireBurningBright that sounds a bit confusing that you’ve had three different lots of advice! How are you getting on with it all?! Hope you manage to work through it and work out what’s for the best.

We spoke to Gennet today who said AMH is maybe a little low for my age but still normal. He recommended hysteroscopy and maybe PGT-A but said they’re not essential for proceeding. Speaking to Europe IVF and Gynem tomorrow and Friday so we’ll see what they say and take it from there!

We’ve had all our consults now. Unfortunately we didn’t vibe with the doctor at Europe IVF. Gynem and Gennet had very similar advice and would be happy to go with IVF based on the testing we’ve already had. I think we’re helped by our ages (I’m 33 and my husband 31), our main issue is recurrent loss.

@RoseannesMamma was Europe IVF in Cyprus ?

@camelinastorm no it’s in Czechia. We didn’t arrange any consults with Cyprus clinics in the end - my husband was preferring the Czech ones

@RoseannesMamma ah it's so confusing as they have the same name 😂 glad you have found a good vibe with some clinics

@RoseannesMamma That's interesting to hear, was it the attitude of the doctor that didn't feel right, or was it their advice do you think? Did they advise anything useful for your recurrent losses? I'm so sorry btw, that sounds really emotionally draining.

We did like the doctor who did our consultation but she definitely advised things we'd never thought about (back to back cycles to collect the maximum amount of eggs and PGT-A testing). Do you think you'll go ahead with Gennet or Gynem? Really hope it all works out for you, whichever way you go! Have you done IVF before? We did 2 rounds in 2023 but one ended with bleeding before the test date and one was a chemical. It's taken us this long to build up to feeling ready again and now I'm panicking about our ages a bit. However, all of the clinics keep saying how young we are- we aren't really, we're 34 and 35! But I'll take any compliments I can get to ease the panicking 😂

We've got Pronatal and Gennet still to talk to. And I've been in contact with a clinic in Bulgaria too but they're not being as responsive.

@FireFireBurningBright Yes I think she was maybe a bit too straight to the point with everything, we warmed to the other two doctors we spoke to more. She was more keen on running more tests before committing to IVF.

So we’ve got ourselves in a little pickle with whether to do any tests or whether to go straight ahead with IVF so we’ve arranged another couple of consultations to see if the doctors say similar. If they start suggesting other things we’d not thought of we might end up extra confused but we’re hoping for more clarity! So we’ve arranged to speak to Fertility Port and hopefully Pronatal Plus.

I’m sorry IVF hasn’t worked for you so far! Hopefully it will for you very soon! We’ve not done any IVF before so it’s all quite new to us, apart from what I know from reading and reading forums and people’s experiences on social media!

Hope your next consults go ok! Keep me updated!

@FireFireBurningBright Hope you’re getting on ok! We had a consult with Fertility Port this week who has recommended a uterine biopsy to check for immunology issues (looks like NK cells and some other bits), then IVF with PGT-A. So a bit of a combination of what all the others have suggested. Speaking with Pronatal Plus next week!