Looking for feedback on Duo Sim (anywhere) and IVF clinics in Prague please

[WarriorsComeOutToPlayay]

Hello,

I have just had a fourth failed attempt at IVF in the UK and my funds are reducing so I am considering IVF abroad.

My situation is that I am 42 with a low AMH of 4.2. My clinic in the UK has been very skeptical of Duo Stim when I have asked about it but I would like to consider trying this. My egg counts in the four cycles have been:

• 1 (so discontinued)
• 5 (all collected but 2 were too small and of the 3 remaining we got 1 blastocyst but transfer was unsuccessful)
• 3 (but some abnormalities made us discontinue the cycle)
• 5 (of which 2 were far too small and of the remaining 3 none made it to blastocyst stage).

Each time my follicles have been at significantly varying sizes hence my interest in Duo Stim. Does anyone with similar circumstances to me have any experience of Duo Stim (positive or negative) please?

I could likely only fund 1 - 2 more IVF cycles in the UK so am looking further afield and Prague seems to have good reviews and affordable flights. I would be grateful if anyone could recommend clinics out there. The clinics I am looking into so far are Gennet, Gynem, IVF Cube and Fertility Port.

I also understand there are some agencies that make things a little easier (PragaMedicaand Medical Travel Czech) so if anyone has used these I would be grateful to hear about your experiences and if you consider they added value/made savings.

Thanks in advance for anyone taking the time to respond.

Hi @WarriorsComeOutToPlayay

After 3 rounds in UK I went to Spain where they recommended Duo Stim with PGTA testing. I’m 42 with AMH of 13.1.

Our duostim round was roughly the same cost of one round in UK, but medication was roughly similar as I bought most of that here and obviously need to factor in travel and accommodation. I took medication for 11 or 12 days in first stage and 14 in second. I did find it quite intense as I started getting more side effects in stage but I’m glad we did it.

We ended up with a good number of eggs and embryos but unfortunately all aneuploid so nothing to transfer. We may go for one more round and it would be duostim again but I’m currently taking a bit of time out after having a laparoscopy for a hydrosalpinx, cysts on ovaries and endometriosis - which, bar the cysts, were all discovered by the clinic in Spain.

We based our clinic choice on success rates/reviews but also on availability of flights because dates were such an unknown.

Wishing you all the best of luck x

Thank you so much @DaisyTee I’m sorry your last round didn’t work out for you and I wish you the very best for your next. Thank you for the information regarding Duostim, it’s good to hear you would do it again. Would you mind sharing the name of your clinic please? I am happy throwing the net wider 😊

I hope you recover well following your laparoscopy. I had one a couple of years ago for endometriosis and a large cyst. I had the op in the August and in the October I tested positive for my first and only pregnancy, all natural. While that pregnancy sadly wasn’t meant to be (we were statistically very, very unlucky) I remain convinced that the laparoscopy made me fertile, albeit for a limited time. I wish you the best of luck x

Thank you so much, I’ve heard of a few people getting pregnant soon after a laparoscopy, I’m wishing that could be us but I don’t want to get my hopes up.

We went with Institute Bernabeu in Alicante. The clinic is superb and the staff are excellent, I felt the level of care was far superior to the experience I’ve had here. You should find a few threads on the other clinics you’ve mentioned. I think no matter where you go in Europe they’ll all be better than the UK sadly.

if you have any other questions on duo stim I’m happy to help. I found it hard to find info online of other people’s experiences.

Thanks so much @DaisyTee, I’m rooting for you.

I have sent my initial emails to clinics and have added IB to that list - thank you. It would be great to be able to ask you some questions re Duostim if I have any after the initial consultations if that’s ok.

Of course! No problem at all x
hope it goes well x

I went with Fertility Port (via Praga Medica). I wish I knew about duostim sooner, although appreciate the doctor will need to assess that you are suitable first.

You should get a free doc consultation via Praga Medica (https://www.pragamedica.com/). It will be useful to have all your data ready. My experience is they do not hard sell/upsell. They present the recommendations and options and it's all up to you.

I have done 4 cycles in the UK and went to Prague for the duostim. I was 41 with a higher AMH (I think it was 14 - deemed a normal responder). I average 7-9 eggs progressing to 2-3 blasts in previous cycles; the duostim cycle yielded 4 blasts within the same cycle. It is good for if your follicles don't grow evenly as the second phase allows them to catch up.

Physically it actually wasn't too bad at all; they were very strict with the dosage and monitored me closely. I did not feel as bloated as I did my previous cycles.

Costs wise, it is definitely cheaper so we opted in for a lot of the extras (ICSI, MACs, embryo glue, endometrium scratch. I also had a hysteroscopy to check that everything is normal + an ERA).

Logistics were easy for me as work was very supportive (I worked from Prague for a number of days); stayed at airbnbs. Prague is very easy to get around.

The service is much better; the patient coordinators are prompt, brilliant and knowledgeable (I had multiple bad experiences in the UK). You can communicate with them via whatsapp.

I did a double transfer April 2024 and that led to a chemical (I didnt test my embryos as had a failed transfer with an euploid once; and thought to give them all a chance). I was planning for my next transfer end of 2024 but it's been delayed until now, looking at possibly a May transfer.

Hope this is useful and all the best to you!

This is massively helpful @MsPeony - thank you so much for taking the time. I am sorry it hasn’t worked out for you so far and I hope your next transfer is the one that does.

I’ve got our consultation with the Dr via Praga Medica booked! May I ask you to share (or PM) me the total costs for your round and a rough idea of accommodation fees? Only if you feel comfortable sharing of course.

Again huge thank you!

Hmm I can’t say for sure, I didn’t really keep a record after the 4th round. I did do a comparison between Create, NHS private and Prague and I would say it’s 20-30% cheaper after including my fights and accommodation.

This might be helpful - https://fertilityport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PRICE-LIST-FPP-EN-2023.pdf

Also, I got the prescriptions from the clinic and went to the nearby pharmacies (there are 3 near the clinic) to get the meds.

Feel free to ask me any more questions should you need to 🙂

Thank you so much @MsPeony

Hello @WarriorsComeOutToPlayay
We’re currently looking at IVF in Prague too, like you mostly due to cost. The majority of clinics offer a free initial consultation over video call which I’d recommend you do - as many as you can cope with. We chose three initially but they all gave different advice so we approached another two clinics to gain some clarity, so we had 5 initial consults in total.

We spoke with doctors at Gennet, Gynem, Europe IVF, Fertility Port and Pronatal Plus. We liked Gennet and Pronatal Plus the best but everyone has their own preferences and situations. Apparently Gennet & Gynem are larger clinics, the other 3 are smaller and I was told may feel more personal.

We’ve just decided to go ahead with Pronatal Plus with a couple of investigations before IVF. Feel free to ask me anything, although we’re in the early stages ourselves!

Thanks for everyone’s help and advice. We have chosen Fertility Port via Praga Medical and, all things being well I am likely to be in Prague in the next 10 days. Will you be in Prague soon too@RoseannesMamma ?

I was very impressed with all the clinics - in some ways I wish I hadn’t been as it made the decision harder. But it’s good to feel spoil for choice.

Just thought I’d write down what we are doing in case it helps anyone planning to do this in the future:

We are having a mild IVF cycle which may develop into Duostim depending on my scans.

I have ordered home blood test kits with One Day Tests and booked my UK ultrasound with Ultrasound Direct. Fertility Port sent our prescription to Zen Pharmacy who delivered the drugs the following day. The cost was 50% less than what we paid for our previous UK rounds.

If we do go ahead with Duostim we will pick up our additional meds while in Prague as this will be slightly cheaper.

Keeping everything crossed and good luck to everyone xx

Hi @WarriorsComeOutToPlayay
Sounds like you’ve got a good plan in place. I hope everything works out for you! We were actually due to be in Prague right now to have a diagnostic hysteroscopy but to our complete surprise I’ve fallen pregnant. Super early days and after 5 losses it’s hard to get excited but fingers crossed!
Sending baby dust!

Good luck OP.

In case anyone else is looking I had duostim back in 2019 in Instituto Bernabeu in Madrid so they have been doing it for a relatively long time.

@RoseannesMamma that’s wonderful news. Sending you my very best and hope all goes well.

@finiteelement thank you!

I’m in Prague right now and all seems to be going as well for my age and AMH. I’m really happy with everything and hoping for the best. And Prague is lovely so that’s a bonus xxx