IVF in Greece

[CandidBlue]

Hi all,

I’m currently looking into having IVF (donar eggs, partners sperm - unless the clinic thinks there’s a chance with my low 0.5AMH, although NHS said there is no point 😔). We are currently looking at Greece, and have been torn between the following clinics:

Newlife
Serum
Pelargos

On paper, Pelargos has the highest success rates - but only 32 reviews on google compared to the other two (300+ and 800+!).
Has anyone any recent experience with these clinics, and how did you choose which clinic to go with?
As well as success rates, Pelargos offers guarantees (number of eggs and also blastocysts) where as the others don’t.

It’s such a minefield to try and choose the right clinic, knowing this could be the difference between it working - or not 🙈

Thank you x

Hi, just sent private message

I just had success with serum! After many failed rounds in Ireland, amh 0.80, I had a ovarian PRP with serum 6 weeks before EC I think that helped alot as my other cycles I was told I need donor eggs as they just could not get any of my own eggs and when they did they disintegrate. Currently 19 weeks pregnant after serum so I highly recommend them

Thanks @Clocloxx . Just contacted them and had a really refreshing conversation. I’d lost all hope tbh - esp with NHS Meds and such poor results, but they advised we have a go using OE with PRP too, which I think we will try.
Congrats on your own success, and all the best for your pregnancy ❤️

@Clocloxx can I ask one more Q - how soon before your round did you do PRP? Just trying to figure out timelines x

Hi @CandidBlue I had my prp October 2nd and then had EC December 2nd, they are a very experienced clinic especially in low amh, best of luck please keep us updated xx

Hi, I’m looking into serum as rounds here are going from bad to worse. How many times did you travel out there and for how long? And did you have to do tests in Ireland prior to going? My GP won’t do anything for me, in fact told me not to go back to them for anything IVF related so if I do need tests before going then I’m not sure where to turn to either

Before i went i had a ecg done but this can be done in the hospital close to serum they would organize everything, My 1st trip I was there for 5 days I had blood tests done with serum prior to my ovarian prp I also had a Hysteroscopy where samples were taken for hidden infections and I had implantation cuts performed, this was all done in the same day, enjoyed the weather for the next few days, picked up all my antibiotics and medications I needed for my ivf round while I was in Greece! I picked up quite a bit as my doctor wasn't happy to rewrite any scripts from abroad either, my second trip we decided to make a hoiladay out of it we booked for 2 weeks but the ivf actually only took 5 days as I had a 3 day transfer. I also had a scan on cycle day 1 in Ireland so serum would then tell you when to start your medications and when to come over,
So no it's not necessary for any tests before coming especially if you had done ivf cycles in your own country you should be able to download all your files and send it to serum that's what I had done :)

@Clocloxxthanks for this. Where did you go for your day 1 scan in Ireland? Was it back at your original IVF clinic or through your doctors? I don’t have very helpful GPs at all so they will definitely not refer me for it

I was with Serum and unfortunately my cycle failed.
They are good in communication, but I find they don't individualise very well to your case, they apply same for young as for older. They just individualise the doses of the medications, but not the rest.
For example, in my view there is no point performing hysteroscopy(with implantation cuts) before knowing that a women over 40 is capable of producing good quality blasts.
They maybe good for easy cases, not necessarily for challenging cases.
And expensive.

I'm based in Limerick so I used Atlantic Edge Medical they would be a private ultrasound clinic:) you do not need a gp to refer you

We just had our first video call with a doctor at serum. To be honest for the first time I felt like a person with individual needs and not a number. She had looked at all my history, told me what she thinks could be my issue but wants to do the scan and checks before actually saying for certain. What she had said completely made sense to me and was something I actually thought but didn’t understand how it could be causing a problem. As
i’m over 40 and quality will be an issue they did recommend PRP but only mentioned the hysteroscopy in passing and not as an essential, just depends on what the aqua scan and biopsies show. So for now we have one more cycle here, but if they don’t make changes to the protocol it is looking more and more likely that we will be heading to Greece.

There is mention of all the blood tests results they need before going, where do people go to get the blood tests? My GP is not an option as they’ve told me not to ask for anything IVF related

My friends and I consulted clinics with the team at fertilityclinicsabroad. They know many details about different clinics—things you wouldn’t easily find through a regular internet search. Their insights really helped us figure out which clinic might be the best fit for treatment.

@MammaKG we have decided to go with Serum too! They can provide a list of clinics in Uk/ireland that do the blood tests and ECGs, as well as clinics in Athens, however I don’t think you can do PRP and the tests on same day - if you did the tests in Greece.
ECG seems to be an awful lot cheaper in Athens than UK private. Bloods seem to be about £200 in UK, from the clinics I’ve spoke to so far.

Apparantly the NHS can also provide these - but it’s down to the perogative of your GP…mine would not provide.

Best of luck with your journey!

@CandidBluei just looked up some private places that do the blood tests but it was adding up to be a lot! My GPs are definitely a no go! Everything just add up doesn’t it! I have had all the blood tests but by the time we go out there they will be over 6 months old 😩
We have one more round of our embryo banking here so will see how that goes, but we have nothing from it so far so I’m not holding out hope! The dr in Athens also advised some tweaks so I’ll see what the clinic here says about that

Hi all , first appointment with serum ivf at 10 feb.
i did a hysto and prp-gf with dr makis , i am now natural pregnant after 6 failed ivf!
I do recommend serum ivf 100% !

We have just come back from Athens, what a whirlwind! From one scan they identified one of my tubes was filled with fluid and likely needed removing and that my ovaries seemed close and were slightly concerned. Ended up having a lacoroscopy, found endometriosis all over, both tubes ruined, ovaries and some bowel all attached to the back of the womb, a cyst in one ovary! Been undergoing IVF in the UK since October and not one mention of any worry in any of my scans about my ovaries being close and they‘ve never seen a tube. The IVF would never have worked with an environment as bad as that. So glad w owner to Greece, wish we’d gone sooner!

Did anyone end up having success in Greece? Embryolab and Embryoclinic also have good reviews but they’re not in Athens, they are in a city called Thessaloniki in the north. Has anyone been there? Xx

I had 2 failed IVF cycles in Greece. One with Serum and one with Embryolab. But I will continue with Embryolab, both because of the quality and price. Embryolab cost me half the price of Serum. My doctor and embryologist in Embryolab are both good. I have been offered discussion with embryologist both before, as well as after the failure.

hello I hope you are all well I am currently in this situation of picking a clinic between the uk and abroad
I know it’s been some time since this thread but I wanted to ask if anyone had any updates 😊