hopefully some useful info to pass along...

If there is a sperm issue I would always opt for icsi, I wouldn’t want to risk not fertilising or having so few fertilise you don’t get to freeze any. You spend too much as it is to risk that.

copied & pasted:
Your fee for the IVF Multi-Cycle plan includes everything you would get from standard IVF treatment as well as CAREmaps embryo time-lapse imaging, a technique unique to CARE Fertility, and blastocyst culture. In all, your full treatment will include:

  • Cycle monitoring in treatment - Your appointments, bloodwork, cycle management, follow-up consultations post fresh cycle, the HFEA fee, and necessary ultrasounds.
  • Egg collection
  • IVF laboratory - Our industry-leading laboratories provide embryo preparation for transfer, fertilisation, and culture of the embyros, preparation of sperm, and CAREmaps time-lapse technology, giving you the best IVF treatment available in the UK.
  • CAREmaps time-lapse technology - CARE Fertility was the first UK clinic to introduce time lapse imaging, and we developed this in to our own unique embryo selection model - CAREmaps. We now offer CAREmaps, which uses algorithms used only in our labs, to help us select the embryos which are most likely to have a higher chance of a live birth. The normal cost of CAREmaps is £775 but with the Multi-Cycle Programme it is free.
  • Blastocyst culture - Blastocyst culture involves extending the normal two or three day lab development of an embryo to five or six days. This is included in your IVF Multi-Cycle fee but would cost between £425–495 without the package.
  • Embryo transfer
  • Freezing and storage - As standard, we provide embryo freezing and storage for one year.
 
it just felt to me like.. why do i need such forceful fertilisation ya know!? but i was thinking again and maybe its because the success rate will be better. i think its the way she put it, where she said any sperm issues and they can sit in a dish for 16hrs and do nothing.. made me think, if thats true i have literally 0 chance of ever conceiving naturally cause jeez!!
the website she gave me was excellent. i forgot to mention he had vericocle. i dont know how i even forgot! but on one article it mentions how coq10 is used in men with vericocle so fantastic defo adding it for him!!!! :) just no more black maca or ashwagandha it seems and looking at cutting selenium or doing math on it and need to do math on vit c as well as she said to be careful as it can go from helpful to harmful in higher doses.
I wouldn't cut selenium if she has recommended it. If you google the uses of it its known to improve morphology. I would honestly just stick to what she has recommended and see if there is a difference. Coq10 would be good to add but i believe it is very expensive.
Try not to think to much into IVF, yes you may need it but i dont think there is a specific reason that you can't conceive naturally. Hopefully the new mix of supplements will help your hubby out.x
 
wow thats so cheap! even for natural ivf ours want £4000 for 1 cycle i believe!? did you go thru accessfertility? if we do end up going for it properly then i will ask about price difference with no refund vs a refund. i cant see this online but they are sending me a booklet.

It is cheaper because it’s the multicycle option with no refund. If you look on their website it is listed under ‘multicycle’ not unlimited or refund. We weighed up whether a refund was worth it and in the end, didn’t think it was because you don’t end up saving very much. If you think about it 10k with a refund is still 5k lost, when we would lose 6800 if unsuccessful. Didn’t seem worth it to push ourselves the extra to save for potentially 1800 saving.

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but your actual costs will depend on the clinic you pick, access fertility is just a finance provider not a clinic x
 
I wouldn't cut selenium if she has recommended it. If you google the uses of it its known to improve morphology. I would honestly just stick to what she has recommended and see if there is a difference. Coq10 would be good to add but i believe it is very expensive.
Try not to think to much into IVF, yes you may need it but i dont think there is a specific reason that you can't conceive naturally. Hopefully the new mix of supplements will help your hubby out.x

Hii only ganna cut it cause she said 100mcg and wellmans has 150 already so basically he is on 350.. :/
I take coq10. Yeh its pretty expensive but needs must! I have and always will take coq10 purely because im paranoid about my eggs- :)
 
but your actual costs will depend on the clinic you pick, access fertility is just a finance provider not a clinic x

Thanks for Info Sugar. Ill defo ask them about no refund option & weigh it up. I didnt realise they wasnt a clinic i actually thought they was perhaps a head clinic almost. Ganna wait a bit now i wanted to get in and get it done but my mums just said to me i should push nhs to do his urology referral first and asap first.
 
It is cheaper because it’s the multicycle option with no refund. If you look on their website it is listed under ‘multicycle’ not unlimited or refund. We weighed up whether a refund was worth it and in the end, didn’t think it was because you don’t end up saving very much. If you think about it 10k with a refund is still 5k lost, when we would lose 6800 if unsuccessful. Didn’t seem worth it to push ourselves the extra to save for potentially 1800 saving.

View attachment 86319

Got Booklet £8600 with No refund!!! Eek i just got more positive! :)
 
Got Booklet £8600 with No refund!!! Eek i just got more positive! :)

Ohhhh I’m glad you’re feeling more positive! I hope you get all your tests and things sorted soon so you can start making decisions! Xx
 
Ohhhh I’m glad you’re feeling more positive! I hope you get all your tests and things sorted soon so you can start making decisions! Xx

thanks sugar i have my scan tomorrow (finally!) im in lateral phase so they should be able to see how good (or not) my lining is! :)

the nurse on phone said to me they wouldnt do any tests on me at all, as long as i have a scan report. they would only insist on their own s/a but based on what i said i can see why..

i dont see point in paying £2000 more to possibly get £5000 back and even then we might not even need 2 cycles.
 
thanks sugar i have my scan tomorrow (finally!) im in lateral phase so they should be able to see how good (or not) my lining is! :)

the nurse on phone said to me they wouldnt do any tests on me at all, as long as i have a scan report. they would only insist on their own s/a but based on what i said i can see why..

i dont see point in paying £2000 more to possibly get £5000 back and even then we might not even need 2 cycles.

Good luck for tomorrow x
 
Hi @soffphie

We only paid for one cycle - it cost £6k including drugs - and it failed. My AMH is 13.3 which I kept being told was good for my age, I was 42 when we did it and our chance was 23%. The nurse mentioned I’d hopefully get 10 eggs, I got 7.

60-70% is the average they expect to fertilise. We had 5 fertilised. By day 3 we had 3 ‘top quality’ embryos and by the time it got to embryo transfer there was only 1 blastocyst to put in and zero were suitable for freezing which I was devastated about. We’re not in a position to pay for another round and as I’m now 43 our chances of success have gone done to 17%.

In the consultation afterwards I mentioned I was gutted we didn’t get 10 eggs and that there was none to freeze. My consultant then told us she wouldn’t have expected any frozen ones at my age! She also said they never really know how many eggs you’d get as each month of your cycle is different. Both of those facts were news to me and I was pretty p*ssed off that we hadn’t been told that as we’d probably have gone for the 2 rounds offer that you’re talking about.

It’s very difficult to know the right questions to ask but I’d recommend that when you do choose a clinic ask for their results specifically for your situation as in age & sperm issue. Get it in writing. And ask if they’d expect you to have frozen ones. I’m not sure if FET has better results, but it might do as your body will be less battered from the drugs.

As for ICSI I think if you’re going to put your body and relationship through IVF then opt for ICSI if they say you need it because it would be awful to have to stop after egg collection. Check if they give them a chance to fertilise naturally before doing ICSI. We have no sperm issue but we’re told we might need it as eggs harder to penetrate when they’re older ...but we didn’t need it in the end.

I don’t regret doing IVF and I got through it pretty well but the aftermath has been really tough. Half of my hair fell out as a result of the downregging drugs (no bald bits just very thin) and knowing we can’t afford to do it again leaves me feeling very lost.

The only other thing to mention is that your man could try accupuncture to improve sperm. It works for blokes too and is much cheaper than ivf at roughly £45 a go.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do. Xx
 
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The only other thing to mention is that your man could try accupuncture to improve sperm. It works for blokes too and is much cheaper than ivf at roughly £45 a go.
yes, a good idea and it really improves male and female fertility. IVF abroad might be one of the options, I paid EUR2,500 for IVF and unlimited drugs, and got amazing support.
 

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