Private clinic clomid / ivf

[Leanne0536]

Hi all, we've been ttc for 2 years and went to the doctor for advice after a year. Most of this time has been spent awaiting referrals, the only thing I've had done on the NHS is the day 21 bloods. A couple came back inconclusive and one came back higher, suggesting I 'probably' ovulated (not the most helpful!). As a result we decided to go private and 1st appt. was last week. Husband had sample done which was fine and I had vaginal ultrasound, which was also fine. Awaiting results of AMH test. The doctor suggested going in January to start the day 21 tests for ovulation, but we were hoping to get more help / answers sooner, so I asked if I could try clomid which I've been given for one cycle. After this it'll stop for the blood tests and then the doctor mentioned looking into ivf. I feel they are already trying to persuade us to take the ivf option without exploring other options first, just wondering what others think? Has anyone else had a similar experience? I am really cynical about the profit side of private care.

Also, ironically my first fertility appt. letter came through the day before my first private appt (after months of waiting!). Would there be an issue if I still went through the NHS when I've initiated private care?

Thanks in advance for any opinions / tips 😊

 

[snowbee]

If you have private treatment you are no longer entitled to NHS treatment in my area. I suggest you look at the policy in yours. We considered going private for clomid as we spent an eternity (I think it was 3 years from referral I've lost track of time now) waiting for treatment but if we had it ruled us out of out free ivf try and we felt we couldn't afford to miss that.

I'm surprised you have been given clomid without a diagnosis or did I miss that? I would have thought you needed further tests first.

 

[Leanne0536]

Thank you, I'll have to look into local policy as I wasn't aware private may rule you out of NHS treatment, how frustrating! No I haven't had any diagnosis yet. The consultant said she'd give me clomid to try just for this month with the view of having blood tests for ovulation from January. I now have an NHS appointment this week so I'm confused about what to do now. Like yourselves we wouldn't want to be ruled out of free ivf if it gets to that either. Thank you for you reply ��

 

[Katybaby87]

I don’t think private tests exclude you from nhs ivf, but if you pay for private ivf first I don’t think you can then go back to nhs...

We had IUI privately while we waited on the ivf nhs list.

 

[MoominGirl]

We are also going through the process of fertility investigations so I know where you're coming from about waiting for referrals. I've been frustrated many times and have considered going private but I've so far talked myself out of it. Despite the waiting and needing to find levels of patience that I never knew existed, I think we've still done the right thing to keep persevering. We've actually needed quite a lot of tests done and the costs really would have mounted up if we'd paid privately.

I don't know much about Clomid as ovulation has never been an issue with me but as snowbee says I'm surprised you've been given it without a diagnosis. I am also very cynical about the profit side of private care. Obviously I can only talk about my own experience but we had a particularly horrendous experience at our first fertility appointment. So much so that I've asked the GP to refer us elsewhere as we'll never go back to that clinic. There were a lot of issues with the appointment but part of it related to the way the doctor was trying to push us into IVF without any further tests. It felt like the quicker we failed the free go, the sooner we'd be lining her pocket.

It may be worth going to the NHS appointment and see what they can offer you. I managed to get a lot of stuff arranged though gynaecology (also NHS) who were far more helpful than fertility. Also when my new fertility referral comes through, I'm expecting them just to offer us IVF as I don't think there's anything else they can offer us now. I'm in a much better place about accepting it though as now I feel that we've been investigated fully.

Hope that's helpful.

 

[Leanne0536]

Thank you so much for the info and I hope all goes well for you �� We are going to try clomid this month and see what's offered if no success. I went for my first scan today and they've asked me to go back again Monday for another to measure follicle growth, when I might possibly need an injection. Each scan is £125 a time, the AMH blood tests were 75, the initial appt was 150 and the injection is likely to cost more again. Does anyone know of this is normal procedure for a private clinic to charge per scan? I'm sure I read somewhere that some offered a one off payment when clomid was started regardless of how many scans were needed? Thanks to anyone who can share any experience of this

 

[snowbee]

It depends on the clinic. There is a private scanning place near us who offer a package deal on scans, a whole cycle of tracking scans is 180 for as many as you need until you ovulate. They just do scans though they aren't attached to a clinic so it is generally used by people getting treatment abroad or on subsequent cycles and skipping the clinics scanning (or often it isn't offered after the first round if ovulation has occurred on a dose).

Have to say though your initial costs are reasonable, we were quoted nearly 600 at our closest clinic.