Donor egg dilemma

[alishakanakia]

Hi guys!

I have pcod and have had 2 failed cycles and 3 failed transfers. The doc now suggests going for donor eggs and according to him I have a good lining. I am confused if I should give this a shot or not. The emotional and financial struggle just scares the shit out of me. Anyone who has had a BFP with donor eggs in a similar situation like mine?

[Karinyaa]

Hi luv. I'm sorry you've found yourself facing all this. I was 38 but was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve at 30. We did 5 IUIs and then went straight to ivf using donor eggs. Using donor eggs was an easy decision for us. We paid 100% out of pocket and knew we could only afford to do one full cycle. An egg donor gave us the best chance of pregnancy. Also the chance of getting enough embryos to freeze. So we could have more children without the expense of more retrievals. We have 8 frosties waiting for us when we are ready. I know we wouldn't have got as many embryos if we used own eggs. I was also worried about egg quality with my own eggs. I view donor eggs as the blessing. Thus they are currently providing new methods, like mitochondrial donation. Have you heard about it? BTC has got various packages, which may suit to various pockets. The main point is that donor's mitochondria are expected to ''rejuvenate'' own eggs. I believe this is a nice option to try out before turning down egg donation route.

[Karinyaa in reply to Karinyaa]

Am adding. Here's how it goes. Personally I like this one ~ Perfect chance package (Mitochondrial Donation). It includes the following services:- 5 embryo transfers;

- 2 cycles of mitochondrial donation;

- 3 cycles of egg donation;

- Medical treatment (no age limit for egg donation programs. Only health issues);

- Medications needed before transfer and 3 months after;

- Egg donor fee (donor base contains more than 500 women with proven fertility;

- Sperm donor (if needed);

- Pregnancy monitoring till 12th week;

- Embryo reduction (if needed);

- The cost of selective reduction is covered by the package price;

- Services of the coordinator in charge of the program;

- Accommodation; Meals;

- Transfer from/to the airport and from/to the clinic;

- 2 equal installments (7,450 euros after signing a contract and 7,450 euros

at the day of egg retrieval).

[alishakanakia in reply to Karinyaa]

Thank you for the in depth detail but I am in India so things are pretty much different here. I joined this group to find solace in tough times.

[Karinyaa in reply to alishakanakia]

Oh I see. Since I joined I've come across lots of DE IVF posts. Mel 77 is awesome in sharing details and seems she's been on boards for quite a long time. And Marmo on here has a bad experience of egg donation in Greece. ( We pm for some time). We all have different struggles. I myself was looking for more consolation on boards when having hard times. We got luck through the 3rd round IVF only. (Needless to say, we've tried ''less invasive '' options first, like IUIs. ) I'm wishing you all the very best of luck and support on your way!

[andylins in reply to Karinyaa]

Looking back at our journey, this is what we experienced. We felt pretty comfortable in Kiev. We weren't worrying about language barrier or how to find clinic or where to live. We fully concentrated on DE IVF process. All services like taxi, apartment and translator were already included into our package. So we paid a fixed price €9 900 and not more. Our Biotexcom clinic never asked for some extra money. They never made us to wait. Our program coordinator was very responsive! She was supportive and answered all our questions. We visited clinic 2 times in the frameworks of the procedure. The first meeting lasted 2 days and included medical examination. Also we were provided with information about the program. They explained rganizational and medical parts and terms of the contract. Our second visit lasted for a week. There were the sperm pick-up, fertilization of donor’s eggs and embryo transfer. They provided us with housing as well as with food both times. Pretty comfy, isn’t it.

[PaulaDag in reply to Karinyaa]

Hi Karinyaa

I was really interested to read your post here wrt mitochondrial donation. What is BTC? I can't find it on google. Could you send me a link?

Thanks x

[SerrineV]

One thing is definitely worth trying to struggle low ovarian reserve #Mitochondrial replacement therapy is one of the innovative methods to treat infertility. This option is relevant to women over forty years old who have treated infertility with no luck. In the most of cases women have a low functional activity of mitochondria. And those in their turn are the most important components of any cell. Mitochondria are often called “cellular power plants”. It’s so because of their ability to convert nutrient molecules into energy. Mitochondria provide eggs with the necessary energy for normal functioning. A woman facing the constant failure, needs to restore the mitochondria of oocytes…Taking into consideration the number of eggs decreases with age. If there are not enough functionally active mitochondria in the eggs, then it is possible to become a mother using mitochondrial donation + IVF. Fertility specialists find an egg donor with high functional mitochondrial activity. These healthy mitochondria are taken from the donor’s egg cell, integrated with the patient’s cells, then fertilized with the sperm of the husband/partner. A healthy embryo is then transferred to the uterus.

Just for general outlook, biotexcom.com/services/

4900 EUR - 1 att of donation. 6500 EUR - 1 att with mitochondrial replacement.

7500 EUR - 2 att of donation. 9900 EUR - 2 att with mitochondrial donation.

11900 EUR - 5 att of donation. 14900 EUR - 5 att with mitochondrial donation.

[andylins]

I myself used donor eggs with IVF in Kyiv, BTC. The fact which amazed us was the way the clinic chooses its donors. They do it very carefully. All requirements were set in our package. First requirement is age of donor. A donor should be 18-25 years old. Second is perfect physical and mental health. And third requirement is absence of genetic diseases in the donor and her family. Contact of clients with donors is prohibited by law, so the process is anonymous. But you can provide desired phenotype! The clinic will choose donor for you, basing on your requirements. We gave our doctor a list with all features we wanted our donor to have. For example, eye color, hair, nose shape etc. They gave us 5 variants. They sent us all info about them. We could look through the portfolios with donors’ photos and brief interviews. That's how we chose the most suitable donor for us. Our children do look very similar to us! No one can ever tell they are not biologically mine.

All the best x