IVF abroad

[dcba]

I am currently waiting for an IVF referral on the NHS, but am simultaneously exploring other options in case we get rejected or the IVF failed.

I’m interested to hear form any ladies who have done IVF abroad.

As I’m working full time, I’m trying to figure out whether it' feasible to do this abroad without taking too much time off. If I have a phone/skype consultation and the drugs are prescribed to me, can we potentially go abroad only for the last 10 days or so when egg collection and embryo transfer is due? Or do I need to be in the relevant country all the time so they can monitor how I respond do the drugs etc?

Thanks in advance.

[CountryCat]

Hi, you do not need to be in the country of your treatment for longer than 7/8 days. I work full time and elected not to tell work about my treatment. I simply used my annual leave to book a week off. Donor egg collection and my final ultrasound (lining check) were the day after we arrived and transfer was 5 days after that. We flew back to the UK the following day and were gone exactly 7 days. I then went straight back to work, no one was any the wiser.

I had all my pre-testing and scans done locally and as you correctly surmised, my medication was arranged and couriered to me from a British fertility pharmacy.

Stays vary from 7-10 days for fresh IVF and 3-5 days for an FET. Hope that helps

[dcba in reply to CountryCat]

Hi CountryCat.

This is very helpful. I've been hoping to do the same as I don't want to tell work either. Can you please elaborate on the pre-testing and scans that you've done locally. How did you arrange those? I thought that these are usually provided by the clinic that's treating you (and included in the IVF-package cost) so I didn't know it's possible to do them independently.

What is the website of the British fertility pharmacy you used?

Many thanks.

[CountryCat in reply to dcba]

I approached my NHS GP to request guidance on how to get all our tests redone (had them in 2015 but clinic wanted results no older than 90 days). To my surprise, she offered to refer me, and hubby for sperm analysis, and so we had all our tests redone through the NHS, even though we went abroad for treatment. I had to pay for one of the tests though that NHS didn't offer - that was £80. We waited for tge results and then sent them via .pdf to our clinic.

With regards the pharmacy, my clinic used Fertility2U but if you are at another clinic they may recommend someplace different. Everyone suggested I get my prescriptions filled at ASDA but my local store would not recognise my overseas prescriptions and wanted British transcripts before they would help me. I couldn't have been bothered so ended up working with Fertility2U who I found to be extremely reasonably priced. My meds ended up costing me about £1000.

Just to say that our overseas clinic welcomed doing all the pre-testing for us but it was too tricky travelling out twice, so we elected to get it all done here.

Best of luck to you xxx

PS I only needed 2 scans which cost £150 for both at Ultrasound Direct. If you are doing regular IVF (not DE) you will need more.

[Hidden]

I've had IVF in Spain & we had to go over for initial tests but that was only for one day. In the U.K. I had to go for scans & blood tests privately from day 4 of my injections, every other day. It was a pain as I live an hour away from the closest private clinic! I finished my injections on day 12 then flew over to Spain where I stayed for 6 days for egg collection & embryo transfer. Unfortunately it didn't work so we are about to start an egg donor cycle after 3 failed using my own eggs (2 NHS cycles in the UK before the Spanish cycle). We are using the same clinic in Spain for the donor cycle so off to update tests next month then hoping to start in September after the summer & our holiday.

I should mention that the bloods & scans I had privately in the uk cost us £150 each time - so every other day! We could have had them in Spain as they were included in the cost of the treatment but we didn't want to stay over there for 2.5 - 3 weeks, on reflection it might have been cheaper!!

We also had to pay for initial blood tests, etc in Spain separate to the treatment as the tests carried out here didn't seem to cover everything they required.

Good luck, I hope you are eligible for NHS treatment!! Feel free to message me if you have any questions about our Spanish cycle though xxx

[dcba in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, Star1976. That's useful information. I wish you best of luck with your next cycle!

[Hidden in reply to dcba]

You too xxx

[Alice_W123]

In most of cases you need to be in abroad clinic twice:

1) to sign contract, sometimes some examinations`

2) 5 to 10 days for sperm pick-up, fertilization of eggs and embryo transfer on the 5th

day after fertilization are performed

P.S.: studying it while recovering health.

If you wish to read some articles about here an example (newseurope.info/category/me....

In case of clinics - ask in other post about IVF friendly (legal\quality\costs\etc) counties or search on forum.

Also you can use some info from google (ivf laws and costs by country).

When you`ll be ready to decide between few of them - ask again.