Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has chosen natural modified or mild IVF by choice over regular IVF? What were your experiences and decision factors?
Reason I ask is that we’re trying to choose between 2 local private clinics, one just happens to only do natural/modified and mild IVF. We have no known female issues which I understand is often the reason why people would choose natural IVF.
I’ve known of people without female issues go for mild ivf, the same theory is meant to apply, it’s much gentler on the body, no risk of ohss and better for egg quality. It does tend to be offered more to those at risk of over responding or those with low amh so I’m not sure. Can you go to an open evening and have a mini one to one?
Hi orla, we’ve been to both open evenings and the mild ivf clinic were doing the hard sell on why their method was better (quality over quantity). So hard to decide!
We choose natural modified IVF after 2 failed NHS IVF cycles. The clinic we had our NHS treatment with would only offer egg donation treatment after our failed cycles and we were not ready to give up trying with my eggs. I have very low AMH and OH has poor quality sperm.
I've now had 3 cycles of natural modified IVF. We have got eggs on every egg collection (which was not the case with our NHS treatment) but only one has made it to transfer stage. However it was a top grade embryo we had transferred which we felt was a good achievement. The embryos we had transferred after our 2nd NHS cycle were of much poorer quality. Have my test date this week so really keeping everything crossed.
I would say it's definitely worth exploring. The lower doses of drugs help with how I felt during treatment and also reduce the cost quite a lot. In my experience it has produced a top quality embryo which we could only dream of. X
Wow what a timely reply, hope you’re doing ok in your TWW and fingers crossed for your test day!!
Thanks for your response, it’s so helpful to hear others experiences.
Our factor is male so we are doing natural FETs, however, we did medicated ICSI as I was egg sharing.
Sadly I was one of the unlucky 2% that get severe OHSS and was hospitalised, so as it stands we would only do natural IVF / FETs now.
If you are regular and can track ovulation etc it is less stressful and so much easier on the body to do natural. I guess the upside to medicated is potential for more usable eggs and the clinic can time you.
I have definitely preferred no drugs!
Oh no not the dreaded OHSS so unlucky, that can’t have been pleasant for you. Thanks for sharing your experience. We’ll be doing ICSI too so I just want to give us the best possible chance.
I’m also sorry to read of your recent bfn. But you’re straight back on the wagon, you are one strong 💪 woman!!
It was pretty horrid!
Good luck with whichever protocol you decide to go for. And if you have any other qs on natural and medicated feel free to ask 
Aw, thank you. Just picking ourselves back up again <3
On my 3 rounds of modified natural I’ve my dose was 150iu on alternate days for round one, and I got 3 eggs, the second round was 150iu daily and I got 6, and the 3rd round I was on 225 and only got 3.
But that’s from someone with low amh, it should get much better results doing mild or natural modified ivf if you have normal amh xx
Hi there, just wondered if you came to any conclusions on this? We are also considering mild ICSI as ours seems to be a male factor issue and the costs are halved...still looking into our choices at the mo as unfortunately we are going to need to go privately. x
Yes we’ve gone for the clinic to do mild ivf with ICSI (or PICSI). We also have male factor issues and need to go private. They also think I might have mild PCOS and would be at risk of OHSS so suggested a very low dose of drugs to begin with. The lower drug costs are a small bonus in the end. This clinic has a better location for us and seemed like a better fit for us in general. So in the end all signs pointed this way which helped reassure us that we’re starting out with the right clinic.
I’d be really interested to hear what you choose in the end too!
Useful to know, thanks for sharing. Will keep you posted! Loads of luck x
Hi threesthemagicnumber and Shirazlover2013 , I know it’s a couple of years down the line from your original posts, but we are in almost the exact same situation at the moment (I have possible mild pcos (but am only 33 so hope my egg reserves are ok - haven’t had that test yet) and my OH has low sperm morphology), and we’re having the same dilemmas re: mild vs conventional IVF and getting muddled by the quality vs quantity debate. I wondered what the results of your decisions were, and whether you now feel any differently? Would be grateful to have any insight...thanks in advance!
Hi, yes this was a long time ago and a lot has happened in that time, unfortunately nothing had lead to any pregnancies for us. But focusing on the mild or natural ivf I know now that wasn’t the right choice for us. Everything I say is purely my opinion here. I think mild or natural ivf would suit specific female issues like low ovarian reserve or prior cancer treatment but that’s it only real use. It’s not designed to help with male factor issues nor did our clinic have the right expertise for our male factor. I believe we need a higher quantity of eggs to allow for the big drop off in development that comes from the dna fragmentation issue we have. Feel free to ask me any questions, happy to help if I can.
I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve not had any success. Hope you’re managing ok - it must be so hard both physically and emotionally.
What you’ve said is really helpful - we have heard about one clinic which does try to use more mild-dosage if possible but adapts it to each individual, and can investigate any sperm dna fragmentation issues. I think it sounds like a good thing that this place puts some onus on that, and it’s not all just to do with the female like other clinics seem to be (especially the fully natural/mild ones). It takes 2 people to make a baby after all!
It’s so hard to know what the right decision is, but at some point we will just have to take a punt and see...
I've had two standard IVF cycles and one mild IVF (also call New Hope Fertility Clinic IVF after the clinic which pioneered it). I am 44 and mild IVF was suggested for my third cycle as, in older women at least, it apparently yields better quality eggs although fewer of them. In my first normal IVF protocol cycle on maximum dose of stimulation drugs I got 5 eggs and none of them made it to the transfer stage or were good enough to do PGS testing or freeze. On my second normal IVF cycle I got 6 eggs of which only 4 were mature but 2 made it to blastocyst albeit not great quality and were transferred but I didn't get pregnant. On my third cycle which was the mild IVF cycle, I only got 3 eggs from 5 follicles. Only 2 of them were mature and only one fertilised but it was excellent quality at Day 2 when transferred and I am currently in the 2ww to find out if it has implanted. Hope that helps.
So sorry, I thought this was a recent post but I see now it was a couple of years ago. I hope that things are going well for you a few years down the line xx
natural or modified FET
natural modified or stimulated?
Anyone tried mild ivf?
Failed modified natural FET - wrong protocol? 
