Advice about ICSI abroad

[Eeek]

I'm 41. My NHS attempt failed 😓. I'm running out of time and need to focus on what next. I am looking for advice about going abroad, how does it work for check ups, where to start looking, is it safe (Husband has concerns) is it really cheaper? ANY advice at all or recommendations (PM me). Thanks xx

edit: i would hope to use my own eggs, does that make it more difficult?

[Mantaray75]

I’m 42 and went to Barcelona for treatment. I live in New Zealand so it was even more awkward to do but the clinic were amazing at organising things. The facilities were far better than I have seen in NZ so don’t worry about it being safe.

I needed to go for egg donation which was considerably cheaper than here in NZ and there were no waiting times cos it’s anonymous. I think some other European countries are even cheaper than Spain.

For me it was the best decision as I’m now 17 weeks pregnant with a little girl.

Good luck. X

[Eeek in reply to Mantaray75]

Oh wow amazing and huge congratulations. Xx

How did you decide/ find the clinic?

[Mantaray75 in reply to Eeek]

We knew we wanted Spain as looks wise the baby will be more similar to me and the it was anonymous. I just googled lots of clinics and had a checklist of the things that were important. I then contacted the ones I was interested in with a whole list of questions and then looked at how well they responded. We had a Skype call with the doctor at the clinic we were interested in and so decided to go with them cos she seemed really good.

[Eeek in reply to Mantaray75]

Fantastic. Thanks for getting back to me. X

[Cinderella5]

I'm having treatment abroad in Greece. I looked at Spain, Czech Rep & Greece as these were the places that I'd heard good things about & logistically coukd easily fly to. Spain was a chunk more expensive than the other two so that narrowed that down and I settles on Greece after speaking to a couple of other ladies who'd been to my clinic. I found it much cheaper to go abroad but I'm using DE, 40 and we wanted to improve our chances of success....most I ever got was 3 blastocysts from my OE. I guess the biggest things to look at are where you want to go, costs....make sure you're comparing like for like....whats included - drugs, ICSI, embryo freezing, frozen transfers etc. Contact a few clinics and see what their communication is like, do they get back quickly etc. It generally is cheaper abroad but you'll have to factor in flights & accommodation. You can look at things like air b & B to keep costs down too. Give me a shout if I can help at all & this is quite helpful...xx

fertilityclinicsabroad.com/...

[Eeek in reply to Cinderella5]

Thanks. It seems it might be a bit more complicated using OE abroad. I am a bit scared about all of this but I need to at least research it. Cheers for the link, I'll have a look and try and get my head around it. No doubt I'll be back with more questions

Best of luck to you xx

[Hidden in reply to Eeek]

I am not sure if it is complicated using your own eggs abroad, just you would need to be there either for longer for a fresh transfer, or more often if it is fet. Whatever you decide, you will need a clinic in the UK for scans etc on the run up. But a lot of clinics abroad have partner clinics in the UK for that. X

[Eeek in reply to Hidden]

Ah the clinic here was the bit i didn't realise. That make more sense! Thanks x

[Dunla]

I can’t offer you any advice but just wanted to wish you luck in your decision making xx

[Hidden]

Hi Eeek we just got back from Cyprus early hours this morning. We were there for 1 week. My hospital here recommended a clinic in Northern Cyprus which increased our odds of success from 10% to 80%. The problem was the clinic was really expensive! So i did some research and found another one in Cyprus (theres a few) and messaged them direct. Cyprus do tandem cycles there which is illegal in other countries. Basically both you and a donor will stim at the same time. You then fly out for egg collection and they collect both your eggs and donors and OH sperm and fertilise them all. You then have about 4 days to enjoy your holiday and go back for transfer the day you fly home. They also sent me my drugs from Cyprus to take beforehand as cheaper than UK. The communication is not great i had one woman who spoke English and was lovely. Im lying here now with 3 top class blastos on board xx

[Donna-cook in reply to Hidden]

Hi there can you please pm me clinic details and if also be really keen to know if you did tandem as this is what we’re looking into but not sure given I am 44 now 😢. Thanks so much

[Billywhizz10]

You may be better off going to a UK clinic which are specialists at treating women over 40, rather than heading abroad to be honest.

What did your consultant say for the follow up? Mention baby aspirin and natural cycles to him/her, as these seem to favour older women.

Of course a tandem cycle might be an answer, or a straight donor cycle, but that should be done only if your ready to consider donor egg and ideally had some counselling (both of you) .

Best of luck x

[Eeek]

Thanks all for your replies. This last week has been a bit of a head f@#k. My result changed to a positive, but not likely to be a positive outcome. I'll update in a post.

[jengi]

Hi Eeek, i've been researching this and found a clinic in Greece that i like. I met the director and consultant when he was in the UK in early January and hosted by my acupuncturist. He is amazing, really strong ethics and really cares on top of having some really high success rates. Private message me if you want the details. I have just this moment sent them a email to request our initial consultation via Skype. Best of luck Xx