ICSI

[Kels82]

Hello ladies... well I have just got back from our follow up appointment at hammersmith after our 1st failed icsi treatment on the NHS. I had a load of questions to ask before we went in but once there all the emotions came flooding back and my mind went blank. On paper I should be 13 weeks pregnant and they couldn't really give us a reason as to what went wrong... its just one of those things. They then said we should try again but this time self funded. I didnt even ask why just accepted it, but now looking on NICE we should be offered 3 full cycles! Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? Not just from this hospital but any other?

[Sega]

Did they retrieve any eggs on your first cycle?

I was told from the start that if they retrieved less than 3 and none could be transferred or only 1 could and it failed then they only provide you with one cycle on the nhs. The terms might be slightly wrong but the point was this meant that if I responded poorly to treatment then they wouldn't be able to help me any further.

It's not something they made clear, I had to kind of prize it out of them as I don't think they like to put you under any unnecessary pressure on your first go.

I basically asked is there any circumstance where you wouldn't give me three extractions.

If give them a call but write down all the questions you want to ask first. They will explain it better for you .

Xxx

[Kels82 in reply to Sega]

Hi I will be giving them a call on Tuesday. They retrieved 10 embryos, only 8 were good enough for icsi and 5 fertilised. I had two transferd 1 4bb and 1 eb.

[Kh26]

Hello I was in exactly the same boat as you my first ICSI cycle failed I had 3 frozen eggs they rang I told them the news I wasn't pregnant then I was sort of dropped!! Heard nothing until I was ready to try again thinking it was self funded, I rang to ask for prices etc luckily I found a really nice nurse and she said "Kelly what's making you think you have to fund it" turns out you get one fresh cycle funded and one frozen cycle funded, ask again lovely just make sure xxxx

[Kels82 in reply to Kh26]

I will give them a call on Tuesday to ask all the questions I should of asked 😔. I don't have any frozen as the 3 that were a day behind they said they wont freeze as fresh is best for me and I responded really well to the treatment. So I naturally thought ok if this doesnt work we can try again in a few months. It's just such a hard pill to swallow the whole process which should of been a happy time was actually pretty crap... 2 days after retrevial my dad was admited to hospital and 5 days after the transfer he passed away. This was just the final slap in the face for me.. but I'm not giving up!

Did it work for you the second time? X

[Kh26 in reply to Kels82]

My first round was fresh they implanted 1 fresh and froze the 3 remaining and oh wow I'm so sorry to hear that but he wouldn't want you to give up right? So stay positive for everyone as well as him carry on maybe this time he will be with you every step of the way watching! Fingers crossed my love and I'm currently having my second now? Taking the drugs as we speak, definitely give them a call what clinic are you with if you don't mind me asking xxx

[Kels82 in reply to Kh26]

Good luck I really hope it works out for you xx

I'm with the Wolfson fertility at hammersmith x

[Kh26 in reply to Kels82]

Thank you my love I'm with Shrewsbury xx

[Poppy_2018]

Hello Kels82, really sorry to hear about your failed cycle. I had a failed fresh IVF cycle in April and it's really devastating and hard to get your head around.

Although NICE recommend 3 cycles on the NHS, this is only guidance and CCGs don't need to follow this, they can make their own local decisions. It would be best for you to check out your local CCG IVF policy (can usually access these via their website) to check how many cycles they will fund and what their criteria is for failed cycles. If you cant find it go back to your clinic and clarify the criteria with them before going down the self funded route.

It's such a postcode lottery, where I live they dont offer any IVF cycles on the NHS at all and yet where I work they offer 3 full cycles - they are not that far apart from each other!! Its infuriating!

[Kels82]

It definitely is! You are not prepared for the negative result at all. I will take a look to the website thank you x

Will you be trying again? Was this your 1st attempt? If you don't mind me asking what was the cost for your icsi?

[Poppy_2018 in reply to Kels82]

We were lucky enough to get a couple of frozen embryos so are going to do an FET in July. I also took out a 2 cycle package from an external company that allows us to have 2 fresh cycles and unlimited frozen cycles (if we are lucky enough to get frozen) which works out more cost effective if the first fresh cycle doesnt work. We didnt need to have icsi this time round, just IVF so not sure about the costs of that.

Hope you find the information on the website but perhaps try and speak to your clinic again when you're feeling up to it to get your questions answered.

[Cooking-Queen20]

Kels82, I am at Hammersmith too and the local CCG offers one fresh and one frozen.

Similarly to you whilst I responded well I did not have any eggs to freeze.

My advice is pause and ask questions. What else should you be asking? what happens next? It can all be confusing. Don’t let the medics steer you through the process without explaining things.

My advise is double, tripled and quadruple check what they say and what it means.

Best of luck and you never know our paths might cross at Hammersmith. I am about to embark on the 3rd round in the coming months.

Big hug!

[Kels82 in reply to Cooking-Queen20]

Hey Elena123

Maybe our paths have crossed already 😁 when was your last cycle?

They were keen for me to start again next month after my 2nd monthly but I think I should wait for at least the 3rd.

Was your 2nd round self funded? Can i ask how much the total cost was? I'm still waiting a call back from them.

Fingers and toes crossed for you xx 3rd time lucky xx❤

[Cooking-Queen20 in reply to Kels82]

Hi, my last round concluded in January with a miscarriage, unfortunately but I feel I have only had about a month not going to the clinic.

The cost is over £5000 excluding meds. And the meds can be between £2000 -£3000. If you go into the imperial healthcare website linked to wolfsden there should be the prices online.

Keep chasing they are somewhat poor to say the least on customer services.

Good luck with yours.

If you see a highly socialised and feisty lady at the clinic this summer it might just be me

Feel free to message me if you need any advice.

E

[Bistbee]

Hi Kels82, I am so sorry about your failed cycle. I also have just gone through a failed first ICSI cycle so I know just how utterly heartbreaking it is. To have to deal with all these frustrating funding/timing issues on top of the loss we all feel after a BFN is something a lot of people who are not in this process understand!

I think quite a lot of the issues about checking with your CCG on what you get funding for have been covered in other comments but in terms of going self funded (if that’s what you choose to do next) make sure you double check exactly what is included before you start. We choose to self fund our cycle at Homerton, mainly because the wait list to even get started was insane (i’m talking nearly 10 months after having waited 3 months to get a referral in the first place!). We were let to believe a ‘cycle’ involved a fresh transfer plus any frozen transfers of extra embryos obtained from that fresh cycle, however after our fresh transfer failed, we were told that our self funded phase was over and we would have to pay more to carry on to transfer our one frozen embryo - not sure whether we’d just got the wrong end of the stick or there’d been a miscommunication by the clinic, but to say this was frustrating is an understatement, especially as once the self funded bit ends you find yourself back on NHS waitlists to get started again.

Also, if you are considering paying for treatment, then you don’t need to stay with Hammersmith - I don’t know what their success rates are (you can look on HFEAs website) but we decided to move to a private clinic for our next cycle which has much better success rates than our NHS clinic given that the cost of treatment is pretty similar whether it’s self funded or private (for our situation at least). When we initially saw the private consultant she commented that we should have looked around at clinics when we’d decided to self fund, as we do feel a bit like we wasted a cycle on a clinic that didn’t have the best success rates (i didn’t even think to check before!!) when we could have been paying elsewhere from the start. The experience so far at our private clinic has been so much better than our first round and so just from a stress perspective i’m hoping i’ll be able to relax a bit more this time around. So basically, moving clinics could be something to consider - if you’re paying for treatment then my view is that you might as well pay for the clinic with higher success rates and when you look at each clinics ratings on HfEA website there can be quite a difference between them all. Wishing you lots of luck!!!