Hey guys
We’ve had our first appointment with our fertility specialist and he feels ICSI is the only way for us.
We now need to decide on whether to wait for the 10-12 months NHS or self fund and wait 1-2 months.
We’ve obviously got all the pamphlets but I’m keen to hear real life experiences from you ladies on ICSI - thoughts, good and bad and whether you waited on NHS or went self funded. Generally just your views x
How old are you? We tried to get NHS funding but it ended up all taking too long and we ended up being told we couldn't start after all because it was too close to my 40th birthday which is the cut-off in my area (frankly it seems like just about a week after your 39th birthday counts as "too close to 40"!)
Hey, my hubby had to have surgical sperm retrieval and ICSI was the only option for us. The first round we had zero fertilisation but mainly because most of my eggs where immature so on the second round (after a tweak in meds and lots of supplements) we had 6 out of 9 fertilise and 4 blasts. It definitely was needed for us. After hubby’s op we waited 4 months for our first cycle xx this was all NHS funded. wishing you lots of luck whatever you decide to do x
Hey! We've had ICSI and there's sort of the peace of mind that they're putting the sperm in the egg and it doesn't have to find it by itself. The flip side is the thought that nature would be better at finding the best sperm rather than a human decision, but I haven't been able to trust nature a whole bunch in this process!
On NHS vs. self-funded; I'm not very good at waiting (and time is precious in TTC) so I went down both routes concurrently.
Hi,
So much of it is dependent on finances and age. I personally felt that time was the one thing I wanted to have on my side to increase the likelihood of getting better eggs, so went straight into private treatment. I suppose it depends on if you can afford it or not. Bourn Hall does a 100% money back scheme if you don’t get pregnant.
we only managed to have 2 IVF cycles with NHS in 5 years. As you can imagine an interminable queue. Hope that in your area it is a bit better. For all the money in the world I wouldn’t go again back to them, at least not for IVF. The sad part is that they treated me as a “standard”, they do not adjust the protocol according to your needs. When I was asking can I have a blood test done on my stim cycle to see how my hormones are, they was just simply replying -no we don’t do blood test, according to our procedure.
I can understand that you want to go ahead just because first round you will not need to pay but think wise and consider all the options that you have. Time or money is the question here?! 🤔 which one is the most important?!
It’s definitely more the time element. At 35 I don’t really want to be waiting another 12 months on a waiting list. I was really naive and didn’t think it would take that long on the list :/
I didn't want to wait either. In my area it's well over 12 months to begin so I went private instead. I like the fact that it's not one size fits all. Private clinics often have free open evenings you can attend so I would suggest doing that to start with and getting any info you need xx
Hi, I am nearly 43 and we did our first round of IVF when I was 40.
I am sure you will be heaps more successful than I have been but if money was no barrier I would crack on straight away, I am amazed how quickly the years have passed and whilst you will probs get pregnant from round 1 and none of this will apply (!) I optimistically thought 'we can get 3-5 rounds in within 18 months all will be fine'.. and the reality is very different - you don't take into account all the hurdles it throws at you (good and bad!) and the need for space between rounds etc. Even going private for us there was a 6 week waiting list for a consultant appointment and then we didn't start our first round for another 8 weeks for various reasons, tests needed etc. Oh and your period NEVER comes when its supposed to as soon as you start IVF 🙈
We have done a mixture of ICSI and non ICSI and actually our ICSI embryos have always survived longer and been better quality than the IVF ones so I think its a really positive thing. Last round we got 10 eggs and because we had that many the staff said just do ivf dont worry about ICSI and only 3 fertilised... our success rate with fertilisation with ICSI was more like 50%
Masses of luck x
Hi, we are currently going through the ICSI route (2ww atm). It took 2.5 yrs for us to get started as they were focused on testing the husband as he has CAH condition causing low count/quality so ICSI was our only real option.
We waited as we had to get the full results form husbands tests but if I had to do it again, I'd find a private clinic that accepts NHS funding.
Definitely worth looking into, I don't know your age but I'm 35 and my AMH dropped significantly in the last year waiting for the NHS.
Good luck xx
(From a website)
If you are eligible for funding on the NHS for IVF treatment, you can choose to undergo your treatment at CREATE Fertility – where our natural approach to IVF treatment means less injections, fewer side-effects and reduced treatment duration; making treatment more woman-friendly and less stressful.
Many CCGs (the organisations who decide how local NHS budgets are spent) aren’t opposed to transferring funding, if you can give them good reasons why you believe a private clinic is the best choice for you rather than the NHS.
starting ICSI in January 
For those who’ve had ICSI
AMH & ICSI/IVF Split 
No fertilisation ICSI
First timer icsi help! 
