Icsi... any advice please... no judging please!!

[Kimbo19]

Hi peeps,

I am 29, my partner is alot older than me... we both have children from previous relationships... I have been sterilised and he had a vasectomy over 20 years ago, we have decided that we want a child together...

We both smoke, my partner only drinks coffee, I drink tea... I am on medication for fybromyelgia... we know icsi is the only route we can have... would it be better to go abroad or uk?? Also what would be best to improve our outcome on having a baby together??

Any advice or anything to help would be great. Please any help going forward

[Sunshine92]

Hey! I’m not an expert but i think your partner would need to have his vasectomy reversed first. Its not always successful, so i think your partner would need to have quite a few tests to see what sperm he has got.

It’ll be a long road, but worth it if its what you both want.

Good luck 🙂

[Kimbo19 in reply to Sunshine92]

We have spoken to a clinic and they say because it was so long ago that he had his vasectomy then ICSI would be the best route. But thank you x

[KiboXX in reply to Kimbo19]

Hi Kimbo,

What sunshine is saying is that ICSI is just the way they fertilise the egg (by injecting a single sperm in rather than just putting the egg and sperm together and letting them fertilise the old fashioned way). If your other half has had a vasectomy, he would need to have it reversed or have a surgical sperm retrieval in order to get the sperm in the first place. Hopefully that makes sense! Did the clinic talk you through any of that?x

[Kimbo19 in reply to KiboXX]

They did say he would have to have a sperm retrieval. As I have been sterilised the best way for our chances would be ICSI/IVF.

I said to my partner about going abroad and having the treatment but he's worried if anything was to go wrong.

[Lynnr54]

There are advantages and disadvantages to clinics at home and abroad. I never really researched it but if you search the posts in the network you will probably find some other lists discussing it. I am led to believe that abroad is often cheaper, but then you do need to factor in time off work to fly over there and have treatment and also the cost of staying over there (though some people treat it as a holiday at the same time). If you have undiagnosed fertility issues then the clinics abroad are sometimes more open minded and conduct a wider range of tests but that’s less likely to be relevant for you. Not sure how they are with sperm retrieval.

In terms of improving chances the biggest thing if you don’t have any known fertility problems is probably a healthy lifestyle. Give up smoking, not too much caffeine/alcohol , plenty of fruit and veg, reduce the processed/junk food. I would also both start on a multivitamin desired for those who are trying to conceive. You can get them in both male and female versions. Good luck!

[Kimbo19 in reply to Lynnr54]

Thank you for your reply.

Can you recommend any multivitamins for us??

I will definitely have a search on here to see what people have thought about going abroad or staying in the UK. X

[ChloeDE]

Hi

We had two unsuccessful rounds here in the UK using own eggs. We are now using donor eggs in Czech Republic. I have been very impressed with the clinic (more so than the clinic in London).

They also do own eggs and are significantly cheaper than the UK. We have also added MACS to help select the best sperm.

The only thing is I am not sure if they will do treatment if you smoke. It might be worth looking into. PM me if you would like any more information.

[Kimbo19 in reply to ChloeDE]

Thank you so much for your reply. This has helped alot.

Good luck for your treatment!

[ChloeDE in reply to Kimbo19]

Thanks

You too. Just drop me a private message if you want to know more.

[Cinderella5]

Hi Kimbo, we are having treatment abroad bt the main two reasons for this is we are using donor eggs (which is anonymous abroad) and its cheaper than in the UK. To be honest if your partner is having to go through surgery then your eggs harvested then there may not be much benefit to going abroad as you will probaby incurr higher costs due to staying away for longer due to recovery time etc. Also, not lecturing but most clinics will check whether you are both smoking and refuse treatment, even arboad so you may want to think about cutting back to eventually stopping in prep and also it may help improve hubby's sperm that is retrieved.x

[Kimbo19 in reply to Cinderella5]

Cinderella5 thank you for your reply.

I'm used to being lectured about smoking lol.

I didn't realise that clinics check whether people smoke or not. But I will definitely speak to my partner about this, as we want to increase our chances every way possible. X

[Cinderella5 in reply to Kimbo19]

Yes it usually one of the checks that is done along the way for both partners. Treatment can be cheaper abroad but by the time you have to include flights, accommodation, time off work with not too much notice (which can cause issues in itself) etc it can all mount up. As I said DE tends to be a good chunk cheaper so went in our favour to go away but of course but it all adds up plus if you have to go mulitple times like myself (Im just away to transfer for the 9th time) its a lot.xx

[Kimbo19 in reply to Cinderella5]

Cinderella5 thank you for the insight in what going abroad would involve and I will definitely take this into account... good luck with your treatment hun x

[Cinderella5 in reply to Kimbo19]

Thanks Kim!xx

[josephnsn]

I went to Greece for ICSI after a failed ICSI and FET at Guys in London. Had a successful pregnancy. Decided to go to Greece after a recommendation from a friend because we wanted to do something different after the failures. Don't know if going abroad made the difference. It was a bit stressful being in a foreign country where you don't understand the language and the clinic was more laid back which I found frustrating at times. Whereas with Guys you got the protocol and knew exactly what you were going to be doing from Day 1 to the end. However my sister did say I seemed more relaxed out there (I wasn't working, my partner was from home)

I am now 9wks pregnant after 2 ICSI attempts at Lister.

I think it is a personal choice on if you want to go abroad and have been recommended somewhere with a good reputation. Cost wise it was a little bit cheaper than Lister including all travel and accomodation.