London Egg Bank - please tell me your experiences

[Skittles11]

Hello I feel as lost as ever with donor egg next steps. Deciding on a clinic is proving very difficult.

LEB seems to make the most sense if I stay in UK for treatment.

Please can anyone tell me their experiences? I know a couple of people already did previously.

Are LEB good with complex cases (I've been on immune based meds in previous transfers and have been TTC for over 4 years)? Has anyone used them that had similar e.g. High natural killer cells and / or cytokines?

I would appreciate learning of uour experiences and whether you would recommend them (by private message in accordance with admin rules) x x

[Clare_17]

Hey

I can hear your strength coming through!

I am with LEB. We are at the point of choosing eggs. I went to them after an unsympathetic experience at another clinic.

They have been really supportive and helpful. Seem to want to ensure I am ok and fully informed. Also feel I am being heard.

Good luck. Maybe our paths will cross as we start our next steps.

L x

[Yellowlove in reply to Clare_17]

I have had exactly the same experience. I was with another clinic who didn’t seem to care very much. We moved to LEB and after my third transfer I am now 15 weeks and hoping for the best. I have a friend who had success with them that’s why I moved to them. They have been great.

We had been TTC for around 3.5 years at point of last transfer. I have some thyroid issues, all other tests were coming back normal. More than happy to chat if you have any questions please message me xxxx

[Flora14 in reply to Yellowlove]

Hiya so is still took 3 transfers with donor eggs? Is icsi and embryoscope included in their prices? Do they do fresh or just frozen? Did you do the 6 or 10 package? I have heard an experience of somebody only getting one really poor quality blastocyst out of 6 which didn't work. Then they had to pay the whole amount again that feels such a waste of 13 grand!

How many times did your friend take for it to work?

Can you chose proven donors who have had kids already or who it's worked for? Feel free to pm instead. I'll also pm it lol thanks

[Yellowlove in reply to Flora14]

It did take 3 transfers (all frozen as the eggs are frozen when you choose them), I was expecting things to work first time so that was a shock to the system.

After the 2nd failed transfer they did an endometrial biopsy and checked NK issues but everything came back normal. So they couldn’t find a reason for the failures. My friends first transfer worked. We bought 6 eggs from one donor, they gave us 3 extra for free afterwards (must have had extra from multiple collections) and 4 eggs from another donor. We got 3 good embryos from the first donor, as well as one average, and another average from the second donor- 5 embryos in total. It was the third good embryo that worked but the two transferred first were the better ones apparently! Nevertheless, all three were 4BB.

ICSI is included, I think embryoscope too. You take a risk with the package otherwise I believe there is a package on their site that gives you two cycles unlimited transfers and money back if it doesn’t work. We took the 11k package (sounds like it’s 13k now) and ended up spending a more because of the extra transfers. I’d look at buying your meds from asda if you can, it’s much cheaper.

You can choose donors and ask the clinic if they have proven fertility, and can also ask if they are a good match in terms of appearance. I found them to always be quick to respond, and friendly.

The nursing team especially are really great, quick to respond etc.

After my friends first transfer being a success and mine the third and no reasons for the failures I think it’s safe to say it could go either way, we just have to look for a normal environment to transfer into, embryos that are ok and a little baby dust too I guess. I just It’s baffling when there are no reasons behind things.

Our donor is 35 with no proven fertility and the average embryo from donor 2 was from someone who is 32 with proven fertility.

Let me know if you have other questions, thought I’d answer here for others to see as well x.

[99pctpractice]

hello - we were lucky enough to be successful first time with LEB. We had 4 failed oe ivf cycles before that with Aria and ARGC. We went with a 10 egg package, had 12 eggs defrosted, all survived the thaw but we only had a 50% fertilisation rate (whereas we’d always had 90% plus with oe). However, of the 6 fertilised embryos, 4 made it to high quality blasts, one was transferred and three frozen. We therefore had very positive results: I know others who have also had 10 eggs but wound up with no blasts or only 1 or 2 very low quality blasts so there are no guarantees and the process is still very unpredictable. One recommendation I was given was to make sure you ask whether a donor has proven fertility as that can be a strong indicator of potential success. We didn’t have the best experience with the admin and the whole process felt very clinical compared to Aria (which was very patient focused, you could contact the nurses directly, you always saw the same consultant and nurse throughout etc) and ARGC (which although chaotic was incredibly thorough). I didn’t have any other medical issues (just old eggs), and had had a previous pregnancy with the same partner that resulted in a live birth, though, so we didn’t have any additional complexities or sperm issues that they had to deal with - it’s possible that they may be a bit more interactive if you need additional care. Wishing you so much luck!!

[Dollymixture15]

they were good with us and we had success first time. Now have a 9 month old and 8 eggs still frozen. I found them easy to deal with.

[Poop84]

I had a consultation with them ages ago ( 2022) they said they don't believe in nk cell issues as they use donor eggs this was the Bristol one. I was a bit shocked. Then decided to have the tests done at another London clinic so glad I had.