A friend of mine has had two failed rounds with her current clinic and has been advised to look into ARGC as a leading one. She has low AMH but managed to collect 6 eggs on each round, the first resulting in a euploid that didn’t implant and the second she decided to transfer the two blastocysts she retrieved without testing, but again unsuccessful . Her current clinic are pushing for egg donation rather than implantation tests and she feels she can do it with her own eggs with further tests. Is anyone able to inbox me any information, positives or negatives regarding: ARGC? Thanks so much x
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Toffeepudding99
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I used this clinic after two failed attempts at another private clinic which was not a great experience. For my third attempt they were pushing for donor egg and I felt that I wasn’t ready for that step and the clinic could not give me a reason or tell me if the issue was with my own eggs (1st attempt - no eggs to fertilise, 2nd attempt - 3 mature eggs but again failed to fertilise). The doctor sat me down and told me ‘nature was cruel’ and pushed for donor egg. I must have paid about 10-15K for both failed cycles.
So I was recommended the clinic you mention and to be honest it was the best move for me. We had initial consultation via video and the doctor was very positive that I could achieve a pregnancy with my own eggs (I have low AMH and unexplained infertility- natural pregnancies always resulted in miscarriage).
It was a bit of an intense experience compared to my previous clinic. They offer a test cycle / immune testing to check your hormone levels and when you ovulate etc, although I never got a period for this part as very irregular cycles, so we moved onto the actual IVF cycle with an induced period. They will check hormones at start of IVF cycle and then decide what IVF protocol is best for you and then you have to go to the clinic every day or every other day for scans / bloods tests in the morning (I went at 07.30am, so I could work whilst commuting and depending on this they tell you the exact dose of treatment you need to take of egg stimulating medications etc. 1st week is not at intense as the second week (egg collection is usually around day 11-15 depending on response) where I would stay in London until mid afternoon, as sometimes they would do a blood test in the morning and scan and blood test again in the afternoon, and then tell you what treatment you need. Each time I saw a nurse and always a doctor for the scans, which I really appreciated. I even saw the lead consultant Mr Ternassai and he did my scan and decided I needed one more day of stimulations. He apparently overlooks all the cases himself.
You can pay a down payment and they deduct cost of blood tests and scans/treatment as you go along and then not worry about cost or paying everytime. I guess the cost for each blood test everyday/other day and sometimes a scan etc adds up and of course the stimulating medication etc. in addition to injections they also gave me oral medications for optimal egg growth and uterine lining (clomid and viagra).
I felt so looked after during my egg stimulation compared to my previous clinic who only saw me twice by a nurse only and were closed on weekends so if your egg collection fell on weekends, the would collect early resulting in immature eggs or after the weekend resulting in over mature or you lose the follicles/eggs.
This clinic is open everyday including weekends and bank holidays besides Xmas day. They say it is very important to ensure the exact timing of egg retrieval. My 1st cycle at this clinic I got 7 eggs and 6 were mature and 4 fertilised normally. I opted to return two embryos and 1 was successful and I’m now 36+2 weeks with a baby girl. It was successful the first time. We used ICSI and Oocye activation however they will recommend what extra things you might need once eggs are collected to get successful embryos (which I have never had before), however your friend seems to have so may not need the extra. I also whilst waiting for my initial consultation ensured my husband and I took fertility supplements to make sure I could optimise my egg health and his sperm health etc.
You do have the option of PGTA testing if you want but that means you have to freeze eggs and return for implantation depending on results but I was keen to go ahead with a fresh cycle as I only had 4 embryos rather than a larger batch. I have frozen the remaining two embryos.
I found the cost of overall IVF cycle, medications (stimulating injections, clomid and Viagra) and then post implantation including progesterone IM injections, aspirin, Clexane, steroids (as I had initial immune testing at this clinic it was recommended post implantation until 12 weeks) did add extra cost including regular scans, but the cost of egg retrieval/embryo transfer etc was the same as the other clinic, so it was all worth it in the end.
The doctors at this clinic really do tailor your IVF cycle and personalise your treatment and I would 100% recommend it.
I live in Oxford and commuted everyday during the stimulation phase and up until egg retrieval and embryo transfer and then i think the visits eventually lessened. I also had intralipid drips monthly until just before 20 weeks and then discharged.
Post embryo transfer they check your progesterone levels closely as I was on progesterone injections which help with successful implantation, they also do regular scans once you get a positive pregnancy test. I had weekly scans until my booking appointment in the NHS at 11 weeks but as I was also on immune treatment, I didn’t get discharge from this clinic until 20 weeks.
Some people at the clinic who came from further distance chose to stay in London for 2-3 weeks whilst having treatment.
I’m so pleased that I decided to move to this clinic, I felt very looked after ever step of the way. If your friend wants an initial consultation she should go for it and at least speak to the team and see what they recommend following her previous IVF experience and what they can offer which can result in a successful pregnancy at this clinic!
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