# Does anyone know what fertility treatment is like for the over 40 in France



## keephopestrong (Feb 9, 2012)

My husband is azoospermic and only once in our 20 year's of marriage, I found myself pregnant by him 4 year's ago, but miscarried.  We have been living in France for 9 years now.  

Recently we really thought it had happened again, but it has proved false and now we can't settle back and just accept that it is that, because we got a taste of what it could be to have a baby.  So we are now seeking fertility help but in France.

The snag is that we are both over 40.  Jem is 50 now and I am 42.  We are actually young for our ages and both look younger, so I am hoping that means our bodies are young too.

I have heard that if we were in England, we would have to go private due to our ages, but I am wondering if this is the same here in France?

We do pay a health insurance and wonder if this would be sufficiant if Jem is found to be without sperm again.  He was diagnosed 19 year's ago and just a few day's ago, a doctor said that despite his malady, it is worth testing again.

Would really appreciate some thoughts on this.  Thank you.

Suzanne


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## littlepigeon67 (Jul 18, 2011)

Hi Suzanne,

I'm pretty sure that the cut off age for women in France is 43 although I am not 100% sure. Best thing would be to discuss with your GP/Medecin.  My DH and I have lived in France for nearly 5 yrs now and we had 4 treatments here but was told they would stop at 43. Not sure if this has now changed as we had our treatments over 2 yrs ago.

Whereabouts are you in France - We are near Toulouse. Sorry if that is too personal a question, I won't be offended if you don't say.  

Wishing you all the best,

LPxx


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## Rose39 (Dec 9, 2007)

Suzanne - so sorry to hear of your miscarriage. 

Although I have lived in France for several years in my 20s and 30s I don't have any experience of the healthcare system there, but I do have experience of IVF aged over 40 both in the UK and abroad.

What I'd suggest is to get some up to date tests done on yourself and your husband to see what your options are and what type of treatment you'd need, so you can then understand what could be available to you in France (or could be covered by your health insurance as policies vary considerably - they may even cover the costs of the tests) - I'd suggest for you, your FSH, LH and AMH should be tested, which would give you an idea of how well you would respond to a cycle of IVF and what your ovarian reserve is. I'd also suggest getting your thyroid function tested as it should be between 1 and 2 for IVF  and a scan to see how many follicles you produce and if your uterus is shaped regularly. plus testing for chlamydia which can reduce the chance of IVF working. 

Whilst having a healthy lifestyle and being young for your age certainly helps, unfortunately you can't turn back the clock and fertility in women declines quickly after 35 and even more quickly after 40 -  women can still produce eggs in their 40s but the proportion of the eggs that are genetically abnormal increases significantly. I had thought the same as you as I live very healthily, but you can see from my profile that it didn't work for me after many cycles of IVF and I needed to use eggs from a younger donor for me to have my precious daughter. Some women do have successful IVF in their forties with their own eggs and it is possible, especially now genetic tests are available at some clinics that screen the embryos for abnormalities, but it's more common for women in their forties to use donor eggs to be successful. I'm sorry if this comes as a shock, but I wouldn't be being honest with you if I didn't give you a realistic picture. 

Once you both have your results then you'll have a better idea of what the chances of success would be with your own eggs and sperm, or whether you would need donor eggs and/or sperm to maximise your chances of success, and whether the type of treatment you'd need is available free in France or covered by your insurance. Many British couples go abroad for treatment as the cost is so much lower e.g. the Czech Republic and Greece are very popular - I went to South Africa. 

Hope this helps and good luck!

Rose xx


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## keephopestrong (Feb 9, 2012)

Littlepidgeon and Rose: thank you so much for taking the time to explain.

43 is the age limit. I managed to find a site that explained it all. We are also covered by our insurance which is a relief.  The only real negative thing is that infertility is still not talked about, so there is no emotional help.  Also the firtility rate in France is very high. Not that that is negative lol

Last year - middle - my fertility was tested and proved to be very high. Hopefully my results come back today, which will show what is happening.  I am expecting the worst.

I only had a scan the other day and the doctor said that I had up to 50 before I start to be concerned with my egg production.  He declared that my uterus is normal in size.

I am counting on the fact that I started my period when I was 16.  In horrible terms: I am backward.  I did not learn to crawl until I was 2, and everything else was like a domino effect.

I see by the age limit that I do not have long and that is if they do not bother looking at my body and determining it from that ie making a sweeping statement!

Jem (hubby) is getting a sperm test on monday.  This is the second one in 19 years.


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## Rose39 (Dec 9, 2007)

Suzanne - well done on getting the tests sorted out and great news that your insurance and the French system covers the cost.,.. it will save you so much money! 

I think your doctor (who did the scan) was commenting on egg production more from a perspective of when you are likely to go into menopause, not from a perspective of how good quality your eggs would be for IVF or other fertility treatment, which is very different. I don't think any clinic would treat a woman of 50 with IVF using her own eggs, and very few would treat a woman with IVF over 45 with her own eggs, the chances of success are so low. It's not just about whether a woman produces eggs, it's whether any of them are good enough quality to fertilise and whether they are genetically normal. At what point in your cycle was the scan done and how many egg follicles were present? This is one of the indicators of how well you'd respond to IVF treatment. 

It's good news that your uterus is normal size -  did your doctor check if it is the right shape (some women have a heart-shaped uterus and need minor surgery to correct this), do you have any fibroids and is your uterine lining good quality and thickness? 

Hope that your results today are good news - if I were in your position, I would contact the best clinic for IVF in France that gets the best results (measured in terms of clinical pregnancies and live births) for women over 40 and have a consultation with them, with a view to having treatment. There are certain clinics in London that have a very good reputation for treating women over 40, and I would imagine that the same exists in France. I'd also suggest posting your test results on the IVF section of this website to get a second opinion - the results need to be good for your age and also good enough for IVF (which isn't the same thing as some clinics may only treat women if their results are within certain thresholds).

Please don't waste time seeing local doctors unless they are IVF specialists and focus on fertility treatment for older women - this is such a special area of expertise that you could easily be given the wrong information and it could affect your chances of success. I say this because my local doctor advised me that my fertility was fine and that I could check I was ovulating by buying a test you can get in the pharmacy - this was totally the wrong advise and it was when I went to a good clinic in London that I was given the right advise, but I'd lost time and my fertility was already declining (I was 3. 

There is also a really good section of this website for women in their 40's - have a look!

Keeping fingers crossed for you,

Rose xx


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## keephopestrong (Feb 9, 2012)

Rose, results did not arrive, so have to wait until Monday now! 

I think that my uterus is the right shape, because the doctor did not mention other than it was good.

When I went for a scan about 2 year's back, because I wondered why I was not bleeding.  He said that I was due to bleed soon, but sadly, I had only that year,  before I was premenopausal.  So I resigned myself for that time and then voila, my periods started and regularly and then went for another scan and he said that I had plenty of good eggs and no trouble getting pregnant and had tests which came back as highly fertile.

But now not so sure and that is what these tests will show.

Unless sperm is found in Jem's test, then we certainly won't be going down the route of IVF.  So for now, we are not looking any further.

I am super proud of him, because it takes guts to do what he is doing.  

So I will be closer to know what is going on with my fertility hopefully on Monday.

Thanks again Rose for your valuable information.


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