# Costs



## Veela (Sep 30, 2007)

We've had four IUI's, each one costing £1072 with no drugs.  We don't know whether to just go ahead with the next two attempts or to try something else.  I know the clinic won't let us go for IVF until we've had six attempts but what's next?  Do we make an appointment with the consultant and take advice?  Presumably we have to pay for the appointment?  What sort of costs are we looking at for the drugs(clomid?)? And in the long term, if we were able to afford IVF, what would it cost?  We're at Manchester Fertility Services.

How much have you spent so far?


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## evelet (Sep 27, 2005)

we spent approx £9k on conceiving both boys. We were very very very lucky because Rosypie conceived second natural IUI with Jude and they were £400 for one insemination plus £150 for a second insem in one cycle. The second month IUI had gone up to £550 plus £350 for a second insem in the same cycle. The notices informing us of the increase were tiny so we hadn't realised. We refused to have (or pay for) the seond insem we'd planned in cycle 2 but were lucky enough to conceive Jude anyway. To make Bruno Rosypie had a one cancelled natural IUI, 2 IUIs with drugs then one cycle of IVF which was obv the most expensive. The approx total of £9k doesn't include continuing sperm and embryo storage costs nor does in include the many many 140 mile round trips we made to Nottingham to Care.


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## rosypie (Feb 1, 2007)

Yes, like Eve said we were lucky. We conceived Jude before the law change while there was lots of sperm around and before clinics started charging for it. When we attended LWC prices were the same whether you had sperm or not. After Jude was born we reserved sibling (overall 18 vials for approx 1500£) so 2nd time round we didn't have to pay that 600£ extra per cycle that CARE were charging for donor sperm. I guess clinics that don't have their own sperm bank don't really have any choice but to pass the costs on. I am still really shocked at how prices have escalated. The increases we experienced at LWC were ridiculous and not related to sperm at all - they upped them because they could I suppose... and now, since law change, they've upped them again. Captive market.

IVF at CARE Nottingham was 2100£ plus drugs approx 900£ (we couldn't get them cheaper anywhere else). If you needed donor sperm there was an extra 600£ and at least a 1 year wait. Compared to other places I didn't think this was too bad at all. I can't remember how many IUIs they advised before IVF, we got fed up and asked to move to IVF and they agreed. 6 cycles seems a lot, especially natural. I mean, six was what LWC advised us back in 2004 (2 natural, 4 assisted) but that was when there was loads of sperm about and many places seem to have changed their protocols since then. I don't know. Maybe you could ask to do the last 2 with drugs. At our clinic natural cycles included scans anyway (they don't believe in the wee sticks) so the only difference in price was the drugs and I'm pretty sure the prescription wasn't too expensive - certainly less than 30£ for clomid and trigger injection, and probably less than 20£ (can't have been much because I made no record of it). Back at LWC in 2004 natural cycles didn't include scans so the difference between drugs and natural was more significant.

Like loads of people have said a thousand times before, straight people can take 6 months + to conceive naturally. There is a lot of chance involved. When you REALLY think about what has to happen to make a baby, its amazing that anyone can get pregnant naturally EVER, at all...


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## mintyfaglady (Aug 25, 2007)

Hey Veela, we're at MFS as well. So far we've spent over £11k (ridiculous I know) and are just gearing up for our first (and hopefully last) round of IVF with them after 8 failed IUIs (2 with stims).

The stim cycles cost us £1502 PLUS and extra £223 on drugs. The drug they prescribed to develop the follicles was FSH by the way (Fostimon) not Clomid. I assume that was based on clinical judgement about what was best for me, but I do know that Clomid is much cheaper. It was better in that I had 2 eggs each time on the stim cycles and the timing of the insem was more accurate, but it still didn't get me pregnant. MFS like you to try stim cycles before moving you on to IVF, so if you're thinking you might want to try IVF after 6 IUIs, I'd ask them about moving to stim cycles now.

The IVF is going to cost £3150 PLUS about £700 for the drugs and £350 for storage of any left over embryos.

Follow up consultations following failed treatment at MFS are free, and that's probably about the only bit of good news for you in this entire post!

Like Rosy said though, 4 tries is not much (though it feels like very expensive torture, I know) and there's no reason yet to think it won't work for you. Good luck

Minty
xxx


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## nismat (Mar 7, 2005)

It cost us £11,500 (give or take the odd quid) for treatment to conceive Toby - 6 IUIS (2 natural cycles, 1 with just Clomid, and 3 with injectible FSH), followed by the successful IVF. Those costs include all the scans and drugs that I had (although heaven only knows how much extra all the travel and alternative health treatments I had added to the total), but Like Evelet and Rosypie, we didn't have to pay extra for donor sperm because it was before the sperm shortages became quite as acute as they are now. I'm totally sad and kept a spreadsheet detailing all the costs!
Like Minty says, Clomid really doesn't cost a lot - I think it was about £12 for 5 days of Clomid, plus about £14-£16 for the trigger injection. If your clinic suggests Letrazole (aka Femara) instead of Clomid (less risk of thin uterine lining, and fewer side effects), it's marginally more expensive, say £23 (this is going back to 2005/6). Stepping up a grade to injectibles, the FSH drugs (I was on Puregon, which is one of the pricier options) +trigger cost me about £150-200 for the cycle, but it varies depending on brand prescribed, and the dosage you need (the biggest effect!). Clomid had absolutely no effect on my ovaries (in terms of not getting any more than 1 follie), not that the FSH helped me much on that front either. But it certainly did all help show that I wasn't a great responder to drugs for when it came to the IVF. My drugs on the IVF cost me about £950-£1000 (but I needed quite a lot of Puregon to get my ovaries motoring!)
You should definitely get a free consultation to review what to do next - maybe try 1 cycle on Clomid or Letrazole, and if that one doesn't work, a cycle on FSH. 
Looking at current costs for ISIS clinic where we are hoping to have IVF later in the year, it's £2475 for "basic" IVF, plus an extra £795 for ICSI (which we'll almost definitely opt for this time around to try and get a better fertilisation rate - only 3 out of 5 fertilised last time, and just 2 of those survived to transfer), and if we want assisted hatching, that's £400 extra, plus £500 blastocyst culture if we're lucky enough to have enough decent embryos to take to that stage. Embryo freezing  costs £400, and then after the first year, there's an annual storage fee of £150. Frozen embryo transfer cycle costs £895. 
Treatment is blooming expensive - we've had to extend our mortgage to be able to afford ttc a sibling for Toby, but given the limited amount of time I've got left before I get too old (energy-wise as well as eggs-wise!) we've just bitten the bullet on that front and hang the cost. I just hope that we're as lucky as we were last time and only need one round of IVF (and/or that we get some embryos to freeze). It's so hideous when you tot up all the bills and realise how much you've spent - I regularly tell Toby just how priceless he is, in all senses of the word


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## Veela (Sep 30, 2007)

Thanks everyone.  Can't bear to read through in detail until I know for certain that this one hasn't worked.  It's sounding scarily impossible to afford though.


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## nismat (Mar 7, 2005)

Definitely not worth thinking about yet - keep hoping that you'll a) actually get to test at all this afternoon, and b) that it's a positive! 
For what it's worth, I didn't "feel" pregnant when we were waiting for the final BFP (like you, I almost never got to test because I always got my period first), and I definitely did have PMT symptoms. They are soooo similar to pregnancy symptoms, you really can't judge between them.

Fingers crossed for you xxx

PS you live in my home town


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## Veela (Sep 30, 2007)

Oh do I?  It's a nice place to live, isn't it?


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## LouisandPhoebe (Feb 2, 2006)

We were lucky to conceive Louis first time through DI and that cost £501 ( We were tempted to call him Levi!).  Pickle was a little more expensive - about £2500 a cycle, £ 800 for drugs each time and  £180 for sperm.  Lee had one embie to freeze after cycle one so that was £500 and two embies to freeze after cycle two £300.  So around the £8500 mark.  I am going to have a frozen cycle with lees embies when Pickle is 3 so we will have to pay £200 a year storage for the next 2 years aswell.  Its alot of pennies but we would have remortgaged, sold the cars and worked 4 jobs if we had to.  It may seem so much but you just have to find it.  I cant believe how old Toby is and i am so happy your trying for number 2 soon.  I hope it all goes to plan xxx


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