# New and looking at egg donation



## BeckJ (Feb 15, 2010)

Hi!
I am 39, live in Lincon and have just tried ivf at Nurture in Nottingham.
Poor ovarian reserve so egg donation being considered now.
On list here but advised of long wait.
Very lovely councillor at Nurture advised me to look into ED abroad.
Now trying to make up mind- so much to take in.
Any advise?

Thanks

Beck


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## Ceri. (Sep 6, 2004)

Beck and welcome to Fertility Friends 
Please have a good look around the boards, feel free to post in any area, and make yourself at home. Fertility Friends is such a huge support. There are many who are on their TTC journey, and others who have been fortunate to have little ones with assistance. You will soon discover that our members are very encouraging of one another and offering advice or just simple hugs. There's a vast amount of information here for everyone, so start reading, posting and getting to know others. You will make some great friends too (add them to your buddy list in your profile!), lots of members often have meet ups locally too, for chats, coffee, shopping or even nights out! You can share conversations with one another freely, simply because we all understand each other. It's hard when family and friends don't fully comprehend what this journey entails and the emotions that go with it. That's where we come in!

Here are some links which you should find really useful at the moment&#8230;&#8230;

*What Every New Member Needs To Know (includes a list of common abbreviations) ~ *   CLICK HERE

*Peer Support (for asking fertility and treatment related questions of your fellow FFers) ~ * CLICK HERE

*POF / Early Menopause ~ * CLICK HERE

*Questions for your first cycle consultation ~ (use the ones that apply) *CLICK HERE

*IVF General ~ *CLICK HERE

*Donor sperm/eggs ~ *CLICK HERE

*Treatment Outside The UK ~ *  CLICK HERE

You can also chat live in our excellent chat room. We have a newbie day in the chat room every Wednesday where you can meet one of our mods for support, meet other new members and get technical support with navigating the site and using all the functions available here.  CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON NEWBIE CHAT 

You can also "meet" and chat with people in your local area through the *Location boards*. This is especially useful to find people who may be using the same clinic and or in the same PCT area. It's a small world!
Licolnshire boards are here  
http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=237.0

Wishing you lots of luck    and 
Keep in touch
Ceri xx

PS I have also sent you a pm (private message)


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## BeckJ (Feb 15, 2010)

Thank you Ceri,

I will have a good read tonight.

It is great to have somewhere to talk. Family and friends have been rubbish and I am so lucky my husband has been a rock. 

Thanks again

Beck x


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## Ceri. (Sep 6, 2004)

You're welcome Beck, anything else you need help with, just shout


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## Momito (Nov 16, 2009)

Hi Beck

Just read your post and wanted to comiserate as a fellow low ovarian reserve girl...also 39 (and turning 40 in April)!

But also wanted to tell you that I am currently under treatment at the New Hope Fertility Clinic in New York (look at their website) with my own eggs and have just produced 2 good grade eggs which have fertilised successfully and have been frozen successfuly.  Have started 2nd cycle to create another crop.  Am undergoing what is known as Mini IVF (minimal stimulation IVF) specifically aimed at women with low ovarian reserve.  Instead of giving high dosage drugs, they go with clomid to stimulate the follicles that are there as opposed to try and force follicles that are not...to creat the numbers they do this over 2 or 3 cycles.  using clomid is also much cheaper.  This is my 5th clinic and my DH and I have been very impressed with the approach and attitude...it is well organised and we are treated as any normal patient...not given lots of chat about what a difficult case we are...we have endured lots of unenthusiastic doctors both in Spain and the UK...at the New Hope they believe that if you still ovulate...there is a chance you can have your own child.  It only takes one good egg.  

Appreciate that this is not what your post was about or the advice that you were seeking...but the docs are not always right and wanted you to know that there are other options to ED in some cases.  The clinic is very open with information and fees etc and we feel that we are in really good hands.

Best of luck in whatever direction you choose to take...but just wanted to share this with you...having also gone through the agony of deciding over ED...

If you have any questions...please don't hesitate to ask.

Momito
xxx


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## BeckJ (Feb 15, 2010)

Hi Momito-

Thank you for your reply- it sounds very interesting. How costly is it if you dont mind me asking? When will they implant the embryos?

How many do they try to get before they implant? Good to hear about doctors being poitive- I feel a bit like a bad smell in the room

most of the time these days!! They behave as though it is my fault for being old most of the time. 

Good luck with the treatment- look forward to hearing more about it.

We are still looking into ED- quite a lot to take in!

Thank you again,

Beck x


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## H&amp;P (Feb 19, 2009)

Beck - having been on the receiving end of the DE talk many times we are now looking at doing a tandem cycle as I am not ready to totally give up on my own eggs just yet, there are clinics (I am looking at the Jinemed and having TX in Cyprus) where you can stim to try to get your own eggs but then have the back up of a donor in case you don't get to Ec or if your own eggs don't fertilise.

Momito - like the sound of your clinic, backs up my feelings exactly as I am ovulating every month so know I am still producing eggs we just have male factor as well so virtually no hope of a natural BFP.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.


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## Momito (Nov 16, 2009)

Hello again

I was a bit jetlagged when I wrote yesterday...then couldn't sleep of course during the night...and started to worry that I had been rude imposing our experience at the New Hope when you were looking for ED advice...so am so glad to have heard back from you and that I haven't put my foot in it!

Take a look at the thread below (hope it works!) we are all low ovarian reserve girls and have discussed lots of options...there is loads of info from me (!) on The New Hope Fertility Center in New York, but also on the Jimened in Istanbul as per what Driver says in her post...plus a first time success from the Jimened which is always a wonderful thing!

Just to briefly take you through the approximate cost at the New Hope:

Telehone consultation if not In New York is US$150

Cycle 1: US$ 4,800 + US$ 780 for monitoring and FSH blood tests.
Be aware that they have a check-list of things that they need you and possibly your DH to have been tested for, such as AIDS, Hepatitis A & C, Rubella etc...of course this all adds to the cost but if you have already had these done then you can just give them your history from your last clinic. All patients are also asked to test for Fragile X (genetic) and Cystic Fibrosis and my DH another genetic one because of his racial make-up. The fragile X is the costly one at US$800...don't know if it might be cheaper in the UK,we just decided to get those extra ones done there. These extra ones are done by an outside facility and eventually they contact the patient for payment, but the clinic arranges the actual tests to be done and takes the blood.

Cycle 2: US$ 3,800 + US$ 780 for monitoring and FSH blood tests. This also covers the cost for cycle 3 if you need it...+ the monitoring costs.

The treatment includes the cost of ICSI should you need it, and they do recommend it as it ups the chances of succesful fertilisation by about 40%.

Freezing your partenre's sperm: US$400 (means he doesn't have to come back for 2nd or 3rd cycle if not available)
If you do a freeze and transer during one cycle, then there is an extra US$1,200 to pay (I might have got that figure a bit wrong...can't quite remember...but there is an aditional cost to do both)

As mini IVF relies on low stims...this is why they do more cycles. They also believe in the storage of your embies so that if you are lucky enough to have no 1...you can go back in the future and have no 2, as obvioulsy the reserve and quality will deteriorate over time.

The drugs are much cheaper than in convential IVF: About 14 Euros (we live in Spain) for Yaz (the pill...am using 10 pills at a time), they use clomid (15 pills cost about US$60) and I used 10 for my 1st cycle. I also had to use Ibuprohen to inhibit natural ovulation whilst the follicles grew (so very small cost) plus the nasal spray to bring on ovulation (US$80 but should last 2 cycles if not 3). I also bought some valium for the actual egg retrieval (a small pack costs about US$14)...with mini IVF they do local anasthetic plus a valium or 2 to relax you, simply because there are usually less eggs to recover and so full anasthetic is not necessary.

I am just finiding out exactly when implantation takes place, as the Doc mentioned to me in my consultation that I would need to be prepped as I have short cycles so I guess it may depend on the circumstance of the patient. Everything is very much tailored to you and your needs, and I know what you mean about being considered a bad smell in the room! Not at the New Hope! It is so refreshing and makes you feel much more positive. They don't talk in %s...they just get on and do it. We have 2 healthy embies waiting for us when we go back...we have never got this far before and are so happy. Know we still have a way to go...take each step at a time, but they are healthy and if I am prepped ok...then why shouldn't it work?

Going to New York obviously adds to the cost...as we had some time off we decided to take a bit of a holiday for our first cycle...we rented a studio in queens to keep the cost down but it also felt more homely and of course we could cook if we wanted to...about 30 to 40 minutes door to door on the subway...so very easy...we paid US$69 per night and were very comfortable there. If you can't or don't want to spend the time in New York, then you can be monitored at a clinic nearer to home...but you will have to pay their charges (between £600 and 750 plus blood tests...around £37 per test) plus U$ 500 to the New Hope for analysis, and of course as you get nearer to your egg retrieval date,you will have to go to New York.

If you want more info, suggest that you contact Jessica at the clinic...(www.newhopefertilitycenter.com) she was so open and clear about the procedures and cost that we have avoided nasty surprises and could make a decision before paying out lots of cash..

Sorry...not so good at keeping things short after all...and the thread to the other areas of info is below...

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=217211.0;topicseen

Best of luck to you and to Driver at the Jimened...

Momito
xxxx

**This post contains an unconfirmed link/information and readers are reminded that FertilityFriends.co.uk or its owners are not responsible for the content of external internet sites**


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## BeckJ (Feb 15, 2010)

Thank you so much for all the information- it has definitely given me something else to think about. No one had suggested anything like this to me before. They basically said not to bother because I did not seem to react to the drugs at all and I only had 2 viable follicles. There were 2 others but they were tiny.

Do not worry about giving offence- you didn't and you're certainly not rude- and I do appreciate you letting me know about other options,

Thank you again

Beck x


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## Momito (Nov 16, 2009)

Hi Beck

Glad that it has given you some hope I've decided to go back to New York for all monitoring next week (comes around so fast...went straight back on the pill for 10 days after the egg retrieval last Saturday, so monitoring starts on the 24th again!).  As we are in Spain, and I don't fancy (read trust) the clinics local to us here to do the monitoring (bad experience + they don't open at the weekends...so our cycles just go on hold do they?!), treking back and forth from here to the UK to New York doesn't end up making sense either financially or from an energy perspective...but if you can do your monitoring at a good clinc near your home it would make it easier for you...I am having to give up a lot of time to do this which not everyone can do but fingers crossed it will be worth it.

If you are near Nottingham, we did visit Care in Nottingham and I think they would do outside monitoring as they suggested it to us and said it was normal.  I felt that they were well organised (although we decided against the high stims approach they offered) so it might be worth your looking into using them to do your monitoring if you do go down the NY route.  The other option that other low ovarian gals have tried is the Jimened in Istanbul...people who have been there have been very happy with the treatment and attitude and it is less time intensive than what we are doing, but it is a different approach, but has worked for some so the proof is in the pudding as they say!

The theory behind the mini IVF is that you can't force follicles to form if they are not there, so they go with a more natural cycle with minimum stimulation (clomid) and do it over a number of cycles.  That is why they do need patients who still ovulate and get periods.  This made perfect sense to us...we had in fact queried amongst ourselves why clinics weren't suggesting a harvest as you go appraoch when we had disappointments elsewhere...after all, if there are eggies there...and they have formed well...why not use them?!

Hope you find the right solution for you and feel free to ask anything, am happy to share our experience.

Big hugs  
Momito
xxxx


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## H&amp;P (Feb 19, 2009)

Momito,

Care refused to do our monitoring as we had never had a cycle with them, we wnated to cycle with them this time but they turned us down and gave us the DE speech by post   

There are private scan places all over that will do monitoring, for me I found that Leeds will do a shared care package at Seacroft for about £1100 for all scans and bloods needed before and after treatment, private place in Leeds will do them at £120 per scan and £98 per blood test.

A-M
x-x


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## Momito (Nov 16, 2009)

Hello A-M

I too got refused monitoring by a clinic in Eastbourne where my folks live (wanted to do it in conjunction with the New Hope)...I burst into tears when I put the phone down...it feels like another slap in the face and sometimes it feels like some clinics are just in it for the money or their own glory.  But have moved on...as you did...what else can we do?!  I'm surprised at your experience at Care though, as they told us that outside monitoring was the norm...if that is the case...why wouldn't they do it for you?

They seem so keen to push the ED solution onto us without considering other options.  Appreciate that it is the only realistic solution in some cases...but so many clinics just don't want to explore any other option, especially for those with low ovarian reserve, but there are options.

That private place in Leeds sounds better value though don't you think?  Have you read the thread ("Anyone out there got pregnant with low AMH?"  or a similar title...oh the memory!)...several of the girls are having treatment at the Jimened in Istanbul and are being monitored in a Harley Street clinic for £50 per scan (it is in conjunction with the Jimened...so must be a special deal)...a bargain in my experience...i've been quoted £200 per scan in the UK!

Good luck with everything!
Momito
xxx


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