# Advice and recommendations for egg & sperm donor clinics



## Ticktock40 (Oct 14, 2015)

Hi,
I am after some help, advice, and recommendations on having a donor egg and donor sperm.  Our natural ttc plan has come to an end after my husband has had cancer treatment, leaving him infertile.  I'm 44 with 2 mc behind me and probably very dodgy old eggs.  We've been ttc for years, and after this latest blow I just don't feel I'm ready to give up yet.


I've contacted a couple of fertility clinics abroad, but tbh I'm finding it very overwhelming and confusing, with abbreviations, timescales and the cost!


I suppose what I'd like to know is what's going to get us our baby?  where is the best place to get it? and can we afford it?


Thank you for any help and advice,

TTx


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## betty21 (Jul 17, 2013)

Hi - sorry to hear things haven’t worked out for you but glad you can move on and create your very own dream - I can only recommend one clinic that I have used in Spain called Embriogyn in Tarragona - excellent clinic and fast to respond to any questions etc, very professional and I’m not sure on prices compared to other clinics but Spain is far more cheaper than uk. We travelled over for the weekend to see the clinic and have a few tests and decided we liked them very much and happy with the way it all worked  - I used DE in 2013 and DH sperm and only waited a month for treatment which resulted in our daughter on our very first try - a year later I was back for another fresh cycle and had my 2nd daughter -  then went  on to have a little boy last year with a frozen egg of ours which was defrosted and my DH did his bit - we had 4 day5 embryos frozen at that point and I’m currently 26 weeks with our last baby - I know we have been extremely lucky and I count my blessings but my DH didn’t have the best sperm quality and we had quite high fragmentation but each embryo we used worked for us - the clinic have been amazing and I could not fault them - from first Meeting to date we cannot complain about anything - we had updates of our embryos and even a video of them dividing and daily updates till we was ready for transfer - anyway this is my recommendation and feel free to message me if you need any more info and I wish you all the luck in the world x


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## Tincancat (Mar 19, 2012)

Hi Ticktock
My advice would be to choose your country which is easy to get to then focus on which clinic to choose.  

Czech Republic is cheapest and has high success rates.  Greece and Cyprus then next best value with equally good success rates.  Finally Spain is excellent but more expensive and you have no choice over donors. 

Don't assume just because you go to a particular country you will only get local donor with native ethnicity.  Most large cities in Greece, Cyprus and Spain have multicultural student population. For example when I went to Cyprus I was offered a choice of British, Greek and Belgian female donor plus I had full choice of donor from Cryos international Sperm Bank who the clinic use for sperm.  I had just the one visit and stayed 10 nights flying back knowing I was pregnant.  Very straightforward and so much better than the UK. 

Good Luck 
TCCx


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## Katie24 (Dec 18, 2018)

We chose reprofit really good clinic very responsive to all emails and very thorough , we chose donor egg ivf and cost 4,500 pounds xxx


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## Ticktock40 (Oct 14, 2015)

Hi Ladies,
Thank you for replying.

Betty21 - Wow! If only I could have an outcome like yours, what an amazing story.  Thank you for telling me of the clinic that helped you get your family.  I have sent an email to the clinic, so hopefully I will have some information from them soon.  Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

Tincancat - another amazing story.  That must have been amazing knowing you were pregnant on your journey home.  I have thought about Prague, and have received lots of info from Gynem, however I did read something that put me off them.  I've also been chatting to a lady from Serum, she's given me a bit of info, the prices are higher than Gynem, but does that mean the quality is better?  I don't know?  My head is spinning!  She also said I would need a hysteroscopy, although i'm not sure why?  I had one 4 months after my 2nd mmc and it was said to be normal.  Nothing has happened between then and now, so not sure why I'd need to have one?

Katie24 - Thank you, I will google Reprofit now.

This might be a silly question butI'm pretty new to this so please bear with me, are the chances of a pregnancy better with double donation than me trying with my own eggs at age 44?


Thanks again TT x


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## Tincancat (Mar 19, 2012)

Ticktock I was in discussion with Serum initially and was also told I needed hysteroscopy.  I didn't believe I did need one but it seems that's what Peny, who isn't a medical doctor, recommends for most ladies.  It would have required an extra trip to Greece with all the expense.  I chose Cyprus instead because of only needing one visit of just 3 nights in Northern Cyprus and I had a further 7 nights in South Cyprus as a holiday. 

Your chances are negligible with your own eggs at 44 plus if you did get pregnant there is a more than 50% of miscarriage with own egg (OE) for ladies over 40.  With double donor you could be looking at 70% plus chance of pregnancy leading to a live birth providing you have no other issues. 
TCCx


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## Ticktock40 (Oct 14, 2015)

Hi TCC,
I wonder why they try to push hysteroscopy on everyone?  I can't say my experience of it was very nice, and I wouldn't really want to have another if It wasn't necessary.  
Is that all you had to be at the clinic 3 days?  after reading through some of the bumf these clinics are sending me I'm getting confused over how long and how many visits I'd need to be there.  We both have to work so taking the time off is going to be challenging if we have to make a few trips.
I'm pretty sure I've decided on double donation, I don't want to go through another mc, so I need to be lowering the chances of that happening where ever I can.  So now I'm thinking about adoption donation.  The longed for baby wouldn't genetically be ours anyway so what's the difference  between having a fresh egg donation with donor sperm or frozen egg donation with donor sperm?  I'm a bit confused what the difference of these two procedures would be? 

thanks for your reply 
TTx


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## StrawberrySundae (Jan 30, 2017)

Hi I’m sorry to hear about the difficulties you’ve had. I’ve had several cycles with Serum, both OE (losing track, but I think 3 transfers, the first being a twin miscarriage & the others ‘chemical’ pregnancies) & DD (2 transfers - the first another chemical & then my current pregnancy). By the time I’d had 6 miscarriages I was grateful for the possibility of donor options and was approaching 44 by then. 

I had a hysteroscopy via Serum last January after the OE ‘failures’ with them, it was ok & a bit of dead skin was scraped away & slight redness/endometritis (?) treated by antibiotics. I’m not sure if it was that necessary. I went to a clinic in Russia for 2 DE FET’s after that which was disastrous. When I went back to Serum they suggested another hysteroscopy but I couldn’t really see the point so went ahead with a DD FET without it. Didn’t work first time so I had a final immune consultation & started meds with the Epsom recurrent miscarriage clinic (but in London). I did the timescale that suited me in the end, in between changing jobs and reducing stress by going part time. There’s so many factors involved but this time it worked and I’m 31 weeks pregnant currently & now 45  

Sorry for all the ramble, but just saying you don’t have to agree to Serum’s hysteroscopy & im obviously quite happy with them as a clinic, especially Peny. Having said that I was exploring other clinics and considering places like New Life Thessaloniki, Dogus in Cyprus and Reprofit in the CZ as alternatives, as I think they all sound good too and also get good results for some women. I chose DD as I didn’t want to share embryos with anyone at that point, but you probably just want your baby more than anything else, so embryo donation is probably just as good an option and may be cheaper in some places.

Anyway good luck   x


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## Clara Rose (May 2, 2005)

Hi Ticktock,

I'm sorry to hear about what you have been through. I can thoroughly recommend the clinic I went to...Newlife in Thessaloniki, Greece. I did double donation there after having failures elsewhere and I had twins. They are an amazing clinic with fantastic success rates...there is a Newlife thread on FF and just about everyone on it is or has been pregnant. Prices are very reasonable too...cheaper than Spain. I have never been to Serum however certain things put me off them, such as the requirement for a hysteroscopy and the so-called "hidden C' testing. Wishing you good luck. xx


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## Inaaya (Aug 29, 2013)

Hey another shout out for newlife! I got 2 of my bfps from there although my first son was from serum I tried again with serum and had repeated bfns and kept on being pushed into hystos / when I refused the 3rd hysto penny said I would never get pregnant again unless I did DD
I then went to newlife and did donor egg hubby sperm and got my bfp straight away x


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## miamiamo (Aug 9, 2015)

agree with Tincancat and countries she mnetioned, plus Poland (Invicta and Bocian) x


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## Ticktock40 (Oct 14, 2015)

Thank you for the info and suggestions ladies, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!  Sorry to ask but what is DD? is it double donation?  All these abbreviations are new to me.  

Strawberrysundae -  I'm so happy that Serum was good for you, once again interesting why they wanted you to have a hysteroscopy!  I have read very good things about Penny.


Clararose & innanya - I am going to check out Newlife clinic now.  Just out of curiosity does FET mean frozen egg transfer? or Fresh egg transfer?  If I'm understanding this correctly the most expensive procedure is the fresh egg transfer, followed by frozen egg transfer, and then adoption embryo?  have I got that right?


Thanks again, any advice or help is really welcome, I have no one to talk about this with other than hubby, and really need a female friend/s to help.

Thanks again 
TTx


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## Tincancat (Mar 19, 2012)

Hi Ticktock
With double donor in Cyprus they prepare the female donor whilst you are still in the UK and as you are using donor sperm no need for you to be there until day before transfer.  You can have all preparation in the UK scan etc. 
Cyprus don't tend to use frozen eggs.  Frozen sperm from a sperm bank is common in every country.  Many do embryo adoption so they take a look in the freezer and match you up.  You could in theory then fly there and back with just an overnight stay as you don't need to synchronise your cycle so have more control over when you fly out for treatment. 
TCCx


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## njay (Aug 21, 2019)

I would agree - my FS told me at 45 not to waste my time even though I am still ovulating and my uterine thickness is good, he said the quality probably wasnt great and to consider a donor, we are currently looking at north cyprus, Eurocare, North Cyprus IVF and Team Miracle (Cyprus IVF) is it ok to ask who you had your treatment with?
many thanks


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## Tincancat (Mar 19, 2012)

I went with Dr Firdevs when she was working out of Dogus Clinic.  Dr Sevket continues to run Dogus like he always has as the founder.  Dr Firdevs has split from her marketing/coordination team who continue to call themselves Team Miracle.  Communication with Team Miracle was an issue when I used Dr Firdevs so perhaps it's no bad thing she has parted company with them.  I understand Dr Firdevs now has her own hospital and has her own clinical team around her: Miracle IVF Centre.  Clinics in Northern Cyprus function differently to UK.  You can have several doctors working out of one hospital/clinic building as separate businesses or the Doctor will own the whole building and be the only one in that building thus it can be confusing.

Dr Firdevs was recommended to me and I was happy with the treatment I had with her.  Dr F, being the only doctor, is is very busy and you will have very little direct contact with her so it's important to have a good coordinator and be patient when waiting for replies, to specific clinical questions, which require Dr F direct input. I don't know what Dr F new coordinators are like.
TCCx


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