# Cheapest possible IVF - here or abroad?



## Lucina

I may need to begin IVF pretty sharpish and at my age and condition, with low ovarian reserve I may need repeated tries. As a single woman on a modest income with no entitlement to financial support, cost is everything.

I've largely ruled out UK clinics as I can't afford them. Can anyone recommend a clinic abroad (other than in Spain, where they don't allow non-anonymous sperm donation or Norway, where they don't treat single women!) that they or someone they know has used, at which costs have been reasonable. Really looking for below the £2,500 mark. I've emailed some clinics (e.g. in Greece, Czech Republic) but prices thusfar have been the same or even higher than the UK. I have heard that India is the cheapest but have no knowledge of clinics there.

Really desperate - please advise if you can.


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## staceysm

Hi,

If you go to the front page and scroll down there is a singles thread and then a regions and International thread where you should be able to find India.

I think in all honesty you will struggle to find anywhere where you can have IVF for cheaper then £2500.  Realistically you will need to double that figure.  

I hope things work out for you.

Stacey
X


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## Lucina

Hi Stacey

I'm sure you're right but I'm not giving up hope yet. According to this website (although slightly out of date): http://www.ivf-worldwide.com/Education/the-costs-of-ivf-in-different-countries.html costs in some places like China, Iran, India and Jordan can be less than £1,000. I'm now emailing dozens of clinics to find the ones for which this is the case.

I also finally managed to speak with the person in charge of funding for my borough, who told me that it was hopeless my even applying for funding as a single woman. I asked who I needed to write to to get this ridiculous policy looked at but he suggested not evening bothering. Now trying to decide whether to go all out and try to get the press involved or to just roll over and give up my life savings and sell my house.

Very scared and angry, overwhelmed by a feeling of hopelessness but keeping moving forward.

/links


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## Passenger42

Hi Lucina


That website is quoting figures that are based on research done over 4 years ago.


By the time you have factored in the cost of long haul flight travel, the cost of accommodation as you will not be able to do a short trip, eating out and medication you might be better off doing a cycle in the UK or in Europe.


I assume from reading your blog that you are young enough to be using your own eggs therefore you will be looking for basic ISCI and not donor egg.  I used a clinic in Cyprus by the name of Pedieos that did an offer for 6 transfers over two years for 7,500 euros using a donor.  It may be worth contacting them to see if they offer a package for OE IVF?  They accept donor sperm with ID release from Cryos if that helps?  Another place were people have had a lot of success is Serum in Athens.


I am in a similar situation in that I am going to be a single parent, I had to juggle credit cards to finance my treatment, swapping them over to avoid the interest rates and waiting for bonus payments to pay off my debts.  I used airmiles to pay for my flights bought with my tesco clubcard vouchers and got all my accommodation abroad off ebay or by making really cheeky offers to owners on holiday rentals.


Don't give up, I hope you get there in the end, it took me 18 months to get this far.


Passenger xx


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## Arkay

Hi Lucina,

Another clinic to think about is Dogus in Northern Cyprus.  My OE ICSI treatment there, using non-anonymous donor sperm from Cryos, was 3,700 euros in August this year.  That did include 5 nights accommodation (all you need for a 3 day transfer), but I've heard on the grapevine that prices might not include that accommodation anymore.  Like Passenger says though, flights, hotel and drugs need to be budgetted for.  There are cheap hotels in Northern Cyprus and restaurants, etc. are cheap.  Also, the drugs are much cheaper there than they are in the UK, but if UK treatment prices include the cost of drugs it might not work out cheaper at Dogus.

Passenger also mentioned Serum, a clinic I've heard only good things about.  I have a vague memory from my own research that they were offering two treatment packages for 4,000 euros...can't be 100% sure, but worth you looking into?  I'm sure there's lots of info about Serum on this site.

I've just read your blog and want to tell you a bit about me:
I decided in March that I wanted to try for my own baby (I always thought I would go straight to adoption at some point, but suddenly changed my mind).  I had the tests done in April...similar results to yours: AMH of 6.6 so low ovarian reserve, and only 5 follicles on my antral follicle count scan.  I quit doing an (expensive but career changing) MA that I had just started in order to pay for treatment.  Honestly, it didn't even cross my mind for a second that anyone else should fund this for me.  I went out to Cyprus in August and incredibly luckily got a BFP.  I am now in the process of selling my flat so that I can free up the equity and that will allow me to take a bit of time out to be a stay at home mum for a while at least, which is important to me.  I have also decided to move back to the UK after nine years living in a country I love living in, which means giving up my job, leaving my social circle and support network, etc. etc. in order to be close to my parents so that they can be involved in the baby's life and upbringing.  My weekly budget for my time as stay at home mum is scarily small (I'd be much better off on benefits!) and me and my mum were joking just last night about how I will never, ever, ever be able to buy anything for myself ever again! And holidays in the future?  Forget it!   My point in telling you all this is: yes, the thought of doing this on your own is incredibly tough and potentially scary.  But, if you really want it, you'll find a way.  Of course it'll involve sacrifice, but that's a given as far as children are concerned, regardless of how they were conceived. 

Please don't think that I'm trying to negate your feelings of anger and fear, how you're feeling is understandable.  I just wanted you to know that you're not alone, and your position is not unique, but, like me and Passenger and many other singles on these forums, you will find your own way forward.  There is *always* a way, I really believe that.   Good luck, you'll get there.


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## Lucina

Thank you Passenger and Arkay, and congratulations on your happy news. I've just spent the entire sleepless night crying and going out of my mind with worry.  

Reading your posts help to shed a little light into my outlook. I've just emailed the three recommended clinics and am trying to get an IVF treatment in this month. I've just had to leave my job (largely to all the secret medical appointments I have been having) and start a new job in January. I'm going back into a primary teacher and so getting any time off for treatment other than in school holidays will be nigh impossible, so I may end up having to leave that one too. 

Passenger, I agree that Europe seems a better bet and Denmark and Greece/Cyprus seem promising. I'm 37 but with low AMH, my few eggs may or may not be of sufficient quality to be used. An IVF package like the one you mention would be ideal and I would consider going to live there for a few months and trying to find supply teaching work. Knowing I'd already paid for the 6 attempts would allow me to budget and take out some of the unknown. I've scrimped and saved for years (ironically for the child, not to have the baby), have now rented out rooms in my house to save money so need to make my savings last until the IVF is successful. I also started a year and a half ago but haven't had a single treatment yet as I have waited endlessly for test results on the NHS and now privately. My UK clinic still can't fit me in for some time yet, despite my paying for the treatment!

Arkay, your post and story made me cry... again (but this time, in a 'touched' way). It's so easy to feel alone in this struggle. The UK price for me will be around £5,000 so Dogus seems much better. I'm actually in the same position, but from the opposite end of the world. I've spent all my adult life in London and am going to give up work, friends, life and the man I've been in love with for five years in order to move back with my parents in Australia. They live in a small coastal village so no work or lovelife prospects but I can't wait for them to share the joy of their grandchild. I actually feel very differently about funding and firmly believe that single woman (and even single men) should have the same rights as couples if they wish to have a child and are able to show that they could provide a loving and stable home environment.

Thanks again, ladies x


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## Arkay

Funny the similarities between our situations.  And I'm also a primary school teacher. 

Don't worry about having to give up your teaching job to fit in treatment, there'll be no need.  You can fit treatment into the school holidays by using the contraceptive pill to co-ordinate your cycle with the holiday.  Lots of women travelling abroad for treatment use the pill so they can be fairly confident of the date their cycle will start and so book flights/accommodation in advance, which makes things cheaper too.  If you do the stimming yourself whilst still at work, you can then have a week in the country of the clinic you choose which is plenty of time for egg collection and then a three day transfer.  And if you go to somewhere like Cyprus, you'll feel like you're on holiday too!

It sounds like you've got a lovely plan all figured out for after you get your BFP, so good luck getting a treatment sorted out asap.  I'm sure once you get started with an actual IVF cycle the feeling that you're finally doing something that will help you achieve your dream will make you feel a million times better.


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## Lucina

Hi again Arkay

Sorry to bombard you with questions. May I ask how one might use the contraceptive pill to coordinate the cycle with the holidays? I'm inexperienced with this and not really sure it would work or from where to obtain the pill (my GP knows I'm single and TTC).

I'm now speaking with a couple of clinics abroad (e.g. Copenhagen Fertility) but process seems very complicated. I only want one set of flights and a trip over there for a few days fort the collection, but the clinics want scans completed in the month running up to this and also the medication to be taken just after my period (though they will tell me which medication). May I ask how you dealt with all the preliminary scans and obtaining the drugs without having to go over there?


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## Arkay

Basically, if you take the pill you can then determine the date your period will start (give or take a day or two) and therefore when stimulation can start, so if you need to delay your period in order for it to arrive at the right time to fit IVF into the school holidays you can take pills for longer than the usual 28 day cycle that's in a pack.  So, e.g. I decided on the date I wanted embryo transfer and the clinic sent me a schedule of when to start and stop the pill in the three months leading up to that date.  They worked on the assumption that my period would start 4 days after I took the last pill, but if you follow the usual 28 day cycle of a packet of pills and take them for three months, you can see how your body responds in the first couple of months and then can take an extra pill, or stop the pills a day or two earlier to have more control over your cycle.  I've copied the schedule my clinic sent me, I thought that might help you make sense of it.    


11 May - pill 1
31 May - last pill
1 - 7 June - 7 day break for period
8 June - pill 1
28 June - last pill
29 June - 4 July - 7 day break for period
5 July - pill 1
25 July - last pill
29 July - Period Day 1
30 July - Start medication
8 August - Day 10 medication & Pregnyl injection
10 August - Egg collection
13 or 15 August - Embryo transfer

Re getting the pill, your GP can prescribe it or you can get it from family planning clinics or similar if you don't want to ask your GP.

I personally went to Cyprus for three weeks to make a bit of a holiday out of it, and so did all my stimming, scans, etc. over there.  As it was my first IVF and I had four weeks off school I thought I may as well do it that way.  The alternative is that the clinic send you your protocol (based on things like your AMH/FSH levels and your antral follicle count), you buy the drugs yourself, and start stimming whilst still in the UK.  You'd need to get a scan or two from a Dr during your 10 days of stimming and then relay that information back to the overseas clinic who may adjust your drugs accordingly.  Then you fly out to the clinic in time for egg collection and stay until after embryo transfer.

Most people do the stimming at home and just fly out for for the EC and ET.  And lots of women take the pill as then they can work to definite dates and organise leave from work, book flights, etc. in advance.

Hope that helps.  If not, feel free to ask more questions!


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## Lucina

Thank you, Arkay. It's all beginning to come together. I am just about to book IVF at Copenhagen Fertility Centre just before Christmas


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## Lucina

Update: Just wanted to post my plan of action, which is the result of almost two solid days of research with clinic prices all over the world...

The doctor yesterday told me that I shouldn't be too worried about my low AMH as the test does not take age into consideration, and my result is perfectly expected for my age. I still want to have IVF though, as my periods are getting odd (heavy, then light then very watery) and this worries me.

Because I need to have one treatment now in December, before my new job starts, I'm arranging one session of IVF at Copenhagen Fertility Centre, they only place I've found that is open over Christmas.

If that fails, I'll arrange the package of two IVF sessions at Serum, Athens and will try to have one during my (teacher) April holidays and one in July/August, or both in July/August/September. I'd even look at living in my friend's flat and working in Athens for that time. I love Greece! 

In the meantime, I might try several attempts at IUI and home insemination.

Fingers crossed. Eventually I'll collate all the information I've gathered about prices and country laws, and post it.


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## Arkay

Sounds like a brilliant plan Lucina.

     for you.  Keep us posted.


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## Lucina

I wanted to share my findings. I didn't quite get it under the £3,000 mark but not too far off. Forgive the long narrative but I originally wrote this for my blog and am cutting and pasting:
*
Preliminary tests*

You are entitled to have a range of preparatory tests done through the NHS via a referral from your GP to an assisted conception unit at a hospital. These include:

- blood tests (e.g. HIV, Hepatitis B and C)
- FSH tests (which measure levels of follicle stimulating hormone and indicate ovarian reserve)
- ultrasound scan to check your uterus
- HSG (hysterosalpingogram - a kind of X-ray that uses dye to examine the uterus and fallopian tubes)
- AMH (anti-mullerian hormone tests, which are more effective measures of ovarian reserve than FSH - I was originally told that these weren't available on the NHS but I pushed and got one done).

N.B. The wait for NHS appointments can be lengthy. It was a year-and-a-half from the time I walked into my doctor's office desperate for a baby as soon as possible to the completion of my preliminary tests at two different assisted conception units. Having recently found out I have low ovarian reserve, I'm furious that all that precious time was wasted.

When I'd gone as far as I could through the NHS, I moved to self-funding the rest of the tests at an assisted conception unit that saw both NHS and private patients. £220 bought me:

- another FSH test
- a test of estriadol levels (which can interfere with FSH levels)
- swabs to test for STDs
- another ultrasound to look at size and number of egg follicles
- two consultations with doctors, who analysed test results and made recommendations for treatment
- a counselling session concerning the implications of fertility treatment and donor sperm (compulsory in the UK).[/list]

Bear in mind that if you decide to switch clinics, most will insist on you doing the preliminary tests again themselves and charge you for them!

*IVF treatment*

I spent a lot of time researching prices at UK clinics before ruling them out completely. It was not so much the cost of the IVF itself, but the myriad of infuriating extra hidden costs that kept rearing their ugly heads like moles on a golf course. For example, one UK clinic wanted to charge me an administration fee of £250 plus £200 to store sperm imported from my chosen sperm bank in Denmark (after I'd paid for the shipping and sperm itself!). I felt as though they were trying to wheedle every last penny out of me. Forgive me, but I don't want my IVF performed with used car salesman mentality!

I started emailing fertility clinics overseas for IVF price lists. Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic and Denmark proved more reasonable, though Spain wasn't for me as all donors remain anonymous by law and I wanted an open identity donor (who had agreed that the child could contact him at age 1. I finally selected a reputable clinic in Copenhagen at which the IVF (including all scans) cost 17,500 Danish Krone (approximately £1,971). I decided to begin with one treatment at the facility to see how comfortable I felt there, but some clinics offered packages of two of three IVF sessions, which can knock the cost per session down to under £1,700.

*Buying medication*

I've found that clinics tend to charge inflated prices for IVF medication. Even the doctor at my own clinic suggested that I buy them elsewhere. It's possible to purchase the medication yourself from an independent pharmacy (Calea, Healthcare at Home and Central Homecare seem among the most reasonable), using a prescription from your clinic and inject yourself at home. I was terrified at this prospect, being a wimpish needle-phobe, but there are easy-to-follow instructions and the process is not as difficult of painful as one might imagine.

For this, my first IVF treatment, my ovarian stimulation medication wasn't too extreme (150 iu of Gonal F per day) and I kept the cost to £589.66 (the most expensive item being the Gonal F 900 pen at £282).

*Scans and blood tests*

I was told I needed a scan and blood test on Day 9 of my cycle to check how my ovaries were responding to medication. Rotten luck - this fell on Boxing Day, and so I decided to fly to Copenhagen a week early and have it done there at the clinic (as part of the treatment cost). On most other days it could have been done by a private clinic in the UK and the results emailed the next day to the Copenhagen. For example The Birth Company will do a follicle tracking scan for £120.

*Purchasing the sperm*

A helpful sperm bank, based in Denmark, provided extended profiles over the donors, with ampoules of MOT 10 (reasonable motility) sperm each costing 200 Euros plus VAT. Having my IVF treatment in Denmark meant that it only cost 55 Euros to transport the sperm to the clinic. The total cost to have two ampoules of selected donors ready and waiting was approximately £450.

*Other costs (if travelling abroad)*

Flights (SAS and Easyjet) totalled £170 and budget accommodation (a female dormitory in a hostel) worked out at £21 per night. I borrowed Copenhagen guide books from the library and researched free museums and inexpensive places to eat.

*TOTAL COST*

IVF - £1,971
Medication - £586.66
Sperm (and delivery) ­- £450
Flights - £170 (would have been cheaper outside the Christmas period)
Accommodation - £231 (could have stayed fewer nights)

So the total for the IVF (after the preliminary tests) worked out at just under £3,410 plus a little spending money - not quite my aim of under £3,000 and still a considerable chunk out of my life savings, but more feasible than the £5,000 plus I was quoted in the UK.


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