Budget fertility treatment / IVF

fluffnutter

Pruflo wrote: »

I have done 4 IVFs and have paid NO WHERE NEAR 7k per cycle !!, it quite annoys me that the media increase the costs.

What's it got to do with the media? Between 5K and 10K for the average IVF cycle. Depends on drugs obviously, but my experiences of overseas treatment suggests that 7K is a likely sum.

fluffnutter

Pruflo wrote: »

There is a lot of money to be saved on tests etc - CARE Sheffield wanted around £350 for tests that my GP would do for free and the AMH which cost me £70.

I think sometimes we rely far too much on what the clinics tell us and worry that if we don't go with their tests etc we won't get a good service.

Lots of GP practices won't do any fertility testing for free, beyond the most basic of hormone tests and possibly an SA. I needed AMH, infection screening, smear test, blood type grouping - none of which my GP would fund. If over 40 I would have needed a mammogram too - they're not cheap and again the NHS wouldn't have helped me.

People's experiences are different. IVF is very expensive, but it tends to come at a time when most people's thoughts are not centred on 'shopping around'. I wouldn't have had the emotional energy to worry about whether I was getting the best deal or not. I accepted the costs as specified by the wonderful clinic I went to and wasn't about to sit there banging on about whether Asda would do the drugs cheaper.

Mummawannabe

I might leave too! Thanks Pruflo :A

FatVonD

Mummawannabe wrote: »

I might leave too! Thanks Pruflo :A

Why would you leave, you're being given useful information or is it because it's not what you wanted to hear??

I can vouch for London Women's Clinic and they were happy for me to get my drugs prescribed by my GP (and my lovely GP agreed to fund 3 bouts on the NHS even though I lived in a borough that didn't fund the actual treatment.) 16 years ago LWC didn't do IVF using donor sperm but that may have changed by now.

OHSS is very real, very painful and can be very dangerous. It's not something i'd want to experience in a foreign country.

LittleBoots

I'm not really sure why I looked on here as its nothing I have any knowledge about but you seem to have been given lots of good advice from different points of view. Everyone has had different experiences and people have also tried to suggest alternatives for you.

Wilma33

I am sure you have already considered this, but do you have any male friends you can ask? It seems much easier and cheaper than IVF if you don't have any fertility issues.

meritaten

funny coincidence this - only today there was an ad on Capital Radio for a round of IVF for a fixed fee of £3,600 I think. sorry, but I cant remember the name of the clinic.

Mummawannabe

I do appreciate the advice by all, however i was feeling a little judged for needing to plan financially for this as though it isn't a big concern. yes i want a child but i do have to consider the cost as I dont want to get into debt over it when i could save instead. A couple of posts made me feel like i might not want it enough for thinking this way and seemed to be arguing with others as to who had the best advice. i just don't want to be in the middle but I am very grateful for those who just gave impartial advice that was actually related to my question. I don't intend to offend, I realise this is a very emotional topic and i am only at the beginning of this journey and have not had the experiences or disappointments that many have, this is just an explanation as to why i am no longer interested in my own thread.

Nicki

Certainly the meaning I intended to convey and I think others did too is that it is more cost effective, better for your body and less emotionally gruelling to have just one successful IVF attempt costing £7k (which is about standard) than four costing less than £10k if IVF is the route you decide to go down. You will have add on costs for each attempt such as lost earnings or using leave days, travel to and from hospital, parking etc which do add up over a cycle, where you could easily expect to be seen 8-10 times by the medical team and possibly more depending on how you respond to the drugs.

Your post did come across as very ungracious I'm afraid when a number of us had tried to help with information in a non judgmental way.