Clinics and successes

becky · Post by **becky** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 6:28 pm

Hi girls Dh and I are thinking about having ICSI number 3 but have decided to do some research into success rates at London clinics. We had ICSI 1 and 2 at the Brige Centre and have seen that their figures have dropped in the last 2 years ( I guess I am one of their stats!!) - Has anyone on this side had treatment at the Bridge? The other clinics that we are looking into are; The Lister UCH ARGC The Portland London Fertility Clinic Guys Please can you tell me good and bad points of any of the clinics - would be nice to see how may +ives there have been from each. Thanks Becky B

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 7:14 pm

Hiya becky Glad you are well. Im not sure about any that you have listed although the UCH are pretty good as they are a teaching hospital. I had my treatment at BARTS in london. I had icsi,on our 3rd attempt i fell pregnant and we are now the proud parents of Heidi and Gracie. They are so friendly and extremley helpful during the hard times. Good luck. Take care Sammy xxxxxxxxxxx

KirstyC · Post by **KirstyC** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 4:43 am

Hi Becky, Me and dh chose the ARGC for our treatment. Thier success rate is 44%. We were one of the lucky ones and got pg on 1st ICSI cycle. I thought the clinic were were good and monitored me extremly well whilst on stims. (I had to go almost every day for either a scan or blood test or both) The one thing people do sometimes say about the ARGC is that you can sometimes feel like you are on a bit of a conveyor belt. (lots of poeple all quing for scan at 8.30 each morning!!) But it didn't effect how I felt I was treated. I had a nurse who was my nurse as it were and she was excellent whenever I needed any questions answering. I would definatly recomend them to you and wish you all the luck in the world for your next cycle, whichever clinic you decide to go for. Take care Love Kirsty (23 weeks and 6 days pg) x [Edited by KirstyC on 17-Jul-03 05:44]

alison p · Post by **alison p** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 8:53 am

Hi Becky, We had 1 ICSI cycle at Barts and 3 ICSI cycles at the Lister (4th go was a positive!). Since I live in Brighton, Barts was a bit of a pain to get to (although the ThamesLink trains do go directly to Farringdon they are very slow). The Lister was much easier for us and it helped that we could have the scans in Brighton - much less time off work,etc. However, if you live in London this may not be a consideration. I found the staff at both clinics excellent. Barts was a bit run down I thought - and they only offer egg collection under heavy sedation. At the Lister, EC is done under general, which I found much better. However, price may be a factor as well, since the Lister is more expensive than Barts (not sure how the others compare). If you go on the HFEA website (www.hfea.gov.uk) it has some useful things - such as all the clinic's results and things to ask the clinics when you go there. You need to find somewhere you feel comfortable and that's easy to get to as you'll be there a lot for scans, etc. Good luck, Alison

becky · Post by **becky** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 6:53 am

Please girls..get posting..there are more than 3 of you that have had a positive..give a little mate a helping hand!!

love Becky B

Helen G · Post by **Helen G** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 7:19 am

Hi Beck Good luck with deciding which clinic you're going to go with. It's a nightmare thing to have to decide - there are so many pros and cons of each. I'm afraid I can't actually give you any experience of London clinics as I was treated in Oxford. Best of luck! Helen xx

Jules R · Post by **Jules R** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:03 am

Hi Becky We didn't have our treatment at any of the clinics you mentioned but we did have it in London, at King's College Hospital. I'm a bit cynical about statistics (I'm a mathematician) and so many clinics' statistics seemed much of a muchness so we didn't really consider that. We looked at how cheap places were and how easy they were for us to get to from West Sussex. King's seemed about the cheapest and we could get there easily by train or car so we went to visit and were really impressed by how friendly everyone was. That made up our mind for us. The staff were great all through the treatment and it helped no end. We'd had a really frustrating time with the consultant in our local hospital during all the tests and while waiting for NHS treatment (which in the end we didn't have) so it was a real relief to be able to chat to supportive staff. I believe that it helped us to get our positive 'cos finally we could relax a bit. They were all as excited as us when we got our positive and I've kept in touch to fill them in on how our two are doing (15 months old now). Good luck with your decision. Jules [Edited by Jules R on 18-Jul-03 10:05]

Nina1 · Post by **Nina1** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:16 am

Hi Becky, Haven't posted here for YONKS as having a bit of a rocky time at the moment, but do check in from time to time to see how everyone's getting on. We've had 3 icsi's, the last one in April this year with a positive result. First at St George's (that's another story!), and the next 2 at UCH. I reacted pretty well to our drug regime at St G, but then obviously the unit closed so we had to go somewhere else. UCH had very good success rates, was in central London and easy to get to so we went with them. For our first cycle, they insisted I use a different drug regime. I didn't respond well to this, and the whole experience was pretty depressing. They even told us that they thought it was unlikely we'd get a positive result with my partner's sperm and that we should seriously consider going down the donor sperm route. We were shocked. But they agreed to treat us once more (only), with an ammended drug regime. This worked much better, more similar to our first ever attempt, and we got a positive. I do wonder what would've happened at UCH the first time had we repeated our original drugs. I sort of felt our previous experience should've been taken into account more, but maybe I'm just being over-sensitive... In our experience, UCH are very well-organised and medically very competent - the system's well thought-out and you're always able to speak to someone if you have a problem. Personally I found the 'bedside manner' left a lot to be desired. When things were going to plan they were lovely and nice etc, but when things were less sure, which is exactly when you need just a few comforting words, they weren't so great, like during our post treatment consultation on attempt 2, when the consultant read our notes through in silence while we were nervously sitting opposite him, and had obviously not prepared at all for our appointment. I had bleeding at 5 weeks and then again at 10 (which I'm still having!), and the doctor we saw was really flippant with me at a time when I was feeling very anxious. One of the doctors there, however, was very nice indeed, and we felt very secure when we saw her (you don't neccessarily see the same person each time, but it's a small team so they all get to know you and vice versa). The nurses were all very good, I have to say. Stats-wise, I personally feel quite cynical about very high success rates. Our experience at UCH, that they'd only treat us twice and no more, made me think that this is one of the ways they keep their figures up. It could be that our positive result was a freaky lucky stroke, but we'd done lots of research into my partner's genetic translocation, which makes it hard for us to conceive, and geneticists etc had never suggested it wouldn't work for us at some stage. On the other hand, maybe UCH were just being very realistic, and my reaction to them is just because I didn't like hearing what they were saying. So overall my personal experience of UCH was fine, sometimes good, but at times uncomfortable too. I don't know if this helps at all...!!!! If we'd gone on to a 4th attempt, I was looking into Guys and also the Wolfson at Hammersmith, which I've heard is busy but very good. Until soon everyone! Nina (13 wks 5 days)

chris · Post by **chris** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 12:56 pm

Hi Becky I have had 5 attemps at IVF - the first being at the UCH and the other 4 at the Cromwell Hospital. I had my son on my last attempt 6 months ago. I went to the Cromwell hospital because I was'nt happy with the way I was treated at the UCH (my opinion only), and also because we could'nt afford another go at the UCH (the other 4 attempts at the Cromwell were egg-sharing). I am not sure of all the statistics but just thought I would share this with you. Good Luck Chris X

scorry · Post by **scorry** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:16 pm

Hi Becky, I had my treatment NHS Aberdeen, so don't know much from 1st hand experience, however we have done quite a bit of research on private clinics down south and the one that stood out above the others was ARGC ! Many couples who have not been successful at other clinics have gone here, I believe they are quite controversal, as depending on your circumstances (age, previous number of tries etc..) they will put back more than the usual 2 embryos. Hope this is of some help, Good luck, Scorry

becky · Post by **becky** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 6:04 pm

Thanks for all of your help so far..any more hints and tips please keep them coming.. I think that we are leaning more towards the ARGC as I believe there is a man there called Teranisi who is meant to be the best?? I will kwwp you posted on my findings ...got to have my FSH done again first and also going to have an inhibin B test down at the Midland Fertility clinic. kind regards Becky B

Mags529 · Post by **Mags529** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 1:25 pm

Hi Becky We went to Bourne Hall in Cambridge, the home of IVF (we live in Essex) our second choice was Mr Taransi at the ARGC. Good luck and please keep us posted on your treatment Love Mags

max · Post by **max** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 11:39 am

Hi there I've never posted to the site before but after our success at the ARGC wanted to help you in your choice.Having had 2 failed IVF cycles at Bourn Hall and being 38, thought we should give up. I did feel something of a number there and didn't enjoy the often sickly sweetness of staff. I was looking for a more thorough and "hands on" clinical approach. The ARGC has a fantastic success rate which I truly believe is valid.Any patient I spoke to in the waiting room seemed to know someone who had been successful there. Mr Taranissi took three times longer on putting the embryos back due to my tilted uterus, which he already knew would be tricky having done a hysteroscopy before treatment even began. All in all, it was a bit more expensive and a bit of a slog for me to travel to (they scan you more often too!), but the thoroughness was superb. Hope this helps and best of luck. Our son is due on 28th August and we feel truly blessed, albeit nervous!!Take care. Max

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