First IVF Cycle Failed, Do I change Clinic?

[ARG]

Hi, I have completed my first IVF Cycle with a BFN unfortunately. I have read quite a lot over the past week whilst deciding what to do. Should my Clinic be advising me of what went wrong with the cycle and should they change my treatment if we wend for a 2nd Attempt. People I have spoke to said that if they dont offer anything different next time, to change Clinics. That would then mean that we have to go through the situation of waiting for an appointment and paying for all the initial checks, which is costly. Any advise.

[summerbaby]

Hi Angela,
sorry to hear about your negative result. It can be very sad, upsetting, and frustrating -- No matter what you decide for your next try, I wish you lots of luck and all the best. The decision is really, in the end, yours to make as to whether you want to change clinics or not and pay the initial fees again --

I just thought I'd tell you my story - After our 1st try, which ended in a negative, our clinic didn't offer any follow-up consultation, only said we could try again in 2 months. As we weren't really satisfied with our treatment along the way, we decided to change clinics and found a wonderful doctor in a small clinic where we feel really well taken care of. Although our 2nd try also ended in a negative with an entirely new protocol, we have the feeling that he is really working closely with us and wants us to get pregnant as much as we do. We also had to pay for all the tests again, but this doctor picked up on things that my other clinic seemed to have missed. So, you never know.

In the end, it was worth it to change clinics, and even though we have to drive 4 hours to get there, we believe we are in better hands and will get lucky with #3.

Wishing you all the best on your journey. Hope to read about your BFP in the near future!

xx Amy

[SusanSEA]

Hi Angela,
It is so important that you have an RE that you trust. So let me ask you, did you lack confidence in your RE all along, or has it just been since your BFN? If you never really felt that confidence, I would definitely switch. Feeling like you trust your RE will do wonders for your outlook on your treatments. My first IVF failed as well, but the nurses at the office immediately told me to schedule a consultation with my RE to go over my next treatment (which will be my first FET). I think your doctor should definitely tell you what, if anything, he thinks can be changed. Lots of IVFs fail and there is no real reason. I've heard of perfect circumstances that failed. Then when you think there's no hope, and you have less than perfect embabies, it takes! So he may not be able to give you a reason, but you should talk nonetheless.

[shantala]

hi angela

this is just my story....we got a BFN too first time round and i thought about changing clinics. we didnt get any embies to freeze and i found every fault with the clinic to make my mind up that we should change. they couldnt give me a reason for why it didnt work (everything went perfectly) and didnt offer me a follow up aappointment as they said they wouldnt change anything as everything went so smoothly. and that its just a luck game sometimes.

anyway, so we went and visited about 4 other clinics and a couple of them were awful and made me appreciate how professional our clinic was. a couple of others were quite good. but then i thought is it just because of my BFN that i disliked my clinic? and apart from a couple of little faults i realised i was actually quite pleased with my clinic and i knew the drill there so i knew what to expect, roughly how the drugs affect me, how much time i would need out of work, etc. so i decided to stay with that clinic but vowed if we didnt get any embies again we would go elsewhere for our third attempt. lucky enough we got embies this time and in any case it was a BFP. and my cycle did definitely not go smoothly this time and i even ended up with OHSS. so it just shows how it can go sometimes. (oh and they kept me on the same dose as last time but i produced twice the amount of follicles to last time).

thats just my story....if you genuinely dont feel like your clinic is right for you though then i suggest you change. you have to feel comfortable with your clinic.

hope that helps.

xxx

[socal]

Hi Angela,
I switched clinics when I decided to stop trying with IUI and try IVF. I went on the CDC and checked out all of the results from the clinics here in Los Angeles, and chose one with excellent results and one that had a lot of experience with over 40 year old women as well as with PGD.(Pre Genetic Diagnosis) My new clinic was so much more organized then my previous one. I got pregnant the first time and had a beautiful baby boy. I am now trying again and just got a BFP on day 7, post 5 day transfer, so I am happy that I initially changed clinics.
Is there a way for you to check on all the clinics results in the UK like it is possible here? I think that your chances are much better with a place that shows you they have a high rate of success.
Good luck,
Lind

[Rotobay]

Hi Socal,

I am also in Los Angeles. Do you mind if I ask which clinic you use? I used Dr. Danzer in Beverly Hills for my first round of IVFs. Got pregnant on my second time.

This time I am using Innovative Fertility in Pasadena (Huntington Reproductive Center). They SEEM to be a bit more organized. I am on round 2 of IVF (the first was converted to IUI due to poor ovarian response). If I don't get pregnant this time, I plan to switch. If you are willing to divulge your clinic I would appreciate it. It sounds like you are having great success.

Congrats on the BFP!!!

[ICSI GIRL]

ARG - sorry for your bfn i can relate as i recently got one as well............HOWEVER --- i did not give a second thought to whether or not i wanted to change docs/clinics ------ i absolutely LOVE my doc/clinic and they could probably give me 10 bfn's and i'd go back!! (not really) -- but you know what i mean.......it really all depends on YOUR comfort level w/ doc/overall clinic.......sounds like you weren't all that impressed??? if it were me --- i would probably change.........but only cuz i know how strongly i feel about MY doc.......he's been absolutely WONDERFUL before/during and after......all his staff too.........makes a world of difference in how much you like him/her......(doesn't hurt that mine also has the best/highest success rate in state)

GOOD LUCK.........

[kbat]

I have a similar story as some of the other women. I was with one doctor at a clinic. Overall, I was told that she was a very confident doctor. I thought the nurses were pretty nice. She left the clinic and went elsewhere. I had taken some time off between the IUI's and doing the IVF. When I decided to do IVF's, I figured I would stay w/ the clinic that I was at. However, there was a little glitch in the sense that the new doctor they had was not yet approved my insurance (I live in a state where insurance will cover almost everything--just have to pay $20 co pay for regular office visit--up from $15). Since they couldn't seem to tell me exactly when she would get approved, I decided to stay w/ the original doctor I had because she was already approved, and since I was already 39, and I did not want to wait for a long time while the doctor got approved.

I was never "in love" w/ the doctor--no personality, no bedside manner, didn't explain things so well--but she was supposed to be one of the best. I thought the clinic was a little disorganized--getting different instructions from different nurses, was going to have a tube removed and it took several weeks to have someone call me to schedule it, so I lost about about 5 weeks, etc. But I had heard that this doctor was supposedly one of the best. After 3 failed ivfs (not to mention 3 failed iui w/ the same doctor--different clinic) I felt that it was time to change clinics.

The new clinic intially seemed more organized than the last one, but I've had some issues w/ them as well. But the doctor definately seems much better, explains things better and the clinic does seem like it is more on the ball overall.

I think it depends on how you feel about the doctor, nurses and actual clinic. After talking w/ doctor at the newer clinic, I do wonder if I wasted a whole year w/ the old clinic. I do not know if the results would be different but it does seem that the new clinic is really trying to find all the different reasons why things didn't work out. Unfortunately, I live in a little state, where these are the only 2 clinics and we can't really travel because my husband's job is pretty demanding (he's a lawyer) and he just can't take out blocks of time to travel to do this. Also w/ our insurance covering the procedure we are limited to where we can go so they will cover.

I used to live in San Marino, CA (near Pasadena) and with a big state like that the options are greater. So, don't know if distance is a factor for you, but it's something to consider