Ttc And Il's Role

Elsa · Jul 30, 2017

Caughtinbetween said: ↑

Thank you Elsa for your reply. Appreciate the time and efforts.
I try to do as much research as possible from my side but still wanted to know first hand experience from you all specifically for IVF here in USA. I am confused with the reviews. Same dr. Gets completely different reviews at different websites.
I went without checking any reviews only to my first dr. At the very start of this ttc journey and paid the price very dearly. Ever since am trying to find a good dr. As much as possible based on reviews and my gut instincts . When for a few months metformin and clomid did not work , I went to NYU fertility center's chief dr. I tried 3 iuis there with clomid and ovidrel but it didn't work . I always felt while there that something was amiss . Felt as if I am blindly doing iuis without any efforts to find out the reason behind the failures . Met the dr. Only once during all this as everything was carried out by nurses . I understand that nurses take over everywhere but every month I wanted to find out the underlying reason but dr. Was apparently reluctant.all I was left with was bills to pay . I thought I had to switch dr. Now.
Hence moved to Dr. T at S**R again after going through his reviews I thought maybe I will get some help here. He asked ivf straight . Before that got all the tests done and it looked like issues are little less egg count , endometrial thickness is little off the mark and morphology combined with oxidative stress . Meanwhile I found online about fertility cocktail of ccrm and got all the medicines and recently started on it .
Now waiting for the new insurance to kick in will take the treatment back by 6 months . I never knew that we can call the drs office to know the ivf rates. I thought we have to again go through all the tests and then they tell us the cost. I will go through all the above suggested places and will see which one offers better package. I understand your point that even if you go to a place which is very cheap it might not be worth it at the end. I know two places which only charge 6k$ but not sure about its credibility.
Thank you so much for putting up with me.appreciate responses from all of you .
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@Caughtinbetween with the two clinics I have worked with so far, I had always had nurses communicate with me and instruct me the medication, dosages etc. but then, I could always talk to the doctor if I wanted to. The doctor was available over phone and if I could fix an appointment with him and meet him if I wanted to (I had to pay the consultation co-pay to meet with him in person, no charge for phone consultations). My current RE has called me thrice when I had questions. The only reason why I am continuing with him even after a not so good first IVF cycle.

You could check with your nurse if she can fix up an appointment with the doctor if you have any questions

Caughtinbetween · Jul 30, 2017

MalStrom said: ↑

You should always ask for prices up front and ask about any discounts if you are self-pay, for every single test and procedure. Don't let them do something first and charge you later.
And if you have to buy IVF meds out of pocket then shop around different pharmacies for the best price. Don't automatically go with what the office tells you. You can buy different medicines at different places if the prices are cheaper. Some clinics also have supplies of donated medicines from people who have completed their treatments. Don't be shy to ask your nurse about these.
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Thank you Malstrom for your quick response .
Until now I usually went with the total amount the office used to quote but now will ask them for the breakdown . Never knew that discounts exist for tests however recently found about discounts on meds online . I 'll ask about donated medicines on my next visit .
I'll call shady grove soon to find out about their package however there are a few clinics around where ivf costs about $7-8k . I am not sure if its worth it but H is inclining towards those clinics to try for a cycle . What is your opinion on it . Dr. reviews are not highly great but its more advertised as a low cost IVF . Have to also find out if this price is for mini or full cycle . Also I am member of resolve forum but till now did not post there . I'll do that soon with my test results and will let you know .
One last que , how does this work with clinics at other states if I have to travel ? How many trips I might have to make ?Are there any clinics in other states which are less expensive (non metro) with good success rates where I can try (given they are flexible with number of trips) ?
Thank you once again for taking time out to answer my queries . Appreciate it a lot .

Elsa · Jul 30, 2017

Caughtinbetween said: ↑

Thank you Malstrom for your quick response .
Until now I usually went with the total amount the office used to quote but now will ask them for the breakdown . Never knew that discounts exist for tests however recently found about discounts on meds online . I 'll ask about donated medicines on my next visit .
I'll call shady grove soon to find out about their package however there are a few clinics around where ivf costs about $7-8k . I am not sure if its worth it but H is inclining towards those clinics to try for a cycle . What is your opinion on it . Dr. reviews are not highly great but its more advertised as a low cost IVF . Have to also find out if this price is for mini or full cycle . Also I am member of resolve forum but till now did not post there . I'll do that soon with my test results and will let you know .
One last que , how does this work with clinics at other states if I have to travel ? How many trips I might have to make ?Are there any clinics in other states which are less expensive (non metro) with good success rates where I can try (given they are flexible with number of trips) ?
Thank you once again for taking time out to answer my queries . Appreciate it a lot .
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I stayed at a hotel near the fertility clinic for as long as I was on IVF medication until the day after retrieval. It worked out for me because I had to pay about 7-800 for monitoring as part of my IVF package. It was much cheaper than the amount I would have paid if I had my monitoring done at a clinic near me as I would have had to pay the co-pay until I met my deductible. Plus the monitoring at the fertility clinic was done by one of the doctors, so they knew exactly what medication needs to be adjusted and how frequently I had to be monitored as against a technician doing by ultrasound in my local clinic. My estrogen levels shot up during the stimulation phase, so my doctor recommended me to visit his clinic for monitoring.

If you prefer to get the monitoring done at your place and your doctor is ok with it, you might as well get done with just one trip to the clinic, for retrieval and one for transfer.

Caughtinbetween · Jul 31, 2017

Elsa said: ↑

I stayed at a hotel near the fertility clinic for as long as I was on IVF medication until the day after retrieval. It worked out for me because I had to pay about 7-800 for monitoring as part of my IVF package. It was much cheaper than the amount I would have paid if I had my monitoring done at a clinic near me as I would have had to pay the co-pay until I met my deductible. Plus the monitoring at the fertility clinic was done by one of the doctors, so they knew exactly what medication needs to be adjusted and how frequently I had to be monitored as against a technician doing by ultrasound in my local clinic. My estrogen levels shot up during the stimulation phase, so my doctor recommended me to visit his clinic for monitoring.

If you prefer to get the monitoring done at your place and your doctor is ok with it, you might as well get done with just one trip to the clinic, for retrieval and one for transfer.
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Thank you Elsa for replying . Sorry to ask few more ques here. If you dont mind , can you please let me know like how many days it took for your hotel stay approximately ? and how often . My only concern being no. of holidays I can take to visit other state . I understand protocol for everyone is different , just wanted to under stand the basics about going to a different state if its more feasible. Also can I ask which part of the U.S you went for treatment as in which states have better packages ? Also soon when I'll get supplemental insurance B**S would I be able to use it in a different state ? This supplemental insurance would give limited retrievaksl and unlimited transfers i guess .
Thanks again for your time and patience.

Elsa · Aug 1, 2017

Caughtinbetween said: ↑

Thank you Elsa for replying . Sorry to ask few more ques here. If you dont mind , can you please let me know like how many days it took for your hotel stay approximately ? and how often . My only concern being no. of holidays I can take to visit other state . I understand protocol for everyone is different , just wanted to under stand the basics about going to a different state if its more feasible. Also can I ask which part of the U.S you went for treatment as in which states have better packages ? Also soon when I'll get supplemental insurance B**S would I be able to use it in a different state ? This supplemental insurance would give limited retrievaksl and unlimited transfers i guess .
Thanks again for your time and patience.
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@Caughtinbetween I stimmed for 9 days and took the trigger shot on the 9th day evening. I had my retrieval on day 11 morning. I cant remember which cycle day I started the medication, because my cycle got messed up due to the birth control pills I was put on prior to ivf. I got my monitoring done on the third and fifth day of stims at my local clinic. My estrogen levels shot up and my doctor recommended that I get the day 7 bloodwork done at his clinic. I had daily monitoring done for the next 3 days. So I had to stay in a hotel near the clinic for about 6 days.

I am not sure about the insurance coverage by state. You might want to check with your insurance provider.

Caughtinbetween · Aug 4, 2017

Thank you so much all of you for your help .
Was feeling very anxious for the last few days thinking about all these things . Couldnt control myself so thought of writing here to relieve my stress. Sorry for the vent .
Speaking to BCBSNJ so many times that they now know my details and my preference for plan with ivf coverage that they've started being rude. Didnt get a satisfactory reply and am not sure if waiting for the insurance would be right step or not. Sometimes associate who picks up the call say that they cant guarantee if the next year plan would include ivf coverage . They also dont tell if I'd be eligible to get the coverage at all or some citizenship issue , low income threshold or something else would crop up at that time. That would be completely devastating to not being able to take up the insurance. I have high hopes on it .
Regarding shared risk programs , if I go to shady the six cycle program is almost equal to 3 cycle program at DR. T's ofc . I am leaning more towards Dr. T however even though its a 3 cycle full refund package ; what if I am not successful in the 3 cycle time , would I be able to get that money back and then reuse the money to fund another 3 cycle package. So that we pay for the meds and anything left over it . Cost wise Shady and S**r are similar (same for one cycle and same amount of money for 6(shady) and 3(S**r) package) but by reveiws and rates Dr. T looks better also less commute . Cant decide about it . H is in two minds to invest for multi cycle because he thinks it would eat up all his savings at one go and then meds cost for each cycle separate. He would be left with very less contingency funds hence he is less willing . I know he is not wrong and cant blame him. He is more towards one cycle now to see what happens and if does not work then wait for insurance to kick in and start new cycle with insurance coverage.
But these insurance people are giving a hard time . They dont even tell if this insurance could be taken by anyone as in people on visa like me or not. Dr.s ofc tells to speak to company only.
I am more towards multi cycle as i think expecting success in first cycle itself is being too optimistic , I am tired of being one. He thinks insurance is too costly . I am ready to pay upto $1500-2000 in premium every month if they cover atleast some parts of ivf . But they dont explain anything clearly . I am willing to take a loan to contribute from my end towards expenses but he is against it . I am more leaning towards it though if nothing works out.
And lastly the ever hanging sword of r2i which gives me anxiety attacks . Besides all the other issues , I feel most stressed out thinking about being in ttc at ils place . H thinks that going to India to ils place for treatment would be less expensive than taking insurance here . I agree to it but I can never explain him the stress it would cause to me . He will not understand anything about them so I dont even mention anything about them except for a few min phone calls every few days. But ofcourse the real conversations happen when I'm not around. Imagining that future might be bleak here if nothing else works out and I may actually end up going to india due to this issue scares me to the hell.
At this age in life , when I look around and not find a single person who i can call to talk on the name of friends or atleast an acquaintance , I know I did wrong a lot of things . No matter how many pain killers one takes , they neither relieve the pain nor does it bring peace to the mind. But frankly I never missed not having people around until last half a decade in this marriage but now on some very bad days I do miss having someone to talk, to lighten my heart. But its a different story.
However I feel bit better than I was when I started writing here. Thank you so much for your love and strength . As always all your advices are welcome . Sorry for such a long vent . Thanks .

Elsa · Aug 4, 2017

Caughtinbetween said: ↑

Thank you so much all of you for your help .
Was feeling very anxious for the last few days thinking about all these things . Couldnt control myself so thought of writing here to relieve my stress. Sorry for the vent .
Speaking to BCBSNJ so many times that they now know my details and my preference for plan with ivf coverage that they've started being rude. Didnt get a satisfactory reply and am not sure if waiting for the insurance would be right step or not. Sometimes associate who picks up the call say that they cant guarantee if the next year plan would include ivf coverage . They also dont tell if I'd be eligible to get the coverage at all or some citizenship issue , low income threshold or something else would crop up at that time. That would be completely devastating to not being able to take up the insurance. I have high hopes on it .
Regarding shared risk programs , if I go to shady the six cycle program is almost equal to 3 cycle program at DR. T's ofc . I am leaning more towards Dr. T however even though its a 3 cycle full refund package ; what if I am not successful in the 3 cycle time , would I be able to get that money back and then reuse the money to fund another 3 cycle package. So that we pay for the meds and anything left over it . Cost wise Shady and S**r are similar (same for one cycle and same amount of money for 6(shady) and 3(S**r) package) but by reveiws and rates Dr. T looks better also less commute . Cant decide about it . H is in two minds to invest for multi cycle because he thinks it would eat up all his savings at one go and then meds cost for each cycle separate. He would be left with very less contingency funds hence he is less willing . I know he is not wrong and cant blame him. He is more towards one cycle now to see what happens and if does not work then wait for insurance to kick in and start new cycle with insurance coverage.
But these insurance people are giving a hard time . They dont even tell if this insurance could be taken by anyone as in people on visa like me or not. Dr.s ofc tells to speak to company only.
I am more towards multi cycle as i think expecting success in first cycle itself is being too optimistic , I am tired of being one. He thinks insurance is too costly . I am ready to pay upto $1500-2000 in premium every month if they cover atleast some parts of ivf . But they dont explain anything clearly . I am willing to take a loan to contribute from my end towards expenses but he is against it . I am more leaning towards it though if nothing works out.
And lastly the ever hanging sword of r2i which gives me anxiety attacks . Besides all the other issues , I feel most stressed out thinking about being in ttc at ils place . H thinks that going to India to ils place for treatment would be less expensive than taking insurance here . I agree to it but I can never explain him the stress it would cause to me . He will not understand anything about them so I dont even mention anything about them except for a few min phone calls every few days. But ofcourse the real conversations happen when I'm not around. Imagining that future might be bleak here if nothing else works out and I may actually end up going to india due to this issue scares me to the hell.
At this age in life , when I look around and not find a single person who i can call to talk on the name of friends or atleast an acquaintance , I know I did wrong a lot of things . No matter how many pain killers one takes , they neither relieve the pain nor does it bring peace to the mind. But frankly I never missed not having people around until last half a decade in this marriage but now on some very bad days I do miss having someone to talk, to lighten my heart. But its a different story.
However I feel bit better than I was when I started writing here. Thank you so much for your love and strength . As always all your advices are welcome . Sorry for such a long vent . Thanks .
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I am soo sorry you are going through such bad times! Believe me, nothing lasts for long. I hope you get what you want in life soon. I can totally relate to your post and I must say, I am in the same situation. I have put my career on hold. Taking career easy at this age has a lot of consequences, but I need time and flexibility to be able to continue with my treatments. Hope your insurance issues get sorted out and you start the treatments soon.

Its unfortunate that we cannot share our infertility journey with anyone. I havent told anyone, I just vent on these forums and continue with my life. I wish I had someone by my side to tell me and assure me that everything will be ok at the end. But I have sailed past that stage as well. It can only get so bad before good things start happening to you.

Caughtinbetween · Aug 6, 2017

Thank you so much Elsa for your kind words . Days are just passing by somehow .
What are the supplements that one take to make good quality eggs and increase their count generally .
I am taking everything in ccrm cocktail list and reservatol , prenatal ,inositol, coq , dhea .It comes to about 24-30 pills in a day but not sure if I'm missing anything more . Dr. says it wont make much of a difference but still one can try. leaves me confused. I hope we all get what we seek soon. Thank you very much. Shall come back with more queries as and when things move ahead .

MalStrom · Aug 7, 2017

My RE suggested Coq10 (ubiquinol is the preferred form, at least 400 mg and preferably 600 mg per day). I used to get the Jarrow 200 mg ubiqinol on Amazon. Costco also has something. Make sure that your DHEA levels are not high before you start taking it. It is not suggested for PCOS patients. Micronized DHEA is the correct version to take. CCRM is supposed to be doing a trial with acai supplements, Google may bring up a protocol. Make sure your TSH and vitamin D levels are normal. It is recommended to take the supplements for at least 3 months. Also make sure that your DH is taking a good multivitamin.

hjg6578 · Aug 9, 2017

MalStrom said: ↑

My RE suggested Coq10 (ubiquinol is the preferred form, at least 400 mg and preferably 600 mg per day). I used to get the Jarrow 200 mg ubiqinol on Amazon. Costco also has something. Make sure that your DHEA levels are not high before you start taking it. It is not suggested for PCOS patients. Micronized DHEA is the correct version to take. CCRM is supposed to be doing a trial with acai supplements, Google may bring up a protocol. Make sure your TSH and vitamin D levels are normal. It is recommended to take the supplements for at least 3 months. Also make sure that your DH is taking a good multivitamin.
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The ubiquinol form of CoQ10 is the active form and may be better absorbed. Regardless of which form you choose, be sure to select a CoQ10 supplement that is both water and fat-soluble for better absorption. You can find it at both Amazon and Costco.