Fertility treatment abroad - Turkey

Hello Lady!

Hi Folks,

I am a newbie to this forum. Looking for some advice/experiences....

we have been TTC since Sept 2009. In April 2011, my GP referred me to the HARI unit. I was seen by Dr Mocanu in June 11. I had internal scans and bloods on various days of my cycle (not always easy to schedule as my cycle is quite irregular). We had the post coital test and my husband's sperm was tested.

So far, so normal, everything seemed as it should be, nothing untoward - but no baby in almost 2 years. During one of the scans the doc noticed I have what seems to be a lazy ovary - smaller than the other one. Monitoring it, it does seem to produce an egg, but not regularly. The doctor gave me injections etc to stimulate the ovaries. Did scans before and after etc etc. Nice ripe egg on three occasions...no baby. Next he started me on medications and injections. By this stage we were coming up to a year of treatment and investigations. So the doctor said that if in 3 mths the injections and meds hadn't helped things, next step was laparoscopy. Myself and my husband were starting to get impatient with the softly softly approach, and were just thinking lets get on with it! By this stage we were 2 years TTC! So we had said to ourselves, if by Christmas 2011 no baby, we'll start to really push the doctor to move quicker and maybe look into getting treatment abroad.

Shortly after this, in November 2011, blood tests revealed that I have some form of arthritis - an autoimmune disease. Fertility doc seems to think that there is a strong possibility that this condition is causing my body to reject pregnancy (basically the body, being the cleaver thing it is, says nah, can't cope with pregnancy as well and so does not allow implantation). At that time the fertility doc recommended I take a break from TTC, from the meds etc, and wait to see what rheumatology say. I have now seen a rheumatologist, and I am now on meds, but still waiting on a full diagnosis. I have to be very careful what meds I can take, as many of the meds are not suitable for women TTC as they can damage the foetus. I am hopeful that with the correct arthritis treatment, I may get pregnant naturally.

But if I am honest, I don't think that is going to happen. I think I have always just known that getting pregnant wouldn't be easy for me. Don't ask me how I know I just know. So to be honest, I am just eager to get some answers. I understand the doctor being cautious, but I just want to get on with things - I want to know do I need IVF - I don't want to waste any more time trying this or that, maybe this, maybe that, might do a laparoscopy, yadda yadda. I just want to know - do I need IVF?

If I am honest with myself, I have not done too much research on the whole thing really - I am afraid of getting too caught up in it, as I know my personality and if I go down that road I will get fixated. I am trying to just get on with it...monitor my cycle & CM, listen to what my body is telling me, make love during what I think is my fertile window (irregular cycle, hard to tell sometimes), take the meds and injections and hope it works each month. After that, I am clueless!

My husband's friend's wife had IVF in Turkey and got pregnant with twins and also her sister had IVF there and it was successful. They both actually went to the same doctor. apparently things move much more quickly there, less time spent with hormone injections and more quickly straight to IVF - IUI was not even thought of because they are coming from abroad, if they were in Turkey they would do that first and then, IVF, but for them it was IVF straight away. Also I have heard that they allow the embryo to develop longer before implantation than they do in Ireland - this increases the chances of success. My sister lives in Turkey and she has been told by Turks (dunno if its true or not) that in Turkey they try to get twins for you - and a boy and a girl - so that if you can't have further treatment, you have a ready made family! This could be total nonsence, i really don't know! But she says there is a large number of people with twins - boy and girl - in Turkey! And my husband's mates twins are boy and girl, so it has me wondering!

Now, my hubby isn't great for asking the questions, and I have asked him to find out would his mates wife mind chatting to me...but apparently no one is supposed to know that she had IVF! so I can't pick her brains.

I am getting eager now to get moving on this. I am hoping someone out there has experience of getting treatment abroad and can give me some pointers - especially someone who went to Turkey would be great. The reason I am thinking of Turkey is a) cheaper, b) apparently has a higher success rate than Ireland and c) because my sister lives there and speaks Turkish so I have somewhere to stay during the process.

Should I get as many tests out of the way here first and have the results with me? How long would I need to go there for? would it be first visit to chat, then visit a month later for treatment? How long would you need to be there to get the IVF before you could come home?

also, I'm new to all this so many of the abbreviations and acronyms I've seen on other posts don't make a lot of sense! so any help needs to be in proper english! lol

So sorry for the long winded post! its only when you start writing you realise how much you have to say! lol

Neyite

Hi there!

I'm afraid I dont know much about IVF in Turkey, but one thing struck me from your post which was that your medical condition is autoimmune and may be preventing inplantation, and if so, would that also prevent an IVF implantation?


The other suggestion I have is to look into NAPRO - it may suit your situation better as the basics of that treatment is to work with the womans system in detail, resolving underlying or seemingly minor autoimmune imbalances to allow for a natural conception. Iguana started a superb thread on it here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056549964

I confess, I've no experience of it myself, but going into the realm of assisted conception I became aware of how much the doctors dont know with regard to unexplained infertility - they can tell you that you ovulate or not but that is it -why implantation fails to occur month after month is something they dont address in the other clinics, yet the Napro looks at the whole health setup of the woman, and her cycle.


If I were you, I'd gather information on both the IVF in Turkey, and maybe look into Napro while you are waiting/saving for it? Me personally, I think if you are not implanting/fertilising the egg, it might be good money down the drain for the IVF route.


With regard to selective gender etc - I dont know, but I do know that Turkey is outside of the EU and therefore its restrictions on this kind of medical process, so maybe it's true. Would your sister who lives there be able to put you in touch with a group/forum in Turkey that you can ask? I'm sure her local IVF clinic would know.

Hello Lady!

Neyite wrote: »

Hi there!

I'm afraid I dont know much about IVF in Turkey, but one thing struck me from your post which was that your medical condition is autoimmune and may be preventing inplantation, and if so, would that also prevent an IVF implantation?

yes you're right, but the hope is that with the right medication, my autoimmune reaction will be reduced, making implantation more achieveable. The doc hoped that once on meds, I might conceive naturally, but we are now three months on and nothing.

Neyite wrote: »

The other suggestion I have is to look into NAPRO - it may suit your situation better as the basics of that treatment is to work with the womans system in detail, resolving underlying or seemingly minor autoimmune imbalances to allow for a natural conception. Iguana started a superb thread on it here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056549964

I confess, I've no experience of it myself, but going into the realm of assisted conception I became aware of how much the doctors dont know with regard to unexplained infertility - they can tell you that you ovulate or not but that is it -why implantation fails to occur month after month is something they dont address in the other clinics, yet the Napro looks at the whole health setup of the woman, and her cycle.

I will look into that for sure

Neyite wrote: »

Would your sister who lives there be able to put you in touch with a group/forum in Turkey that you can ask? I'm sure her local IVF clinic would know.

any of the groups are in Turkish! so no good, she has been asking about, but its not exactly the sort of thing people just volunteer! and she doesn't know anyone she can ask directly. Where she lives there is no 'local' clinic, its about an hour away. And she did ring, but they kind of said to discuss options with the doctor here first and then ring. However, I'm a bit embarrassed to tell my doc that I want to start treatment here an then head off to Turkey for the final stages.

As for gender selection - that is not even a consideration for me. Boy girl, one two or ten, I don't care I just want to have a family!

thanks for your info!

christmas2012

dont they have some in ireland IVF treatments in sims clinic ireland

Neyite

christmas2012 wrote: »

dont they have some in ireland IVF treatments in sims clinic ireland

There are several clinics in Ireland, however I hear that the likes of Spain and Belguim (I think!) are far more advanced in the technolgy and medical procedures than we are here. In addition, its far cheaper, even factoring in the cost of flights and accomodation. They also offer treatments not available in Ireland like donation.

Hello Lady - I did this :rolleyes: at myself when I read about the forums being in turkish. I totally didnt think of that one- LOL. The other option is a turkish expatriate forum ( I came across one once, with lots of english speaking people on it - they may be able to give you information on the clinics there.

Hello Lady!

Neyite wrote: »

There are several clinics in Ireland, however I hear that the likes of Spain and Belguim (I think!) are far more advanced in the technolgy and medical procedures than we are here. In addition, its far cheaper, even factoring in the cost of flights and accomodation. They also offer treatments not available in Ireland like donation.

yes I have heard this also. I have been told a good bit of ancedotal evidence about treatment abroad - but it is always from someone telling me about a friend or someones sister. would love to hear from someone who went through it themselves - Turkey or anywhere. Curious to know what the schedule of events is...do you start off here, and then go there for the actual treatment part? how long do you usually need to stay? How do you get around the not knowing exact dates etc?

Neyite wrote: »

Hello Lady - I did this :rolleyes: at myself when I read about the forums being in turkish. I totally didnt think of that one- LOL. The other option is a turkish expatriate forum ( I came across one once, with lots of english speaking people on it - they may be able to give you information on the clinics there.

I looked on the ex-pat forums but no joy - they are more to do with general issues for ex-pats living in the country, nothing so specific as fertility. The average age of most ex-pats probably plays a factor too! And not many ex-pats in Izmir - more in touristy areas or Istanbul.

If anyone reads this and has some advice on treatment abroad (particularly if its Turkey) then please chip in - really desperate to get some info first hand!

cheers!