And can you tell me about it? And why you chose this route?
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What is a mini IVF?
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Curious about this too!
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@PurplePumps: @Worrywart: it's a minimal stimulation ivf where they use Clomid or something similar and only retrieve a few eggs. It's less difficult on the body and cheaper.
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That's interesting, I've never heard of that. That would never work on me though since I only ever produced 1 egg on both Clomid and Femera. I can see how it would save 2-3k on the meds for IVF, but the bulk of the cost (9-15k) is still in the procedure itself, so personally, I don't think it would be worth it. If I have to pay 9-15k for the medical procedure/lab/transfer portion, what's another 2-3k, to get as many eggs as possible to increase my chances.
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@PurplePumps: I agree, and I think egg quality would be a big factor, too. I got 16-19 eggs each time, and wound up with only ~50% fertilization rate and 1-3 blastocysts on Day 5 (and none to freeze), so I'd be worried with mini IVF we'd end up with nothing to transfer at all. Also, sometimes medicine is the only thing covered by insurance, so you may not save much money anyway.
ETA: I think it's a good option for people with MFI.
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@PurplePumps: they must do something else different because it looks like the actual procedure is less. Also I don't think they do it to save cost. I think it is more successful with women who have lower reserves because max stims won't make more eggs than there are available so for those women it makes sense to stim less. I read something where they compared it to car that can only go 30mph. Slamming the accelerator won't make it go more than 30mph and it puts extra stress on the car.
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@travellingbee: I think I've told you this before, but my close friend did this successfully last year. I believe she used a low dose injectibles and her total cost was a fraction of my fresh cycle. I would definitely inquire with an RE about it!
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@travellingbee: Maybe they charge a little less because there are less eggs to retrieve, fertilize, incubate, and monitor? It looks like the IVF part of it is the same, but the stim part is different (from a quick google). I can definitely see how that may be beneficial for some in cases like you said.
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@travellingbee: Hopefully she will chime in when she sees this thread but I'm pretty sure @Spaniellove did a mini IVF cycle.
Although I was borderline DOR we did not explore this option because my RE likes to see one regular stim cycle to get a sense of egg quality, etc. We ended up with 16 mature/retrieved with an eSet on Day 5 with 2 to freeze.
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@travellingbee: I went to a consultation for mini IVF, there is a very big clinic where people travel from all over to do it near where I live. To me the thought of less money and less meds seemed very appealing. We went to a seminar on it and really liked the idea of it. It seemed like the majority of people who wanted to try it were older and told elsewhere that they would have to use donor eggs so it seemed very popular with people with DOR or had no success with conventional IVF. One thing that was off putting for me was that he brought a patient in who was pregnant but told us how it took her 19 cycles for it finally to work. The doctor was clearly proud that he FINALLY got her pregnant but for me that didn't give me a vote of confidence at all.
In the end.. we ended up doing conventional IVF because our 1 on 1 consultation went horrible and we didn't want to go to him. We were successful with our first round of IVF and have frozen embryos which is something you don't really get with mini IVF since they retrieve so few eggs so that is something to think about as well. Also, when I went over the prices for both my IVF only ended up being a few hundred dollars more than mini ivf after I added in all the extra hidden costs they don't tell you about with mini ivf.
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Also, for those asking about it being less- it is less because there is less monitoring. You don't have frequent blood work and ultrasounds like conventional ivf since you arent stimulating the ovaries as much. So it would be similar to IUI with clomid monitoring. Also, at the place I looked into you save money on OR/Anesthesia fees because they only retrieve a few eggs they don't have to knock you out since its less painful. But the hidden fees at this clinic I looked at added up. One thing that was ridiculous is they charged like $75 any time you need to call with a question for him.
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