Anonymous wrote:Wow, I feel sorry for the nurses/techs that have to deal with you.

Yeah, I definitely was born and decided right then and there that I wanted to have this crippling issue that is literally ruining my life so as to inconvenience nurses and techs. You're just so compassionate today, aren't you PP...

Wow, I feel sorry for the nurses/techs that have to deal with you.

I hadn't read through the whole post to see the reaction you get. It sounds very severe. I will say I have a dear friend in Australia who has gone to a clinic that uses the methods you are talking about and she has had two failed cycles. In one cycle they totally missed the ovulation. She now wants to come to the US.

Like the other posters say, SG is very concervative with their protocols. Widra is my doctor as well and stuck to the program. I will say our results have been very good and while I didn't always agree with what he wanted to do I trusted him and it worked out for us.

I am going to disagree with you on the other points and say that the drugs we take for ivf are serious and there is a reason why people rarely do ivf off the bat. There are risks involved and there are reasons why we are monitored so closely.

Anonymous wrote:The bloodwork is critical to IVF. You are on serious medications and the monitoring and bloodwork help the doctors know when and where to adjust. It also lets them know if something is going awry and when you are about to ovulate. When you think about the money you are spending and the potential harms of ivf on your body you really do want to make sure you are following what the doctors say. You have to treat this like any serious medical regimine. You might not feel ill but you have to remember IVF is serious stuff. It is the last option for most people TTC.

This is coming from someone who hates needles and getting up in the morning.

There are a number of foreign clinics in reputable countries that do monitoring via u/s rather than b/w. While success rates aren't quite as high, neither are costs, and women aren't dying left and right or getting seriously ill in droves. It just isn't the equivalent of other "serious medical regimes," and it isn't inherently dangerous or irresponsible to question or push back. While I appreciate that you hate needles and getting up in the morning (really, who doesn't ), I doubt either one cause you to faint repeatedly, have a panic attack, or worse.

I would try to see Dr. Levy at SG. He is one of the founders and if anyone is able to override standard operating procedures, its him. Not saying he would be willing to -- he was very evidence driven when he was my doc. But he isn't just tied to the standard, and if you have any hope of getting special treatment at SG I would say its with him. And he's a fabulous RE.
Good luck.

The bloodwork is critical to IVF. You are on serious medications and the monitoring and bloodwork help the doctors know when and where to adjust. It also lets them know if something is going awry and when you are about to ovulate. When you think about the money you are spending and the potential harms of ivf on your body you really do want to make sure you are following what the doctors say. You have to treat this like any serious medical regimine. You might not feel ill but you have to remember IVF is serious stuff. It is the last option for most people TTC.

This is coming from someone who hates needles and getting up in the morning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, given the challenges that you and DH have, why would you skip blood work. I get that it's unpleasant, but the treatment is tailored to adjust to the results of those tests. It seems self defeating to avoid those tests, as much as I understand the impulse.

I see Widra at SG. Love him. But he's no nonsense and while he's been flexible and supportive of our choices, I don't think he'd view skipping blood work favorably.

OP here. It is more than unpleasant, it is a really severe phobia that leads to a vasovagal reaction that causes my blood pressure to spike and plummet so severely that I could have a stroke or heart attack (not being hyperbolic) and frequently faint more than once during a single blood draw and in the hours afterwards. I am far from just "not liking it," so I am willing to take decreased chances of success to not risk my life...

Make that clear to a potential RE. Your origional post doesn't convey the severity of the situation. And it's not just time that's an issue (sounds like you're fine with it taking longer), it's the expense. IVF at SGFC is about $10k per round plus $4k in meds give or take. I know because we just paid for our round.

OP here. It is a good suggestiong, but I've done 10 years of CBT and have tried everything from hypnotherapy to wacky devices already. My major accomplishment is that I can now deal with shots without flipping out (well, only a non-harmful blood pressure spike and a cold flop sweat). Still no progress on the bloodwork, and I'll be too old if it takes another 10 years to get that into the workable zone.

This is tough, OP. I sympathize with your situation and how severe it sounds, but logistically the technical requirements around IVF is pretty much what PPs have said. There's really no way to do "less" bloodwork as they fine-tune and modify your protocol from day to day, which is absolutely critical to the whole process. I think you are putting the cart before the horse here, though. Have you considered therapy or treatments instead, first, to try to get this under control and figure out a way to manage it so that it's not so overwhelming? That might be a more productive approach to get you ready for the process, no matter which doctor or clinic you wind up going to.

Anonymous wrote:OP, given the challenges that you and DH have, why would you skip blood work. I get that it's unpleasant, but the treatment is tailored to adjust to the results of those tests. It seems self defeating to avoid those tests, as much as I understand the impulse.

I see Widra at SG. Love him. But he's no nonsense and while he's been flexible and supportive of our choices, I don't think he'd view skipping blood work favorably.

OP here. It is more than unpleasant, it is a really severe phobia that leads to a vasovagal reaction that causes my blood pressure to spike and plummet so severely that I could have a stroke or heart attack (not being hyperbolic) and frequently faint more than once during a single blood draw and in the hours afterwards. I am far from just "not liking it," so I am willing to take decreased chances of success to not risk my life...

OP- I agree with the PP. If you are going to commit to IVF, you really need to commit to the bloodwork, otherwise you are throwing your money out the window. They monitored my cycle early on based on what my estrogen level was. You can't just go by the number and size of follies. Because my estrogen levels were low, they knew they needed to adjust my medications on day 3. If you find a doctor that is willing to skip the bloodtest, you have to really question their ability. How can they treat someone if they don't have all of the facts?

OP, given the challenges that you and DH have, why would you skip blood work. I get that it's unpleasant, but the treatment is tailored to adjust to the results of those tests. It seems self defeating to avoid those tests, as much as I understand the impulse.

I see Widra at SG. Love him. But he's no nonsense and while he's been flexible and supportive of our choices, I don't think he'd view skipping blood work favorably.

i second the PP; skipping blood work at SG is really not an option. not to mention, blood work is done multiple times a cycle when you're going through treatment. i had Dr. Sagoskin and have only good things to say about him (and his RN, Paige).

Honestly, I'm not sure that SGFC is your best bet. Not because they couldn't handle your situation, but because they're pretty rigid about their protocols. Skipping bloodwork isn't going to fly - at least that's my impression. You have to be willing to do your part, and that includes following through on blood work and monitoring, even if you hate it (and trust me, I understand. Getting my blood taken makes me lightheaded and anxious).

I've had a great experience with Chang, Nair, and Widra. Heard very good things about Osborn (friend with severe PCOS had healthy twins w/ Osborn as the doc).

Best of luck, OP.

I'm 32 with poor egg quality, and DH has poor morphology. I've been a poor but not awful responder to meds (no cancelled cycles). I do poorly with bloodwork and skip it whenever possible (whined about that before on here ), so I need a somewhat understanding/flexible doctor. Who would be the best doctor to have a consult with a SG?