IVF Meds and PGD Question

[mrsg80intn]

Ok... so, I'm overwhelmed... Tuesday night the RE's office called and said they had a cancellation for the IVF Class on Wednesday and could I take it.  I jumped on it because my originally scheduled class was one month away.  EEK!  So off we went for 3.5-4 hrs of learning about IVF... Now I'm a tad overwhelmed... (Just breathe Megan!)  
All of my prereqs aren't done yet (need an updated HSG and some blood work to come back) so we still don't know time frame for everything, but it could move faster since the class is out of the way.

So, onto my questions... 
Question 1 --- MEDs --- Can you ladies point me to any resources on the meds - like benefits of different kinds as well as resources on getting the costs down???  Also, any opinions on the meds themselves???  It appears that I may be able to have some choice in whether I do Gonal-F or Follistim (Or a powder based one?)... and can also choose between Crinone (expensive) and PIO (Less expensive, but OUCH!)...

Question 2 --- PGD --- any recommendations for 9 factor vs complete screening? 9 factor can be done with a fresh transfer the first time around and complete screening requires ICSI and frozen transfer.... (In case you don't remember my history from the other day, I've had 4 MCs in the last year so we are leaning towards complete screening)

[Deleted]

Ah the class always makes everything feel so overwhelming. I know when we got our binder with all the IVF information in it, and went to class I was freaking out. As far as meds go, a whole bunch were listed in my binder. BUT my RE went over the specific protocol she wanted me to do, and the specific meds I had to take. I didn't get a choice. (That may be different for me since insurance covers it?)

The girls here who are paying OOP did mention at place to get meds from based out of MA, Freedom fertility I believe. I'd probably wait and see what protocol your put on. As far as the stupid stupid progesterone goes, I didn't have a choice with that my clinic only does suppositories. Ugh. And it's annoying. So hopefully you'll have a choice there.

I'm no help with PGD. But good luck with your cycle!

[lemonliz]

Hugs, it is overwhelming!

Are you totally OOP? I was. I used Freedom Fertility. I contemplated using Walgreens Specialty, but in the end Gonal-F with my Compassionate Care discount was a better price than Follistim with a discount from Walgreens (and certain pharmacies only discount specific brands of FSH - Freedom discounts Gonal-F and Walgreens discounts Follistim).

Also, even if you don't qualify for a bigger discount, there are manufacturer mail-in rebates for everything, no matter what you end up going with. There are only 3 manufacturers of IF meds (outside of Clomid and Femara, but those aren't used for IVF) so it makes discounts/rebates easy. Make sure the pharmacy either gives you the mail-in-rebate form, or you can download it online.

Naria uses Alexander's Twin Pharmacy and likes them a lot. She got a good deal on Follistim there.

[bluejoan]

Let me go home and look up the places I applied for discounts. I used Freedom Fertility Pharmacy since they were lower for my meds than other places. I was also very upfront with whoever I spoke to about being OOP and sometimes they had coupons they could use.

[kcheese]

If you are OOP I would reccomend shopping around at different pharmacies.  Meds was the biggest place I found to save money.  You can even order different meds from different pharmacies.  You can apply for the med assistance programs some listed here - Mainlinefertility. 

[Winolicious]

I found this on Pinterest and was going to look into it more as I got closer to IVF

www.alwayskatie.com/2014/06/barbabydos-how-to-save-big-money-on.html

[tumbleweed]

Jan 22, 2015 16:09:11 GMT -5 lemonliz said:

Hugs, it is overwhelming!

Are you totally OOP? I was. I used Freedom Fertility. I contemplated using Walgreens Specialty, but in the end Gonal-F with my Compassionate Care discount was a better price than Follistim with a discount from Walgreens (and certain pharmacies only discount specific brands of FSH - Freedom discounts Gonal-F and Walgreens discounts Follistim).

Also, even if you don't qualify for a bigger discount, there are manufacturer mail-in rebates for everything, no matter what you end up going with. There are only 3 manufacturers of IF meds (outside of Clomid and Femara, but those aren't used for IVF) so it makes discounts/rebates easy. Make sure the pharmacy either gives you the mail-in-rebate form, or you can download it online.

Naria uses Alexander's Twin Pharmacy and likes them a lot. She got a good deal on Follistim there.

Awesome advice!

I will add: make sure you print out all the rebates before you order -- I just tried to use a rebate for follistim, but since I didn't print the voucher out before my order two weeks ago, I can't use it.  GRRRR!!!!!

eta: if anyone happened to print out a follistim rebate thingy before January 1st, lemme know!  I guess they time/date stamp when they're printed.  Boooo!!!!

[tumbleweed]

firstbbq if you go to the follistim website you can print out a coupon thingy with a code on it - you can use that for a discount when ordering. Just make sure to print it out in advance.

[tumbleweed]

firstbbq oh, I don't have any insurance coverage for IVF or IVF meds either -- I just read that line to mean that you must actually pay something for the meds -- not get them via 100% insurance. Who knows. Anyway, this is my last cycle, so too late for me. I guess that means that this cycle has to work. Maybe you can give it a try next time -- worse case, they reject the coupon; I say it's worth a try!

[lilyharper]

See if your clinic can put in calls with your prescriptions to a bunch of different pharmacies. Mine did it for me, it was great I had 5 pharmacies call me and I wrote down the prices of all the meds. Estradiol/estrace is ridiculously cheap through costco, I highly recommend using them for that, but other meds they may cost more for. I liked walgreens because for every $1000 I spent I got $100 off, on top of a discount on endometrin and a few other things and that made it the cheapest option for me. I would also say, you may want to see if you can order fewer meds to start with, you don't want to end up with leftover meds if you don't need them. But if you do that, make sure you can get more ASAP if you need it. I wound up with an extra vial of Follistim, even after ordering one vial less than they originally said I needed (I tend to stim fast) but if this FET doesn't work we will probably start on a new ivf cycle so I haven't gotten rid of it.

As for pgd, having a similar history, if I was going to pay for it and it cost the same, I'd go whole hog. Although, that would add the cost of a frozen cycle, but I think I'd do it anyway for the peace of mind.

[bluefairy5]

I haven't started IVF #1 yet, so I don't have too much footing here, but I'll jump in anyway.

a) I thought I would be on Follistim but my nurse got all my FSH donated, Gonal-F. Based on what I've seen from the videos and injection training class, the Gonal-F pen seems much simpler to use.
b) My center doesn't give the option to do anything other than PIO, and they seemed to have a pretty strong opinion that it is "stronger" progesterone support. I don't know from that, but I do know it's cheaper, and I do know they can then measure accurate P4 levels in your luteals bloods, and know if they need to adjust anything. My understanding is that the supps don't show in b/w.

That's my two cents. GL getting everything set!

[bluejoan]

kcheese had a great website. Those were most of the programs I applied for and used most of them too.

[NariaDreaming]

Alexander Twin always seemed to have the best prices for follistim.

I honestly don't know what is going to happen to the OPP Med program now that we are over here, but looking into keeping that going has been high on my priority list

[snd1231]

Everyone had great advice. I just wanted to say breathe and don't let yourself get overwhelmed take it one step at a time. Good luck!

[lovegrilledcheese]

I am OOP and I used the Walgreen's Fertility Pharmacy. They have a program where you get a $100 off every $1000 you spend. Their prices were significantly cheaper for me then the Freedom Fertility Pharmacy (like over $2000 cheaper). I had Walgreens also run a few prescriptions through my insurance that weren't fertility related and that also helped save me some money.

[fightersince83]

I felt pretty overwhelmed after my IVF meeting. We based our protocol on the meds. Since we are/were 100% OOP, but didn't qualify for a discount program, we went with the ivf greenlight rebate. That meant Bravelle & Menopur (powders that you mix).

As far as testing. We did PGS due to our RPL hx. This does require a freeze all and FET later. I did feel much more comfortable getting all the results

[BunnyBerry]

No advice on the IVF-related questions.
But I just wanted to squee for you for getting the class done early! So exciting.

[lemonliz]

Jan 22, 2015 21:13:33 GMT -5 NariaDreaming said:

Alexander Twin always seemed to have the best prices for follistim.

I honestly don't know what is going to happen to the OPP Med program now that we are over here, but looking into keeping that going has been high on my priority list

I just talked to Mindy two days ago and she's still working it like a boss! 

[mrsg80intn]

I just wanted to say thank you for all te insight... I'm mobile for the next few days so I can't thoughtfully respond but I will!!!! I really appreciate you all.

[mrsg80intn]

Oh and I am completely OOP!