And stick with me until the end as I have something free for you that is going to help you to understand the step by step process of having fertility treatment abroad.
This is a question I get asked a lot and I completely understand why. It's a question that I wanted to know the answer to when I was considering whether or not IVF or fertility treatment abroad could be right for us and it’s something you need to understand to work out if this is an option for you too.
There's no set answer and when you have a consultation with the fertility clinics, they will be able to confirm exactly how long you will need to be away for treatment. However, this blog should help give you a rough guide, so you can figure out if it’s doable.
Before I dive into that, I just want to tell you a couple of things that might be helpful.
If you are worried about using your holiday allowance for time away then if you are in the UK consider speaking to your GP for a sick note and you can consider self certification too. If you are employed maybe you have a fertility policy in place, so that’s worth exploring if you are happy to share this with your employer. If there is no policy in place they cut you some slack anyway and give you some additional time off or flexible working, but you will have to judge that based on the person/company that you work for.
If you are self employed it can make it easier in some ways if you can physically work from anywhere. You may not wish of course to do any work while you are away but it’s worth knowing that you will only need to visit the fertility clinic you choose a handful of times and so this might give you options around your work.
I know for some groups of people being away from home is very difficult, teachers for example in term time.
When opting for private fertility treatment like IVF with ICSI and egg and sperm donation treatment there is some control in terms of when you have your fertility testing and treatment, so maybe you can work it around school holidays?
It can be difficult if you're a pet owner. Some people call on friends/family/kennels to help out there.
If you are in a heterosexual couple (for example) you do not both need to travel and be out in the country you are having your fertility treatment in say for example places like the Czech Republic, Spain and Greece. You may prefer this of course, but to know (physically) a male partner is only needed abroad for around 1-2 days.
Most clinics will offer you a video consultation rather than in person so that also cuts down on the time needed away from home if you . You can totally choose to go out to the fertility clinics abroad and have an in person consultation if you want to, but doing a video consultation will save you time.
In terms of your treatment, if you're having own egg IVF with ICSI you are typically required to be away from home for around 10 days.
If you're having, let's say, a fresh donor egg cycle of IVF with own sperm, or donor sperm, then you will typically be away for 7 days.
And if you are having a frozen embryo transfer then you'd be required for about 1-2 days.
(These timings are based on starting your medication and monitoring in your home country)
Some clinics offer or suggest two shorter visits.
Lots of people combine a holiday or break away with their fertility treatment and you dictate to some degree when you have your treatment, so this helps with planning and making things work for you.
So there are options to make having fertility treatment abroad a real contender for many people.
If you want to understand more about the process of having treatment and how it all works then I have put together a new free guide that walks you through the process of having fertility treatment abroad, step by step.
I know from my personal experience how helpful this would have been for me and it’s one of the questions I get asked the most in my work as the go-to IVF and fertility treatment abroad mentor and expert.
It can feel really overwhelming and scary and I think until you understand the process, it's really hard to seriously think if this could work for you. And so I created it to help you.
To grab your free guide to the step by step process of having fertility treatment abroad then click the link below and download your free copy today!
I would love to know what you think of it too, so let me know on hello@yourivfabroad.co.uk
Love Emma xxx