Table of Contents
- 1 1. Arm yourself with knowledge
- 2 2. Better late then never but… the earlier the better
- 3 3. Find a proper place
- 4 4. Check your health regularly
- 5 5. Lose weight if you’re overweight
- 6 6. Manage your stress levels
- 7 7. Healthy diet
- 8 8. IVF can be cheaper
- 9 9. Take your time in choosing the IVF clinic
- 10 10. Make a budget plan and be prepared for extra expenses
Newest data shows that one in a seven couples have problems with fertility. Many of those couples decide to go for fertility treatments including IVF, egg donation ICSI and many others. The problem is that a big part of those infertile couples cannot afford treatments as expensive as IVF. Below you will find 10 tips that could save you money on fertility treatments.
1. Arm yourself with knowledge
You wouldn’t just buy a computer or a car at random before making some inquries and learning some technichal information about it would you? Well it is the same with fertility treatments.
There are huge amounts of information about fertility treatments whether it is online on a website or on a pamphlet. Learn why you and your partner have problems with conceiving. Find out about fertility tests and get those done. Being aware of your situation will make you a lot harder to get „ripped off“.
2. Better late then never but… the earlier the better
Usually couples are recommended to check their fertility if they tried to get pregnant for a year without success. This might mean that one of them or both are infertile. That does not mean however that you need to wait for a year to get your fertility tested. If you are a young couple and cannot conceive and you feel that something might not work do not wait a whole year just to start doing something about it.
Cases of women with endometriosis, PCOS or irregular periods is a whole different thing and early fertility assessment is reccommended even if not trying for a baby. The one year rule does not work here as fertility of women with those diseases declines at a faster rate and not attending the problem from a whole year might make things much worse.
3. Find a proper place
Very often couples who are completely new to the fertility struggle feel lost and upset. Emotional stress and expenses might drain their heart and spirit. That is why it is so important to find a good fertility clinic as soon as possible. It should be a centre where you feel good and where your expectations are meet. Finding the right doctor for you will not only save you time and money but also emotional stress.
4. Check your health regularly
Your general health is important as well. If you are able to have a general check up annually do it. Staying healthy will significantly increase the chances that your fertility will be healthy as well which might save you money on fertility treatments in the future.
5. Lose weight if you’re overweight
Both men and women should keep their weight optimally for their height as this is important for fertiltiy as well.
Men could have reduced quantity and quality of sperm when overweight. Obesity lowers testosterone levels and converts it to oestrogen. Being overweight or obese means also that the testicles could have an enviroment of a temperature that is too high having a negative impact on sperm production.
Overweight or obesity in women might lead to PCOS. Women with PCOS have problems with ovulation and egg health. Loosing weight can significantly improve a woman’s chance to get pregnant.
6. Manage your stress levels
Stress is very bad for our health and it could be especially bad for women that are trying to conceive either naturally or through IVF or other fertility treatments. There is research that shows evidence that women with higher stress levels during IVF treatments have lower chances of conceiving. There are many ways to deal with stress, if you have your own method which you know that it helps you to get relaxed, use it.
Some patients use acupuncture as a method of stress management. There are studies which show that indeed acupuncture can lower stress levels.
7. Healthy diet
First day of taking IVF medication is not where the struggle for successful pregnancy begins as you should start a lot earlier with a nutritious and well-balanced diet.
Healthy food will improve your chances of becoming a parent as it is very good for the health of both sperm and the eggs.
8. IVF can be cheaper
One of the reasons why IVF is so expensive is the medication used to stimulate egg growth. Those injectible meds can be very expensive. There is however a way to do IVF with a lot less of the drugs and it is method called minimum stimulation IVF. It is a method of doing IVF that was developed in order to reduce the costs of the treatment by using a lot less of the IVF medication to boost the women’s egg growth.
Minimal stiumlation IVF is not however recommended for everyone as for some it could significantly lower the chances for success. If you decide for minimal stiumlation IVF be sure you are at a clinic which specializes in it.
9. Take your time in choosing the IVF clinic
Although most IVF clinics have similar standards of treatments there are differences which might benefit you. For example you might find clinics offering special treatment packages with guarantees or a clinic which has the best success rates for women of the age group you belong to.
Remember that choosing a less expensive fertility clinic might be a mig mistake. For example if you choose a clinic with a bit lower success rates but less expensive then it might look like an attractive offer but it could fail and you would need to have another cycle and in the long run you would be spending much more than you initially wanted.
You should go for the deal which gives you the highest success rates, guarantees and maybe even refunds.
10. Make a budget plan and be prepared for extra expenses
For most of the patients IVF needs a thorugh financial plan. First of all you need to get detailed information about the costs of treatment, every aspect of it. You need to know what is included into the full price and what isn’t.
When you know exactly how much money you will need start saving months before and try to save something extra just in case. This will help you and keep you calm when the treatment starts as it will be one stress factor less.
PART II>>
