Have you gotten a second opinion?

lmc28 · January 2014

Have any of you who have gotten to/gone through IVF thought about getting a second opinion or looked into seeing another RE? I ask this because we are moving on to IVF after 3 unsuccessful IUI's. My husband is wanting to consult another doctor, but I am not sure we are at the point of another consult. I guess I might feel differently if IVF is also unsuccessful. We have our IVF info session tonight and then a meeting with our doctor next week so I plan on bringing a laundry list of questions and concerns to him at that point.

katib77 · January 2014

No, I trust my RE and he is very good at explaining things. I understand he is not the reason for my two mc in six rounds of tx. He has gotten me ku, now we just need to stay ku.

Aurora1181 · January 2014

If we end up doing a third IVF, yes, I will get a second opinion. They learn so much from each IVF. But we felt confident in our current RE's plan for the first 2.

tptbabe · January 2014

I started typing up a novel and realized that it was kind of boring, whiny, and scary. Basically, yes. We sought a second opinion (2 REs, 2 urologists, 1 family doctor, and 1 ND actually, so several "second" opinions?) when we weren't getting the testing/treatment that we needed. Our first RE (this time around anyways), wanted to just throw IVF/ICSI at us, without investigating any treatments whatsoever for the cause of the IF. It turns out that we have a few other issues that would make the cycle itself difficult, which weren't discovered until after we sought help from other Drs. Every doc has their own approach and look at things a little differently. It certainly can't hurt to get a second (or fifth?) set of eyes on your situation before jumping into anything I don't think. Go in expecting to still follow the first doctors plan, but the second might have some useful information as well.

Twinkie0612 · January 2014

Sort of. My doctor is an attending physician at a really large clinic, so basically he has his own practice but then sends all of his IVF patients to the clinic for IVF (his practice is small and doesn't have the resources for IVF). The clinic handles all of the monitoring, ordering meds, injects training, etc but my RE comes in and does the ER and ET. While the situation sounds a bit odd, I like both my RE and the clinic so it works out ok.

After our second IVF failed, my RE (who is very conservative) originally recommonended that we look into donor eggs/embryo adoption. He didn't want us to waste money on cycles that weren't working. He ended up sending my file to another RE at the clinic for a second opinion and it was that doctor that came up with our plan for IVF #3. I'm still with the same RE though.

chucktgirl · January 2014

Yes! First RE we went two cycles. Second RE we went two cycles. We moved on to a third, but he was a complete waste. We learned a lot from both of the first two. We are now seeking out a fourth. Each RE had something new to bring to the table. Good luck!

pblge · January 2014

This is weighing on my mind, too. One caveat with the SART data is that it's old--I believe the most recent stats available are from 2011, and labs can change a lot in that amount of time. When I had my first IVF talk with my doc, I asked him why the SART data were so low. He said they agreed there was a problem, and had instituted a number of changes since the data came out--new lab and new embryologist--and he said their success rates had doubled. If that hadn't been true I would have probably gone elsewhere for IVF #1.

(They did not manage my first IVF cycle well. There are three doctors who rotate responsibility for IVF, and one of them (not my regular doc) made a very poor decision about my meds that nearly resulted in a cancelled cycle and almost certainly halved or worse the number of eggs they retrieved. We're doing our second IVF quickly specifically to avoid him. If the same thing happens this next cycle I'm going somewhere else.)

If you're worried that your doctor isn't addressing your specific dx well, a second opinion could be good, depending on your doctor's success and the amount the second opinion would cost you.

Good luck!

TeeJ526 · January 2014

After our initial consultation with our RE, I flirted with the idea of getting a second opinion. I even made an appointment, but I ended up canceling it and sticking with him. I changed my mind on getting a second opinion because he was very upfront and his primary objective was/is to preserve my eggs so that we can do IVF. Plus my husband and I have a good rapport with him and are happy with him and trust his opinion. I think if you feel the need to get a second opinion, you should do so.

Praying4Miracle17 · January 2014

I am now seeing a second RE, ready to do IVF#2. We did 3 IUI's and IVF#1 with the old RE. We actually still have 2 frosties with old RE, but his solutions to my issue (thin lining) weren't good enough for me and after my second cancelled FET, he wanted me to wait a few months to try again and I wasn't OK with that answer. In between the cancelled FET's (Aug and Dec), he made me wait again and I was on a long estrogen protocol to try to thicken the lining. Well, obviously that didn't work. I've also been on viagra and other things to help. He kept saying he was going to contact some colleages (he has his own practice) but he never told me that he did and what they said. So, I moved on. Really, I wish I would have gotten a second opinion/looked at other RE's before we did IVF#1. Good luck.

RunCC37 · January 2014

We just switched REs. I loved my former clinic, doctor, and nurses, but it felt like they didn't know what to do with us anymore. After two failed IVFs, it seemed like our doc was out of ideas, so we went to several consults. I'm glad we did. I have a lot of confidence in our new plan and actually feel hopeful again.

happygirl1013 · January 2014

YES! So happy we are switching RE's-- PM me if you want the details :-) I highly recommend you do it, even if you end up staying with the old one.

jlr96 · January 2014

We changed RE's when we decided to move on to IVF. It was a very hard decision as I really liked my RE but overall he was not aggressive enough for my age & diagnosis (which he never officially diagnosed me because he refused to do AMH check & never bothered to check AFC). For some reason I felt guilty moving to another RE after I had been through so much with him, but when he recommended a sixth IUI, I knew it was time to move on. He also does about 40 IVF cycles a year & the new RE does over 600. If the success rates would have been comparable I maybe would have stayed but I had to follow the numbers instead of my feelings.

LeggyJeggy · January 2014

Yes, we did after our second IVF fail and no explanation. We did not switch RE's because the 2nd opinion came up with a very similar plan for IVF3 (2nd opinion is actually Head RE at the clinic where the ER/ET are done, but my RE and monitoring are done at a separate hospital).

That being said, if IVF3 doesn't work, we'll venture to a completely different lab/clinic. In certain situations, it's best not to waste time if you're not comfortable with the treatment/plan you are on.

ksgsmu · January 2014

I did get a couple of consults... my RE has the best sart data in the region and I have complete trust in him but I still needed some reassurance. We did consult with his former partner who runs the hospital program near us that has the best lab. I also spoke with my OBGYN. They all pretty much agreed with my current REs diagnosis, protocol and plan for us. I considered getting a consult with CCRM or Cornell but we honestly can't afford to go to either of them since we are OOP and already spent so much on everything thus far. If time was on my side and I had the money I would probably look into cycling with them.

Manada · January 2014

We got a 2nd opinion from another clinic and really disliked the Dr we met with there. She looked at our charts and basically confirmed what we had been told by our first RE and had nothing new to add. We disliked the way she spoke to us so we returned to our original clinic who we weren't 100% happy with, but we at least knew our way around there and had gotten used to the RE.

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