Delaware Valley Institute of Fertility & Genetics

I never saw the doctor in person. Only televisits, during which he was very condescending and dismissive, and he never called on time (like an hour late), and then he would blame me if I was distracted because I had moved on with my day. He diagnosed me with PCOS, obesity, and insulin resistance, and I was prescribed metformin. They also told me to go back on birth control until he deemed that my eggs (and BMI) were ready, which would be 5-6 months. I was told that my BMI was too high to get pregnant, even though it was incorrect because someone entered my height wrong. When I brought up this discrepancy, they refused to change it. I was told to start a diabetes diet (eating 6x a day), even though I had already lost 10-15 pounds and was on a rigorous exercise routine, because I knew diet and exercise could have potentially been a factor in my infertility (spoiler alert: it wasn't). I was ignored when I brought up my underactive thyroid and a potential chemical imbalance causing me to not ovulate. After receiving a second opinion, I found out that not only did I not have PCOS, but that this practice has been flagged by other fertility doctors because they frequently misdiagnose women with PCOS. I also gained all the weight back while on the diabetes diet. The doctor, however, was correct about the metformin. I immediately got pregnant when I started metformin, but I was unable to keep the baby. After my miscarriage I consulted an endocrinologist, who diagnosed me with Hashimoto's disease and informed me that it could likely have been the reason for my miscarriage and that it was definitely the reason for my infertility and inability to ovulate. So my insulin resistance is due to the Hashimoto's, not my BMI and not PCOS. If the doctor had listened to me in the first place, maybe I would have had a successful pregnancy. I have a solid plan in place moving forward with my endo, including frequent monitoring of my TSH levels, and adjusting my thyroid meds as needed. My endo also told me that BMI is not a good measure of fertility, and it would be more useful to just maintain a healthy weight for me and eat normally. She said there was no need for me to eat like a diabetic.

This doctor may be good for other types of infertility, but if you are diagnosed with PCOS and/or have a problem with ovulation, I would seek a second opinion. Refuse the consultation with the nutritionist. She is not helpful at all, and she is extremely rude. No matter which doctor you see, ALWAYS advocate for yourself. No one knows your body better than you do. It took me two years of infertility to finally get a Hashimoto's diagnosis. My OBGYN ignored the TSH flag on my bloodwork, my PCP gave me the wrong dose of thyroid meds, both of the fertility doctors I saw also ignored my thyroid, and it took me two visits to the endocrinologist and a miscarriage to be taken seriously about my potential thyroid disorder. I am happy to finally have some (correct) answers and be able to move forward with this process. Trust your gut. Find the right doctor. I would also recommend that you read the book "It Starts with the Egg" to educate yourself further on potential causes of infertility that doctors might be overlooking. Do not trust that the doctors have exhausted all possibilities before pushing you towards IUI/IVF. They probably haven't even scratched the surface. If I had stayed with this doctor I would have lost a lot of time going down the wrong path of diabetes/PCOS treatment.

The doctor prescribed metformin, told me to follow a diabetes diet, and told me to wait 5-6 months (or until he saw numbers that he liked) to get pregnant. While the metformin was a good solution for my insulin resistance, the diet, the obsession over BMI numbers, and the suggestion to wait were not at all helpful for my ovulation issue.

The costs were comparable to other fertility clinics.

Not applicable.

Dr. Taliadouros was personable, but that is about it. I went to his office after having recurrent pregnancy loss, and his only diagnosis was that I had insulin resistance, take metformin, and to go see a nutritionist. I left almost every appointment not knowing why I was there, confused, and feeling like I was in a fertility "black hole." It took me asking very specific questions to finally get any information. I also had other health problems that could have very well contributed to my miscarriages, but he never tested any of those hormone levels. Two visits he almost ordered tests that I had already gotten, which made me feel like he never read my file. I ended up leaving to get a second opinion, and within three days I have already had more tests and workups done than 5 months at Dr. Taliadouros's office.

I would say it would be best to go to another practice unless you think you might have some insulin issue to deal with.

Dr. Taliadouros said I had insulin resistance and bad egg quality, so he prescribed me to take Metformin. He also said I had PCO (not PCOS).

I paid about $600 for my treatment, but my treatment consisted of normal monitoring, ultrasounds, and bloodwork.

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After numerous tests I was able to see Dr. T and was told that I had insulin resistant PCOS and that I needed to maintain my weight. I never had a weight problem and my numbers were not significant enough to diagnose me with insulin resistance. Then he proceeds to tell me that he thinks it is MY problem that I have PCOS because he assumes that I stress since "most women do" and that I am the one with the issue, and my husband is perfect. That is not something that you tell to a newly diagnosed female dealing with infertility. His diagnosis was WAY off based on the consultations that I had with other reproductive endocrinologists.

Don't do it. Don't waste your time going to this facility. They will try and convince you that you need Metformin and you'd need to join their nutrition program.

After numerous testing and finally sitting down with him he prescribed me metformin to maintain my weight and sent me on to his nutritionist.

After paying my expected co-pays. I am not being billed for more money. This place is a gimmick.

Dr. T was patient and always willing to try what I asked. He answered my questions without hesitation. After 4 miscarriages, I was really feeling discouraged. I seemed help from a high risk doctor who worked with Dr. T to help me keep a pregnancy. The last IVF frozen transfer I did in November was a success. Dr. T did what I asked which was putting 2 embryos in and waiting an extra week for the pregnancy test. I’m still shock I’m almost 16 weeks, but this little girl is a strong one. I couldn’t be happier with my experience with Dr. T.

Be patient. Have faith. If it can’t happen Dr. T will be honest with you.

I had 4 oral medication IUI, 2 injectables. 1 injectable turned in to us trying on our own because I produced too many eggs. It was near the holidays and they couldn’t get a hold of the insurance company to transfer it to IVF in time. After that I had a retrieval. We did a fresh transfer which ended in miscarriage. 2 frozen transfers ended in miscarriages. The last frozen took. Almost 16 weeks now.

Around $5000

First three transfer Dr. T only wanted to transfer 1. His reasoning was they were really good embryos. Last transfer he transferred 2 because I told him that’s what I wanted.

He was very hard to understand. He definitely knew what he was talking about and very intelligent but sometimes the language barrier made it hard. He tested you on your knowledge about infertility. At one point I hardly understood what he was saying and it is a lot of information at once. He tested me on an answer and I didn’t know. I just felt not so smart there.

Be patient.

We went into this and found out we were not conceiving due to male factor. We went to a urologist and to our surprise we found out my husband has testicular cancer. This put our fertility treatment timeline on hold because now we had to deal with a whole other factor. We did surgery to remove, oncology appointments and follow ups. Thank God we didn’t have to do radiation. He’s cancer free now! So he kept doing samples and his numbers have been all over the place. He has vericocele surgery on the other testicle. We proceeded with IVF with ICSI as advised. I was supposed to take a teaching on how to give injections and that was never set up so I felt nervous going into it. The plan and timeline was not clearly related to us. We were a day 3 transfer which I heard bad things about. All our other eggs arrested. Dr T even said “I don’t usually do 2 embryo transfers but I will today” looking back I should have seen that as a sign.

We were 100% out of pocket. My husband and I myself do not have a benefit an our employers will not be getting it. This is depressing because we both work 40 hours/week and can’t get a fertility benefit. Out of pocket total was $14,000. For something that failed and didn’t result in a child.

He said he doesn’t do multiple usually but would for us because we were day 3 transfers. I wish it could have been explained that the others arrested and the likelihood of these being successful alwere low and to save us spending more money out of our pockets to do the transfer.

You can tell very quickly that Dr. Taliadouros truly cares about his patients. I never felt rushed when meeting with him and he always made sure I had no outstanding questions. A couple times he even called me after hours from home to answer questions or discuss test results. I often felt like I didn't know how to make the next step happen (who to call, when to call, etc.) or what my diagnosis was, but I learned to just ask as many questions as I had and Dr. Taliadouros would always answer them. Dr. Taliadouros seems to test/treat many of his patients for metabolic issues before moving foward with fertility treatments. I appreciated that he actually tried to find the root of the problem instead of just jumping into expensive treatments.

Ask questions. If you feel like you're in the dark about your diagnosis or treatment plan, just ask and he will answer. Since they do this all day everyday, I think sometimes the nurses/doctor forget that those of us going through this for the first time don't always know what to expect.

IUI: $525, Monitoring Appointments (bloodwork/US): ~$325, IVF (retrieval, fertilization, transfer): $6500, Anesthesia: $400, Freezing/3 month storage: $750

I did not always see Dr. T. every appt. But I did see a nurse practitoner and I felt my care was always well handled by them. My IUIs were usually done by Dr T but one was done by one of the nurse practitioners. The surgeries/procedures I had done were always done by him. I always felt I was in capable hands and felt that I understood my treatment.

Make sure you ask your questions- they will not mind taking the time to answer them.

I did not respond to clomid with my first RE. So with him I went onto Follistim. When I moved over clinics (after moving states), Dr T had me continue on follistim and then switched to Gonal F when my insurance switched what they would cover. At both clinics I was using Ganrilex to prevent premature ovulation and ovidrel as a trigger. He also added in low dose HCG which had great results in maturing my eggs so I did not overstim. I regularly had 3-4 follicles, which is a number I was pleased with (if your tolerance of risk for multiples is low you can do a less agressive cycle). From those IUI cycles- I had 1 miscarriage at 9.5 weeks due to chromosonal issues, 1 singleton live birth and am currently pregnant with healthy twins. I also had 2 overstim cycles (one before my pregnancy in 2012 and another in 2015)- due to the fact I have PCOS and it is easy for me to overstim on meds. My dosages were adjusted appropriately and following cycles went well. Incidentally, my friend is also using them (and is 7 weeks pregnant- they graduate you as a patient after 12w of pregnancy monitoring). She did not resond well to the low dose HCG protocol so they had her switch to a menopaur/gonal f combo and that changed how she responded significantly. So I really feel like they "tweak" protocols well. Mine were also tweaked but mainly in the med dosages and the difference of when to take meds (which Cycle day) with results factored in from blood and ultrasound monitoring. I always felt the monitoring and protocol were appropriate- made with your body's schedule- not limited to the dr's schedule. So the results were better then some doctors.

I had insurance coverage, so only paid a co-payment each visit.

Dr. T was both thoughtful and knowledgeable! Dr. T & his team helped me get my blood sugar under control, get healthy, and helped us have our 3 beautiful children. Dr. T always equipped me with the knowledge of exactly what my options were and what I could expect. I really couldn’t say enough good things about him.

He shoots from the hip and you should appreciate the honesty. Other doctors offer promises they can’t keep!

We tried a long protocol since after reviewing my records from another practice he noticed I did not respond as he thought I should have from a short protocol.

They were on par with other facilities I think a fresh cycle was about $7,000 and then you have medications, freezing, etc over and above that.

I had 2 failed transfers prior to coming to this practice so we transferred multiple embryos.

He is a very nice doctor and does a decent job but I did get frustrated after several miscarriages and no adjustment or thoughts as to why or how to help it. Later we found a Perinatologist who was able to fix this issue.

Insurance covered the bulk of my treatment.

We always transferred 2.

I absolutely love him! He took his time with you, you were never rushed out of appointments like you feel you are being rushed with some doctors! I didn’t feel like he was there to just get another patient...he always was concerned, compassionate and felt how you we’re feeling!

It takes time! It won’t happen right away! Be patient.

I was diagnosed with PCOS with DR. T. I had to undergo all the normal tests (ultrasounds, the dye test [can’t remember the name of it] but it was very time consuming).

I had to pay my specialist copay every time I went there. Every time I had clomid, I had to pay out of pocket for it at the pharmacy, as well as any injectables. My insurance didn’t cover most of medications affiliated with infertility.

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He is very nice and i love the whole staff. They talked everything over in detail with me and no questions were left unanswered.

Ask questions and be on top of your own treatment!!!