Norbert Gleicher

After two failed IVF cycles elsewhere, we joined the second opinion program with Dr. Gleicher. He reviewed our records and sent us his opinion within a week. When we spoke with him, he was very warm and encouraging. He explained to us that he thought we were receiving "cookie cutter" treatment instead of treatment specific to my condition. Also, based on my lab work, he had a suspicion that I have autoimmune activity. He also diagnosed me with Hypoandrogenic PCOS, a diagnosis never given to me before. He ordered a THOROUGH workup and his suspicions of autoimmunity were confirmed. He also gave us advice on supplements based on my lab work. For example, my previous clinic told me my testosterone levels were normal. Dr. Gleicher, however, looked at my SHBG levels and DHEA-S levels to identify that my levels of testosterone were too low FOR MY BODY, and it was due to adrenal insufficiency (as evidenced by low DHEA-S). The one thing that I am nervous about is that he put me on daily baby aspirin for the rest of my life without re-testing for the presence of the antibodies that would require daily baby aspirin. When re-tested with another doctor, the antibodies were no longer present and, thus, I am not sure if I need daily baby aspirin after all. I will talk to Dr. Gleicher about this when I meet with him again. Overall, though, I believe Dr. Gleicher to be highly knowledgeable and an expert on diminished ovarian reserve. Based on the written second opinion, three Skype consultations, and thorough workup done with Dr. Gleicher, we are planning on pursuing IVF with him. We currently believe him to be our best shot at having a baby.

We haven't had a treatment cycle with him yet. However, when discussing future IVF with him, he told us that he would increase my dose of Follistim to 450 and my dose of Menopur to 150. He would not use an antagonist. He said an antagonist would suppress my ovaries and would interfere with the effects of DHEA. He also would not put me on birth control. Because of my low grade autoimmunity, he would add an extra layer of treatment that would likely include Prednisone and Lovenox.

We spent about $1000 between the second opinion program and three Skype consultations with Dr. Glecher. We received pricing information for IVF. A single cycle of IVF costs about $16,000 not including medication. They have a program for four IVF cycles that's about $41,000, but it costs extra for things like anesthesia, ICSI, and medications.

We haven't gotten to this part of treatment with him yet. However, he told us that he would transfer 1-2 embryos if we don't want twins or 2-3 embryos if we are OK with twins.

Dr. Gleicher is blunt but he definitely knows what he is doing. He doesn't stop at the superficial assessment and autopilot treatment protocol and really tries to get to the bottom of our problems so we can address them proactively and individually. For example, he found out something that our previous two doctors didn't even test for (I apparently have a low-level inflammatory/immunological issue that might be affecting my ovaries), and added a couple of medications to address it. We don't know if it'll make the difference we want just yet, but we are hopeful.

Don't be put off by his bluntness. Be prepared to wait a bit for your appointment sometimes.

First cycle: DHEA, CoQ10, stimulation with FSH and hMG, RAFS. I had the hCG shot at 18 mm lead follicle. Two eggs retrieved but we didn't have any embryos to transfer. Second cycle: Same medications, hCG was at 16 mm. We had 3 eggs, 1 embryo to transfer. Dr. Gleicher said the earlier retrieval was because my eggs were overly mature in the first cycle when they were retrieved. We were thrilled to have more eggs and an embryo transfer, but I didn't get pregnant. Third cycle: Same medications but with more FSH, hCG was at 16 mm. 5 eggs, 2 embryos to transfer. I'm currently pregnant!

I do not necessarily agree with Dr. Gleicher's IVF protocol for egg retrieval and transfers (i.e. day three fresh transfers, no PGS etc.), which is why I stuck with NYU and I also prefer their lab. But I do find that Dr. Gleicher treats the WHOLE patient, he looks not only at your AMH and hormone levels but does a a deep dive into your partner's full health picture as well. He is extremely knowledgable in the autoimmune infertility areas and is one of the few doctors in NYC who supports IVIG when necessary. In addition to his willingness to work with NYU and oversee my case from an auto-immune standpoint, I found him extremely knowledgeable and supportive all around.

Ask all your questions! Don't be shy, don't be scared to call a million times-- he is super patient and will explain everything.

Because I have auto-immune indicators he prescribed an immune protocol for my transfer cycles: IVIG Prednisone Plaquenil Lots of Supplements (DHEA and Conflam forte most importantly) Lovenox

Covered by insurance.

I had a girl via IVF in 2015 with Dr. Gleicher and CHR's help, and went back to him again in 2018 for baby #2, which ended up being another girl. Our 2014 treatments started with a consultation with Dr. Gleicher. Though I didn't see Dr. Gleicher a lot during my actual cycles at CHR (I saw Dr. Barad and Dr. Kushnir much more often for monitoring and procedures), I had the distinct sense that Dr. Gleicher was the one orchestrating the treatment, modifying the approach as we got more informed about how my body responds to medications. Most of my consultations were with Dr. Gleicher, and I liked his fact-driven approach. It meshed well with my own penchant for getting all the information and making our own decisions, rather than having someone else tell us what to do. It took us a few cycles to get pregnant with our #1, and I truly believe that his (and CHR's) philosophy of treating each cycle as a learning experience is what got us there. In 2018, I was obviously much older, so we used a more aggressive protocol with heavier dose of medications. I was also monitored more frequently--every day toward the end--and had my eggs retrieved earlier than I had before. To be honest, I wasn't enthused about having to go through IVF again for #2, but going back to CHR after 4 years was like a reunion of sorts. Most of the nurses and physicians who treated us were still there, and they seemed genuinely delighted to see me again and see how our first child has been thriving. That human side made it much more bearable.

If you are unfamiliar with IVF or infertility, you might initially feel overwhelmed. You might not be able to clarify everything in your first visit, but don't give up. I did my homework for my follow-up visit and wrote down everything I wanted to clarify, and that helped us understand where we were and what our options were.

He seems to have ideas that are different than most other IVF doctors. He is able to justify his rationale for doing things the way he does. He is a good communicator. He is very thorough in his explanations and approaches. He gave us hope with a different approach.

He seems compassionate. He is very knowledgeable. He has a scientist type of demeanor and actually doesn’t do retrievals or transfers. He never saw me for a monitoring appointment. But I felt like My treatment was based on his recommendations at all times.

I was given DHEA prior to treatment. During my stimulation cycle, I was treated with 150 menopur and 450 of gonal f. I was given doxycycline, prednisone, baby aspirin and lovenox. I triggered with HCG. After transfer I was given intravaginal estrogen and progesterone as well as progesterone in oil.

There was very little wait time. Labs were performed efficiently. On rare occasion it seemed understaffed and so there could be a wait slightly longer than usual.

It was about 15K for monitoring, retrieval and fresh transfer.

My husband and I decided on the day of the transfer along with the doctor (not Dr. Gleicher) to transfer all our 3 day fresh embryos. 3 out of the 6 were high grade.

I was grateful to Dr Gleicher and CHR for taking my case, as another clinic had rejected me after my DOR diagnostic. I gave me hope that someone was willing to take on a difficult case (so that is very positive and I am very thankful for that). It is important to note that Dr Gleicher does not perform any procedures. So while you have appointments with him to discuss protocol prior to starting a cycle and you meet with him in case of negative outcome, only Dr Barad and Kushnir do the ultrasounds/retrievals/transfers etc. So this already adds a challenge, as I sometimes had the impression that the communication between doctors was not up to par, and therefore I ended up falling through the cracks. Also, the communication after the first appointment is exclusively done through the coordinating nurse. So whatever question you may have about ANY thing goes through the nurse, except if you keep your list of questions for when you do the monitoring and then you get to ask Dr K or Dr B in person (but even that is not necessary great as I just feel more reassured knowing that there is ONE doctor who has the complete overview of my case). My first cycle went well (all the way to transfer but had a BFN) as I felt that, as a new patient, the Doctors were paying attention to each step of the cycle and were closely monitoring me. That feeling started to fade at the second cycle, where the decision to trigger was taken by the Dr on call for the weekend (and I think without consultation with Dr Gleicher) and ended up being too soon and with absolutely no egg retrieved. I was pretty distressed at that point but still felt new to this whole IVF thing and did not learn to advocate for myself yet. For the third cycle, Dr Gleicher proposed to put me under a new protocol. This gave me renewed hope. However, when I started the new cycle, I ended up ovulating spontaneously very quickly despite being on Lupron. The feedback I got was that maybe I had not taken the meds properly (I knew I had respected the protocol but was very willing to blame myself for this failure...). During the follow up appointment I was even more lost as it was clear that Dr Gleicher had not read my file and was just discovering some of my hormone levels as we were talking... He suggested doing another cycle back to back with the exact same protocol, which I did, paying even more religious attention to the time of my injections! We started the fourth cycle, and after about a week, I got the news that I had ovulated - again!! This time I was absolutely sure I had taken the meds perfectly. I was so distressed that I asked if there was any chance we could retrieve anything. The nurse told me that if I wanted I could convert this to an IUI (if I want it??). Which I did (only to discover during a second opinion appointment with another Dr that my hormone levels clearly showed that I had ovulated at least a couple of days before and therefore the IUI was just pointless). Overall, I have the impression that the level of attention paid to my case decreased tremendously after the first cycle, and I just became a number.

Of you are keen on trying CHR, I would recommend going with Dr Kushnir instead of Dr Gleicher. He is the one doing the monitoring during the week (and on rotation every other weekend) so at least there would more consistency and less risk of info falling through the cracks. They have weekly staff meetings so the 3 Dr talk and if there is a need to consult Dr Gleicher Dr K would surely do it. If you already are with Dr Gleicher, I would just recommend that you warn the nurse that you will have loads of questions when you meet Dr Gleicher at the beginning/end of your cycle so that he will be more prepared. For the follow up of my 4th cycle, I had told her that I was expecting a full review of my 4 cycles during that discussion and that led to a more substantive discussion...

- priming with estradial patches or pills - lurpon - follistim 450/day - two vials of menopur/day - estrace 3x/day orally and vaginally to support lining growth (I was on vaginal viagra for one cycle but the combo of that and loads of estrace led to my lining crashing before the retrieval) - prednisone and baby aspirin (he said that some of my test indicated a hint of auto-immune problem) - lovenox and PIO after transfer

It was a relatively well oiled machine that was convenient for my schedule.

First cycle was out of pocket and cost about 13K (without meds) and another 10K of med from their recommended pharmacy (as I was on very high doses of stimulation for about two weeks and I did not know I would shop around...). After that I changed insurance and the cycle and some of the meds were covered.

in my case I only had two embryos and he indicated that for my age bracket it was better to transfer both to increase my chances.

Dr. Gleicher has one way of treating patients. He throws the kitchen sink at them for immune problems and scoffs at day 5 transfers or pgs testing. I understood where he was coming from and agreed initially until it didn't work several times and he admitted he didn't know why. Because I am a physician, I karyotyped myself and my husband and found he had a balanced translocation which greatly reduced our odds of pregnancy. I was upset, because I feel he was just continuing to take our money without being honest about what was going on. He blustered that he wouldn't do anything differently, but the standard for our problem is ivf with pgs which he refused to do with us. I felt he owed us some money back for not being thorough and leading us down a path without all the info we needed to make informed decisions about what we would need to do. They kept saying we were doing do well and very much expected us to get pregnant. Meanwhile, I spent $45,000 with nothing.

Don't go there. Go to Cornell. They are much better, more professional and more thorough with better results.

I had recurrent pregnancy loss which he attributed to immune issues although all my tests were normal. He used the micro dose lupron protocol both times with good results at retrieval. Their lab got good fertilization results and embryos looked good. He put me on aspirin, prednisone, lovenox and ivig for immune issues without result. I eventually discovered my husband had a chromosomal issue which needed genetic testing to find normals. We lost a lot of embryos with the freeze thaw process as I don't think they do that much. I think we lost all our normals.

10,000 for ivf without monitoring (I did that at home). $3800 for ICSI and assisted hatching. $1200 for freezing embryos and $250 every 3 months to store frozen embryos.

Dr. Gleicher was professionally appropriate for the Skype session however not open about any additional fees or charges after that appointment. He had appropriate questions for us at the time and obviously was well-spoken about fertility in older women.

Ask a lot of questions

After my Skype consultation and blood work and testing in 9/2018, I still have yet to receive any recommendations or treatment strategies to date (1/2019).

Only a initial consultation: $450 as listed on the website

Dr. Gleicher was the first doctor to look deeply into my medical history to find potential causes and possible remedies for my infertility...when my previous doctor had just immediately recommended I use donor eggs after my first failed IVF attempt.

Take notes, Write down all questions and be prepared for your consultation, don't be afraid to ask for clarification on everything. All the information is overwhelming, at a very emotional time and it's easy to miss things...each consultation is very expensive so be sure to do your best to cover everything in one session.

There was a window set for monitoring. The earlier you got there the better.

Around 17k or 18k

Blunt. Will persist and get you pregnant if u want to be pregnant. He is a research doctor who travels a lot to share gains at the clinic. Very straightforward. Not a doctor that will give you a hug.

Know his personality is by the books.

Tubal blockage so went right to IVF and their standard treatment.

Monitoring hours were organized. Often busy but varied from just one other person to a full waiting room.

Most all covered by insurance

Not a good communicator, not compassionate, cold personality.

don't expect a warm welcome

over $10,000

He was too busy to call me once so i had to speak to another doctor. I paid 750 for only 2 consult appts with him. He was late for appts and then it was so rushed and i paid alot of money for them.

Don't go there!

Hjgh dose of gonal and menopur with microdose lupron

450 for first consult. $250 for follow up calls or Skype. It is expensive.

Fresh transfer w no PGS test