Verified
This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.
2019, Unsuccessful
Review of
Dr. Talebian carefully read through my files and history before our first consultation which I appreciated. There is no good way to deliver bad news, but she called me with my PGS results when she seemed busy at a conference. She told me I was the only person that did not have at least one chromosomally normal egg in the batch of results she received that day. Not sure why she told me this but it didn’t make me feel better. Also she said the abnormalities were consistent with advanced maternal age. She said if I did another round there is a 30% chance I would have a normal embryo.
At CCRM you have a private area to wait, and the wait is not long. In addition, my retrieval was painless...My only complaint about CCRM was after my retrieval my husband waited in the lobby for 45 minutes. No one told me he was here waiting and no one told him I was done and waiting for him! That was a bit frustrating because the whole time I was angry because I thought he was late! However, with all these strengths I still regret going to CCRM. Weaknesses: They are extremely expensive and don’t take insurance. In retrospect, all the conveniences with scheduling appointment times and a nice waiting room are worthless if you don’t have good results. After receiving a phone call with
How was your experience with Sheeva Talebian at CCRM New York?
After 3 failed IVF cycles at Cornell including 2 FET of PGS normal embryos I looked into other clinics for one last attempt at IVF since Cornell said they wouldn’t do anything differently. I considered SIRM where I underwent further testing and learned I had elevated NK Cells, because of their experience treating immune issues but after seeing their low success rates for women over 40 I did not feel comfortable proceeding. I also considered NYU but they never called me back when I asked about their prices. Based on reviews for CCRM I thought this was definitely the best clinic in NYC. When I called to make an appointment Dr. Talebian and Dr. Knopman had appointments available soon. I chose Dr. Talebian based on her reviews. I enjoyed our consultation. She was smart, confident and prepared for our meeting. She took the time to explain what she would recommend that was different than Cornell. Based on my bloodwork she recommended the Microflare Lupron protocol which she expected to provide better quality than the antagonist protocol which I used 3 times at Cornell. Unfortunately, this protocol did not work as well as I had hoped. It took me much, much longer to produce follicles and eggs. I did not produce as many eggs (16 vs 11) and none were genetically normal. Frankly, I regret changing the protocol when the standard antagonist protocol had worked so well for me at Cornell. She also reviewed the long list of supplements I was taking. She said they were good but she recommended I lower the dosage of DHEA to 25mg a day since my levels were off the charts high after she tested my levels. I am not sure if lowering the DHEA dosage was the right call or not because I had a better result at Cornell when I was taking 75mg a day of DHEA. Because of my repeated IVF failures and miscarriage, Dr.Talebian said she would also recommend an immune protocol during the transfer including Lovenox and a steroid to suppress the immune system. She said she does not administer intralipids but if I wanted to, I could go to Dr. Jonathan Scher for further immune testing and she would work with him and incorporate his immune protocol into my plan. She said for some of her patients they have finally had success after treating immune issues. Dr. Talebian’s experience and success with hard cases gave me comfort and confidence. I like that she is open to treating immune issues. My RE at Cornell did not “believe” in immune issues at all. Unfortunately, I never had any embryos to transfer so I cannot really elaborate on the immune protocol. Another way CCRM differs from Cornell is that they recommend PGS for all blastocysts. At Cornell on my last cycle, I had a fresh transfer of my two best untested Day 5 embryos (3AB and 2.5AB). That transfer failed. Dr. Talebian would not transfer untested embryos. She says that it “tells us nothing.” In retrospect I wish we had tested all of my blastocysts at Cornell before transferring.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Sheeva Talebian at CCRM New York?
I found very few doctors that are willing to use alternative therapies for immune issues but Dr. Talebian was one of them. However, I personally regret doing a cycle with her and changing my protocol because my results were not as good as expected.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Sheeva Talebian at CCRM New York?
Dr. Talebian carefully read through my files and history before our first consultation which I appreciated. There is no good way to deliver bad news, but she called me with my PGS results when she seemed busy at a conference. She told me I was the only person that did not have at least one chromosomally normal egg in the batch of results she received that day. Not sure why she told me this but it didn’t make me feel better. Also she said the abnormalities were consistent with advanced maternal age. She said if I did another round there is a 30% chance I would have a normal embryo.
Describe the protocols Sheeva Talebian used in your cycles at CCRM New York and their degree of success.
Started estrogen patch 6 days before injections. Started 20 units of Microdose Lupron on first night of injections, then 20 units in AM and 20 units PM after that. On day 3 of injections added 150 units Menopur in the AM and 300 units Gonal F at night. Took a combination of microdose Lupron, Menopur, Gonal-F and Dexamethasone for about 13 days before trigger shot. (In my previous IVF cycles, I took meds for about 10 days. I think my follicle growth was slowed down a bit by the Microdose Luprom.)
Describe your experience with your nurse at CCRM New York. (Assigned nurse: Julie Kane)
After 3 cycles at Cornell the experience at CCRM was a breeze. Appointments are made for monitoring. I think only once I had to wait and it was less than 5 minutes. Amazing - after having to wait on 2 lines at Cornell - one for bloodwork and 1 for ultrasound. At CCRM, they quickly take your blood right before the ultrasound. Nurses are easily accessible by phone or email in their online portal. Instructions are emailed in the portal. At Cornell, you had to leave a voicemail and hope someone would call you back when you were free. Once, I called the after hours line because I had a question about the medication. A doctor called me back in minutes!
Describe your experience with CCRM New York.
Strengths: CCRM is a well run clinic with a boutique environment. You will not feel like a number or feel like you are part of a factory or cattle call. For pre-op, you make an appointment to have have a one on one with a nurse. (At Cornell, the Pre-op was a group class at 6 or 6:30am the day after your trigger shot.). The retrieval experience is much nicer at CCRM as well. At Cornell you sit around for hours in your gown in a waiting room full of people. At CCRM you have a private area to wait, and the wait is not long. In addition, my retrieval was painless. After my last retrieval at Cornell I was in severe pain like I had never experienced in my life. My only complaint about CCRM was after my retrieval my husband waited in the lobby for 45 minutes. No one told me he was here waiting and no one told him I was done and waiting for him! That was a bit frustrating because the whole time I was angry because I thought he was late! However, with all these strengths I still regret going to CCRM. Weaknesses: They are extremely expensive and don’t take insurance. In retrospect, all the conveniences with scheduling appointment times and a nice waiting room are worthless if you don’t have good results. After receiving a phone call with my PGS results, I never heard from them again —except regarding bills. I did call them to inform them I would not be continuing treatment and requested a refund for the embryo transfer and other services which were pre-paid and they sent me a check relatively quickly. I also received separate bill for anasthesia which was expected. But here is the shocker - a couple of days ago, around 2 years after my failed cycle, my husband received a bill for $2400 for two years of sperm storage, which we never asked for and were never notified about. To say I was angry and upset to get this bill was an understatement. I sincerely hope this was sent in error as there is no way in hell we would have consented to store sperm for $1200 a year when we decided we would not be doing another round of IVF and my husband has zero issues that would require this preservation. However, it’s been two days and the billing department has not called me back. Receiving this bill admittedly brought back painful memories and prompted me to warn others and update my review. I know CCRM is owned by a private equity company and if this is a tactic to squeeze money out of patients then this is totally disgraceful. If it was simply an error I will give them credit and update my review again.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Sheeva Talebian at CCRM New York.
So far close to $29k out of pocket. $350 for consultation. $22,000 for IVF including CCS and FET which I have not done yet. $300 for sperm freeze. $5,000 for medication payable directly to pharmacy. There may be additional costs that could come up including $1,400 for anasthesia. Sometimes insurance covers anasthesia-waiting to find out. Less than $200 for lab work. Some of the lab work was covered by insurance. I exhausted my IVF insurance coverage so was paying out of pocket. I looked into the pricing at Cornell, NYU, RMA and SIRM as well and I think CCRM was about $7k more than the others. At the time I thought it was still worth it to go with CCRM. But in retrospect, I regret the decision.
Review of