Barry Witten (retired)

Dr Witten was pretty blunt with me during one of the initial appointments. I ended up leaving in an embarrassing mess of tears. The next time I came into the clinic, he offered me one of the most sincere apologies I have ever experienced. From then on he was compassionate and sensitive. Also his exams/procedures were as comfortable as they could be.

I guess this doesn’t apply now that he is retired.

Due to my age, poor egg quality and low reserve, my only choice was donor egg. First I had a saline ultrasound. I found out on my own about frozen egg banks and chose to use a frozen egg lot. After the eggs arrived at the clinic, I was started on birth control, then transitioned to lupron injections. Then I started steroids and injected estrogen. Close to transfer I started progesterone in oil and antibiotics. I chose to use the acupuncturist who came to the clinic on transfer day. Then after transfer and confirmed pregnancy I stayed on all of those meds until 10 weeks except for the antibiotics. I was then released to my obgyn.

It’s hard to say. I paid the donor egg bank for up to six cycles and then they paid the clinic for all my treatment.

I was only interested in eSet so it was never a discussion.

While I decided to leave the clinic, I still hold a special place in my heart for Dr. Witten. He is very compassionate and follows probably what most other doctors follow. I felt that he had my best interest at heart. I had to switch clinics to try a different treatment plan and regain some hope. I was walking away from Dr. Witten with no help and an unexplained diagnosis. We had went through some terrible loss and did not feel anything was going to change, therefor, we had to make the change.

Fight to change your treatment plan if it is not working. Also, try not to schedule Friday appointments. They seem to be very busy on those days and wait times can be long!

I have been off birth control for 4 years and we really tried to start conceiving in January 2017. We started in November 2018 with Sher and did one round of medicated timed intercourse. We then proceeded with an IUI in January and February. Had a HSG performed in February 2019 that came back normal with no blockage. In May we attempted our first IVF cycle but was cancelled due to low number of follicles. During this cycle Lupron, Gonal F, Menopur and the HCG trigger shot was used. During June we went through another retrieval and used the same medicine but added Cetrotide and increased the dosages on the other. They retrieved 11 eggs, 10 fertilized and 6 made it to day 5. We then did PGS testing and 3 came back normal; 2 males and a female. The abnormal ones had the following issues: one of the embryos was missing a chromosome on chromosome 1, one had an additional on chromosome 8, and the other had an additional on 11 and 13. We then went through a transfer in August 2019. Lupron and E2V were used to prepare. My lining was above 9mm. We did have to use Viagra suppositories to get my lining to thicken. We transferred on 8/22 and used Progesterone and Progesterone suppositories along with E2V after transfer. Blood tested on 9/1 and came back with a negative. During October, an ERA was performed. Again, used the same medicine regime. The ERA came back receptive. During November, we prepared again for another transfer in December. A few differences during this cycle was that they did test for blood clotting disorders and I do have a single mutation for the blood clotting disorder MTHFR. For this round they added Lovenox daily. We also did a scratch during the fluid ultrasound. My lining was at 10.4mm 5 days before transfer (last ultrasound) and we transferred on 12/13 and embryo glue was used during this transfer. A blood test was done 12/23 and came back negative. We have transferred both our male embryos and have the female embryo left.

We have insurance coverage right now so i cannot help much here. If i were to get this grant, I am giving it to my close friend that is also going through the same thing as we are.

I have had over 20 visits to this clinic and have seen Dr. Witten every single time besides once, when he was out of town. I have several friends who see different fertility Dr.’s and none of them have actually gotten to see they doctor as much as I’ve seen him. I feel like that says a lot about the care he provides his patients. He is always on board with any new idea I have or something new to try. He spends so much time with me each appointment and I never feel like he’s rushing to see the next patient. He’s also always been on time and I’ve never had to wait past my appointment time to see him. He has also done very cool things like let me see the sperm sample through the microscope so I am convinced that my husbands sperm are swimming correctly! Being able to do that was beyond one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen a doctor do for a patient and I’m a nurse and work with doctors on a daily basis.

Let him know everything about how your feeling or any issues you have with anything. He’s a very good listener and always wants to know how you’re feeling throughout each cycle. Be very open to him about your feelings.

Every cycle I have a baseline ultrasound to check for cysts, then I start my (cycles with IUI’s was 5 mg) 7.5 mg of femara on cycle days 3-7. I come back around cycle day 11 or 12 or another ultrasound to see how my follicles are responding. He has always been the one that does my ultrasounds. We have previously done 3 IUI’s three months in a row with no positive results. However, I did handle those cycles just fine with no issues. Before the first IUI he checked my cervical mucus to check for sperm. He was not able to find any so we thought IUI should work. Since the failed IUI’s he upped my dosage from 5mg to 7.5 to allow more eggs to produce to see if that would help. Before I was producing one egg each time. I also give myself a trigger shot every cycle with or without doing the IUI’s. Unfortunately I have not received a positive test from any cycles yet. This cycle we are currently on he’s checking my ph and we are trying a baking soda douche the night before I ovulate. He checked my cervical mucus again this cycle and there was living sperm in it which is better than when he checked before.

The IUI’s were out of pocket for us and were $1000. Femara and trigger shots are also out of pocket but they providing me with the cheapest pharmacies for me to get them through. All of the ultrasounds were run through insurance and we covered the rest out of pocket. Roughly around $250 per month.

We came to Sher and Dr. Witten after a bad experience elsewhere. He is very thorough and really took the time to run every test and go through every potential obstacle before recommending treatment. We started with Femera and Ovidrel and moved on to IUI. We’re perfect on paper, but just can’t get pregnant. Dr. Witten saw a fibroid, but performed a test that showed it was not inside the wall and decided it was not an issue. After a 2nd failed IUI we went in to discuss moving to IVF. Instead of just taking our money and starting IVF, he referred us to a surgeon to remove the fibroid. He didn’t want any obstacles when we finally start treatment. This will delay our treatment 3 months, but we will at least know that we did everything possible. We feel that he genuinely cares about us and our outcome and we continue to trust his treatment plan.

He is very sweet, but no-nonsense in his approach. Sometimes he can be very direct. My advice would be to ask as many questions as it takes so you understand exactly what is happening.

We started with Femera and the trigger shot with timed intercourse for several months. We did our first IUI, went back to Femera during the holidays and did a 2nd IUI two months later. He performed many tests including HSG and a saline ultrasound. Most recently we have been referred to a surgeon for fibroid removal. The surgeon seems to think this could be causing our issues. We will resume treatment with Dr. Witten after recovery.

IUI cost 1,000, but ultrasounds are included

I have nothing but positive things to say about Dr. Witten. He was very thorough in explaining the process. He was great about changing our course of treatment as needed as different issues came up with my endo. I had an endometrioma pop up during the time I was getting shots. He decided he would do the egg retrieval but may need to delay the transfer for me to have surgery to remove the endometrioma. He knew how upset this made me as I had already had 2 laparoscopic surgeries that year to remove the endo. He wanted to do everything he could to avoid me having another surgery for the year. As he did my egg retrieval he was able to rupture the endometrioma so we could complete transfer right away!

Do EVERYTHING by the book. They lay out everything you need to know and do to achieve best results. Even though it may be hard or inconvenient it pays off.

Due to my diagnosis of endometriosis and low ovarian reserve, we used a higher dose of the follistim. During my treatment, an endometrioma began growing again. It caused a lot of discomfort as my ovaries were very enlarged from the meds. After retrieval I began to feel much better after about a week. My ovaries were going back to normal and Dr. Witten ruptured my endometrioma during retrieval. Because of the aggressive nature of my endometriosis, Dr. Witten recommended transferring 2 embryos. We now have 8 month old boy/girl twins!!

The cost was between $10,000-$15,000

My husband and I completely trusted Dr. Witten's advice on how many embryos to transfer. He recommended we transfer 2 due to the aggressive nature of my endometriosis. We understood the risks involved with multiples and decided to take his advice. We are very glad we did.

The right Reproductive Endocrinologist for you can be the difference between success or heartache. Therefore, I want my review to be as honest as possible so others can make an educated choice. My experience with Dr. Witten spans about a 2 year time frame and if I had to do it all over again, I would most definitely choose a different RE. We were struggling to conceive so I was instructed to see a RE by my Ob-Gyn. She gave me a list of RE's that came recommended but I settled on Dr. Witten, who was not on her list. We wanted to be seen by an older RE, thinking his years of experience would be an advantage. Under Dr. Witten's care, I received an HSG, which revealed one of my fallopian tubes was not spilling any dye. Dr. Witten said that he thought the other one was fine He recommended a laparoscopy surgery. Dr. Witten does not do surgery, he did not tell me this, I just figured it out after he advised me to have my Ob-Gyn do the surgery. My Ob-gyn said she preferred him to do the surgery so they went back and forth. I had been complaining for the majority of my life how awful my periods were but no one would ever listen. After 2 months in lingo, Dr. Witten referred me to the gynecological surgeon he apparently sends all of his patients to. So off I went to surgery with a different doctor, who ultimately discovered endometriosis and a damaged tube. He removed the tube and removed the endometriosis and sent me back to Dr. Witten. Dr. Witten continued to monitor me, we'd do ultra-sounds constantly but not much direction was given, other than he kept wanting us to do timed intercourse, which is what we'd been doing for the past 1.5 years with no luck without a RE. I felt like we needed medication but he wouldn't even discuss it. It took so many ultrasounds-2-3x a week, traveling 60 miles one way to his office and leaving work early just to hear the same old spiel. One day, during an ultrasound he mentioned IUI but he said I needed to do it right away because I was about to ovulate. I had not been on any medications but trusted him so I received 1 trigger shot and had an IUI the next day. It failed. I was told at his office that the IUI would cost $525 but once I got to Sher Institute, which is where he does the IUI, they told me the price was $1000. They did honor the original price I was told but informed me any future IUI's would be $1000 a piece. Then the next 2 cycles he put me on clomid, with no pregnancy resulting. He then suggested IVF, which is not in our budget no matter how bad we want to have a child. We were devastated and felt as though he did not give us enough time on medication early on to try an IUI again. He waited over a year to even attempt any medication, even after telling us that we had to rush because I have very low ovarian reserve. We are devastated and haven't been back. We are currently doing research to find a RE that better fits us.

Ask questions and demand answers. Do research before your appointments and ask about medication and treatment options starting with your first appointment and everyone thereafter. I regret that we didn't push harder, wasting valuable egg quality time.

IUI, with 1 trigger shot. Clomid with timed intercourse. His treatments are very reserved, not an aggressive go getter type.

At least $5000, maybe more for just doctor appointments, very little medicine and 1 IUI.

Dr Witten is a pleasure to work with through this difficult life journey. Compassionate, knowledgeable, and personal he made this entire process so much better. He is dedicated to ensuring both my husband and I understand every step, but always makes sure we don't get ahead of ourselves. He is a rock during a very difficult time and I would recommend him to anyone.

I have PCOS and annovluation. I was not responding to clomid so he immediately switched me to low dose femara where we had great follicle growth. When he found out we weren't ovulating he adjusted our protocol by adding an hcg trigger shot to force ovulation. He performed all tests to ensure we didn't have any other problems but felt an IUi would still improve our chances of a positive cycle so we proceeded with that. After numerous failed cycles (just not the right genes!) he took us into the next step where we used follistim. He was very in tune with my bodies reactions and while we ultimately had 3 great eggs, none took and I showed signs of OHSS which has led us to begin ivf.

$10,000 is our estimated total cost to date which was composed of co pays, medications not covered by insurance, iui (also not covered by insurance).

Dr Witten is open to a single or double embryo transfer because I am young, have an optimal body weight, and in overall good health. We haven't made our decision yet but he has provided information so we feel very informed

I was so scared and nervous to start the IVF process. As soon as I walked into my first appointment I knew that The Lord put Dr. Witten and his team in my life for a reason. They made me feel comfortable and happy every time I saw them. This is a very hard and long processto go through but I always felt so much better and so hopeful after every appointment. It's like I have a extended family that knows me and greets me like they see me everyday even when I haven't seen them in weeks. I absolutely loved my doctor and am so thankful to have found Dr. Witten and the other ladies at the Sher Institute. They truly have been a blessing to me and my family & have made this process so much easier.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. He will tell you everything and anything you want to know.

I started on birth control and Lipton gonal f and menopur for my egg retrieval. My dosage was very low because I'm so young and my body reacted fast and well. I had my egg retrieval and Dr. Witten retrieved 24 eggs. 15 made it to fertilization then we were able to freeze 8 day 5 blastocyst. I was very sore and in pain after my retrieval but Dr. Witten gave me antibiotics and pain meds that helped. I healed for the next month and started back on birth control and now I'm starting my transfer meds. Dexamethazon, Lupron again, Estrace, Prenatals, Folic Acid. My embryo transfer is scheduled for the end of this month. I couldn't be more excited and anxious.

My insurance told us that I was covered until two days before I started medication. We were going to cancel the entire thing but my mom decided to pay it on a credit card. She paid $8,000. Luckily my insurance paid most of my medication fees, we only paid about $200 out of pocket for those and probably less than $500 all together for other tests like bloodwork and ultrasounds. We live 3 hours away from clinic and it's the closest one so we did have to stay in hotels so that is about $500 in hotel costs through the entire process.

I agree with what Dr. Witten wants to do. If he feels like he should just do one I trust him.

He is very thorough and wants to make sure his patient understands fully what is happening inside their body. He was always very optimistic and had just a great overall energy about him. He was extra caring and accommodating for different circumstances that arose along the way.

He does have an accent because he is from New Zealand I believe so just keep that in mind. But I don't think it negatively affects his communication.

He wanted to make sure I was ovulating so we started out the first few cycles with just clomid and timed intercourse. Those all resulted in negative pregnancy results, but after the first few cycles of my body not responding, he decided to do a tubal X-ray to make sure my tubes were open. He determined they were open and I was in fact ovulating. So the 4th cycle I was on clomid and timed trigger shot. This was also negative. The next three cycles have been clomid, timed trigger shot, and IUI. The first two resulted in negatives and I am currently in the last cycle in the two week waiting period. If this results in a negative he wants to move on and do other tests and for me to lose weight.

An IUI costs $525 there and it was not covered by our insurance. It could be covered under another's. $50 for each visit. $89-110 for each trigger shot About $400 to test for tubal blockage.

I felt like, once moving from IUI to IVF, Dr. Witten did not have much input on my treatment. He does his IVF through Sher, and so I believe he is bound to their medication protocol and monitoring. Dr. Witten seemed genuinely disappointed by my results. He was honest though in that IUI would not work for us and did not waste our time with months of IUI's. He did not prescribe me unnecessary medication as all of my levels were good and I ovulate without meds.

He is good for testing and IUI.

Dr. Witten does IVF through Sher and so he is bound to their treatment protocols. I do not believe he had any input on my medication protocol.

The monitoring appointments went very smoothly. They got me in quickly and I did not have to wait long for Dr. Dayal. She explained what she saw during each appointment.

We have insurance coverage. We had to pay up-front for the treatment and were told we would be refunded for what insurance covered. I believe we paid around $7,000 and are owed a refund of around $6,000. Still waiting on that to process.

Dr. Barry Witten was vary compassionate from the beginning. He understood the long journey we had already been on and was very realistic while also giving us optimism that we could achieve our dream of a family. I enjoyed his analytical approach to the science side, but he always said they can get everything there, but God has the final say. When we had a chemical pregnancy, he could not find the words and his nurse stepped in and comforted us. But later he was able to give us his condolence. On the second round when we got a positive blood test, Dr. Witten personally called me to congratulate me. He saw us through 8 weeks and then handed us off to my obgyn. But when I brought my daugter by two weeks after giving birth, he remembered us and was so delighted that we visited.

He might be short on words but he makes it up with his genuine caring of you physically and mentally.

The cost was not covered by my insurance. The first thing Sher Institute did was have you meet with the financial person. She explained the set cost and the varible costs. She detailed all of the companies that help with the cost and showed us what we needed to supply those companies with. She made sure we were ready financially before proceeding. I had and HRA through my work and she helped me figure out if that would be able to cover some of the cost. Everthing had to be paid in full before the treatment could begin.

Dr. Witten was always kind and put things in terms we could understand. When our first round didn't work he sat down with us and explained our options and what he felt was best. Never once discouraged us or made it feel impossible. He gave us hope.

Get as much information as you can. Be prepared for anything and no matter what keep trying.

I started out on birth control pills then had the intralipids infusion for the Natural Killer Cells. Started with the Dexamethasone then went to the injections. Cant remember the names of all of them but I know I did Gonal-F, Progesterone in oil, Estradiol Valerate, Menopur and Vaginal Suppositories. Then once I got a positive test I started Prenatal Vitamins and did another round of Intralipid Infusion.

We were lucky, our insurance covered a lot. We had to pay for the intralipid infusions which were $300.00 a piece so a total of $600.00. Also had to meet our $300.00 deductible for both so that was $600.00 total. We paid for a portion of the medications which with both treatments came to about $800.00. We also had to pay for the anesthesia twice so that was $590.00 a piece so a total of $1180.00. We may receive more bills from different tests we have had done but we haven't received a bill yet.

Dr. Witten is obviously a very intelligent and experienced fertility doctor. I felt he had a very specific way he liked to do things and he didn't stray from that very much. When I would bring up questions or concerns, my concerns weren't heard or I was told I didn't need to worry about them. I felt like he would hear what I was saying but didn't want to listen.

Be prepared to do a lot of self research. He isn't an overly empathetic person and isn't great at answering questions.

My stim cycle was an agonist protocol. I have normal ovarian reserve but we were only able to get 5 eggs out of about 16 follicles. 4 were mature and all fertilized with ICSI, one arrested a day 4. My fresh cycle resulted in a chemical pregnancy, and my 2 subsequent frozen transfers resulted in negative pregnancies. I was never given any rationale for the protocol chosen for me.

I have full insurance coverage. This covered all my diagnostic workup, IVF cycles and most medications. We had to pay out of pocket for my egg retrieval sedation as well as cryopreservation services associated with embryo freezing.

At the outset we thought the doctor was very professional although a man of few words. Over the course of the following few months, as we started to visit more and more we found ourselves getting comfortable with his particular style.

I don't have any advice.

The estrogen intramuscular injections (2 Ml) daily was tough to get through for a period of about 6-8 weeks. They produced the desired outcome but it is a long and sometimes painful commitment. The subcutaneous injections were easier to tolerate, however this too was a daily commitment. There were so many drugs needed, I couldn't possibly list all of them and their dosages. Lupron, Gonal, Estradiol, dexamethasone, suppositories, are just some of what I took.

No idea. We got hit with so many bills from so many different places it was impossible to keep track of.

Dr. Witten is very knowledgeable. However there were times where I felt unsure of next steps, I didnt have a clear plan of what was next and why I was doing certain tests. He was compassionate and genuinely seemed liked he wanted to help. There was also a language barrier, but for the most part I understood his communication.

Ask Dr. Witten to put a detailed plan in place so you know step by step what to expect

I had a lot of blood tests to determine follicle count, ovarian reserve. I also had an xray with dye to determine if my tubes were open. Lots of ultrasounds to look at my uterus and eggs to determin ovulation. Lastly, I had a MRI.

Not sure.

N/A

Dr. Witten is one of a kind. He was very caring and compassionate towards us, and went above and beyond to make sure we never left an appointment with questions. He used pictures to describe what was happening. He always remembered to ask about our son and made an effort to support my husband through this experience as well.

Interview him first, and take the time to learn to trust him...you will be much happier leaving things in his hands

Dr. Witten left these decisions to us, we chose single both times

Dr. Written is very knowledgeable, has a good bedside manner and his primary goal is to achieve pregnancy. Although we did not get pregnant with our IVF cycle, we have a plan moving forward that I trust completely will work for my husband and I.

Ask questions. He can talk quickly.

Total IVF cycle including meds was $15,000

He is flat out an awesome human. He did everything he could and wouldn't do another cycle until he looked me in the eye and told me the slim chance we had. Admitted when he had tried everything and advised that we explore NYC.

If you like fast paced, that is not Dr Witten.

Antagonist is all I can remember.

Must be a 5 day embryo.

He was thorough and answered all the questions we had. If something came to mind after we left we were able to call and still get answers. He has excellent bedside manner and is easy to talk to. His time working as a specialist and referrals from previous patients put my mind at ease. I wish we could have covered more and received a baby from this.

Be honest. Tell him everything that is going on. Trust the process and be open to treatment options.

Standard workup included bloodwork, ultrasounds, semen analysis, and a thorough explanation of each step in the process. Monitoring of cycles, timed intercourse, and clomid cycles.

I can’t recall all the cost associated with this treatment.

He is a great doctor! Very compassionate and will always listen to your needs! He goes above and beyond to make sure you are taken care of and that he hits all stops to help you achieve success! He wants nothing but the best for his patients!

Ask questions and be clear on what you want to know

I have used Lupron, lovenox, progesterone, estradiol, dexamethasone, folic acid, birth control for transfer protocol.