John Nulsen (retired)

Dr. John Nulsen is nothing short of phenomenal! When we sat down for our fertility plan, he tailored it to our specific needs. I remember him pausing, after looking at our latest test results to come up with an intelligent, real world plan that would yield us the results we desire. He has gone ABOVE and beyond, never making us feel like a number. We can tell he cares and wants success for us like we want it for ourselves. Across the Center for Advanced Reproductive Services this has been their culture. I have not found one person there that hasn’t known what they were doing or lacked professionalism. I would recommend him again and again!

Have patience. Sometimes we may not get exactly what we want, but if you hold on and don’t lose faith things works themselves out!

When my cycle failed Dr. Nulsen regrouped with the other doctors and reconvened with my partner and I based on medical suggestions and our test results.

$11,499

Dr. Nulsen will explain everything to his patients. In my case he responded to emails & phone calls. He evaluates each retrieval & discusses what went right & what went wrong. When I had my second retrieval he did not make any changes to my protocol because of the high amount of blasts I produced the first time.

That’s hard to say. In a clinic of this size you only see your doctor a few times. I don’t have any experience with any other clinics to compare.

He prescribed gonal-f 300 units, 2 vials of menopur, ganerelix & 50 units of Omnitrope (HGH). I asked for the Omnitrope because I’d heard people my age had success with it. We used an HCG trigger. We used the same protocol for my second retrieval due to the high amount of blasts that were produced. All blasts were PGA tested & a total of 10 were abnormal & 1 was mosaic.

Monitoring is done daily from 7-9 AM. You must come during that time. It’s done on a first come - first served basis. Sometimes there are somewhat long waits. Not sure there’s anything that can be done to avoid that.

The first retrieval was supposed to be covered by insurance. Devon, Dr. Nulsen’s financial person verified this ahead of time. However I keep getting bills...she is working on getting these paid but it’s unsettling because it’s not yet resolved & I could possibly still owe upwards of $3k. My second retrieval was self pay & cost $10k. We had to also pay $1,500 for biopsy & then $1900 for PGS testing through CooperGenomics.

Not applicable

As I stated earlier, Dr. Nulsen is so intelligent and so well-trained. I trust him fully and even after a really poor response to my first round of IVF, I trust his adjustment wholeheartedly. I really don't have any weaknesses to share, aside from the fact that I pray our second round of IVF will lead to more embryos and hopefully one will be PGS normal!

I highly recommend that you come prepared with a list of questions. Time with Dr. Nulsen is sacred, so please make the most of it!

I started with an agonist protocol (Gonal F 375 IU for 10 days; Ganirelix for 7 days and I was triggered with just Lupron). This produced 8 eggs (expected for my age, I guess), but only one fertilized and then made it to blast. This embryo was PGS abnormal, and I was told I have "very poor egg quality." I'm not sure I fully believe this, as I have a healthy, perfect 3.5 year old. I'm currently on the MDL flare protocol (starting BCPs tonight for 18 days) and then I'll be on Gonal F pen (300 IU PM), microdose leuprolide (10 IU 2x/day), Menopur (150 IU PM), and HCG.

It was a well-efficient, well-oiled machine. As long as you get there before 7:30, you are seen within 30 minutes or so. The MAs are great and you're often seen by an MD for ultrasounds.

I wish I knew more, but since insurance covered 100% I don't know. I think with meds included my first round of IVF was around $30,000.

If we get there, especially since we are doing PGS, he highly recommends I only transfer one embryo.

We see Dr. Nulsen usually every couple appointments. He has been very caring. At first, I believe he just thought we were going to be a quick case so did not pay much attention to us. After we got pregnant and miscarried, his attention towards us quickly changed. Since then, he has been very attentive and caring.

Dr. Nulsen is very caring but still remember to be your own advocate. The month we did get pregnant, was a result of a request that I had made regarding my care.

We have used letrozole and the trigger shot. We started off using 5 mg of letrozole but that did not produce any follicles. We switched to 7.5 which is the highest dose they will give and consistently got 1-2 follicles. We used the trigger shot at my request because we were ovulating late and my ovaries would ache. This also helped time the IUI.

We did IUI which was approximately $699 per cycle. This included all ultrasounds and blood monitoring. We paid an additional $125 for the trigger shot. We also had a D&C procedure which my insurance covered.

He was so knowledgeable and caring and compassionate. He was so patient with us as we always went to appointments with a full list of questions. He explained everything well. We went through a lot with him: 2 surgeries to remove my Fallopian tubes, one of which was emergency. He was so caring and comforting, I knew I was in great hands and it was actually sad to leave him after getting pregnant.

Don't be afraid to bring a list of questions to appointments

Original diagnosis after ectopic and identifying tube blockage was trying to conceive naturally for 4-6 months before removing blocked tube. After removing blocked tube, recommended action up to us but felt natural conception was possible and repeat ectopic was low. Unfortunately repeat ectopic occurred and caused emergency Fallopian tube removal. After that IVF was only option. He recommended freeze all with PGS to maximize success, as well as Lupron trigger due to higher risk of OHSS.

Wait times were pretty long at times but I was always able to be seen by my primary doctor even on weekends if he was on call. All doctors and staff were excellent so t didn't matter who I saw.

I spent about $15k out of pocket On top of maxing out my $20k lifetime infertility insurance benefits to have HSG, sonohysterogram, surgical removal of left Fallopian tube at same time as hystetoscopy, along with second emergency surgery to remove right Fallopian tube after ectopic, followed by IVF with PGS and successful FET.

I was very happy with his approach to single FET

Dr. Nulsen was always warm and devoted to our best interests. He gave his best advice as a medical professional, and we completely trusted he opinions. Never once did we feel rushed. He took the time to answer all questions/concerns until I was completely at ease with our next steps for treatment.

Trust his expertise. He loves his work and he knows how to do it well.

After two failed IUIs with 50 mg of Clomid, we decided to go right to IVF. Dr. Nulsen felt we would have success with the antagonist protocol, and started the next cycle. I was young with regular periods so he didn’t feel we needed the longer protocol. Follistim, Ganirelix, and Pregnyl were used for medications. Followed by PIO injections after the retrieval. The Follistim injections were the easiest to handle myself, but the Ganirelix seemed to burn a bit. The PIO injections were painful towards the end with so many different bruises that popped up after 13 weeks. He was surprised that I did not produce more mature eggs during the retrieval, but my AMH levels were on the lower side.

Monitoring was done first thing in the morning. You had your blood drawn, and then you proceeded to the other area for monitoring. It was on a first come basis. Some days you waited a while, and others you did not. I felt it was efficient as it could be given the time sensitive nature of the protocols.

Our deductible was pretty high, and that was due before we started IVF protocol. They were able to chunk it into smaller installments throughout the length of our treatment. The billing office was incredibly helpful in all areas. Especially when dealing with insurance. Our representative was incredibly knowledgeable, and gave us the best advice. We paid out of pocket for our deductible and all medication. We were reimbursed for some of the medication through insurance months later. At the time acupuncture was not offered at the clinic, and we paid separately for that off site.

UConn has a firm approach on how many embryos to transfer based on age and diagnosis. I was younger so it was advised for only a single embryo transfer. I completely agreed. His goal, and mine, was only to create a singleton pregnancy.

Dr. Nulsen always made us feel that we mattered and he was here to help us achieve our goal. Made sure we understood what was expected. We didnt feel like a number of statistic. He knew us by name and that made us feel like he thought of us beyond being a patient.

He cares and will make you feel like a person and not a statistic.

I dont remember this information.

It was very expensive. It was very difficult for us to continue our of pocket once the age of 40. My insurance in my state would not cover. I have 2 embryos still in storage in hope to use. I now have insurance that will cover the process even after 40 years old. But will not cover new cycle.

He suggested only 2 embryo transfer each time. And ICSI was the choice of treatment.

Dr. Nulsen is a kind and compassionate doctor. He would always return my phonecalls when I requested for one. I felt that he always had my best interest and I felt that he really wanted me to succeed. He was comforting even when delivering bad news and he encouraged me to continue on.

Be open with all your questions and concerns

High dosage of menopur and gonal-f since I was a poor responder.

Dr. Nulsen and everyone at CARS are wonderful- they did a fantastic job with us! He had excellent communication, and was very good about finding a path that helped us achieve the family we wanted. He always took our concerns seriously, and did everything he could to put us at ease. We felt very supported and like we were in great hands.

Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions.

We did clinical trials for both IVF cycles, so things looked a little bit different. Our most recent IVF cycle involved downregulation with Lupron, followed by stims with Minopur, followed by a fresh transfer supported by Endometrin. It took about two months because of the time for downregulation.

For the clinical trial, everything was covered.

Dr. Nulsen (and I think all the doctors at CARS) believe in single embryo transfer only for our age group if the embryos are a good quality . Their justification is very good- statistically outcomes are way better for a single embryo.