Mousa Shamonki

Dr. Shamonki is a consummate physician, going above and beyond what you would expect from any doctor, let alone fertility doctors. He has a compassionate and warm bedside manner but at the same time is able to ensure trust with his deep experience and knowledge. I am the type of patient who likes to understand every detail and do my own research. Dr. Shamonki patiently answered every one of my questions and concerns, either during the appointments or via messaging (always a same-day response). His answers were all fact based and research supported. Also, he was open about disclosing conflicts of interest and made sure to point out both sides if any issue was controversial. Dr. Shamonki was originally recommended by a friend. Prior to selecting him, I had done consultations with 2 other fertility doctors in the Bay Area. Dr. Shamonki provided the most thorough and tailored analysis, and ultimately we picked him because of his fact-based approach, communication style, and willingness to answer our questions in advance of any treatment. Not to mention, his clinic results on SART.org are stellar (granted, SART data can be misleading and hard to understand). Despite being in the Bay Area, we "commuted" down for fertility treatments, and combined it with some local remote monitoring. We saw Dr. Shamonki every single appointment (at one of their 3 offices) since we came only for him.

As for any doctor appointment, prepare your questions in advance. Dr. Shamonki will always pause and give you the time, but you have to ask him the questions. Also, advice in general for fertility treatments is to be proactive and understand the process so you can follow along and track results. FertilityIQ was a fantastic resource for me as well and helped me tailor my questions for the doctor.

I did 2 IVF cycles and 1 FET, all back-to-back. 1st cycle was typical antagonist protocol. Midway through, my follicles were not growing evenly, and Dr. Shamonki upped the Follistim dose. This was no fault of Dr. Shamonki's - my body was not receptive to the protocol. I didn't end up with as many mature eggs, but the ones that fertilized grew to Day 5 blasts. 2nd cycle, Dr. Shamonki adjusted the protocol to Microdose Lupron. That worked well and my follicles grew evenly. I had 95% fertilization rate with this protocol. I declined the ICSI procedure both times and appreciated Dr. Shamonki being flexible and never forcing anything. Also, he checked in after every retrieval and provided results for Day 1, 3, 5 and 6. We stopped after 2 cycles as we achieved our goal for total number tested embryos. I then proceeded to frozen single transfer.

We paid the cash rate since we didn't have insurance - $9,900 IVF bundle (includes 1 free transfer within a year), $4,400 for genetic testing (up to 8 embryos), $685 freezing cost, $550 anesthesia for retrieval, 2nd cycle bundle is discounted to $8,900

Dr. Shamonki recommended eSET for us since we also genetic tested the embryos. I believe it is now the recommended approach, unless the patient has a specific situation that would warrant multiple embryo transfers.

Dr Shamonki was honest, transparent, and very communicative. He was incredibly compassionate and clear in every conversation we had with him. All questions were answered and he took the time to ensure we felt confident in our next steps.

The practice is set up well to service patients on any day at any time. If you feel strongly about seeing only the same doctor, at every visit, this might not be for you. Though I’m not sure that’s possible with the specific and stringent way fertility treatments have to work.

Our IVF protocol seemed fairly standard. One of the things I appreciated most was the biopsy and dye test done while I was asleep for the egg retrieval. It was found that I had some inflammation in my uterine lining that could’ve hindered my success for the transfer. We did two cycles on antibiotics (and two additional biopsies) to clear it before the transfer which was successful.

Costs of IVF are high but this was estimated $5-10K cheaper than UCLA.

Dr shamonki is very calm and nice when you are around him. He is really good at making us feel listened and heard at every visits. My wife and I were very satisfied with his care, every questions we had were always nicely and fast answered. I know Dr. Shamonki was very busy and sometimes the appointments were going very fast so he did not have time to explain every little details which was a little problematic sometimes, but I greatly appreciate being able to write to him or the nurse and have a quick answers to any concerns.

Do not hesitate asking questions, come with what is on your mind already and make sure to ask anything you have in mind. Fertility treatment can be very stressful and sometimes we forget to ask important questions. Don’t be shy to reach out when you can to get answers to any little things, with so many patients to see I can see how easily it is for doctors to get caught up quickly and forget to explain things they think we already know.

I had the egg retrieval medication for 10 days on gonal and menopure injection. My body reacted really well to the treatment and we were able to retrieved 25 eggs. For the transfert I have to do progesterone and estrogen 3 times a days until the end of the first trimester which clearly worked very well since we have now a positive pregnancy.

D. Shamonki met with my husband and I for a consultation for secondary infertility after a second trimester loss. While he was very nice, he was completely unprepared for the consultation. Despite my having filled out the clinic's 15 pages of very detailed patient forms (submitted prior to the appointment), as well as having sent records from my previous OB, my D&C surgery for my miscarriage, my post-loss miscarriage and immune testing by both the OB and my rheumatologist, and the records from the fertility clinic I was planning to transfer from, he had not looked at any of it. None of it. It was clear that he hadn't even glanced at it. This is a huge red flag for me. How can I trust a provider who doesn't even glance at my information beforehand? Infertility is complex, it's not cookie cutter, and the provider has a duty to review the records before meeting the patient. My spouse and I made the decision never to go back before we'd even left the building.

If you want a provider who is going to look deeply into your situation, go elsewhere.

They will verbally tell you about the cost of certain procedures after your consultation, but you have to make a separate appointment with a financial nurse in order to receive the prices of services. Ultrasounds are $175, the actual insemination for IUI is $160, a comprehensive IVF cycle is $9900, a repeat cycle is $8900, a comprehensive FET is $4900

Dr. Shamonki is knowledgeable and takes the time to answer questions. He has a warm manner while being direct, which is why my partner and I chose to work with him. However, he doesn't seem to be detail-oriented or meticulous about tailoring the protocol to your specific needs. Some of this may be a result of the disorganization in the clinic. Regardless, it seemed to have a huge impact on my cycle and resulted in the worst of 7 cycles (the others were all with other clinics).

Find a different clinic.

BCP priming, max dosage of follistim in an antagonist protocol, HCG priming, clomid, HCG trigger. Dr. Shamonki didn't explain why he was selecting this protocol, and when asked if he had reviewed my prior cycles I had already supplied, he then adjusted the cycle slightly. I would have thought this would have been considered first without prompting.

Long wait times

$10k package $1k not included in package $2k PGT $4k meds

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Dr. Shamonki is a compassionate doctor. My visit at the beginning of the cycle after my failed IUI, when he entered the room, the first thing he asked me was how was I feeling. He explains everything and takes his time to answer all our questions. He seems to be very pragmatic. He doesn’t have anything to recommend as far as supplements go. When I asked about CoQ10, he said that there is no evidence it helps with humans. He is a fact-based doctor who will not recommend anything that isn’t proven undisputedly. Which makes sense since he’s a doctor! He is hosting a webinar this week about protecting and preparing your fertility, which is great! He was going to host a fertility yoga workshop but that was canceled due to coronavirus. He never made us feel pressured to do anything. If I suggested something he was always willing to entertain or shoot me down, with explanation, depending on the situation.

If you have questions or just want the process of your treatments explained in more detail, don’t be afraid to ask questions. He is happy to answer but if you don’t ask your visits might be super brief.

Before seeing Dr. Shamonki, I had 3 losses. I did all the bloodwork with another specialist who I didn’t have treatments with. Dr. Shamonki determined our problem is unexplained infertility. His rationale for our treatments were based on the fact that we can get pregnant and we don’t have any issues that are preventing us from having a successful pregnancy aside from age. We just need to find the good egg! First round I used Clomid with timed intercourse. We didn’t jump to IUI since we know we can get pregnant. My uterine lining was a little thin so the next month I switched to Letrozole, again with timed intercourse. Then we decided to do IUI, again with Letrozole. I ovulated early so we missed the window and couldn’t do the IUI that month. So the next month we tried again, same protocol. And still no positive pregnancy test. The last month, we switched to injectables and we were going to do IUI again. However, we had to cancel that cycle due to coronavirus.

$175 for ultrasounds during treatment cycles $360 for IUI including sperm washing (I believe) $90 for progesterone blood test (I believe)

I believe he will only transfer one embryo. I haven’t done IVf so I don’t know for sure.

Dr. Shamonki is first and foremost a medical professional and expert in reproductive health, infertility, and leading-edge treatment options. He conducted detailed medical interviews of myself and my partner, as well as physical tests and post-testing consultations. In the face of sometimes difficult news, we found that Dr. Shamonki communicated clearly and was realistic, yet optimistic and postive about treatment options. He feels like a partner in the journey and makes efforts (offering us his cell phone, connecting us with nurses) to help us feel supported. We are currently pursuing IVF treatment and are grateful to continue to work with Dr. Shamonki.

Dr. Shamonki has a lot of experience and expertise. If you come in with questions from personal research, it's a great opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of your infertility and treatment options.

We are planning a standard IVF procedure

A cycle of IVF is ~$20K (~$10K in FSAC fees and ~$10K in fees to outside providers, pharmacies, etc).

I recall that Dr. Shamonki and the FSAC clinic have a strong preference for eSET over mutliple embryo transfer, but may grant rare exceptions.

He is a very gentle and patient person, he doesn't push, but informs and let's you make the best decision for you, while recommending changes as to support best outcomes. No matter what your situation he tailors to meet your needs.

Bring a list of questions to your visits, sometimes he is very busy, as are all RE's, and just go over basics, let you know current situation and go to next patient. There were so many times I would leave and think "oh man I wonder if we could do this?" or " what happens if a, b, or c?" When I had my pre thought out questions I always felt satisfied.

The first embryo transfer we started with estrace, added progesterone supplementation by next visit, then a week later did our transfer. The next embryo transfer we did estrace only longer and started progesterone supplementation 5 days prior to transfer. My lining actually grew 0.6 more before my transfer.

The cost of using egg donor off site-$2000 FET package-$12,800 Additional Ultrasounds/labs (hcg's) post transfer-$190 Second FET-$5300

No, the research for a woman my age with minimal embryo's states safety and success weighs more on the side of the single embryo. I wanted a baby, and if my doctor said I had improved chances with a single then that's what I wanted to do.

Dr Shamonki is great. My husband and I felt very confident with him from our initial consultation. He made it very clear that his goal was to help us get pregnant and he didn't want to rush us into doing anything too extreme from the start. We feel like we have a pretty clear plan with him.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Dr Shamonki wants to make sure you feel comfortable about the whole process.

First cycle: 50mg of clomid + ovidrel shot+ IUI + Progestrone. The clomid had some effects on me and the IUI wasn't very painful. Second cycle: We changed to 5mg letrozole + timed intercourse. No effects from the letrozole and no IUI because I was out of town. Third Cycle: 5mg letrozole + timed intercourse. No IUI because I was again out of town. Fourth Cycle: 5mg letrozole. We planned on doing an IUI, but I ovulated 5 days early, so we missed out window. Fifth cycle: 5mg letrozole + Estrace + ovidrel shot+ IUI + Progestrone. Estrace was added to help my lining. Sixth Cycle: 5mg letrozole + Estrace + ovidrel shot+ IUI + Progestrone. None of these cycle resulted in pregnancy and we are starting our next steps towards IVF.

Without insurance: $150 for ultrasound visits, $365 for an IUI procedure

Dr. Shamonki has such a calm demeanor. It can’t help but make you feel somewhat the same way which is hard as a patient dealing with infertility. Every visit he’s always been so considerate and understanding of our situation. He’s also been very thorough in explaining what our next steps will be. He’s always willing to answer any questions. He gave me his cell number, and there were times I had questions so I would text him. He would answer right away!

Always write down your questions beforehand. It can somewhat be overwhelming when you’re actually there for your appointment.

We had our first initial IUI with Dr. Shamonki. My protocol was Clomid day 3-7. When checking my follicle size on Day 10, doctor noticed my lining was thin so he put me on estrogen for 7 days. I triggered on the evening of Day 10 and had the actual procedure 2 days later. I then was on progesterone suppositories 2 days after up until I took a pregnancy test 14 days after the IUI. Unfortunately it was negative. We’re currently undergoing our 2nd IUI. This time I’m on Letrozole days 5-9. I’ll go back to check follicle size in a few days and hopefully all goes well!!

My first IUI cost about $850 with medications. My second IUI got canceled due to cysts but I went in for an ultrasound and doctor visit so that alone cost $250. I had to go in for another ultrasound to check on things so that was another $250. We just began my 2nd attempt for an IUI and I’ve paid $250 up until this point for the baseline ultrasound and office visit.

Dr. Shamonki is a great doctor. I would say his weakness is that he doesn't fully explain what to expect sometimes (i.e. out of 18 embryos, only 7 made it to 5-day blastocyst, which surprised me. I felt that he could have told me ahead of time to expect the drop in number), but I think that comes from him being so knowledgeable. Otherwise his strengths are compassion, thoughtful explanation of procedures, measuring expectations, very hands-on (at almost every monitoring appointment).

Ask lots of questions.

Out of pocket with no insurance it cost us $9,500 for egg retrieval and one transfer. $99 for initial genetic bloodwork, $400 for retrieval anesthesia, roughly another $300-400 in lab fees, roughly $3,000 for medications for one egg retrieval and two transfers. It was $4,500 for another embryo transfer, including monitoring.

He highly suggested only transferring one embryo at a time to reduce to chance of multiples, as it gives a higher chance of having a normal pregnancy as opposed to high-risk and the complications that can come along with multiples pregnancies.

I started out on this journey seeing Dr Shamonki. Over the course of 2 years, I saw a few other fertility Doctors. It has been a very challenging journey. I came back to see him as a patient and still in the process. We are aiming to do an embryo transfer in May. Out of all the doctors I did cycles with, he was the most professional, competent, trustworthy. My favorite. I highly recommend him. This is a really tough journey and the doctors I think should be held to a high standard. I work in the medical field. Dr Shamonki exceeds the mark. Every time.

He will listen to your concerns, he will meet you where you are in your treatment and try the hardest for you. I sometimes wished we had done more bloodwork. I think he felt it was necessary to over do labs. You are in good hands. Go for it!

I did clomid, Gonal F, Lupron, Menapur. Progesterone, estrogen priming.

I work full time, They let me come to the office that was the most convenient for me which was helpful.

I would say they were moderate costs. He was not the most expensive nor was he the least expensive.

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He's great I wish he was my primary physician. He's just a normal, kind person that you'd want to get dinner with. He is an amazing communicator he's available anytime you need him. After a tough experience with another doctor he was very conscious of our hesitations.

You will really love him.

He first wanted to ensure that my tubes were clear and that there wasn't any issues with my uterine lining due to multiple D&C's and miscarriages. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary from a protocol perspective but I was more concerned with the prep work involved and he was covered there. I literally felt like I had every test in the book done before I even started my meds.

The costs were fair based on research, not too high or too low

He was a huge proponent of only doing a single transfer, for my safety and he was clear that the outcome in terms of percentages were not that different. Pretty much it didn't up your chances that much to do a multiple embryo transfer. He was clear that he would do whatever we wanted, but recommended only one.

I very first started seeing Dr. Shamonki when he was at UCLA in Westwood. At UCLA the workspace they provided to him and the amount of patients that he was given to care for was MANY. I felt that he was stressed and rushed to get to the next and the next after that. He didn't seem like that kind of person to treat patients in this kind of environment. When he moved and went to his new clinic it seemed like he was more relaxed and able to care for patients the way he thought they should be treated. I could tell his demeanor was WAY different in the new clinic. Because he was more relaxed so was I. We were able to talk more about our options. I felt that he knew what he was talking about when looking at ultrasounds and everything that I had been through previously. We never came up with a plan because financially we were not able to continue with any treatments out of insurance. However I do follow up with him all the time. He is available to me anytime just by sending a text to his cell phone.

Keep him in the loop

I didn't do an IVF cycle with Dr. Shamonki. Although I brought embryos I had frozen from another clinic to him to be transferred but chose to PGS test them before transfer

I think the costs at the clinic are relatively inexpensive compared to other clinics that I have went to.

Dr Shamonki is always so compassionate and loving. Always treats you like family so heartwarming. He always strives to get the best result posible. Always easy to reach and always very informative about everything. I can’t express enough about how compassionate this doctor is.

Always be an open book and honest with this Dr he is very understanding about everything. He does not judge. He helps.

All the three times I got treatment from Dr Shamonki I always did the IUI procedures. Because of financial struggles that was all we could ever really afford. I suffer from PCOS so we always did metformin first 500mg 3x day . Then I would call him on my first cycle day we would do ultrasound to check my uterine lining. To start my ovulation I was put on Femara (Letrazole) I don’t remember the dose but I was put on this medication cause it’s the one that beat helped me in the whole ovulation process. I was completely resistant to clomid when we first tried it. I did monitoring of my eggs every other day. The one time the IUI worked I actually produced 3 eggs on my left and 2 eggs on my right. I have always only produced two one side and 1 on the other. Out of all those only usually one became a good mature size. After my first ectopic pregnancy after the treatment (NOT during treatment) Dr Shamonki order that we do a Hysterosalpingogram to make sure there was no blockage of tubes , before we did another round of IUI , it was after that procedure that I got pregnant, but it had to be terminated due to viable heart beat or growth found. It was considered a chromosome abnormality. Over all I’ve had a long road with Dr. Shamonki but he has always strived in everything he has tried to do for my husband and I.

Every cycle of IUI cost us roughly about 2,000

This is something we have yet to speak about.

Dr Shamonki is kind and does a great job answering all questions. He does not get too detailed when offering options, which I would have liked. He did not seem to want to explore any methods other than IUI or IVF (e.g., diet changes, lifestyle changes), however, he seems like he is great at what he does and appears confident in his skills in those areas.

I would say come prepared with questions, as he is great at answering questions but does not always provide a ton of information if you do not ask.

I was diagnosed with unexplained fertility. Because there was nothing specifically "wrong" Dr. Shamonki agreed that starting with something less invasive (IUI) would be good to try. I was not given any rationales for the treatment protocol but we are currently using letrozole, then will use a trigger shot of Ovidrel, then will do IUI. Following IUI I will take progesterone.

I was told our IUI cycle should cost approximately 1k.

I love going to Dr shamonki. He is very soft spoken and gentle. He was always completely honest with me about what treatments were best. And what would and would not work. He is always compassionate. When my cycle failed, he called me himself with the news and took the time to answer my questions, and explain everything. He is always honest about what will be beneficial, and what would be a waste of time. He is also very knowledgeable and experienced, and being that my case is a difficult one, I feel lucky to have him as my Dr.

Listen to his suggestions, and trust that he has your best interest.

2 embryo transfer cycles using estrogen and progesterone before transfers.

He is a very knowledgeable doctor who is friendly and very professional. He takes time to explain our situation, chances and suggests a good plan. He is not overly pessimistic when facing hard cases. He makes time from his schedule to answer messages and phone calls, and sets up phone calls as soon as possible to answer questions.

Ask as many questions as possible along the way.

Iui with Letrazole prep. Two dominant follicles before iui but no positive result unfortunately.

iui ultrasound visits $175-260/visit depending on own patient or monitoring surgery cost for polip removal surgery

I cannot sign Dr. Shamonk's praises enough. Not only did he take the time to really understand what was going on with me, he had ideas that my other doctor did not. He said that I probably never even needed to go through IVF and he felt strongly I could get pregnant with just the help of some injections & he was right!! He is by far the best doctor I have ever experienced & I will measure all future doctors against him.

Go!

It was all covered by my insurance.

Dr Shamonki has a very calm demeanor he always made me feel at peace. He has the best bedside manner from any doctor I've ever been to. He would personally call me if I had any questions and never felt rushed. Although because he works out of a different location most of my visits would involve other doctors in the office. Overall my experience with Dr Shamonki was great!

3 IUIS with Letrazole and Pregnyl, no pregnancies. Moving on to IVF.

about $900 per IUI

Shamonki was very kind. He looked into our case with great detail and outlined a course of treatment for us. He took his time in explaining everything. He told us to contact him via cell phone with any further questions or concerns. I saw him at every visit

Shamonki has a wonderful bed side manner. He is a great communicator. He was easy to get in touch with. He would respond to my text messages within 5 minutes.

Dr. Shamonki recommended single embryo transfer for me.

He is incredible. I feel very lucky that he is my doctor. I'm not pregnant yet, my first transfer happened today but I feel safe and know I'm in good hands. He calls, texts or face timed me if I have questions or concerns. He even left the country two days after my egg retrieval and still texted me almost daily from China to check in on me because I had OHSS

Set realistic expectations and don't let time mess with your head. Each week you're not pregnant is so hard but try not to stress

He is very conservative and because I have so many eggs was very cautious in his approach and dosages.

$15,000

He will only transfer one embryo

First I would like to say that we were referred to Dr. Shamonki by a friend who had a very positive experience (read: a baby!). After having a rather frustrating time at another practice, it was such a breath of fresh air once we continued our fertility journey with Dr. Shamonki and the team. At every step along the way, we felt that we were in good hands. It is clear that Dr. Shamonki cares passionately about giving his patients the best possible chances for a good result. Through every up and down, Dr. Shamonki and his team handled everything with great sensitivity and understanding. We just cannot say enough good things about him. He is a blessing, and we have a baby on the way!

We’ve been trying for 5 years to get pregnant. After seeing another Doctor with no luck, we switched to Dr.Shamonki. He knew right away what could be causing the issue just by looking at my records. His bedside manner is amazing. I felt comfortable with him every time and I could tell he really cared about us and our situation. I got an instant good feeling once he became our Doctor. Wish I switched to him earlier but I’m so happy we did. We are now pregnant 11 weeks thanks to Dr. Shamonki.

Don’t go to anyone else, go straight to Dr.Shamonki

Dr Shamonki is warm, compassionate, and really cares about his patients. Not once did I feel judged for being a same-sex couple and we always felt at ease when we met with him. I would go back to him in a heartbeat if we decide that we want more children.

Be open to many different tests/treatment courses to achieve results. He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Our last cycle (successful) was a modified natural cycle. I don’t quite recall the exact purpose of this type of cycle but I’m glad we tried it because I feel it was exactly what my body needed

We had to pay out of pocket for all IUIs, our egg retrieval, and one transfer. Of course vials of sperm were out of pocket expenses as well. I eventually got coverage through Progyny which helped tremendously

We did not attempt multiple embryo transfer because my embryos were tested and were high-quality.