IVF is confusing, expensive and emotional — and too much of what you’re told is designed to sell you something. I’ve spent decades helping couples build families, and this is the honest reading path I’d give a patient starting out: what to understand before you begin, how to choose your protocol, what really happens with your embryos, why cycles fail, and how to protect yourself from clinics that don’t put you first. Read it in order, or jump to what you need.
Want a second opinion on your own treatment? You can get a free review of your IVF plan from my clinic — no obligation.
1. Before you start — understand IVF honestly
- Ovarian stimulation & the 2025 ESHRE guideline — what good, evidence-based treatment looks like.
- Advanced IVF tests: hope or hype? — which add-ons are worth paying for, and which aren’t.
- Why asking your doctor questions helps you both — how to be an active patient.
2. Choosing your protocol & drugs
- Pergoveris vs Gonal-F: is the added LH necessary?
- The gonadotropin wars: which IVF injection is best?
- PPOS — making IVF kinder and cheaper
3. Understanding your embryos
- All my embryos were grade A — so why did my IVF fail?
- Why pooling embryos is not always a good idea
- What happens to embryos if they don’t implant
4. When a cycle goes wrong
- Why miscarriages happen even when everything looks normal
- When a positive test ends in miscarriage — the hardest heartbreak.
5. Male fertility
6. Protect yourself
7. More on eggs & embryos
- Egg freezing: how old is too old?
- The right embryo transfer technique
- Embryo transfer vs embryo implantation — the facts
- Embryo adoption — a success story
Have a question right now? Ask the chat window at the bottom-right of any page — it answers in my voice, any time. And for one honest letter a week, sign up here.