Ivf advice

[Blue500]

Hi lovely knowledgable ladies, I'm after some advice.

Today DH and I had our initial ivf appointment at Guys ACU. After a year of ttc with no luck, DH had been diagnosed with severe Oligospermia. We've already had 3 SAs which showed volume between 1-4million and everything else was also very low. DH has been on a ton of vitamins for the last 6 months (literally everything going) and more seriously, in the last 2 months has come off anti depressants.
So during our appointment today he did another SA and we nearly fell off our chairs with the results. His volume has increased to 19million and everything else is above average. We mainly put this down to him coming off his meds and now we're in a dilemma; do we proceed with ivf or wait a few more months and try naturally now that his sperm has finally improved??

Does this huge increase seem realistic? Dr said SA can vary due to different circumstances but he said his huge leap is quite rare.

We are on Nhs funding and I was wondering is there a time limit before the funding approval runs out? To complicate matters I'm about to go away with work for 2 months so weren't going to start ivf until September anyway. So do we carry on as normal with ivf when I get back or try for a few natural months? ( unfortunately there is no chance to ttc whilst I'm away, so we're loosing 2 cycles already anyway). I'm just worried that our funding will expire after a certain time if we delay too long.

Another question is that the Dr suggested that when I do begin the process of ivf I should take the contraceptive pill for 21 days on the 1st day of my cycle. Is this normal as I haven't heard of this before and I don't really want to get the pill back into my system just to help the acu plan their dates correctly. Can I get by without taking the pill before I take my injections or will this mess up my dates?

Sorry for such a long post and so many questions, my head just seems to be spinning right now :)

[loopylou1984]

Congratulations on the improved sperm! That's amazing! Have all the other factors improved to? If so, I might be tempted to try naturally for a couple of cycles.

Re IVF and the pill. I'm due to start next week and am not taking the pill, just using my natural cycle. All my information refers to taking a pill though, I think if your irregular this is the easiest way to get your dates right? Or if the clinic has only set appointment days. We haven't had any restriction on appointment days as paying privately, but the nhs might be different. Xx

[lugo40]

That's fantastic news!!! I think I would try naturally too. Why don't you contact your local ccg to ask them directly about funding times/expiring? The Gp reception can tell you how to contact them.
Can I ask what vitamins your husband took? We are in same position and want to try vitamins and diet before treatment , thank you

[Blue500]

Thanks ladies. We're inclined to try naturally for a few months too, but as I'm not home until the middle if August we don't want to try for a few more months and still not be successful and wish we hadn't wasted those months, when we could have been cracking on with ivf. I guess it's a strange place to be in and I definitely shouldn't be complaining of our current predicament!

Lugo DH took fertilsan m 3 times a day with additional zinc and vit e on top. It's hard to know if it's actually these or coming off the anti depressants that has made the difference but the dr said to keep taking the vitamins anyway They are a bit pricy but DHs research found them to be the most effective . Fx to you x

[Persipan]

Re: the Pill, there are some other reasons beyond just timing why it may be beneficial - the main one is it helps prevent cysts forming which could deejay your treatment. This clinic provide quite a good explanation: www.inviafertility.com/infertility/janetchiaramonte/i-have-to-take-birth-control-pills-but-i-want-to-get-pregnant/

To begin with it did feel a bit off to me, thinking that they just wanted to get my timing lined up with their schedule - but actually, if leaving it to my own cycle meant maybe having to cycle at a time when the clinic would be really overworked and unable to give as much time and attention to my treatment, it's probably better for me not to do that.

[Persipan]

*delay! Delay your treatment! I am not aware of any clinic that provides a DJ. Especially not one that's a cyst. (Maybe one for Harley Street to consider?)

[drgoldierocks]

Hello!

That's amazing news re your DH. We had a similar experience recently - I'm due to start my nasal spray on the 9th July and we thought we'd be needing ICSI as I have damaged tubes and PCOS (what fun) and DH had really low morphology (1%)... but his latest SA was absolutely brilliant! I'm putting it all down to vitamins too! So now it'll just be standard IVF for us but am feeling a little relieved to know that no absolutely everything is against us. I'd be sorely tempted to try for a couple of months if your DH was the main issue, though having said that you have probably waited a long time to get to this point and don't want to wait any longer. What a shame you can't TTC between now and September.
I'm sure a friend mentioned something about funding needing to be used within 6 months of it being confirmed but I may be wrong... your Dr should be able to tell you though? Not sure about the pill part - Like Sammylou1 I'm also not taking it between day 1-21.

[lugo40]

Goldilocks what vitamins did your husband take? I'm feeling optimistic having read yours and op posts about vitamins!

[inamaymaybewrong]

I took the Pill at the start of my successful IVF cycle. What other drugs are you going to be taking? I did the short protocol with Gonal F to stimulate, Cetrotide to prevent early ovulation then a trigger shot before egg collection. I have cysts on my ovaries but it the Pill was my clinic's standard protocol anyway.