Mr Ramsey patients

[Viletta]

Hi all, DH had his first appointment with mums net celebrity Mr Ramsay. I was with him as well, he seemed nice. DH has more tests (infections, oxidation, etc). If none found, he'll check DNA fragmentation. Each step of the way is quite pricey. At the moment we didn't receive any advise/prescription. I wonder what sort of things he might prescribe and if it really helped anyone? Have you had any experience with Mr Ramsey?

[angelazul]

@viletta I've literally just heard about Mr R this morning & I'm wondering if it's something we should consider. DH has 90% antisperm antibodies & I've responded poorly in 2 rounds of icsi.

Had a quick look at his website, but there's no pricing info, do you mind me asking how much initial consultation & testing cost?

[twinkledag]

DH has been and we have our follow up next week.

Prices were £350 for the consultation and £350 for the sperm analysis.

[Viletta]

@angelazul @twinkledag
We've paid £280 for consultation and the same for follow up. Our tests were around £580, that included PCR for infections and oxidation (not sure what that is). We already had multiple sperm tests, karyotype and hormones done.

@twinkledag did he suggested a treatment after your follow up?

[twinkledag]

Apologies, the consultation was £280.

DH's tests came back good. DH is going to make more lifestyle changes and have some more tests done in December,

[twinkledag]

@Viletta - he gave DH a prescription for Clomphene Citrule which boosts sperm production. We are going to try naturally for 6 months.

[Viletta]

@twinkledag sounds exciting! Good luck!

[angelazul]

Thanks for the info @viletta & @twinkledag.

I emailed for more info & got a response back yday - he reckons antisperm antibodies can sometimes be treated, & recommended a test we can get done closer to home before arranging a consultation with him. So I think we're prob going to go for it.

I found this he's done with The Fertility Podcast, kinda struck a cord with me
www.thefertilitypodcast.com/rich/

[Viletta]

@angelazul oh wow, thank you for the link! Will definitely listen to it!

[Viletta]

So far we had 2 consultations, all tests were fine. Mr Ramsay asked to do DNA fragmentation test and appointment with nutritionist. I wish we had some treatment already, even vitamins. It's been 3 months and another month till nutritionist appointment. The only thing Mr Ramsay suggested was improving lifestyle... but no practical recommendations.

[angelazul]

@viletta that must be very frustrating, you'd expect to at least have some concrete advice re lifestyle improvements. We're getting DNA frag test done locally atm. After that, we'll decide whether to go ahead with an appt with Mr R, or to visit another clinic we're researching.

[twinkledag]

@Viletta - he told my OH to stick to weekly alcohol units, dont smoke - it's the worst thing for you, up the supplements and green veg and don't eat food wrapped in plastic.

Hope that helps.

[Viletta]

Thank you! Yes, he kept mentioning plastic. We are now trying to avoid it and eat better. DH trying to reduce smoking.. no supplement were yet prescribed.. I might contact his secretary to ask. Good luck ladies

[hoping2018]

Hi, we never saw dr Ramsey but thought our story might help.

We had ICSI for MFI and got 20 eggs, 14 mature and all 14 fertilised but by day 5 we only had two poor quality blasts and got a bfn. They thought there was a quality problem - possibly with both of us but certainly with sperm so the consultant arranged dna fragmentation test (I think it was about £600?) this was borderline at 19.7%. Even though it wasn't too bad they suggested surgical sperm retrieval on a second cycle and hinted it that didn't work we would have to start to consider donor conception.

Second cycle we got 22 eggs, 13 fertilised with ICSI, we transferred two best at day 3 and had one embryo frozen on day 5 and one on day 6. I'm currently 28/40 with one baby. So the surgical sperm retrieval did seem to make a difference - from what I've read lots of clinics won't try it for a borderline dna fragmentation result so we are so grateful our clinician suggested it and we are where we are.

Hope that helps someone

Good luck x

[twinkledag]

Glad to hear all going well @hoping2018 

@Viletta - he prescribed Clomid to up DH's number.

[twinkledag]

Numbers

[hoping2018]

Thanks @twinkledag - feels very odd and still regularly stalking the infertility boards as it's where I feel most at home!

How is your journey going? Hope you've made some progress x

[twinkledag]

No progress. Am trying naturally from this month for a few months as recommended by Ramsey. But have already resigned myself that we will be starting IVF again next year.

[Colabottles64]

Hey one thing that I remember from our consult with Dr Ramsay was that it’s best to ensure the man ejaculates regularly, as in don’t go a week without him ejaculating and then have sex as fragmentation will be worse. Fragmentation results improve with regular ejaculation. That was news to me as I had it in my head that it would be best to have left things a few days. Just may be helpful to know. Male factor wasn’t our issue in the end but I did find the appointment useful - we went in with a lot of questions though and he was able to answer them all xxx

[hoping2018]

Sorry to hear that @twinkledag. It's such a shit journey to be one. I hope you and your partner are looking after one another and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you x

[Viletta]

In the end Dr Ramsay didn't give us any treatment what so ever.. suggested we go to nutritionist MelBrown. He also asked to make a dna fragmentation test which we decided to do in a couple of months along with another sperm test to see if maybe sperm somehow improved two.. looks like we have to keep trying with icsi. As far as I understand dna fragmentation will only affect how the sperm is going to be retrieved. Thank you everyone for good advice and sharing your experience. I hope it will work out for all of us and we get lucky!

[hoping2018]

Hey @Viletta , for us dna fragmentation did just effect how the speed was retrieved - but this made all the difference!!! Difference between poor quality blasts and a blast that made a baby. Good luck x

[Viletta]

@hoping2018 thank you! Yes, I though we'd do this test closer to the time of the next cycle! Great to hear you had such wonderful difference!