ICSI stories.

[mabel92]

Hello,
My husband has just been told he has a very low sperm count, this a complete shock to us having conceived quickly before.
We are now looking into ICSI as our route to conception. Has anyone got personal stories on ICSI? Or tips?
I’m 27 and my husband is 35.
Thank you!

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We were told in May 2018 that our best chance at conceiving with ICSI - as my husband had low count and low morphology. We had been trying around 2 years at that point. It was an absolute shock for us too! We thought we might get given some tablets or something, not straight to IVF! However, I am now sat here rocking my 4 month old to sleep after successfully conceiving on our first round! The good thing about ICSI (assuming you don't have any fertility issues) is that there is a higher chance of success as everything is good with you, and the ICSI process sorts out the best sperm! In terms of tips I'd just say for your husband to be as healthy as possible in the run up to giving his sperm - cut out booze, caffeine, take his vitamins, avoid hot baths and cycling etc etc. Otherwise just stay positive and try not to stress! Let me know if you have any questions!

Hello @hodgepodge21 thank you so much for your reply and congratulations!
It was such a shock but in some way it’s good to know there is a problem and hopefully a solution.
I have a high ovarian reserve and no issues regarding fertility so fingers crossed 🤞 although I’ll still be very nervous and be prepared that it will fail. Because of my high reserve I will have a frozen embryo transfer, did you have this? How long was the process for you? Thank you again for replying 😘

Yep I also have a high ovarian reserve (in fact a ridiculously high one) so had to have a frozen transfer because of the risk of developing OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome). And I will be honest With you as there is no point sugar coating it - I ended up in hospital for a week with OHSS as I grew 44 eggs during the treatment (average amount seems to be around 10ish). They can use slightly different drugs to avoid this so this may be worth talking to your doctor about if you are worried, or if they are concerned about your risk. It wasn't a ridiculously long process (we were on the nhs in Manchester if that's relevant). We started treatment in August 2018, had egg collection late August, then froze my embryos. Then had 3 months to recover and had my frozen transfer last December. So from finding out we needed ivf to being pregnant it took around 7 months I think!

IVF sucks but I've ended up feeling quite "lucky" in infertility terms that we had male factor infertility, as pp said IVF tends to be more straightforward and have higher success rates than with female issues. Slightly different for us as dp's issue is obstructive azoospermia but the treatment is the same (although I guess your dp can give a sperm sample? My dp had to have surgical sperm retrieval).

We needed two cycles though as in the first cycle my stim medication was slightly misjudged so it took too long for the follicles to grow and by the time they were collected, even though there were 20+, the eggs were quite poor quality. I started on a higher dose 2nd cycle and it worked So even if you don't have any issues there can still be an element of trial and error involved unfortunately.

@hodgepodge21Sorry to hear you were unwell - I’ll definitely enquire about the drugs. Can I ask why you had to wait 3 months after egg collection? Was that because you were unwell or is it standard procedure to wait that long? Although 7 months isn’t too long at all!

@gracepoolesrum congratulations, I really hope I get to feel lucky too! We may have to go down the same route as your partner as they only found 1 sperm in my husbands sample!! We are all (doctors included) are completely baffled! How did your husband find the surgery?

They would normally wait a couple of cycles (so you'd come on your period shortly after egg collection, and then you'd have one more period before beginning prep for your frozen transfer. However I was asked to wait an extra month because I was unwell. So it would have been 6 months if everything had gone to plan!

Surgery itself was fine, in and out in a day, he found it hard psychologically beforehand, the prospect of someone going at his bits with a scalpel worried him! But no problems at all in the end.

Also - i found that my husband took the diagnosis pretty hard. I think we always just assumed it was something to do with me - and when he found out it was him he struggled with guilt and anger. Might be worth chatting it all through with your husband to make sure he is handling it ok. I guess it challenges their masculinity to know they have a problem in that area! Must be tough..

My husband has taken the news really badly ☹️ he has lost a lot of people in his life and been through a lot but this is the first time I’ve ever seen him cry. He feels like he has let me down which I in know way feel he has, I’m actually amazed at how positive I feel! Although I just want to start the process now! We live very far away from the clinic so the next few months are going to be hard logistically alone.

My dhs first SA has come back with reduced morphology - 2.5% and normal is 4. Count is high at 109 million and everything else is ok but now I'm worried that our only option will be ICSI

That's exactly how my husband felt, it really is tough. Though he took it on himself to get healthy and improve his count etc, and when he gave his sample on the day his numbers had improved significantly. That really helped his mental attitude towards it all.

@hodgepodge21 what supplements did your husband take please?

@hodgepodge21 Yeah my husband is the same - focusing on getting himself in prime condition, although we are pretty sure it’s a medical issue as there is so little sperm and we have conceived easily before.
Another ICSI question, sorry! Did you have to go in for checks and scans during your 2 week stimulation/injection period?

Yep it's pretty full on in terms of appointments - I had to tell my work about it so they understood why I needed so much time away from the office. We had to have bloods taken and a scan every day from about day 5 of injections (and our egg collection took place on about day 11 or 12 I think).

I had my baby boy via ICSI! It worked first time - good luck!!!

Congratulations @ivfbabymomma1 lovely to here happy and positive stories!

@hodgepodge21 Thank you for the info, that’s very good to know and I wasn’t told that before! You learn more here 🤣