Male Infertility

[candycrush2298]

Hi everyone, has anyone got some insight on the NHS fertility treatments that happen for male infertility?

My husband has low motility we have done two semen analyases. We are waiting on the results for the second round but this was just to confirm so I guess my question is has anyone been through this and could explain the process?

We have been referred to the fertility clinic but have not received our appointment date yet.

Thank you :)

It would probably be ICSI

@GwendolineMarysLaces thank you for your reply. Does that mean there are no meds a man can take like a women gets Clomid for example?

Hello
My husband had low motility (slight) and good numbers.
We were referred to fertility clinic after 1 year.
I had to have a full range of tests (bloods, hysterosalpingogram, scans).
We were diagnosed with “mild male factor” and told that ICSI was our best chance.
There was no support of help available to look into why he might have this - no one examined him. Fertility clinics on the whole are run by gynaecologists.
We did three full rounds of fertility treatment and only had one early miscarriage, despite good embryos (day 5 blasts).
At that point, they were suggesting donor sperm but we wanted to understand why.
We booked an appointment with mr Ramsay, consultant urologist, and went to London.
He examined my husband, did more in-depth bloods and semen analysis on him (including dna fragmentation). And gave him a 2 week course of 2 antibiotics.
My husbands next semen analysis was normal, we did another round of ICSI soon after and had DS 1. We got 2 frozen and have since had DS2 from the same round.
The best money we ever spent was going to see mr Ramsay.
(We will never know if just luck) but don’t let fertility clinics ignore male factor as the cause.
Good luck

@MumOfOneAndAHalf thank you so much for your reply and your explanation. I am very sorry to hear about your troubles and all that you have been through. Do you mind me asking what the antibiotic was for? That is absolutely incredible because you went that extra step you now have children. Really appreciate your reply.

This is all quite niche but DH was found to have a high level of ROS (reactive oxygen species). He had an in depth infection screen which was all negative but ROS is high in infections, so Mr Ramsay presumed there was possibly some form of undiagnosed/unknown infection and treated him empirically with antibiotics that kill most/all infections in this area. He had doxycycline and azithromycin (I think).

Please don’t think that you will end up in our situation. We were just very unlucky at the time.

I am sure you have looked into all this yourself but he should stop smoking, stop alcohol, take fertility vitamins, avoid heat in that area eg laptops/tight fitting pants/hot baths. Regular ejaculation is also good for semen analysis (eg every other day). Semen analysis can vary massively after 3 months of following these changes.

I genuinely think men with any issue with their semen analysis should be examined but it just doesn’t happen.

Good luck

@MumOfOneAndAHalf oh wow that does sound like a rare situation I've not heard of it before. I'm really glad it worked for you guys though.

From the day we got the low results we googled and ordered supplements in which he took and ejaculated regularly. Hot showers has never really been a thing for him so we didn't need to switch that up. I am assuming since the receptionist didn't say "everything's normal" but rather said "the doctor wishes to discuss your results with you" that it means the supplements/ vitamins more frequent ejaculation means that it didn't do enough good to be rendered a significant improvement.
(The tests were a just over 3 months so we were at the 3 month mark give or take a day with the things we tried to improve on).

Oh yes and he doesnt drink or smoke.