What could unexplained infertility mean or be

[Rockyslife]

It's been over 2 yrs now nothing medically wrong with me my husband has lower morphology but the consultant said it shouldnt be an issue at 2 percent. I just don't know what to do IVF is an option but it's hard to accept when you don't have anything medically in the way. Why won't it just happen 😢

No-one knows, I’m sorry. Medical science has only come so far, in understanding infertility as well as many other areas.

It must be heartbreaking to have gone through all the testing and found nothing that might be fixed or cured. It’s a kind of grief, and denial and anger are a normal part of grief.

Is there a psychologist or counsellor working in your fertility clinic? Maybe ask your consultant - I’ve known it to be really helpful to speak to someone and get some help with coming to terms with your situation.

It really means what it says, its just unexplainable 😔 hope things work out for you OP!

Ah sorry you're in this boat OP, I was diagnosed with the same when we weren't falling, DHs tests all came back fine but mine was put down to being 'unexplained' - I was offered a salp but refused because I'd heard from a friend and also my DM how painful it can be - the consultant said they didn't feel it would make any difference if I didn't have it because either way, scans didn't show any blockages. We ended up having IVF for DD1 and were successful at our first attempt. 18 months later I fell pregnant naturally with DD2; my midwife said it could be that either my body has 'learned' what to do - either way, I hope this gives you some hope!

It can mean that what is wrong is something that the NHS tests don't cover. For example NK cells, progesterone issues after in plantation, anything uterus related that isn't checked for.

At the moment you don't know where/ when the problem occurs. Are the sperm meeting the egg? Are any eggs getting fertilised? Are your eggs getting fertilised but failing to implant? Are they implanting but not devoping?

Actually going through IVF can sometimes give you more answers. You will know if your eggs and sperms manage to fertilise, if they develop to day 5+, if implantation is successful and if you are able to maintain a pregnancy.

We have unexplained infertility. When we went through IVF we had 21 eggs retrieved and 19 fertilised (so no issue there). Only 4 survived to day 5 (I think that's quite a low ratio considering I know of people who get 1 egg and go all the way through to a healthy birth) of those 4, we had 2 embryos that didn't implant, amd two babies from separate pregnancies, so we know there are no issues with implantation.

As a very, very rough round-up statistically, that's just under 2 years worth of eggs to result in 2 pregnancies, so 1 year per pregnancy -and that's under very very well managed clinical conditions where the were sperm brought right to the egg and nurtured into embryos! So I think we maybe would have been one of those couples who would just natuarlly take a long long time for whatever reason - something's obviously going a bit wrong somewhere but each step worked OK during IVF so everything looks to be functioning. Maybe if we'd met in our early 20s and had many more years of TTC we would have eventually conceived. Or maybe if we'd not used protection during the first few years when we had sex multiple times a day. Or maybe we would still never have conceived naturally because there is something medically wrong that IVF managed to bypass.

Either way, I found IVF really positive. Yes it's tough and it's not something I'd want to do again, and I know not everyone is successful, but I always felt that I was so so lucky it was an option to give us the very best chance, rather than just spending my remaining fertile years hoping it would finally happen and being devestated every single month.

How old are you OP? I had the same- no diagnosis found. We TTC 13yrs and the only thing I was told was the likely cause was 'old eggs'!

Love this! So informative and explained well.
@Lovelydaytomorrow
Are there any tests you would recommend?
We are going through IVF now as I had 6 months of Ovulation induction (clomid) which I responded well to apparently but it did not result in a pregnancy.

partners SA is good, I have PCOS so I’m the problem 😔

I am after all the advice and recommendations I can get.

so glad it all worked out for you.
Thank you for sharing your journey. 🫶

A family member had this diagnosis. It just means they don't know why but there is still a good chance something is wrong they haven't found. For my friend the limited testing the NHS did didn't uncover anything wrong, nor the NHS funded IVF which was unsuccessful, after many years they paid for some private IVF testing which finally uncovered the reason (sperm deformities) which allowed them to finally have some treatment options.

After almost two years of trying, we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. At the time, I was so sad because I just wanted to know why it wasn’t working. They said we’d be offered IVF in a couple of months if nothing happened and I knew I didn’t want to do IVF. Something must have changed somewhere and I guess they couldn’t explain it because we did conceive on our own in the end, literally weeks after that diagnosis. Our toddler daughter is asleep in the next room.

It could be anything I'm in the same boat but In less than 3 months my partner has improved his overall quality especially morphology.l he was at less than 1% and is now normal.

Factors that can effect it

Alcohol - cut it out completely
Smoking
Plastics we got rig of as much plastic as we could I now use metal lunch box and water bottle etc

My partner has been taken a host of supplements which definitely helped.

Also BMI , it's a factor for me and I'm working to bring it down, as well as getting fitter.

Diet , high carb and sugar and terrible I've cut out carbs and am doing Keto which is increasingly being acknowledged as beneficial for fertility not to mention other conditions.

@Rockyslife i would suggest if he has 2% mobility it's not ideal. It may not hinder things because look at how easy some others get pregnant no matter what drug they are on or food they eat etc 🙄.

We are unexplained and had more than half of our eggs make embryos which is a high percentage meaning it is unlikely to be my eggs or his sperm but 1dt transfer was a miscarriage (only positive I've had in 3 years) and last transfer didn't stick. Bloods all seem fine and I have never had anything to show any issues. Tubes are clear, physically everything these is ideal and never had bad periods. It's soul destroying it not working and even more destroying that I have no idea what is wrong. My advice is just go for ivf and continue to try naturally. Ivf is not the solution but it gives you a slightly better chance. A chance is all it is and it's not worked for me so far.

You can pay loads of immunology or receptivity testing but if it doesn't give you an answer you're still stuck with less money. My plan is to try those things next if this next round doesn't work! I'd pay my heart to have an answer but it doesn't seem to be that easy.

I could have written this myself as we are in the same boat. Husband has low morphology - 3% but high count and motility. All my tests are normal. We had our first 7 years ago after trying just a few months and now for the second we have been trying for almost 3 years. I’m not sure I’m mentally ready for IVF so we started with IUI and are going to try a few cycles. BUT I still don’t know what is wrong abd what I can do to make it better. Reallt frustrating.

Unexplained infertility just means the doctor hasn't been able to do thorough investigations for whatever reason. A problem of ours is low sperm count, ie 11 million per millilitre of ejaculate. Despite that, I've been pregnant thrice and lost them all very early all over the course of 18 months. One of them was via IVF. Unfortunately conception is a lottery.