Varicocele diagnosed

[toriistrying]

Hi all

We both had our first fertility tests done last week. I was luckily fine. My husbands were very poor in terms of count, mobility and morphology.

The gynaecologist said we had male factor infertility and we need ICSI.

We managed to get a cancellation today with dr Jonathan Ramsay, a urologist.

He examined my husband and they found a varicocele in his left testicle.

Surgery will be the next step.

My questions is, what are peoples experiences with this. Have you gone on to see an improvement / fallen pregnant naturally?

Thank you xx

@StBernie wow. I'm sorry you had to go through all of this but wonderful news in the end. it is so important to share stories so that it spreads the word.

I will keep this thread in the loop.

Thank you again x

Just updating those who are following this thread....

DH had his ultrasound today. Grade 3 in the left and a small in the right.

Will update up once we've had our follow up appointment with DR Ramsay.

X

Hi @toriistrying - hope it goes well with Jonathan Ramsay!

Hello - just reading this, hoping to share some positive news with you. My husband had a grade 3 varicocele and got surgery back in October 2022. 3 months later I fall in pregnant naturally, and currently I’m on my 31 week. We were under the care of Dr. Ramsay and as you can imagine we can’t have enough words of gratitude. Not only he is an exceptional professional but also he was amazing from a human point of view. One of the most extraordinary Drs I have ever met. Hope things go well for you. Once you remove big a varicocele (apparently the bigger the better results) there could be a massive improvement on the sperm quality. Stay calm and positive!

@Hope20232023 that's fantastic! It's what we had hoped trying the surgery but they couldn't get tother vein in my husbands case.

Just my own update, my baby boy was born on July 26th, he was our first frozen transfer from our first round of ICSI :) MY GOD was it a tough birth experience and first few weeks but he's totally wonderful and pinch myself daily.

Hi. Just thought I would update

My DH had his op 6 weeks ago.

The varicocele turned out to be 6mm. Operation was 30 mins and through his groin. Recovery time and pain was minimal.

Interestingly the surgeon told us we shouldn't ttc. I'm ovulating today! Lol

For those of you who had the surgery, were you also told to stop for a few months?

Thanks
Xx

@marshk how are you getting on ? Xx

@Hope20232023 that is amazing news and just the kind of story I like to read!

Did the surgeon advise on when you should start ttc again post surgery?

Hi @toriistrying so nice to hear from you! No real news for us - my husband had another SA done. The count is still low but motility has really shot up! It's been 6 months now since the surgery and unfortunately no positive test for us so we're due to start our first ICSI cycle in a few weeks. Still think surgery was the right thing to do despite this - if anything, at least it means we know we've done all we can to get the sperm in as best shape as possible! Still hopeful that it may happen naturally for us in the future but for now ready to start ICSI

How is everyone getting on? Xx

Hey I know this thread is a few months ago but can I ask how everyone got on? My OH has just had a phone call from our GP following an ultrasound and they've said they can see some fluid and also mentioned a vein, they have referred him to an urologist.
Bit of background, we've just done our first round of ICSI, we had 21 eggs collected, 11 fertilised and only 1 poor quality blast on day 5, nothing else made it to day 6, we are doing a frozen cycle due to high risk of OHSS, this was all done through the NHS but timings seem to be abit backwards, thinking surely they should of got my partner seen before going through IVF? We knew from SA he had a low count, 2mil and low morphology, could this operation of helped the outcome of our cycle?
My mind is just in overdrive at the minute with every scenario!

Hi everyone.

A little positive update:

We had the surgery in august 2023. DH sperm count increased from 3million to 57 million!!!

We were advised to wait 3 months before ttc. We got pregnant the first cycle ttc. November 2023

I had a chemical pregnancy and miscarried at 5 weeks and 5 days.

I then fell pregnant again, without a period in between.

I'm now 12 weeks and 2 days. I had my NHS scan today and everything is looking good.

My takeaways are

1 I would go for this varicocele surgery a million times over
2 look after your mental health, if you're on a ttc journey. Get some help. I waited and spiralled.

Having a miscarriage and then getting pregnant immediately afterwards has messed with my head. I've just started cbt therapy and I'm feeling a lot better.

If you feel yourself going and can't afford a private therapist. Get on your nhs wait list.

This is a very positive outcome and we feel so so lucky.

Any questions, let me know x

Jonathan Ramsay did my DH’s surgery 20 years ago. He basically reconnected the ‘tubes’ within the testicles which he said were as fine as the hair of a horses tail. 12 months later we conceived naturally. Amazing work by a brilliant surgeon.

Congratulations @toriistrying !! 12 week mark feels so much better, I know the anxiety and mistrust in a pregnancy after loss/infertility but I hope you do manage to enjoy some of it. I wish I'd revelled in it a bit more! All the best and congrats in your impending little one!

Congratulations @toriistrying xx

Hi everyone- due in a month 😅. I hope you're all doing ok and if anyone has any questions then let me know. Thanks for your well wishes 🩵🩵

I remember reading this thread, and wondering if DH had one and surreptitiously trying to look for one when we did the deed! I’m so pleased to see it’s worked out for you.

In my case the issue was stage 4 silent endometriosis! All cleared by a marvellous surgeon and now I am also due next month too. 🥰 Are you on the Due Sept 2024 thread?

@Decaffe hahahaha that made me laugh. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. I could literally see the veins.

Congratulations, what wonderful news - great that you didn't have symptoms but how frustrating.

I'm due sep 16 eeee. Xx when are you

I know this is my experience, but I just wanted to say this to all the couples dealing with male factor infertility.

After we received the first set of sperm results, which were bad. I think 3m. The gynaecologist told us to go and get ivf ASAP - ICSI .

I came on here and people told me to investigate why. I am SOOOOO glad I did.

After seeing dr Ramsay, We came to the conclusion and this is a fact. You need 1 healthy sperm and 1 healthy egg.

The focus is always on the woman.

We knew that we needed to get his sperm in tip top shape for ICSI to work. I never thought I would conceive naturally. I've heard so many sad stories of ivf not working / miscarrying because the quality of sperm is bad. I don't think they recommend why / offer treatment. It's just on to the next round.

DH had the worst grading of varicocele and we had it fixed and conceived naturally.

ICSI, is costly and I can't imagine the impact on your mental health.

My advice is to please see a urologist and find out why the sperm is bad and get it treated. Please do this before ICSI or ivf if you don't know the reason why.

We are lucky and have health insurance that paid for appointments and testing. I appreciate it is expensive. We paid about 5k for surgery. Best money I've spent.

If you suspect a varicocele, you could go to your GP with 'bad pains down there' but do NOT mention fertility. They won't look at it.

I'm
Sorry if you're reading this and going through it. This is just my experience and advice in the hope that it helps some of you. Xx

@toriistrying congratulations! Love to see a happy ending :) I agree with you that if you can treat the problem do it before ICSI! The op didn't work for us so icsi it was but our first choice was embolisation. Our boy turned one last week from our first round, we've been really lucky in grand scheme of things.

@Decaffe congratulations, not long now! Recognised you from our other thread, lovely you're almost there!