desperately seeking male infertility success stories

[geeup]

Can anyone please post any success stories about conceiving despite issues with their DPs sperm? Mine has poor morphology (less than 2% normal) and we're trying Fertilaid. I'd love to hear that other people got their BFPs despite these issues to help keep my optimism alive! Otherwise I'm happy to support others on the same journey. Thank you in advance.

That's amazing Clarissa - congratulations and thank you so much for your story. I'm feeling hopeful this month as its our third month on supplements so hopefully his sperm has started renewing! I hope your baby dust rubs off on me! Thanks again for posting. Great to hear.

Lots of baby dust to you geeup xxx

Following this as we've just found out my partner has low morphology (2%). I'm feeling pretty glum about it now but nice to see some successes

I was hoping my recent hycosy would give us a boost but feeling too 'meh' about it all.

My XH had hardly any sorry and they all clumped together. We had Icsi 15 years ago and DS was conceived on the first attempt. Then ds was a quick but very happy surprise natural pregnancy! So yes it does work - good luck x

Thank you x

Hearing that lots of people do have success with icsi and then fall naturally pregnant makes me think we should just relax and wait but I don't know if that's dangerous and we should do icsi. Wish someone could see into the future and tell me! Thanks again for all the stories - I think they give a lot of people so much hope. X

Geeup - I don't know why I got pregnant naturally after ICSI - I do think that men's sperm is variable and that lifestyle has an effect but I also do think that my body needed a little kick start maybe. In saying all that - I was so over the moon in getting pregnant - one was more than I could have hoped for. It's so hard on you mentally going through the whole thing isn't it? Stay hopeful. Take the advice and trust the professionals. Trust in the process - that's what this is...a process - each cycle is part of one process and you will get there in the end (or earlier!). Don't look at each cycle as the one and only. I know exactly the despair you feel one minute and the hope you feel the next - I have been there and it feels like a lifetime ago to me now. I really believe in ICSI/IVF so you're in the right place now.
Thesisbonkers - like I said earlier - I walked out of that consultation room after the consultant said that my DH's sperm had poor motility, poor morphology too and he also said that half were dead - I swear! Talk about bedside manners! I could not breathe - I felt like throwing myself in front of a truck on the way home that night. I have two little boys now. It's not an easy road but it's definitely and very realistically possible to be a mum with male factor issues.

Thanks Clarissa. That is exactly how I'm feeling. One day hopeful one day hopeless... Congrats on your beautiful. Two boys sounds so so lovely X

DH has morphology issues, and we spent a small fortune had appointments with Dr Ramsay, who is the best male Fertility doctor in Europe.
He said the morphology is the hardest of all the 3 parameters to improve with lifestyle changes, but it does happen occasionally.

Where do you live, OP? If it is the UK, I would suggest getting to your GP and getting into the system for IVF. The wait can often be several years, so even if you want to try naturally in the meantime, you need to think about next steps early.
If you want to go down the private IVF route, there isn't much of a wait, but some clinics do better at ICSI than others, so do some research.

Dr Ramsay did say he sometimes sees miracle second babies, and he thinks that is because the stress and exhaustion of having a baby puts a stop to the drinking, late nights and exercise far more effectively than telling a childless man to make lifestyle changes!

Hi yes I'm in the uk - Surrey - and heard of dr Ramsey. How expensive are we talking if you don't mind saying? We've started down the NHS route but it is as you say v slow...

It's well worth looking at vitamins , a quick google gives you a fair idea of what's needed. C010, zinc, vit c. It can make a big difference for some

The appointment with Dr Ramsay was £400, but then he wanted to run lots of tests, which came to about £1500
The results came back to say there was nothing that could be done to improve the numbers, but if the results had been different, we could have had a couple more follow up appointments and medication costs

You could check if your GP will refer you to his NHS practice in Chelsea&Westminster hospital or Charring Cross hospital (Hammersmith) but you might be too far away

He sees private patients in Windsor or Devonshire Place in central London

Very low everything.
Icsi 1 = dd1 despite only really 1 embie
Icsi 2 bfn
Icsi 3 hydrosalpinx and very few follicles
Icsi 4 =dd2

We had very few embies each time 1-4 due to low fertilisation.
But due to pcos they were triggering when the eggs werent mature.

My DH has poor morphology, motility and a low count. It took us 3 years, 2 cycles of ICSI and one FET to have our daughter. 18 months later I discovered I was pregnant again (am due any day!)! We have no idea how this has happened (apart from the obvious!), as we were told it was basically impossible for us to conceive naturally, only got 1 good quality embie from the IVF and with being sleep deprived parents of a toddler, weren't exactly doing the deed a lot... So it can happen, but I do feel like it was a total fluke. Good luck!

Great news crispi. Congratulations!

We were the same as crispi - poor morphology, motility and a low count. We conceived naturally in the month before we were due to have ICSI. DD is now 11.

God I hope we get a natural surprise too! Thank you for sharing!

We're in Surrey and Gp referred DH to Ramsay at the Hammersmith hospital . He's been great! We're a long way off knowing if it's had an affect though

Oh wow that's amazing Darcy. Do you mind saying which CCG you are? I am living in north Surrey downs (although current doctor in east Surrey - don't want to move practice till we know which has the better IVF possibility). We just booked a private appointment to start investigations with Dr Ramsay but wonder whether we could still get an NHS referral if IVF is required...

And if you don't mind saying what did he prescribe? Wondering if he may suggest medicine for DH to improve his sperm and if so whether we wait for that. Guessing it's not immediate!. I feel so desperate at the moment as my best friend just told me she's 3 months pregnant. I'm struggling :(

We're with north west Surrey ccg. I think it massively depends on which gp you see as the first Gp I saw said we will do the initial tests but whatever the results are we won't refer you on until your weight is in the ivf criteria. But then when DH results came back the Gp on duty called him and said instantly I'm referring you to urology locally and then the local urologist referred us straight to Ramsay. When I later saw the first Gp again she was shocked that had been the decision. Shouldn't be that way but sadly is I think.

Ramsay has prescribed tamoxifen. Which is a drug used to treat breast cancer. It works by blocking the bodies receptors to oestrogen which in turns makes it produce more testosterone. Ramsay said given testosterone directly shuts down the testes sperm production. My DH testosterone levels were normal so I'm not holding out hope it will work but Ramsay said best scenario would be we can have ivf without Icsi . I guess he wouldn't try if there wasn't hope?
I think it's definitely worth asking to be referred to Ramsay and if he thinks he can help them I'm sure he would recommend that too.

It's so hard when others close to us are pregnant. I've had three close friends get preg and deliver since we've found out about DH fertility. It's the hardest thing. Try to remember that them being preg won't stop you being preg. For some of us it just takes a different route. And allow yourself to be sad without feeling guilty. It's shit. Big hug, you will get there.

You don't get the drug on nhs so we had to pay for it but it's really cheap so don't let that worry you. I think it's actually cheaper than an nhs prescription!

Thanks Darcy. Really helpful understanding what we might be facing. Thanks for replying. I'll keep this thread posted on how we get on.

And it's great advice what you say about my friends getting pregnant not affecting my chances. I am trying to remember that.

Hi geeup, I'm afraid I don't have a success story to share but i'm interested in this thread and what you're trying and what others have suggested.

I'm in the same boat. Been ttc since Nov 2014 (so 17 long months). Got referred after 11 months and finally saw an nhs consultant in January. Issue is mild male factor as my OH's SA showed low motility 18%, low morphology 2% and average count 16mil/ml. Since Jan we've both been on proxeed and just entering our 3rd month of taking that. Also started taking Coenzyme Q10 this weekend as that can help with sperm. He's been caffeine free for ages now and neither of us smoke and we're trying to eat more veg and drink more water.

So basically doing everything we can to improve our chances naturally. But realistically I've accepted that we will need icsi and our appointment to kick that off on the nhs is in 1 month. We only need to wait one month at our hospital so likely to get going in June/July if we haven't had a miracle before then!

What are you trying? I really hope you get your bfp and that we do too!