Male factor + ivf success stories

[thislittlebird]

Hi all, I’m struggling to be optimistic right now about our chances with ivf in the coming months, it’s coming up to two years ttc for us. Would love to hear from anyone who has a story of male factor infertility ivf success to share. I’ve just turned 38 and DH is 39. TIA!

@seathistle there might be a few, I’ve found some in the past.

At the moment I’m on letrozole, but the first cycle didn’t work and I know it’s probably the male factor but we wanted to try before IVF. I’m worried IVF might be delayed by Christmas right now. It’s frustrating timing.

@LBJ3 hi! yeah, I’m sure it will be ICSI. Is your husband on any supplements? Might be worthwhile to see if it helps morphology while you wait? It’s all a lot of waiting and I’m sick of waiting.

@thislittlebird My partner took some Wellman vitamins for a while but our GP doesn't think they'll make a difference so he stopped. He said to keep trying as a natural pregnancy is still possible.. but every month my period arrives and I feel miserable. I wish we could just go to the clinic and have it done. Psychologically this is a big challenge but we are copying well. I don't want my partner to feel like this is his problem.. it's our problem as a couple and we're not alone. It would be great if they gave us a date though, so we would have something to look forward to. We had to wait over a year to start doing all the tests, then wait again to re-do the tests, wait for scans, and now we're waiting to see the fertility specialist and who knows how long it'll take before we have the ICSI.. it's exhausting x

@KnockingForty 👋🏼 just wanted to reach out and ask how you were doing? We have had similar experience and I wondered what explanation the clinic gave for embryos not developing to blastocyst? We had our first ICSI IVF last month. Male factor issues but I am 42 so not great. They collected 18 eggs, 6 fertilised but none made to blastocyst on Day 5. They transferred a compacted morula. It didn't work. I'm waiting for the follow-up consultation. Wondering if the clinic and protocol is not right for us.

@Lulu106 hello! Our Consultant said that the embryologist said they had no trouble finding good sperm (using IMSI I.e. using bigger microscopes than ICSI) following big improvement in his parameters post varicocoele embolisation, a year of him taking proxeed antioxidants and following special 20day daily ejacualtion protocol. So they couldn’t pinpoint a reason why this wouldn't work. The consultant said they have addressed all the factors they can and suggested it could be poor egg quality that means the embryos are not developing, but we can’t know for sure so it’s just a numbers game now and we should just keep trying. Tbh not v helpful at all. We’ve tried twice (x1 local NHS and x1 Lister) and I’ve always been told my AMH, FSH, hormones, egg reserve, womb etc all great. I had to chase down a letter from them to actually confirm in writing what had happened with the failure so I have something in writing. The letter just casually infers it might be egg quality that’s not helping now but without any recommendation about what might be done about that. So we are left knowing that DH’s sperm was better but still not within fertile range obvs and that my eggs could also be an issue but with no more advice other than to keep trying. There was no counsellor available for months and then my husband started work as teacher so couldn’t do the session we were eventually offered weeks after we needed it. We are now in limbo. People say ask for genetic testing on your eggs but how, where and to what avail? I’m doing all I can already to be healthy, as is hubby and this has been going on years so now I’m ‘knocking forty’ so my egg quality will of course naturally start to deteriorate. It’s the fact that you can’t even get blastocysts worth transferring that is so hard, I know. You’re prepared not to fall pregnant after a transfer but not for there to be nothing/or poor quality morula (that’s what I did first time) to transfer in first place. We are taking a break and will prob do third attempt in new year. I’ve toyed with idea of moving clinics but I haven’t seen anything anywhere that draws me to one in particular because it will attend to this issue of embryos being poor quality from the get-go. Let’s stay in touch @Lulu106 and let each other know what we do next and if get any light shed from anywhere! I wish you all the best x

@KnockingForty gosh its mind blowing. You are still under 40 so that's positive. I on the other hand am well over. DH sperm morphology did improve but not has significantly as your other half. However, I suspect they'll say it's as much to with egg quality as sperm. Have they suggested mild ivf? I keep reading about it and wonder if the focus was on egg quality over quantity whether this would help.
I'm now considering a consultation with Fertility plus clinic on Harley Street. They have some great reviews and I think our situation needs to be examined carefully. No idea how we will cope financially

@Lulu106 Yes, my accupuncturist suggested looking at a mild stimulation alternative and focusing on quality over quantity of eggs… it does sound logical. We might look at Create Fertility in Raynes Park SW20 which specialises in mild stimulation. It’s just the thought of having to have all the tests done again (these places always want to do their own, right?) and when we can fit them in as hubby is mid-career change, training to be a teacher ‘on the job’ so can hardly be skipping out every other afternoon. And, the money… it’s so hard to keep faith when each round is a a 4 figure gamble… esp when the embryos seem to just be poor from the get-go. I feel like I need a doctor to hear our story and tell me they’re going to do something deliberately different so I can believe there will be a better outcome… tbh milder stimulation is probably the different tactic, so I agree with you… will let you know if I do get in front of someone at Create Fertility…

@KnockingForty spooky. We sat through Create webinar on Tuesday evening. Very interesting but then we were offered two discounts off initial consultation and ultrasound within 24 hours. Made us suspicious and uncomfortable!
Back to drawing board. However, one lady over 40 on other thread is doing well with them.
I'm a deputy headteacher so can completely emphasise with your other half. My partner has had to resign from his management position due to work related stress. It's been an emotional few months. Last time I was this low was when my Dad passed away.
Let's keep in touch. Not sure if you can private message on here? X

@KnockingForty did they check for Natural Killer Cells? It is checked by uterine biopsy. I also did coagulation test. I will get blood thinning injections this round. You can maybe check these options first to see if there is a hidden reason.

Hi girls, how everyone is doing? Any success stories? I am about to do my FET soon after having a gap of almost 4 months due to nhs delays. Did thrombophillia and clotting screening in between. I have some gene mutations like MTHFR, PAI-1 and ACE. Have you tested those? Also NK cells is my next test on the list.
Regarding DnA fragmentation, I asked 3 doctors and they were all skeptic about it and said it will not change anything. I understand that if you get eggs fertilised in previous rounds, then sperm should be ok.
Wish everyone good luck in this journey and will be great to share tips.

@K8dferXdder Hi! I did coagulation testing after my 1st ICSI. I have MTHFR, PAI-1 mutations. I am using heparin injection for that.
I have also slightly increased NK so I will get Omegaven infusion in this FET.

-4 out of 9 eggs fertilized in the 1st ICSI. Twice double Day3 embryo transfers failed.

-7 out of 10 eggs fertilized in the 2nd ICSI. We put 5 of them to long cultivation and got 3 blastocysts to freeze (I got OHSS in Dec 2021). We had to freeze the two of the fertilized eggs on the Day 1 because German law doesn't allow more than 5 fertilized eggs to go through long cultivation 🙄

We used the same protocol in both. However, doctor introduced PICSI and Calcium ionophore methods in the 2nd ICSI and fertilization rate increased.

I will have FET next week. This time it will be a single transfer. I will let you know if it works. I hope this is the one because we did everything we could. I don't what else I can do...

Hi all, just jumping on to say DNA frag is absolutely so important to check if you’ve a male issue. High DNA frag can cause miscarriages and also impact embryo development. We did two rounds of ICSI and while we had good fertilisation we couldn’t get embryos - 1st got a morula which didn’t take, 2nd no embryos at all. My consultant kept insisting DNA frag wouldn’t matter and just needed to do more rounds. I persisted and got a referral which found my DH had >52% highly fragmented sperm. We got a referral to a urologist who found a large hidden variocele. We got it embolized and his DNA frag dropped to 23-25% and his standard sperm analysis all improved - count went from 1 million to 10 million. In subsequent rounds of IVF we got 2, 3 AA graded blasts and 1 BB graded blastocyst. I also went on DHEA too as my testosterone was 0.1 when I got it checked so think this also helped with egg quality. We had to wait 3 months for recovery from the operation DH had so I had time to get my testosterone in the correct range. I’m now 16 weeks from one of the transfers.

@K8dferXdder no success here, but we're currently in our first ivf cycle so can update on fertilisation rates soon. Hopefully, anyway!

We did have a DNA frag back in July and dh had zero percent high DNA frag which was great, but who knows what it will be like on the day, there's been a lot of waiting to get here.

@Dochas1211 great news!

@Dochas1211 congratulations on your news. Such an uplifting story. We know my other half has a large Varicocele. We're trying IMSI next time. He's had lots of supplements and homeopathy but not the embolisation. His count, morphology and motility have improved but we shall see.

@Lulu106 did they not recommend removing the variocele? Apparently it heats up and destroys the sperm quality - what is his DNA frag result?

@Dochas1211 the urologist did recommend the embolisation but we've had other issues to deal and it's not happened. The fertility consultant thinks his results have improved enough to go ahead but who knows. We haven't had the DNA frag test. Our issue is also that we are both in our 40s! Thanks for reply

@Lulu106 well best of luck with the new round. Hopefully it’ll be successful but otherwise maybe you could revisit the DNA frag/ embolization. The op was v straightforward for my DH. He didn’t even take any painkillers after the first day so it’s not too invasive. Lots of luck

Wow great inputs here, might reconsider the DNA fragmentation test 😊 I guess different clinics put different priorities first. I agree that everything matters and is there for a reason. Hope to hear great stories soon 😇🤞my latest test is TEG which I did with Lesley Regan and I am hoping she will prescribe some medicines that will help implantation of day 3 top quality embryo ☺️

We had our embryo update today. For context, DH has low motility and on the day of the egg collection it was 18% but they got it up to 50% motility with whatever prep they do to it to filter the bad ones out. He had decent DNA frag when we did it back in July, with 0% high frag. We had 15 eggs collected, 13 viable, 9 fertilised and today found out we had 3 good quality embryos and a possible two more that are slow that we’ll find out about tomorrow. So that’s my make factor update, in case it’s useful!

This sounds very promising @thislittlebird !

We have (probably) male factor with 0% morphology on first test. My partner has made some drastic lifestyle changes and is taking Proxeed and pycnogenol and will retest before seeing the famous Dr Ramsay in April (at this point it will have been 10 weeks so maybe too soon to see enough change). ..... but really hoping for some improvement. Chelsea and Westminster have given us an end of July appointment and my mind is blown by how excruciatingly far away that is! Any tips on managing this time welcome x

@FlyOnTheWall89 the good thing is Ramsay will do the frag test which is useful to have.

I have no time management advice, it took from July 2020 to July 2021 for me to even get to the stage of being referred to Guys, the time we’ve lost for various reasons has been horrible.

Another of our embryos made the cut today so I’m happy with 4 in the freezer considering DH’s issues.

Amazing congratulations- 4 is so good. Everything crossed for you x

Hi everyone, me back again on this discussion. Wanted to hear from you some success stories and tips really. Today both of our embies were removed from the culture medium as they were not progressing post day 4, even though they were 2 top quality 8 cells each on day3.
I am 40 and my partner 39. He has been diagnosed with “bilateral varicocele”. None of the doctors have suggested to embolize the varicoceles - wonder why 😕We would rather do it if it will provide some improvement to his count, mobility and morphology.
We are at Lister Chelsea - James Nicopoullus and this is our 2nd egg collection with no success :(
What approach did you take for your DHs? Did you have success after? He has been on Proxeed before which showed no benefit but Clomiphene did improve his semen during the 1st cycle. Not sure whether to try Clomiphene again or to embolize the varicoceles.
Thank you for your tips and wish you luck 🍀

@K8dferXdder so sorry to hear about your situation, that is really hard.

Have the lister given you any reasons why this has happened? I would presume it's not common for no embryos to survive in 2 rounds, especially when they were seemingly healthy. Surely this points to something when there is a day 4 drop off? As they did fertilise and were good quality, have they said they are not actually worried about your partners sperm quality?

We were a bit lucky I think / supplements did work us. My partner took Proxeed, pycnogenol 100mg daily, ubiquinol 100mg daily, vital DHA 1 tablet a day from Vita West & Vit D. Morphology went up over a 2 month period from 0% to 9% but there wasn't a change in count. Motility was always fine. Count was overall borderline. I got pregnant naturally 6 weeks before my first injection was booked in. I'm sure you've seen the above mentioned before but thought I'd mention anyway incase. It sounds like maybe your situation may be a little different though. Mumsnet is a rabbit hole of useful people with so much knowledge - hope someone comes on that can help. X