Azoospermia

[Alanalama]

Me and my partner have been actively ttc now for over a year - after some tests my oh has just been informed there is a ZERO sperm count in his recent sample however around 4 years we did manage to conceive but unfortunately ended is a miscarriage.

Has anyone had any experiences with possibly azoospermia? Or anyone managed to conceive naturally previously and then had a diagnosis later on?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as the more you google the worse it gets!

Hi Alana,
I'm sorry to hear this. There are some older threads mentioning azoospermia - or discussions on more general MFI threads.
I have seen people say they have managed to conceive despite azoospermia, I think via surgical sperm retrieval and then ICSI Ivf.
There are two kinds of azoospermia, if it's obstructive then it seems like an operation can sort it. For the other kind, sometimes surgical sperm retrieval works.
It's very hard isn't it? I'm in the same boat.

@Cyberworrier

Hi Alana, I'm sorry to hear this. There are some older threads mentioning azoospermia - or discussions on more general MFI threads. I have seen people say they have managed to conceive despite azoospermia, I think via surgical sperm retrieval and then ICSI Ivf. There are two kinds of azoospermia, if it's obstructive then it seems like an operation can sort it. For the other kind, sometimes surgical sperm retrieval works. It's very hard isn't it? I'm in the same boat.

Thanks so much for your reply - it's greatly appreciated.

We're at the very beginning of this journey which seems like we're in for a long ride. I'm really sorry to hear you're in the same boat - certainly not a nice one to be in.

Fingers crossed we can both gain a positive end result from all of this.

Following! Me and DP found out last week he has zero sperm. We have been ttc for just over a year! From the Googling I've done there seems to be some positive stories but with sperm retrieval and IVF/ICSI. DP just going through more tests now to find out cause.

Hi OP, I’be a partner with non obstructive azoospermia. In the end, this meant using donor sperm to conceive. It took us quite a while. Happy to discuss or check lit the donor conception network. Sometimes azoospermia can be obstructive - which means sperm is there but tubes are blocked. In our case there weren’t any after further investigations so donor conception was only option to carry a pregnancy.

Hi, my DH has obstructive azoospermia, although no blockage was ever identified. They were able to retrieve loads from a PESA procedure (needle into testes) to do ICSI (ivf) , and I now have a 6 week old next to me! Super long journey, mostly due to misreferrals, but happy to answer questions if I can be useful.

Hi @Alanalama has he had hormone tests? This will indicate which kind. Unfortunately my husband has long standing Undescended Testes and small volume which is causing our issues.

@nancyalan

Hi *@Alanalama* has he had hormone tests? This will indicate which kind. Unfortunately my husband has long standing Undescended Testes and small volume which is causing our issues.

Unfortunately not yet - we're currently on a lengthy waiting list for our referral to a fertility clinic so I'm hoping that's the first test they will do!

So sorry to hear you're in the same situation - wishing you all the luck in the world!

@mayihavesomecakeplease

Hi, my DH has obstructive azoospermia, although no blockage was ever identified. They were able to retrieve loads from a PESA procedure (needle into testes) to do ICSI (ivf) , and I now have a 6 week old next to me! Super long journey, mostly due to misreferrals, but happy to answer questions if I can be useful.

Oh wow - that's such amazing news! I'm so pleased for you!!

I really hope we follow a similar path.

With the misreferals I'm worried we may be in that situation already! My partner has been refered straight to fertility and after lots of research we thought it might have to be a urologist first? (Please correct me if I'm wrong!) The more concerning side is on the referal on the app it says he's being refered to Gynacology which i'm sure isn't right .

Any help/advice you can give me I'd be forever grateful for as we're in such early stages stories like yours really give me hope.

@Alanalama we got our hormone tests done at our local GP which was quick with results.
We also conceived naturally 6 years ago (no idea how!) which we got told was a real fluke!
We’ve been told that SSR wouldn’t work for us so we’re going to see Dr Ramsay for a last ditch attempt.

@nancyalan same here. I descended testes meant he never had the cells to produce sperm. They tried micro tese anyway but it didn’t work, as we expected.

Hi @Angliski sorry to hear that. Did your husband always know he had Undescended Testes? My husbands are retractile and can be moved up and down (too much info sorry!), they are small in size. 1x sperm had been found in each sample.

@Angliski also how has your experience with donor conception been?
Bonding? Telling family? Etc? Sorry for questions!

@nancyalan he found out when he and his first wife ttc. Bupa said he should have the internal one removed and later it became clear that he had no sperm so we knew this when we met. We did go through various meds and micro tese but knew it wasn’t helpful- to be honest it slowed everything down and by the time we got ivf I was a poor responder. Our son is conceived via doubl donation. He is wonderful. All our family know as the journey unfolded from donor spent to ivf to double donation etc and we were quite open. We are now trying for number two. He looks nothing like me but he is my darling miracle ds. I run sessions for the donor conception network for thinkers or tryers- perhaps join one of our sessions? Fee to members and membership is only £50 or so, it’s so helpful to talk to others about it!!

@popcornbella good luck!
Did you try Micro Tese? Or anything? May I ask what your husbands FSH was?

@popcornbella DH and the little man are a serious unit. It doesn’t matter a jot about the biology- at 3am when your little one is yelling, no one else is coming to soothe him or change his botty. For him/her/them, you’re it!

I’m currently going for my third fet to try to have a sibling. I’ve had a lot of painful feelings because I feel sad we can’t try naturally and angry at the ordeal my body has to endure as a result. Does anyone else struggle with difficult feeling toward partner? I know it isn’t DH fault and I know he feels guilty for my struggles but I do resent it sometimes…

@Alanalama sorry for the delayed response -- happy to provide any info that might be helpful!

We were referred to a gynaecologist first, who said they couldn't help with a male fertility issue so you might want to check that's the correct referral, and then to a urologist who only dealt in incontinence issues (!), and then after lots of phone calls and complaints to the CCG eventually referred to a fertility clinic. That is where my husband eventually had his sperm retrieval, although as they couldn't find a blockage on the scans they had him on hormone medication for six months first (which did nothing).

Please feel free to message me privately if you'd like more specific details. We're in London if that helps.

Oh and my husband had slightly raised FSH if I remember correctly, which I think they said was a symptom of his body knowing the sperm wasn't making it out or something? We got a certain amount of conflicting advice and I wasn't able to be at all the appointments, so I might have that wrong. It was a 5 year journey from trying to get pregnant to getting a positive test -- although all the misreferrals and covid had a certain amount to do with that!

Hey everybody, my husband was diagnosed with azoo last year, after ttc for several years. We are currently on waitin list for SSR. We belong he has NOA and they’ve given a 50-60% chance of finding sperm. I haven’t heard many success stories with NOA at all however trying to keep the faith and truly pray that everybody going through this horrendous ordeal gets their miracle one way or the other. My husband’s FSH is elevated at 9.6 however all other hormones and chromosome tests were normal. Has anybody any advice or success with similar issues? Thanks so much in advance. Azoo is soooo under represented in the ttc/infertility community and I’ve struggled to find others in a similar position.

*believe

Not got time to go into the lonnnng history we have. But just to say OP, stand your ground and push for your OH to have a Urologist appointment (if you’re in a position where you’re able to self fund this, that might speed things along). There could be myriad reasons for his azoospermia, but unless you get a referral you won’t get to the bottom of them. We were in a similar position where I was automatically assumed to be the cause of our infertility, which would have led to a missed diagnosis of a second round of testicular cancer had I not put my foot down and insisted they investigate my OH first. Ours is probably a bit of a horror story and I don’t want to sound doom and gloom, I’m just saying don’t be afraid to stand your ground - make sure they get to the bottom of the azoospermia before they start messing about sticking cameras all up in your business 😆

@ElleHx that was our situation and when we went for ssr they found loads using PESA, so turned out to be a hidden obstruction somewhere. All the tests were normal other than FSH. Obviously a best case scenario , but there is some hope!

I had a friend with NOA and they found plenty in micro tese and now have a ds. It does happen. I think when DH went for his half the men found soerm and half did not.