Male factor infertility

[Gigi89x]

Hi All

Apologies for the long post.
I had an appointment this week with my consultant, we did not get great news and im feeling really down about what i was told.

My partner semen analysis showed Severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. He has a low sperm count, low morphology and motility. I was told in order to proceed with IVF ICSI ideally we would need 15 sperm and hes producing 1 or 2 in each sample he has provided. We would also be at risk of producing low quality embryos. He will need to produce multiple frozen sperm back ups.

The consultant has recommended we go ahead with a genetics blood test for my partner to try to find the cause of the issue, which we have now gone ahead with and awaiting the results.

Has anyone been in this position and were you able to proceed with IVF in the end? Im getting really worried we wont be able to go ahead.

Thanks

Hi
I don't have much knowledge in this area but thought I'd let you know there is an active forum on Reddit called male infertility, they have a lot of information on their wiki which you can see here:
https://reddit.com/r/maleinfertility/wiki/index?utmsource=share&utmmmedium=iosapp&utmmname=iossmf

It might be worth you having a read through and maybe posting over there, as I expect there will be people with a similar experience there.

Is surgical sperm retrieval an option? My DP has just been diagnosed with azoospermia (no sperm) and currently undergoing tests to find the cause. If there is sperm in his testes (that can't get out for whatever reason), We have been told it will be IVF/ICSI following sperm retrieval surgery.

Hi there! Not an expert in the matter, but from what I understand the only way to deal with this is to find and fix the cause. Otherwise, they will suggest donor sperm. Fingers crossed they will manage to fix the issue or retrieve sperm surgically, but if not, have you talked about donors?

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 I'm not sure if its an option yet, i think after the genetics blood testing we should find out if its possible. Im sorry to hear that, i hope you manage to go ahead with ICSI

Hey OP, my husband was diagnosed with azoospermia. We received the result of his genetic test yesterday which confirmed he has Kleinfelter’s Syndrome.
We were told they could get surgical retrieval but the chances of success were extremely low, and sperm donation would be a better option. It was explained to us that this is a very simple procedure done an out patient basis and under local anaesthetic.
For other reasons we won’t be proceeding but it may be worth asking your doctor whether this would assist you.

@BrightSideRightSide Im very sorry to hear that. Did they recommend anything to you that could improve the sperm count with his diet? I was told my partner should eat specific veg and nuts etc to help? Im not sure if surigcal retireval is an option yet for us, we are awaiting our genetics results.

Hi Gigi, my OH and I are in the same boat. Mind sharing an update on what happened in your case please?

@CDiamond after my partner improving his diet his sperm count increased, i'm now 36 weeks pregnant from IVF ICSI 😊

Hi @Gigi89x and @CDiamond

I'm sorry to interject - my husband and I are in a very similar position and we are obviously trying to do as much as we can to improve things!

@Gigi89x I hope you don't mind me asking - I just wondered how much the count went up by changing diet? x

@Gigi89x ps I meant to say massive congratulations!! 💖

Congratulations @Gigi89x ! So happy to hear your update I could shed a tear!

No problem @alt22

Can I ask please @Gigi89x , if you dont mind:

• What was the specific fruit and veg advised for your OH to have?
• How long did you implement the diet change for, before going for IVF ICSI? (as in, did you take a few months of doing the diet and a SA before seeing the improvement and then going for the IVF ICSI?)
• How much of an improvement in the SA?
• Did the IVF ICSI work the first time?
• Did you go via NHS or private?

Many thanks! We are just 3 weeks into being diagnosed and the beginning of our journey, so much appreciate hearing others' experiences.

@alt22 @CDiamond

Thank you, see below what he did

What was the specific fruit and veg advised for your OH to have?

-so for around 6 months he ate healthier e.g raw veg mange tout and baby corn as snacks
-Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds , almonds, cashews & walnuts daily.
-He cut out all caffeine & alcohol entirely

• How long did you implement the diet change for, before going for IVF ICSI? (as in, did you take a few months of doing the diet and a SA before seeing the improvement and then going for the IVF ICSI?)

He did this for around 6 months - i needed to reduce my BMI also so hence why it was 6 months. You may not need as long as this to see change.

Supplements he took

• Proxeed plus sachets
• omega 3

-Vitamin e -Coq10 -Vitamin c

• How much of an improvement in the SA?

We didn’t get numbers of improvement, however initially we were told we may need to look into donors and later we had good enough sperm for ICSI with a good fertilisation rate, after all the changes above

• Did the IVF ICSI work the first time?

We had several embryos and had the transfer, but was unsuccessful. 2nd time i had a frozen transfer and was successful

• Did you go via NHS or private?

Private