Sperm DNA fragmentation test result

[ChocolateinBrugges]

Please can anyone shed light on these results? Do you think this may be causing our infertility? We have been trying to conceive for 3 years and are categorised as 'unexplained'. We have an appointment to discuss this result with a urologist but not till December. I'd greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who had a similar result and spoke through the results with a urologist.

Your average score is 28% which puts you in the bracket for requiring IVF however generally dna fragmentation can be brought down fairly easily within "healthy" limits by lifestyle/diet changes and a really good male preconception vitamin like Proceive Max for Men

How old is your DH? Do either of you have children already?

Thank you @tiggerwhocamefortea for replying. DH doesn’t smoke or drink and is a healthy weight, he doesn’t exercise much though. Has been on Proxeed plus for about a year as well as FH Pro but it’s made very little difference. DH is 36. We have one child together which we conceived easily eight years ago x

It's a difficult one as even if you did IVF - you'd have to pay privately as this is secondary infertility- if they did ICSI dna fragmentation isn't visible under a microscope so it wouldn't necessarily improve your chances of conception - maybe the urologist will be able to proscribe something?

Thanks @tiggerwhocamefortea, we have a urologist appointment in December but are hoping to do IVF in November. How has your journey been? Have you got similar issues?

@ChocolateinBrugges

I had twins via IVF earlier this year after 5 rounds of IVF - we did start out with male factor - low morphology but in the end I lost both tubes to ectopics anyway

My clinic said not to bother with the dna fragmentation test as DH had been on supplements a long time anyway and the treatment for it was just a slightly different version of what he'd been taking anyway x

Congratulations on your twins, it sounds quite a journey. I think we will just push along with IVF, thanks for the info x

Your DH results look similar to mine. We did icsi in august and out of 18 mature eggs, 15 fertilised and we got 9 high quality embryos in the freezer.

If I were you I would push ahead with ivf as the urologist will just suggest vitamins which your DH is already taking. Still see the urologist but don’t delay ivf. I found the benefit of having the dna frag test was that if allowed us to choose icsi instead of ivf. I would ask for icsi if you go ahead in November.

Good luck with IVF, have you started doing the research for it and pushing for a fertility clinic consult?

@ChocolateinBrugges my husband has 37% DNA frag. We recently saw Dr Ramsay and he said under 30% would be much better, so your result isn't awful. Have you ruled out infection or varicole as a chase? he also said it's best to only leave 24hours between ejaculations as this can improve DNA frag. We've recently re-tested after months of supplements and a shorter window and now waiting for the results. I personally regretted doing our round of IVF before testing for DNA frag and only 5 months after we both had Covid. Apparently that can increase DNA frag too. If you can get an appt with Mr Ramsay before the IVF that might be idea x

Thanks all

Yes we have decided on our IVF clinic and are ready to start. We are hoping our NHS urology appointment will shed some light but will press on with IVF regardless. Thanks for all your helpful input

As you can see from the pic ours are very similar!

We tested 4 months ago and it was 37% and with these results we can do our next cycle

I know it's not great but it's definitely lowered so we have just started our cycle today

But I have low AMH so we will have to see how we get on

None made it to blastocyst last time xx

Hi everyone !
I know this is a fairly old post but I wondered how everyone got on in the end?
We are due to start ICSI in Jan due to MFI and have just had a DNA frag test which has come back at 33%. hubby has already been taking Proxeed and Ubiniquol for about 5 months but I’ve switched him to impryl and fish oil, as I understand these could be better for high frag.
@strawberrysummer19 .. please could you let me know what your OH did to get his results from 37% to 28%? I also have low AMH so really don’t want to waste any ICSI rounds.
Thanks in advance for anyone’s help :) x

@Koalie hiya. So our consultant got us to go on a really strict diet. He didn't want us to go again until we did at least 90 days. So we didn't waste a cycle. Our consultant was fab and really understood dna frag.

We both did it as obviously it affects egg quality too.

Low sugar
High protein
No alcohol
Limited chocolate and sweets
Took co10, vitd, and fertility vits which were £35 a month each for 3 months
I can find the link and highly recommend them as it evidently helped us.

We came out with 2 top grade embryos, out of 5 eggs ( had low AMH so never was going to be high) but we got pregnant nov 21 and she was born July this year, currently rocking away in her bouncer

X

@strawberrysummer19 thank you so much for getting back to me! That’s so lovely to hear you have a happy healthy daughter :) please could you share the link for the vitamins? Also, would you mind telling me what your AMH was? Mine is 10.7 aged 32 xx

@Koalie I'm happy to help where I can. Our journey was so hard and emotional and I like I can help others if I can

Here's what we were
www.naturalhealthpractice.com/advanced-fertility-support-for-women.html

They do a mens and a woman's which we ordered from here - we advised to take for 3 months

Also I just checked what I took:

100%

I take 600mg co10
Marion glenville female fertility vits
Vit D
DHEA
Omega 3
Vit c

I was prescribed DHEA for egg quality so I would recommend those if you can get your DR to prescribe you some

My AMH was 5.6 at 39 years xx

So glad to see your success story @strawberrysummer19 🥰

@Koalie Happy to help if I can. We had two IVF cycles and I’m currently 12 weeks pregnant.

First round we got 1 embryo and it took but we had an early miscarriage.

Second round we got 1 embryo again and all going fine so far 🤞

My follicles were very slow to grow. I think the infertility issues were definitely with both of us but it only takes one embryo!

I wish you so much luck!

Thank you so much @strawberrysummer19 I’ll have a look at the supplements now. Out of interest, did your consultant advise your OH to abstain for any certain length of time before egg and sperm collection for IVF? My hubby’s DNA frag test was done after 2 days of abstinence so I’m wondering if even bringing that down could help our chances 🤔

Thank you @ChocolateinBrugges ! Sorry to hear about your miscarriage but am pleased to hear your second round went well. Xx

@Koalie they didn't specify but we did 2 days from memory as with dna frag you don't want it to be any longer from what I remember x

Thank you @strawberrysummer19 ☺️ that’s helpful to know x x

@strawberrysummer19 thank you for sharing your story :) If you don't mind me asking, which clinic did you go to and would you recommend them?

We have made all of the changes you suggested. Our last dna frag test was 37%, need to get another one in the new year, but we've had 4 miscarriages

@charlotte444 my clinic was London womens clinic in Harley's street - I believe the doctor was in the process of leaving for a Kent clinic to start his own - he was brilliant x

Thanks so much! What was the consultants name? x