Azoospermia support, stories and timelines

[Ljp2022]

Hi All,
Hoping to get a chat going with some advice. My husband and I started TTC 9 months ago but had an inkling something was wrong. We had a private fertility assessment which showed he had no sperm in his semen (azoospermia). We are incredibly overwhelmed and shocked but are keen to explore further testing.

We have gone to our GP however he has explained the wait will likely be several months until we are seen in infertility clinic. We have therefore decided to go privately. My husband has had blood tests for genetic testing and hormones this week (not sure how long it will be until we get results?) and he has a urology appointment in a month’s time for a physical exam.

Id be so grateful if people can share their experiences of azoospermia, outcomes, success stories, other options explored, tests but also timelines if private? How long does it take for tests to come back? How long until he has his sperm retrieval test? What’s next and how long?

sorry for all the questions - so overwhelmed and no one seems to have any answers…thank you in advance.

Hi @CatMc2023 sorry you find yourself here and sorry you had that horrible experience. We had a similarly awful consultant first time and it really exacerbates an already stressful situation.

have you had any tests at all done? If not I’d go to your GP if the clinic aren’t listening, say nothing about your OH and the tests and say you’ve been trying for a year and get them to at least do all your bloods so you’ve got those - that should tell you your AMH and FSH and if you’re going the ICSI route with retrieved sperm that’s about all they’d do (that’s all I ever had done) I think although that is only based on my experience. They offered me the HCOSY but as we weren’t using my tubes I declined.

sorry if I’ve misunderstood your question but if not hope that’s helpful

Oh gosh @CatMc2023 that sounds so stressful!! Honestly some consultants really are rubbish!! I echo what @Carla2601 said I would go to the GP. If you haven't had them already you can get your day 3 and day 21 bloods done. I also needed a chlamydia test to do our referral (because that's standard in our CCG not because I look like I have chlamydia haha). They will also want to know your rubella vaccination has been done and a recent cervical smear test result. So these are things you can definitely get chasing from the GP. Print all the results and keep them in a folder/saved on your computer ready for when the clinic will ask them.

You could also consider paying for a private AMH blood test and scan so you have these ready too if you can afford it. We had a fertility NOT package which was my scan, AMH and my husbands SA and that was £500 plus a consultation to go through the results. So if you don't need the SA I would assume it would be cheaper.

Fertility MOT *

Oh @CatMc2023 what a way to make a traumatic situation even worse! I echo all of the above- get to a GP and start ticking things off. I find this doctor on Instagram so so helpful. She specialists in female health and does specific posts on what to ask GPs for. She also highlights how sometimes GPs tell you you’re in the normal range but it might not be optimal for TTC.

https://instagram.com/thefitclinic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Hi all. Our egg collection has been moved from Wednesday to Monday. So at least we will know in a few days how well our sperm thaws. Still feel extremely worried as I feel so blind about the quality of what was frozen. Hoping the next few days go quickly. Hope everybody is ok 💗

@lemons44 so soon! So do they thaw the sperm the day of egg retrieval? And do you know a tentative date for your transfer? I know you will be so nervous about the thaw test but you’ve been given no indicators that there will be a problem. I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that I will just be a bag of worries at every stage. But my doctor told us that now that we have sperm, we are in the same category as any other couple going through IVF so I need to keep telling myself that!

@lemons44 all the luck in the world for Monday! Let us know how you go

@IslaO yes I asked the nurse yesterday at my scan. She said they thaw the sperm the same day as egg retrieval and the embryologist would only ring me if something is really wrong, so no news would be good news. She did say it would be very rare for all 4 vials to go wrong.
I'm definitely just being a worrier. Ironically I'm not as worried about my eggs and how many eggs we get. I think because our journey to get some sperm has been so traumatic I just have real trust issues around it and I'm finding it hard to be positive! I suppose it doesn't matter much now as we will know by Monday/Tuesday.

How are you doing?

@Carla2601 thank you - I will keep you posted!

Hope everyone is ok xx

@lemons44 oh gosh! That's exciting to have less days to wait and wonder! Fingers crossed for the best outcome with your retrieval and his sperm :D can't wait to hear all of the updates on the next couple weeks

@lemons44 im thinking of you! Learning from experience that the day before/lead up to these appointments is the absolute worst. Can’t believe tomorrow is your collection day! Please keep us posted as much as you can but I know it won’t be easy. I have everything crossed for you. I think egg collection is always a hard one.

As my IVF doctor put it- people always go in with a number in their head and are either disappointed or wrongly elated as the number of eggs retrieved really is no indicator of your number of embryos. It’s all just a numbers game and the 5 day wait will be hard but it’s so great that things are moving.

I completely know what you mean about the sperm trust issues- 100%!

I am starting my oestrogen tablets on 23rd May and stims on 1st June. So excited/nervous in equal measure. You can tick all of that off your list now- tomorrow is your next chapter!

@IslaO that's great to have a starting date! I go tomorrow to finalize our plan and get my start date :)
@lemons44 good luck tomorrow! Thinking of you

@Sleeter0893 best of luck tomorrow! Keep us posted on your plan moving forward- it’s so exciting when things seem to be stagnant for so long and then suddenly things move when you thought they never would!

Thanks girls. I really don't know what I would do without this group 🥹 💗

I just just emailed the embryologist asking if she will update me on how the sperm thaws tomorrow and just explained I'm a bit anxious about it. Feeling really nervous tonight but I will keep you all updated tomorrow.

As well as egg collection tomorrow they are also going to drain a cyst on one of my ovaries. It just appeared and grew from all the drugs. It went from 20mm last Wednesday to 28mm last Friday so god knows how big it is now but I feel very uncomfortable on that side!

Can't believe you have dates @IslaO it will go really quickly now. It will be good if you and @Sleeter0893 are doing it at the same time! I do think that this whole sperm journey takes ages, but when you get to the IVF part, whether that's with own sperm or donor sperm, it just goes super quickly!

Hope the appointment goes well tomorrow @Sleeter0893 let us know xx

@lemons44 that was a great idea to email your embryologist honestly and just explain how you are feeling. Hopefully he/she is empathetic and understands what you have been through to get to this point and aims to go above and beyond with the communication tomorrow. I am sorry to hear about the cyst- not something you needed but also not the most uncommon thing as I’ve heard of this a few times in my extensive IVF googling 😂 hope it all goes great tomorrow. Just keep telling yourself that it’s a privilege to get to this point and that there were so many months of there being nothing you could do, now this is you taking action and doing what it takes to secure the future family you both want. You can do this- go into bad bitch mode!

I say all of this and I know I’ll be an anxious, catastrophising wreck when my time comes!

@Sleeter0893 i would love to be IVF buddies with you!! Fingers crossed our timelines move swiftly from here!

@lemons44 here for you tomorrow ❤️ sending all of the good vibes!!

Thanks @IslaO
Trying to channel my inner bad bitch 😎
On our way to the clinic now! Will update you later xx

@lemons44 yes!! Keep channeling it- you’ve pushed through this far so keep pushing today and that’s another massive hurdle cleared.

what time are you scheduled in for? Are you down on the train again like you were for the Tese or is this more local?

Thanks @IslaO we are at the clinic now. We drove down as this clinic is not too far from us. Scheduled to have it done in half an hour! In the gown and waiting ! Eeek xx

@lemons44 aaahh so close now! It’s good it’s booked in early in the morning so you don’t have the day to dwell! Thinking of you x

I@lemons44 thinking of you and sending positive vibes! X

@lemons44 so excited and anxious for you! Sending all the prayers and well wishes for today!!

Hi all,
Thanks for your messages 💗💗
I'm home now after getting a drive through McDonald's on the way home! 🍟
We got 13 eggs, which we are very happy with. No idea yet about our sperm so just hoping and praying that it thaws ok and they find some twitchers to inject the eggs with xx

@lemons44 13 eggs!!! Go girl, that’s fantastic! Absolutely delighted for you. Of course you’ll be worrying about thawing and other next steps- I think we are all realising that any good news quickly gets replaced by the next worry- but this is a win and absolutely great news! So enjoy that maccers and just try to see this as a good day in your journey! X

morning ladies!

@lemons44 how are you feeling this morning?

@Sleeter0893 how is your OH doing? Mine is still in quite a bit of pain and I can’t tell if it’s something to be slightly concerned about or drama!

Morning @IslaO

I'm ok thank you. Not really in any pain this morning or anything.

Just NERVOUS waiting for our call today from the clinic to hear the news about our sperm/eggs and how many fertilised (if any!). We didn't get a phone call yesterday and I was told they'd only ring if they had major issues with the sperm so took no news as good news regarding the thawing. I want to call them first thing (they open at 8am... so now) but at the same time don't want to be a pain and I know they will call once they've got into work and done all the checks.

Hope your partner feels better soon! My husband was very sore for a week. Xx

@lemons44 oh I can imagine. I think these 5 days will be super hard and keeping busy will be important. I would say call the clinic. You are not being a pain- surely they understand that you’ve been through the mill to get here and if you’re super polite, they can’t get annoyed can they? Go for it! Just do it and don’t over think. But that is also good news that there was no call yesterday! Keep us posted. I have a gut feeling it will all be good news x