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.

@pomdownunder1 - Not the news that anyone wants to hear. My heart goes out to you. This journey is just relentless at times. Sending lots of love and support your way. xxx

@pomdownunder1 I’m really sorry to hear that :(

Hi everyone! I’ve been off mumsnet for a while to work on myself, enjoy a holiday and days out with my other half and not think about fertility and IVF! … it’s been nice!

Have been trying to catch up with everyone’s updates but I’ve missed a lot!!!

Welcome to all the newbies - sorry you find yourself here! @Lily1994 I see you are at Guys. I’ve had such as awful time with them! Hope you’re having a better experience!

@lemons44 how are you doing? Are you nearing egg collection now?

@IslaO fantastic news you have 4 in the freezer! Soo happy for you!

@pomdownunder1 soo sorry this attempt didn’t work for you. This journey is heartbreaking! Hope you’re doing ok?

@Ljp2022 How are you doing? Saw your update when you were 30wks!!!! Time flies! You must be nearly there now?

Update from me… DP was referred for micro-tese 4 months ago. He’s had his pre-op and got a call last week to come in this week for the procedure. It took him by surprise I think as was expecting to be given more notice. So he asked if he could book for September but they had not slots yet. He’s going to call them back this week. I think he’s dreading it! We’ve been building up to this point for soo long, he’s worried they won’t find any sperm and that feels final for him. Trying my best to support him but it’s hard to know what to say sometimes.

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 I feel for your husband, I think the build up might be the worst part!

Thanks for all the kind words all ❤️ we've processed the news, felt sorry for ourselves and made a plan to go forward. I spoke with my fs and she said only twice in her career has she seen that many healthy eggs not make the thawing process.

We're going to attempt a fresh egg retrieval and use the frozen sperm. There's only 1 vial and I'm so scared that it's not going to survive the thawing process. I need hope! Apparently there was progressive, non-progressive and twitching sperm found - 1 per field of view?

Also fs has advised piezo method for fertilisation. Anyone heard of that? Apparently it's a gentler way.

How is everyone? Any updates? X

So lovely to hear from you @WhiskeyInTheJar33 I was thinking about you the other day and wondering how you was getting on. Bless your OH I'm not surprised he is dreading it, it's been such a long journey for you guys and this must feel very scary for you both. All you can do is be there for him to listen and give cuddles, but make sure you're looking after yourself too. I'm keeping everything crossed for you guys 💗 I know it feels scary if it happens soon but in a way it might be best to rip the plaster off and just get it done. Whatever you decide we are here rooting for u both.

@pomdownunder1 I'm glad you've made a plan to go forward. I have not heard of progressive or non progressive but we have had discussions on here before about using twitching sperm. Twitching sperm are good and perfect to be used for ICSI. They thaw the sperm and add chemicals to make the live ones twitch. When are you starting the egg collection?

I start my stims today guys and have decided to have a little mumsnet break for the next few weeks. I'm really busy at work and hoping the next few weeks I can just focus on work and try not to think too much about the IVF. Xx

@lemons44 super massive good luck!

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 that's interesting feedback about Guy's, my GP said she'd refer to King's, then the admin sent me to Guy's (as apparently the King's system was a bit complicate...). I fought my ground on King's but it was quite the kerfuffle and our appointment is about a month later than it would have been so was wondering if I did the right thing...

Have initial IVF appointment at King's on Friday (popped in for bloods and health checks on Monday). It'll be interesting to see how things have changed since October last year.
I think even if my AMH is too low for NHS we will try there privately as a first step.

Hi @WhiskeyInTheJar33 yeah we have an appointment with Guys which is in 3 months time, but my GP was very helpful and referred us to Kings (hoping for a shorter wait time) but still waiting for an appointment. But if y

(didn’t finish off my reply) … but if you don’t me asking, what was so bad about Guys?

@Lily1994 oh where to start! i don’t feel like they know what they are doing. I constantly have to chase and then they point the finger like it’s my fault! One of the doctors stopped my partners anastrazole as they don’t prescribe it. Since this he went from producing sperm (albeit very small number) to nothing again! To then see another consultant (after being missed for follow up) who has prescribed it again! We get asked to attend for bloods, but no blood requests on the system. Every time I chase something, they say they haven’t done it because their computers have been down, there’s been strikes etc. I work in the NHS, I get it, but how they made me feel was unacceptable. I put in a complaint as I was fed up of being messed around, blaming me for being missed or not having bloods (I wasn’t told I needed bloods) despite emailing several times asking what I need to do next (they apparently ever got these emails). One of the head consultants called me up regarding my complaint and basically said I’ve made it up as I’ve never seen any of his team and continued to argue with me to say we got missed because I never did something. I gave him all the proof I did… no apology!

I could just be a one off! You may have a great experience with them. My friend is also having IVF at guys and can’t fault them! I’ll have my NHS funded treatment with them but ideally want to be with kings.

Sorry, feel like that was a rant! They’ve really affected my mental health, when this journey is hard enough as it is. I’ve written everything down and plan on adding to my initial complaint but will do it when I’m in a better place. I don’t want to do anything out of anger. Part of the reason why I’ve taken some time away!

my advice to you is to keep chasing everything, if you’re not happy with anything, speak up! but hopefully you won’t need to!

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 no need to apologise for the rant! Thanks for explaining. Hoping we get Kings, but our process is a bit long because me and DH have different GPs and his GP has referred him but my GP won’t refer me until my bloods come back (annoying!).

Can I ask when anastrazole is useful? DH has higher FSH and was told medicine/supplements won’t help in is case, so we’re going straight to MTESE.

I have limited understanding on the medications. I did read someone’s post who explained the difference between anastrozole, clomid and hcg:

anastrozole - for men with hypogonadism. Stops testosterone being converted to oestrogen or estradiol which in turn will boost testosterone levels.

Clomid - works by blocking estrogen’s effect on the hypothalamus, which in turn allows the pituitary gland to produce more LH and FSH. The result is an increase in testosterone and spermatogenesis (sperm production).

hcg injections - are similar to clomid, hCG works by directly stimulating the testes to make testosterone and improve spermatogenesis.

So my DP has low end of normal testosterone, slightly raised FSH. So in his case clomid and hcg would have made the FSH too high (I think - that’s my understanding). Since being on Anastrazole his testosterone has increased from 9.4 to 19.4 and his fsh is 21.9 (they’re not worried about this being high as they think this is because he is now trying to produce sperm - which he did on 2 samples).

@Lily1994 forgot to tag in previous post

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 thats helpful. I guess my DH wasn’t given anything because his testosterone was in the normal range.

Does anyone know about day 3 and 21 tests. Do they need to be in the same cycle? For example could I do a day 21 test first and then a day 3?

@Lily1994 I don’t think they do. I think I had mine different cycles. The more important thing is although they say day 21 (which is fine if you have textbook 28 day cycles and ovulate on day 14) make sure you have them 7 days post ovulation. I usually ovulate anywhere between 12 and 21 days so they cycle I had mine - ovulated D19, bloods on D26. The person taking the bloods asked me to confirm what cycle day I was and got a bit shirty with me so had to explain, wished I just said day 21 🤦🏻‍♀️

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 yeah I say 21 but it was actually day 23! But my gp is saying I need to do day 3 first and then day 21 before she sends my ivf referral which I don’t understand!!

@Lily1994 i don’t think GPS understand fertility bloods. Mine told me to have everything on day 3. I said I needed progesterone on day 21. She said no day 3 is fine. I had to explain day 21 progesterone is needed to check if I’m actually ovulating and having it on day 3 doesn’t tell you much! She still just gave me the one blood form for day 3 🤦🏻‍♀️ which is why mine were done on different cycles.

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 ahh yeah I agree, GPs don’t understand! Any updates with you? Has your husband booked in the mtese?

@Lily1994 yes he is booked in for micro tese in 2 weeks time 😬

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 ooo it must be nerve wracking, good luck!!

@Lily1994 thank you! He is very nervous but I’m just relieved we are finally at this point now!

Hi all. Hope you are all ok.

DP has his micro tese next week. For those of you that have husbands/partners who have already had this done, do you have any tips for recovery? I've taken the week off work just in case things don't go so well. I've stocked up on pain killers and bought ice pack pants.

Best of luck @WhiskeyInTheJar33, will be thinking of you.

Best tips from my dh are lots of bags of frozen peas to have on rotation, supportive underwear and then something to keep his mind busy during recovery!

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 the lead up is so hard! Supportive underwear and lots of rest! Look after yourself too.. it’s so mentally challenging. Crossing everything for some good news for you.

how is everyone doing? I am patiently waiting for my FET now. My bleed came 4 days after my egg retrieval and then my following cycle was 41 days!! I’m never more than 28/29. But it finally arrived and I’m now back on oestrogen and will get scanned on day 12 which is 5th of September and hopefully it will be all systems go. Excited, apprehensive and impatient all at once. Been surrounded by pregnancy announcements lately and coming up to two years of all of this- it’s a lot!