Any hope? 2 failed ICSI (MFI)

[Idk12345]

Hi guys,

i am really emotional right now and I guess I’m not quite sure what I am looking for. Does anyone have any stories of hope with conceiving with MFI?
Some back story: dealing with MFI. Low motility and morphology less that 2% (sometimes less than 1%). A failed round in 2020 with 1 blast which was low grade. We then went to j.Ramsay for further tests. He detected a hidden infection and put us on antibiotics in April 2022. He also tested for DNA frag which was poor, but not too bad (49% good). Saw a nutritionalist and took various supplements etc. We have just had another round of ICSI this month which has also sadly failed. Day 4 transfer of morula. Consultant stated sperm did still have morphology issues.

I guess I’m just loosing hope. I’m at my wits end and not entirely sure what to do from here. Terrified of doing another round and being back at square one.

We had MFI, morphology issues. How long were the antibiotics for? We didn’t have IVF purely as I didn’t want to. We started looking into adoption and at 38 I fell pregnant. Now have a beautiful boy. I honestly believe it’s because I stopped stressing about it that it happened. X

@Elmoliveshere congrats on your little boy. If you don’t mind me asking how long were you trying for? We have been trying for 6 years and so far not even a hint of pregnancy. The antibiotics were 2 separate ones for 2 sets of bacteria. So overall 4 weeks.

@Elmoliveshere wow you’ve solved infertility 🙄🙄🙄 You should spread your message far and wide that if people just ‘stopped stressing’ their infertility will disappear. I’ve never heard something so moronic.

@Idk12345 that’s disappointing after seeing Dr Ramsey things haven’t improved. Are they seeing a drop after day 3 to indicate a sperm issue still or could there also be egg quality at play? Have you had your prolactin and testosterone etc bloods checked?

if DNA frag is an issue you could consider surgical sperm removal - apparently they can greatly improve quality. You could also try IMSI - better technique than ICSI and Spain also has some advanced sperm sorting techniques that could be worth looking into.

No need to be so cruel and sarcastic to someone who was just sharing her experience.

@ChagSameachDoreen no need to come onto an infertility board and start spouting nonsense about how not stressing cured infertility 🙄

@LAsandkicksup yes they’ve indicated that the drop in day 3 still highlights a sperm issue. They have said egg quality was pretty good. I just feel so frustrated as initially (when first beginning this journey) we were told that morphology can be addressed and if the female has strong egg quality etc it wouldn’t be much of an issue. But here we are 2 failed rounds in and 6 years later.
I’m not sure what prolactin level are?
I had ICSI in turkey this time around. I will enquire if they offer imsi. It is quiet strange as DH dna drag testes as low fragmentation and Mr Ramsey felt that it wouldn’t be such a huge issue…

Dna frag tests*

We tried for 3 years, also had the antibiotics. Were told we would never conceive naturally.

My message wasn’t for you, I also was referring to my situation. Bitter much?

Wow

Oh yes, you were very supportive and kind! Not at all ‘cruel and sarcastic’ you decided my post wasnt valid, at no point suggest that not stressing would cure infertility!?

@Elmoliveshere Saying and I quote it’s because I stopped stressing about it that it happened is untrue and places blame on women that they are not getting pregnant. Stress does not cause infertility - destressing does not cause pregnancy - It’s cruel and reductive to say. Then when someone points that out to smugly say ‘bitter much’ as you have a child after infertility to someone on an infertility board is honestly gobsmacking levels of ignorance. Maybe I should have given you the benefit of the doubt that you are just uneducated and too ignorant to even realise what you said as that certainly is becoming clear.

Nicely edited btw, I think you’ll find I said ‘ I honestly believe it’s because I stopped stressing about it that it happened.’ You have jumped on this and have decided that I’m being offensive to women??? Feel free to continue searching threads for reasons to be offended!

@Elmoliveshere if you honestly believe that then if the OP or any other woman on here stops stressing do you believe she will get pregnant?

I have to say at this point it is clear you are completely clueless, uneducated and ignorant around infertility. How you can’t see throwing out a flippant bitter much and I relaxed and got pregnant is not on on any infertility board is beyond me but some people just lack basic comprehension skills 🙄🙄🙄 I’m sure it’s been super helpful to anyone reading to hear your “advice”

I’m really sorry @Idk12345 for high jacking your thread. We were similar to you in that we were told all ok on female side and male issue have a good chance of success. We had two disasterous rounds before we looked at DNA frag but we also did more extensive testing on me which found that testosterone was low and prolactin high which required medication to correct over 3 months. At this point and after getting DNA frag lowered we had much better outcomes in terms of embryos created. So I would definitely get a more thorough blood panel done for you in case you need some improvement to carry the sperm. Definitely worth discussing surgical sperm removal with Dr Ramsey to see if he think it’s would get better quality sperm and also asking about IMSI as it’s non invasive and better than ICSI. Other techniques your clinic might have are PICSI and MACS sorting so you could ask about all those?

its worth not rushing into another round but taking a bit of time to see if there’s something fixable going on. I know that is hard to do when you just want to dive in again. We also had two rounds with a morula and then no embryos. We ended up with a 9 month break but our 3rd round got us 2 AA embryos so it is possible to see big improvements. There is a post here somewhere on what bloods to do for a clear view of female hormones I will try find it.

There is also a girl who had similar male issues and two bad rounds on instagram before a successful 3 round who has tons of good information on her page. I found it very useful. Username is Amber Izzo

@LAsandkicksup thanks for that info. I will definitely have a look through her instagram. And yes I agree that maybe I should not jump into another round. It’s definitely hard not too. It’s all so unfortunate in that everything is being researched by ourselves and I’ve found clinics are not forthcoming with further tests or solutions unless asked. It’s such a lonely road.