Male factor/conceiving naturally

[secondtimelucky87]

Hi,

Sorry I am a serial poster but honestly had so much support here i keep coming back! ❤️

We are 37f and late forties m with male factor and secondary infertility. Conceived first child naturally but it took 3 years. Now about 1.5 years into TTC unsuccessfully. My AMH is 2.6 pmo/l so it's low. Internal scan was fine (though AFC not checked). My bloods all normal apart from low iron, which I've started taking ferrous sulphate for. Both eat well, moderate exercise, non smokers etc.

I've been thinking long and hard about IVF and I just feel a bit sick at the thought of potentially spending thousands without addressing underlying factors first. We can barely afford the IVF let alone all the extra sperm investigations. So while I was lying awake again last night I started thinking about whether it was worth going straight to an andrologist/urologist and checking DNA frag/infection instead.

Has anyone been through secondary infertility and had success with addressing the male factor before conceiving naturally again? Under no illusions it'll be cheaper but it certainly seems cheaper than the £7000 odd IVF/ICSI would cost us in London.

Very happy to be corrected as I'm no professional but it's something I'm keen to explore to maybe avoid a lot of wasted money, time and disappointment. My mental health is suffering so much I'm conscious of trying to make the best decision.

Thank you 😊

A little bump. And also if anyone has recommendations of specialists they've been to in London please let me know 🙏

Can’t answer your first post @secondtimelucky87 but re your second, Jonathan Ramsay is very well respected. There’s loads of info on his website and his PA is super efficient and helpful. Good luck!

Thank you 😊 Yes I've read about him a lot. I will get in touch with that clinic.

Hi @bubu24 thanks for your message. Attached a picture of the supplements he's on. I spoke to Andrology Solutions today and they sounded great but were very honest and advised us to wait 3 months to go in for repeat SA and consultation as a recent minor illness may make it difficult to interpet the results (he had a high temp). It makes a lot of sense and I'm grateful they told us this. I guess in the grand scheme of things December isn't too far away. Will see what the specialist advises but I imagine as an absolute bare minimum we'd need to do the DNA frag. No smoking, healthy Mediterranean diet, little alcohol and little caffeine already. Also make us both a smoothie every morning with berries, Spinach, ground nuts, etc.

It's probably unlikely but I'm kind of holding out hope we could conceive naturally again once we've addressed these underlying causes. Will see what we're advised come December though and go from there.

Picture actually attached now