Sperm DNA fragmentation testing

[Muddysocks1]

Has anyone had this done? If so, what happened/was it worth it?
Has anyone been direct to Prof Jonathan Ramsey for testing?

Ive read a lot into the debate of whether it’s worth it. Part of the argument is about lack of evidence (although that’s largely because it’s so difficult to gather) and also because it might not change the treatment plan. But it seems valuable info and might be due to something treatable. So asking for experiences if you’ve done it rather than opinions on why not to if you haven’t 😊

We tested for this and I think it made a difference. Prior to testing, I was having miscarriages as well embryos dropping off after day 3. I had my daughter from the round where we treated DNA fragmentation. The treatment plan for my husband was lifestyle changes and he was very strict on his diet but the changes in his results were very impressive. Depending, on what the fragmentation is like, the doctor will suggest different things. We didn't see Dr Ramsey as he was off at the time but saw his colleague Dr Tet Yap, who was great (and went direct to them to book).

Is treatment lifestyle only normally do you know? This is what I thought so it's out me off as my partner lives like a saint and normal seman analysis was ok x

No, it can be caused by other factors too such as an infection, hormone levels, variocoele veins etc and the treatment for these will be different.

I think it’s incredibly important. We were ‘unexplained’ for years. Husband sperm was tested with the bog standard usual tests and usual normal dna frag and it came back all ok. Four miscarriages, three failed ivf rounds where plenty of eggs were collected, fertilised but failed on day 3 we had a consultation with Lynne Chapman. She was the first person to ever really look at my information and medical history. She recommended the ‘comet’ / extend frag test which showed that only 12% of my husband sperm was normal, the rest was damaged. The ivf I went through would never have worked as it was too general and focused as if the problem was me, rather than addressing the sperm damage. We managed by some miracle to get pregnant natural and I’m now 28 weeks but that was through at home AI and my husband having to keep his produce extremely fresh when we tried (13 times in 5 days) as from what we were told this could help and it did! We had all our tests completed via fertility solutions which is linked to dr Ramsey. We would have booked an apt with him had we not caught naturally!

By keeping it fresh do you mean doing it loads so it's always new fresh sperm?

yeah- he was doing it twice/three times a day. We used AI at home tho because by this point if felt I had taken on so much of the fertility burden - I outsourced the work to him and he just inseminated me. I’m sorry I don’t know how else to write it 🤣 it wasn’t romantic but after the rollercoaster of miscarriage and ivf I just needed him to step up more and couldn’t face a load of sex.

Haha don't worry we've been through enough to worry about being graphic haha! Hmm, I did wonder whether it's better to be fresh or built up over a day or 2 (for speed or whatever) . It seems quite hard to get DNA frag tests and everything has just been pinned on my eggs so far being 37 with DOR. We will have to see what my eggs are like when we get IVF and go from there x

Thanks for the replies!!

@Hatchyhatch that’s amazing you fell pregnant that way! I’m considering some home insemination because it just becomes a chore after so long.

I had high levels of ureaplasma which was treated (although not retested), and DH has prostatitis before, so perhaps if he did have high dna frag it could be treatable? But who knows! I might see how this cycle goes and if not pregnant we’ll look at getting him tested. We’re on cycle 3 out of 6 of letrozole and I imagine IVF is next up, so want to maximise our chances with our funded nhs cycle