Dealing with azoospermia?

[silverbell]

this has a higher success rate... I've been forced into ivf by my clinic as they said my amh is low at 17.4 and being nhs I can't really argue with them as they're doing it for free.... I'm miffed I can't have iui first still now after over a month of being told!

What the heck?! My AMH was given to me this Monday at a very low (for my age) 5.76 pmol/L and they're still happy with a low-medicated IUI ... I'm very confused? Unless it's different units they're measuring with?? A form that came with my results stated 7.0 to 19.9 pmol/L was normal.

These clinics are all so different - I just don't understand it all!

As for me - I was starting to get excited about things starting to move along but then we got a call today from the fertility center letting us know that our insurance will not cover anything if we go along with a donor backup.

I can't believe this, rae. Absolutely shocking. Why on earth shouldn't they cover you if you use donor backup? It's just heartbreaking Thinking of you and hoping things work out

 

[SunUp]

I don't understand why donor sperm isn't covered.
Insurance covers teens who get pregnant... yet when it comes to those who are responsible and ready to parent, they won't help.

 

[wibble wobble]

this has a higher success rate... I've been forced into ivf by my clinic as they said my amh is low at 17.4 and being nhs I can't really argue with them as they're doing it for free.... I'm miffed I can't have iui first still now after over a month of being told!

What the heck?! My AMH was given to me this Monday at a very low (for my age) 5.76 pmol/L and they're still happy with a low-medicated IUI ... I'm very confused? Unless it's different units they're measuring with?? A form that came with my results stated 7.0 to 19.9 pmol/L was normal.

These clinics are all so different - I just don't understand it all!

I got told that under 15 is considered low 15 to 28 is normal (so I'm at the low end of normal)28 to 48 is excellent https://www.drmalpani.com/amh.htm that page goes into some detail about AMH

 

[raelynn]

I don't understand why donor sperm isn't covered.
Insurance covers teens who get pregnant... yet when it comes to those who are responsible and ready to parent, they won't help.

Exactly! Had a talk with my sister tonight and told her all our current options and pricing of everything and she said she wished everyone had to deal with these costs to have a baby...then there wouldn't be as many unwanted and accidental pregnancies and you could be sure those who had a baby really wanted it.

 

[Pink Lolly]

this has a higher success rate... I've been forced into ivf by my clinic as they said my amh is low at 17.4 and being nhs I can't really argue with them as they're doing it for free.... I'm miffed I can't have iui first still now after over a month of being told!

What the heck?! My AMH was given to me this Monday at a very low (for my age) 5.76 pmol/L and they're still happy with a low-medicated IUI ... I'm very confused? Unless it's different units they're measuring with?? A form that came with my results stated 7.0 to 19.9 pmol/L was normal.

These clinics are all so different - I just don't understand it all!

I got told that under 15 is considered low 15 to 28 is normal (so I'm at the low end of normal)28 to 48 is excellent https://www.drmalpani.com/amh.htm that page goes into some detail about AMH

My AMH is 21 and I was told that anything from 9 (I think) to 25 was normal, so they classed me as the high end of normal. I can only think different clinics have different opinions

 

[Pink Lolly]

SND - so sorry you received bad news at the HSG, but at least one tube is OK and like Deb said you can have scans to check which sides the follies are on, and although its a pain it will mean you can check before inesmination. Take some time to take it all in and as the others have said you will get through it - us Azoo ladies always do

Rae - so sorry about the insurance - that sucks big time

 

[Pink Lolly]

Just got my results and I haven't got a clue what they mean, I only spoke to the receptionist:
Eastro 358
Progesterone 14.4
LH 6.6
Fsh 5.3

If anyone can help I'd be grateful. Oh ya, it was day 19 as it fell on a weekend.

Hey gals can any of you help me out?

I was told for day 21 progesterone needs to be over 30 nmol to suggest ovulation has occurred but as your test was early in will be a little inaccurate,they can also give you clomid to help with ovulation if they think you have a problem

I was told the same - over 30 on day 21 (or equivalent) confirms ovulation. Its very hard to time it right though. I used the cbfm bit will still a day out and mine came back 29, which they were happy with x

 

[Sar187]

Rae-Insurance sucks! we had an awful time with ours. However something to check in to would be whether the insurance company is refusing to cover just the IVF cycle or both the IVF cycle and the TESE/mTESE. for instance our insurance company has a $10,000 lifetime maximum for Infertility Treatments, which both us and the fertility clinic were of the understanding was a per policy maximum. Near the end of our first cycle we actually found out this was a per person maximum. This meant that DH's TESE surgery was covered under a separate $10,000 maximum from the rest of our IVF cycle. Also if you haven't already it doesn't hurt to get a copy of the Full explanation of benefits, this will describe in detail what is covered and what is excluded. The insurance company or HR department at the employer the insurance is through should be able to provide this. Determine whether the fertility drugs will be covered under your medical insurance or a separate prescription insurance. Ours was separate so we had a whole other $10,000 max from our prescription insurance for fertility drugs, This helped out a whole lot. Find out whether the clinic is including monitoring in your IVF quote, a lot of time insurance companies cover this differently from the actual egg retrieval and embryo transfer procedures and don't count it as actual infertility treatment, our monitoring was covered as regular medical and not as Infertility. I would question whether your insurance company covers donor sperm at all or if they simply are refusing to cover a cycle that is trying to both retrieve and use a donor backup. If the 2nd is the case you may be able to appeal their decision not to cover you due to the azoospermia diagnosis.

Another great resource is fertilitylifelines.com, there is a lot of good information on the website as well as a phone #1-866-LETS-TRY (1-866-538-7879) that you can call and they will help verify your insurance benefits. Good luck!

 

[raelynn]

Thanks Sar! Luckily, our fertility center has an excellent financial counselor and she has been doing all the leg work for us with the insurance company. Unfortunately, we have to wait to hear specifics from her until Monday or Tuesday. I did get a copy of our policy and donor sperm is not covered at all and it also states that IVF is only covered with the use of hubby's sperm. We were already told the meds are covered under our prescription drug program instead of through infertility coverage so that will be separate.

After much discussion, hubby and I came up with a plan that I think we can both be comfortable with (it may all change if the financial counselor gives us different info) but for now, we are planning to have TESE done first and freeze anything they find (our urologist told us they could do this when we went to see him). Micro TESE is not covered at all by insurance (urologist told us that outright) so hubby just wants to go with TESE unless we have a large sum of money dropped in our laps. This way, TESE will be covered by insurance and we won't have to go into an IVF cycle with no backup and a chance of having no sperm at the end. If they find sperm during the TESE, great, then we freeze it and do IVF with what we freeze. If no sperm is found, we're assuming we can drop down to IUI with donor since I just have PCOS and IVF was only because of hubby. IUI would be a much more affordable option for us since it would be completely out-of-pocket once we switch to a donor.

 

[Deb111]

Sounds like a good plan Raelynn xx

 

[deafgal01]

Rae- that sounds like a very good ideal plan for you and your husband. I wish you best of luck. Good luck Hope they find sperms to use in ivf.

 

[cosita]

Hi girls,

I have a question about hsg. I just called this morning to get appt (af finished yesterday) today is cd6. they gave me appt for next tuesday which will be cd14. Is this too late? I o around cd 15-16 and my cycle is about 27 days. Im not sure if i read somewhere the test is better if its early cos the lining is thin. Should I reschedule? The lady on the phone works in xray, so shes not a fertility expert, she just asked me had my period finished and when.
Thanks girls

 

[silverbell]

Cosita - I imagine everywhere's different but I was told it needed to be between days 7 and 14 ideally.

They didn't look at the lining when I had my scan - it was purely to check the organs - the uterus shape and size, the tubes and whether the dye flowed freely out of both tubes at the ends.

I hope this helps

 

[MoBaby]

cosita: i do the hsgs at our radiology practice and we say ideally cd 7-10 but up to cd14 is ok....but no unprotected sex b/c they will cancel if so. the lining desnt matterr. you cant measure the lining on hsg. it only checks the uterus and tubes for any uterine abnormalities/blocked tubes/tube issues.

 

[SunUp]

Rae- that sounds like a good plan

SND, how are things?

Cosita, good luck with the HSG

 

[Luvoboe]

I hope everyone doesn't mind me just jumping in the middle of things.
I just wanted snd to know that I totally know how she feels. I don't ovulate regularly at all and I need to lose about 50 pounds in order to have a healthy pregnancy. Even if my husband gets better on the new medicine, we will still have to wait for me to lose weight. I'm 10 pounds down so I guess that just leaves 40 but that's still a lot! I also feel the percentage that you got was very low. I hope that you feel better soon. There's still a possibility.
Rae that does sound like a good plan. I too wish that this wasn't such a big money business. It should always be covered by insurance. It's a health problem isn't that what health insurance is for!!? I'm worried also about what we're going to do if we have to do ivf. We only have a $10,000 lifetime limit and we all know how far that goes.
For me, our second urologist appointment is coming up next week! He will go on Monday to give a semen sample and get bloods drawn. Then the next week on Thursday is when we get the results. Sigh... Let's see how that goes... I can tell you that I probably won't be sleeping well for the next two weeks.

 

[snd80]

Hey girls... sorry I haven't been on since Fri, but I have been crazy busy at work on top of trying to get all this shit sorted out.... here's what the deal is so far:

I called my dr. Fri and told them to get on the ball of what could be done next concerning my "dead" side.... she called me back that afternoon and said they were faxing the results to Jackson and letting the specialist look at them and let him decide what to do... great. (rolls eyes) So, she calls back this morning and says that they can monitor them by u/s month to month and keep an eye on the "good" one. Have to contact them the day of CD1 so they can set scan up on CD14 of each month, at a whopping $250 a pop I might add! Whatever! Like I told her, plan A isn't an option anymore, this is my plan B, and plan C (IVF) isn't financially feasable, so this is all I've got! So it is hurdle after hurdle.... Freaking redicilous! I mean as if it hasn't been a crappy road to this point to now add this?! *sigh*

Now that my "rant" is over, how is everyone else?! And I just wanna add that I am so glad to have you all as concerned friends! IDK what I would do w/out this support group!!!

 

[snd80]

Oh, on a "better" note, I have lost 2 lbs since 2/14! Guess that is a plus! But I have also been going to the gym twice a day about 4-5 times a week too...

 

[Deb111]

Well done on the weight loss hun!

I know the money each month is a huge pain, but at least it will stop a wasted cycle xx

 

[Pink Lolly]

Glad you've got a plan snd

Great news on the weight loss! Xx