Dealing with azoospermia?

[Rainbow123]

Hope your appointment goes well tomorrow MoBaby
XXX

 

[Mikihob]

mikihob: the low sex drive is probably due to low testosterone. Hopefully the urologist can fix it easily with some injections (not testosterone though). Did they check that? I just see in your sig LH/FSH/Prolactin. If its just low testosterone its usually an easy fix (HCG injections alone or paired with other meds). I hope the urologist has some answers!

HI MoBaby..it's def the testosterone. Ever since stopping it the sex drive has gone COMPLETELY. I had talked to my doc about HCG but we hadn't been given the option. I think when we are in with the urologist we will ask about the sex drive and see if he has any options available. Being in Alaska, there are tons of things that we cannot do or don't have access to. It's pretty lame. Thanks for advice. I hadn't even thought of asking the urologist.

 

[MoBaby]

So your husband took testosterone supplement?

IF this is the case then this is why he has no sperm and HCG injections almost always restores spermatogenesis in this population. Ask about the HCG shots for sure. Testosterone supplements makes the body think it is producing it and it shuts down the factory completely. Its like birth control for men. And then the HCG helps the men to restore what the testosterone did.

 

[Mikihob]

So your husband took testosterone supplement?

IF this is the case then this is why he has no sperm and HCG injections almost always restores spermatogenesis in this population. Ask about the HCG shots for sure. Testosterone supplements makes the body think it is producing it and it shuts down the factory completely. Its like birth control for men. And then the HCG helps the men to restore what the testosterone did.

Yes. He took testosterone injections for about three years. We stopped them in November of 2012 because we were informed they were the cause of the zero sperm. I will def ask about HCG. I appreciate your advice.

 

[MadCatLady]

Aarghh I finally get DH to agree to talk to some other men in same position (as we do here!) but I can't find any forums that have anyone posting anywhere near recently! Anyone know of any?

 

[MoBaby]

Hcg will fix your problems! My re just told me and dh if his problems were just due to testosterone injections then he could fix him easily. Re said these patients almost always have sperm restored to normal. They are the cause of zero sperm but if the dr doesn't give anything to restart the production than he will keep having none.

 

[MrsG30]

hows everyone doing???
how ur app go mobaby? xxx

 

[deafgal01]

I had a couple rough past two days. The clinic I visited last year is not seeing me until June 20th and could not give info over the phone regarding protocols I need to know for proceeding with a known donor. So I called a different fertility clinic, they can see me June 3rd so I am going to see what they say. Apparently if we use known donor, they follow protocols, one of which is freeze sample for 6 months and checking how it does when it thaws out after that point. I understand they have to follow rules and stuff but it is my own choice whether to take such a risk with fresh, is it not? I am hoping I go in June 3 and find they will do fresh sample if I sign a waiver or something as long I permit them to still follow the protocols of freezing whatever sample is left (that is if the sa says friend's production is fine). Otherwise I face a possible "postponing" of iui treatment, not because of money which I have saved enough of.

Thank God I have counseling session on June 3rd.

 

[MrsG30]

DEAFGAL- Sorry you had a few bad days.
Our clinic told me from outset that if we use known donor they had to have the routine tests a normal "unknown" donor would, when i protested to the whole 6 month quantine thing they said they will allow us to stipulate that we are happy for some tests not to be done but the freeze and thaw process would have to go ahead and that would take about 4 month instead of the standard 6-8.I was tolf fresh is a no go for IUI as thy only administer washed sperm for IUI. Sorry you werent told this earlier.

Everything just takes sooooooooooooo long. xxxx

I had a couple rough past two days. The clinic I visited last year is not seeing me until June 20th and could not give info over the phone regarding protocols I need to know for proceeding with a known donor. So I called a different fertility clinic, they can see me June 3rd so I am going to see what they say. Apparently if we use known donor, they follow protocols, one of which is freeze sample for 6 months and checking how it does when it thaws out after that point. I understand they have to follow rules and stuff but it is my own choice whether to take such a risk with fresh, is it not? I am hoping I go in June 3 and find they will do fresh sample if I sign a waiver or something as long I permit them to still follow the protocols of freezing whatever sample is left (that is if the sa says friend's production is fine). Otherwise I face a possible "postponing" of iui treatment, not because of money which I have saved enough of.

Thank God I have counseling session on June 3rd.

 

[MoBaby]

hows everyone doing???
how ur app go mobaby? xxx

Hey Thanks for asking!

I think for now we are going to do the FET with my current RE. Even though we had said we were going to go with the new RE we met and do IVF/ICSI/TESE/PGS, after talking to my RE yesterday, whom I adore and trust his opinion 100%, we decided its best to use the 2 frosties first. My RE is going to do a hysteroscopy on June 10thish to make sure everything is okay in there and then do an endometrial scratch biopsy which when done the cycle before has shown to greatly improve the outcome in patients with multiple failed cycles. We would transfer 2 blasts this time (only have 2 left ) and pray for a positive.
I was so frustrated with the clinic when I called last time that the RE nurse thought I was mad at her or something! I feel bad.

The new RE drew some miscarriage blood work and genetic testing which I am still waiting for. Should have that back very soon (next week or so). So if that shows anything I will show my current RE and we can go from there with the FET. DH is supposed to have SA with them in 2.5 weeks so he will probably do that to see if the meds have helped at all (it really takes 3 months to see a difference but should see some action at 1). If no change then we stop the meds. If so DH will stay on them until we are pg or move on to DIUI.

I spoke to another RE tonight (one of DH friend's fathers) and he said my current RE is an excellent RE. He also said that if we do a full IVF cycle to have DH evaluated by an andrologist to see if any solution and also to see if the sperm is why we have chemicals/miscarriages. Apparently the andrologists can do special tests to see those types of things. So I may have DH call one that this RE recommended. This RE feels 100% its a sperm quality issue and not my eggs or me. DH is open to DIUI now so IDK...Its a cheaper option for sure but I think we would see the andrologist first before deciding that 100%.

 

[MrsG30]

Mo
all sounds very promising and good you have a plan in place xxx

hows everyone doing???
how ur app go mobaby? xxx

Hey Thanks for asking!

I think for now we are going to do the FET with my current RE. Even though we had said we were going to go with the new RE we met and do IVF/ICSI/TESE/PGS, after talking to my RE yesterday, whom I adore and trust his opinion 100%, we decided its best to use the 2 frosties first. My RE is going to do a hysteroscopy on June 10thish to make sure everything is okay in there and then do an endometrial scratch biopsy which when done the cycle before has shown to greatly improve the outcome in patients with multiple failed cycles. We would transfer 2 blasts this time (only have 2 left ) and pray for a positive.
I was so frustrated with the clinic when I called last time that the RE nurse thought I was mad at her or something! I feel bad.

The new RE drew some miscarriage blood work and genetic testing which I am still waiting for. Should have that back very soon (next week or so). So if that shows anything I will show my current RE and we can go from there with the FET. DH is supposed to have SA with them in 2.5 weeks so he will probably do that to see if the meds have helped at all (it really takes 3 months to see a difference but should see some action at 1). If no change then we stop the meds. If so DH will stay on them until we are pg or move on to DIUI.

I spoke to another RE tonight (one of DH friend's fathers) and he said my current RE is an excellent RE. He also said that if we do a full IVF cycle to have DH evaluated by an andrologist to see if any solution and also to see if the sperm is why we have chemicals/miscarriages. Apparently the andrologists can do special tests to see those types of things. So I may have DH call one that this RE recommended. This RE feels 100% its a sperm quality issue and not my eggs or me. DH is open to DIUI now so IDK...Its a cheaper option for sure but I think we would see the andrologist first before deciding that 100%.

 

[Rainbow123]

Does anyone know whether when they do mTESE on the NHS they will use any sperm they find straight away in ICSI, or do they freeze it and then use those that survive in ICSI when they thaw them? Just trying to figure out what the options will be once we get our urologist appointment in what feels like a million years time!

 

[MrsG30]

They don't freeze it hun, apparently its very rarely good enough to freeze, our urlogist said only 3 couples in 30 year career he has seen. They run the MTESE with a fresh cycle of ICSI. If they get more than 1 to fertilize then they will freeze the remaining embryo's but nothing else. xxx
They like you to have your back up in place incase its not a success.

Does anyone know whether when they do mTESE on the NHS they will use any sperm they find straight away in ICSI, or do they freeze it and then use those that survive in ICSI when they thaw them? Just trying to figure out what the options will be once we get our urologist appointment in what feels like a million years time!

 

[MrsMo]

They don't freeze it hun, apparently its very rarely good enough to freeze, our urlogist said only 3 couples in 30 year career he has seen. They run the MTESE with a fresh cycle of ICSI. If they get more than 1 to fertilize then they will freeze the remaining embryo's but nothing else. xxx
They like you to have your back up in place incase its not a success.

When we had mTese the plan was to freeze anything they found (this was not NHS). We were never told to get back up in place as the mTese was to find out if there was any sperm and we hoped we wouldn't need DS if it went well. It's a pretty expensive thing to have donor sperm ready just in case as we've now spent about £2000 on sperm. We were never told that chances of frozen/defrosted sperm working were so low. Maybe it doesn't matter having DS ready on NHS, maybe have different stock which isn't wasted if not used but ours is not returnable.

 

[BrandyRelax]

Hi All,

Just got back from the urologist today.

My hubby's been on HCG for a month, 3000 IUI, 3 times per week. (and super expensive, I might add)

The bloodtest results were encouraging - LH and FSH were significantly lower (although, the doctor didn't comment if it was for sure in the normal range), and testosterone was higher (previously he was on the low end of normal for testosterone).

I want to say FSH was 14 and LH was 4... where it used to be 39 and 24 (or something like that (sorry the numbers aren't more accurate).

Next week he'll go for a semen analysis, and if things show up, I'll update.

Brandy

 

[Hopeful Cat]

Good luck Brandy. Hope it's good news at the next SA

 

[Chickensoup85]

Good luck Brandy!

When my husband had his mTESE done, I asked about whether a fresh cycle with donor back up was a better idea and he said no (this wasn't on the nhs). I then asked about the sperm being less likely to fertilise and he didn't seem to think it would make a difference as they would only freeze any of good enough quality to fertilise after freezing anyway.

In hindsight, I was asking the wrong questions as I didn't ask the likelihood of the sperm actually surviving the thaw and it's only just occurred to me that, had they found sperm which would have been good enough to fertilise but not freeze, we would have lost out big time. (We were exceptionally lucky, they did find enough motile sperm to freeze 5 straws.)

Everything is such a gamble with this awful diagnosis.

This is just my experience though and, although we started with the same urologist on the nhs, we moved over to his private practise as we were too young for funding.

 

[Mercury1]

Hi,

Haven't been here in ages, but really feel for you all. It's a hideous journey, and I've been very lucky - details in my signature.

Just wanted to say to Rainbow - the NHS won't do ICSI with fresh sperm from an mTESE as means having his surgery synchronised with your egg collection. Mr Ramsay explained that this is difficult to arrange, as EC is unpredictable, and you need to have a urologist who can be on standby to operate which the NHS can't accommodate. Especially as there is no evidence that fresh is better than frozen (but there's no evidence that it's not either). Our options were either mTESE on the NHS with anything found being frozen and used when we got to the top of the IVF waiting list, or a private synchronised cycle. It's possible that freezing then thawing acts as a 'natural selection' in that anything that doesn't survive the thaw wouldn't have made a baby anyway. Personally, I felt that this may be true for sperm from ejaculate, but if immature testicular sperm was found then maybe this wouldn't apply. I do know if people who've had success with frozen though, so a very personal choice!

Good luck on all your journeys.

 

[MrsG30]

all

I've just spoken to our FC, esp after all our responses differ, I've been told if my hubby has MTESE on NHS it will coincide with a fresh ICSI cycle, this is on the NHS in the North east, he did say diff clinics use diff procedures he said he wouldn't do a MTESE without a ICSI cycle as any male with "low" or "on the low" side testosterone (which my hubby has) he wouldn't like to repeat the surgery as it can cause this to lower and cause further problems, so there is no way hes going in just "for a look" as he put it. Again he told me the chances of immature sperm surviving the thaw or so minimal he strongly suggests not to chance it.

Now im very confused?!?!?!? why cant all places do the same thing xxx

 

[Dancergirl]

Well, here I am again. I was part of this forum in the past and was blessed with my miracle child thru IUI using donor sperm. Now I find myself starting the process all over again as we try to #2. Anyone else here using donor sperm? And no, I didn't go thru all the previous posts, too many to look thru. I am not sure if I am ready to start the emotional roller coaster that infertility brings.