Dealing with azoospermia?

[bubumaci]

Good luck, Tulip

 

[arzoo]

Good luck Tulip.

Congrats Sharon.

Gem how are you ?

Deb: What have you decided about your cycle?

 

[tulip11]

Today I have been told that my egg reserve is 9.1 slightly lowered at age of 27 . Feeling so stressed but according to my knowledge for egg reserve test they call you on some specific day of cycle for blood test but I didn't know that they did it and they even didn't call me on any specific day of my cycle. They just drawn the blood what I remember and didn't tell me that they will do egg reserve test and today they told me it's 9.1 slightly lowered at 27 age.

 

[bubumaci]

I'm sorry, I have no idea about ovarian reserve, the numbers and when what should be tested ... I remember when I first got myself tested, the oestrogen test had to be on a certain day of my cycle and the progesterone test a certain day after ovulation ... Maybe you can ring and ask for more specific information? And if they say "slightly lowered", then that doesn't sound too bad

 

[shazney22]

Hi,

My OH has 0 sperm count and this condition. I have so many emotions going through my head, has anyone did donor sperm artifically or in the clinic? what is more successful? I have no idea where to start moving forward with this other than crying my eyes out a lot. I am trying to come to a decision but I am struggling to as all these what if questions are appearing all the time. Any advice would be of great help.

 

[bubumaci]

Hi Shazney - first off, I am sorry that you have had to join the Azoo train This is a great group of women though, so I am sure you will find the support you need
I am wondering whether or not it has been diagnosed as being obstructive or non-obstructive Azoospermia in your case. Would you DH consider have a scrotal biopsy done to find out, whether or not he does perhaps produce them, but not ejaculate them? There are several couples who are able to have biological children (together with ICSI) where sperm is retrieved through a TESE procedure (or have you already been down that route?).
I'm afraid I cannot give any advice concerning donor sperm - we ended up not having to go there. Although I have read about lesbian couples purchasing donor sperm, inserting the sperm when ovulating and becoming pregnant. And of course many couples who go the route of IUI with donor sperm and also are successful.

It is a very tough diagnosis to be faced with and I am sending you hugs and strength. And do cry your eyes out and allow yourself to grieve. The concept of not being able to have biological children with your partner is not easy to reconcile with and is, in its own way, a loss that needs to be grieved before moving on with the next steps.

 

[shazney22]

Hi Shazney - first off, I am sorry that you have had to join the Azoo train This is a great group of women though, so I am sure you will find the support you need
I am wondering whether or not it has been diagnosed as being obstructive or non-obstructive Azoospermia in your case. Would you DH consider have a scrotal biopsy done to find out, whether or not he does perhaps produce them, but not ejaculate them? There are several couples who are able to have biological children (together with ICSI) where sperm is retrieved through a TESE procedure (or have you already been down that route?).
I'm afraid I cannot give any advice concerning donor sperm - we ended up not having to go there. Although I have read about lesbian couples purchasing donor sperm, inserting the sperm when ovulating and becoming pregnant. And of course many couples who go the route of IUI with donor sperm and also are successful.

It is a very tough diagnosis to be faced with and I am sending you hugs and strength. And do cry your eyes out and allow yourself to grieve. The concept of not being able to have biological children with your partner is not easy to reconcile with and is, in its own way, a loss that needs to be grieved before moving on with the next steps.

Thanks for the support, we dont know what type it is, he is being very stubborn as doesnt wanna spend any money on finding out on what is going on or even see the urilogist which only leaves us with the donor sperm route really. It is coming to the point where I can really see us split up over this issue and if it does come to that I am going to feel like an awful person

 

[raelynn]

Shazney - First of all, I am so sorry that you have to deal with this diagnosis. I don't think any of us expected this and it does hit you like a ton of bricks. Definitely take time to grieve because it is so hard and unfair.

We have had success with donor sperm. I have an almost 18-month-old daughter and am currently pregnant again with the same donor. It took us a while to get here. We tried IVF first after a successful TESE but lost the baby and decided donor sperm was the route for us. I wouldn't change a thing now looking back. I won't lie, it was very hard leading up to this point but once we held my daughter we knew it was all worth it. We love her to death and her and her daddy are super close. You can certainly PM me if you have any questions but I wanted you to know that you can have a happy ending even in the midst of this azoospermia tragedy.

 

[bubumaci]

Raelynn - congratulations on your second BFP

Shazney - it is an incredible difficult diagnosis for us to come to terms with - but I think it is even harder for our men. I remember, DH really didn't want to even get a spermiogramme and kept postponing and postponing. Somehow, I think women are able to cope a bit better with this kind of thing (we are used to going to the gynaecologist etc. etc.) - men are suddenly threatened in their manhood...
Perhaps he just needs some time? Can you find out what the insurance covers - maybe a visit to the urologist would be covered, so it wouldn't cost him / you money to have a first consultation and see whether it is obstructive or not. If obstructive, there would be a good chance of some kind of remedy that would result in getting sperm from him. Or is he even generally against then doing IVF, if you could harvest sperm from him?

How important is having biological children to him? Would he be OK with the donor sperm route? Might I ask what ages you are?
With my DH, I think the older he got, the clearer it was for him that he did want to become a Father and at some point, he even did start considering donor sperm when we went through try after try after try (in the end, he is the biological Daddy, but it really was time, that started changing his mind about things).

One thing that is a definite - any type of infertility struggle is a huge strain on the partnership. You do need to get through it together. Many relationships are strengthened by the struggle ... but there are some, where the strain is just too much. I hope for you, that you find the strength to face and get through the struggles together!

 

[shazney22]

Raelynn - congratulations on your second BFP

Shazney - it is an incredible difficult diagnosis for us to come to terms with - but I think it is even harder for our men. I remember, DH really didn't want to even get a spermiogramme and kept postponing and postponing. Somehow, I think women are able to cope a bit better with this kind of thing (we are used to going to the gynaecologist etc. etc.) - men are suddenly threatened in their manhood...
Perhaps he just needs some time? Can you find out what the insurance covers - maybe a visit to the urologist would be covered, so it wouldn't cost him / you money to have a first consultation and see whether it is obstructive or not. If obstructive, there would be a good chance of some kind of remedy that would result in getting sperm from him. Or is he even generally against then doing IVF, if you could harvest sperm from him?

How important is having biological children to him? Would he be OK with the donor sperm route? Might I ask what ages you are?
With my DH, I think the older he got, the clearer it was for him that he did want to become a Father and at some point, he even did start considering donor sperm when we went through try after try after try (in the end, he is the biological Daddy, but it really was time, that started changing his mind about things).

One thing that is a definite - any type of infertility struggle is a huge strain on the partnership. You do need to get through it together. Many relationships are strengthened by the struggle ... but there are some, where the strain is just too much. I hope for you, that you find the strength to face and get through the struggles together!

Hi, I am 27, he is 34. To be honest I think he would rather have his own biological child but I would be happy to go through donor sperm and he says he is okay with this but he is just feeling scared after that diagnosis and I feel like I have to push him to go for more tests I am not wanting us to rush into anything but with us getting older we are both starting to worry. How do they do define if it is obstructive or not? I do feel we both need time to get our head round things.

 

[MoBaby]

He will need blood test and a testicular biopsy to determine cause if one can be found. Sorry about the diagnosis we don't know if my dh is obstructive vs non.

 

[shazney22]

Thanks for the reply how come they dont know what kind your dh azoospermia is Mobaby?

 

[deafgal01]

Checkin in. How is everyone doing?

 

[MoBaby]

shazney: We havent underwent a testicular biopsy. DH is able to squeeze out just enough sperm for ICSI, He usually has around 15-100 per sample. Since he makes enough for them to use we decided not to do the biopsy/mTESE. DH has had 2 previous testicular surgeries- one for testicular torsion on one side and one for a hernia repair on the other side. We are worried a third surgery will make it even worse. We believe he has a blockage but unfortunately the urologist we were with was a total jerk to us and we decided he wasnt touching DH. And the bad part is that dr is the only reproductive urologist around within a 2 hour drive. The other clinic in town uses a different urology practice but they only do punch testicular biopsies (TESE) and that can be a less successful than the mTese. But that group can't do the TESE for the RE clinic I am with because the clinic I am with is hospital based and the urology practice has privileges at a different hospital system. The other RE clinic we went to is private based so can use whoever they want to. I hope that all made sense! I have a consult on Thursday for baby #2 and we are going to ask if there is another urology group that can be recommended because we refuse to use the special urologist recommended. Sorry that was a long explanation! We really need a dr who is going to do the proper work-up instead of being money hungry like the jerk urologist. He told us that DH needs the mTESE and it is $7000 up front since his insurance at the time would not pay and he would not schedule us until we had the money paid. We were never offered a testicular ultrasound. Bloodwork shows mildly increased Fsh and LH for DH. Genetics and chromosomes are completely normal. Everything is more consistent with a blockage than non-obstructive but we really dont know for sure.

 

[Deb111]

Hi girls

Yet again - frustrated that I dont seem to have a minute to catch up on everyones news but will do soon I promise.

Just wanted to pop on and let you know I've started sniffing today! Aiming for EC beg of December! Xx

 

[MoBaby]

Hey all! I've had a consult to TTC #2! Looks like we are good to start testing with my next AF so I will have a baseline ultrasound, all labs (AMH, FHS, estradiol, etc) and a saline ultrasound and start birthcontrol. I am not sure if I am starting BCP on CD3 or if I have to wait until decembers AF. I am hoping I can start BCP with AF starting Nov 29th so I can start stims in early Jan. If not the end of Jan. Our only hurdle will be DH providing enough sperm to fertilize eggs. If all else fails they will fertilize what they can and freeze the rest of the eggs. So here we go again. DS is just about 8 months old so we are hoping to be pregnant by the time he is a year I am doing a short protocol so no down regulation. Just BCP to AF to stims. I am doing the microdose lupron flare protocol. Its an aggressive protocol used for poor responders. I am not a poor responder but for some reason I do much better on a higher dose of stims and a more aggressive protocol despite normal AMH, FSH and antral follicles. My family has a history of premature ovarian failure in mid to late 30's so I wonder if that has something to do with it. I think we had 19 mature eggs from my last cycle using this protocol. Unfortunately we used all our frosties getting my DS so we are starting all over

Deb: How exciting!!! FX for you. Is your DH going for a biopsy again?

 

[rdleela]

Best of luck, Deb and MoBaby!

 

[bubumaci]

ooohhhh ... good luck

 

[shazney22]

Hi ladies how is everyone? Thats my OH booked in for a consultation with a urologist so will just take it one step at a time its all we can do.

 

[Deb111]

Cycle not going well. Not really responding to stimming. Only 1 decent follicle after 5 days of injecting. Apparently a few other insignificant ones which they are hoping will grow. We werent expecting many ... but 1??