Success stories with Male Factor Infertility

[rachy28]

Ive been trying to get my hands on Tribulus for dh as its steroidal and supposedly helps with antisperm antibodies. Problem is, it was banned here in the uk in 2012 just before the Olympics so im really struggling to get my hands on it. He needs 3x 500mg a day.

 

[BBbliss]

Rachy, I didn't know that. What if you buy it from that link I posted and have it shipped? Will they open your box to inspect what's in it? I hope they deliver in the UK. Let me know. Good luck

My DF was very consistent with the tribulus

 

[rachy28]

Im not sure, im thinking customs will open it and confiscate them, im sure ill find a uk supplier with a bit of digging. What dosage does ur dh take?

 

[Briss]

rachy, I've been buying Tribulus from H&B, I did not even know about the ban...
https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=424 you can even get a discount on it. I also got this tribulus powder from amazon with no difficulty https://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Tr...=UTF8&qid=1392841034&sr=8-7&keywords=tribulus

 

[rachy28]

I found it at h&b, its always out of stock
I managed to get some from www.myprotein.com (40% saponins), should be here tomorrow

 

[BBbliss]

Rachy, that's great! He was on 625mg x2 day, but I think what worked for us was the combination with the others. Our biggest problem was morphology.

 

[rachy28]

These are only 300mg, im gonna up the strength gently, he'll take 3 a day for now. His morph is only 3% which im totally confused by as it was 6% just 9wks post vr
Have you noticed an improvement in anything?

 

[BBbliss]

Yes!! This was our third SA the first one in September come back at 10million and 0% morphology with average motility. We were devastated when we found out what morphology meant. I quickly started researching and found all those supplements and thought we should try. About six weeks after he was on them we had another SA and it came back even worse then the first at only 4mil and still 0 morth. I felt defeated but reminded myself it hadn't been enough time for a change and we keeled at it. Now with this recent SA all his numbers are normal 25million(lower end) and 6%morphology feels like a cure and I think it will probably still improve even more. The supplements can work but you have to be patient and give it time.

Good luck

I just noticed you have a very good count, if you get the morphology improved I think you'll be fine.

 

[rachy28]

That's great
He's currently taking 1000mg vit c, 400iu vit e, 900mg tribulus and Wellman conception. We're swapping the multivitamin for individual vits but he's just finishing off the box first. We'll be adding zinc, folate and selenium into that mix soon. He was on 2000mg vit c but I suspect it was the high dose that lowered his count but improved his rapid linear motility from 14% to 32%. I cant wait until his next sa and hopefully the tribulus will have improved his morph and antibody level

 

[pushmug7]

hey there,

6 months ago DH had a bad cold with high fever and eversince his semen has changed to very viscous and sticky with poor ejaculation and semen (dribbling rather than shooting out with very low volume) sorry TMI.

anyway , i dug and dug online and found that sometimes men are given Sudafed (nasal medication) for retrograde ejaculation , read many posts of women saying " dh took sudafed before BD and it worked"

well... im having a cold and i had some sudafed lying around so i gave DH a tablet prior BD and, well.. it kind of worked.

we BDd yesterday so usually he ejaculates like a drop or 2 , so thats what i was expecting BUT the volume this time was good !! (yes sometimes i measure dhs semen vol)

my question is: does this mean DH has retrograde ejaculation???? did anyone try this ?

nxt drs appointment is 2 months from now

 

[Lovebug1821]

Hi Lollicatt,
I am an IVF w/ ICSI first try success story! My husband has low count and the other numbers in his analysis were very low as well. We turned to IVF w/ ICSI. And we are happy to say that i am now 7 weeks pregnant with twins! I am thankful that I had a very good IVF cycle.
There is always hope!
All the luck in the world to you!

 

[BBbliss]

Lollicat, great to hear! Congratulations! Twins

I'm on a ivf cycle right now and hope to be as lucky.

 

[DSemcho]

Hey ladies. I got AF last night/today so I'll be starting Clomid in a couple of days.

Have any of you ever taken the IVF medications without doing the IVF? I've been told there are certain kinds of medication you can take for a trigger.

 

[melly2]

You could, but it's very, very expensive. I'm doing IVF currently, and the meds alone were $6,000, but luckily, insurance covered it.

I would recommend taking Clomid, which will definitely trigger an ovulation.

 

[DSemcho]

I already take Clomid. But over here the IVF meds are wayyyy cheaper.... Like a box of 10 50mg Clomid is like 9TL which is like $4.

 

[Briss]

We had a follow up appointment with our urologist and the good news is that our karyotype testing came back fine, no genetic issues, all chromosomes are in place - what a relief! I was so worried.

based on Dh's test results and particularly lower testosterone, the doc suggested the following treatment:

(i) increasing the count: FSH. There are three possible options for taking FSH: 1. tamoxifen, 20 mg/day for 30 days, which is what DH was prescribed; 2. some other anti-estrogen, forgot the name but basically it's only for overweight men; 3. Clomid, but the doc said this is too aggressive and may increase the testosterone too much and shut the system off completely;

(ii) improving the quality/morphology: antioxidants i.e. proxeed.

The doc was very clear that the above treatment may increase his count by 30-40% but it will not necessarily lead to pregnancy. We need to check DH's blood in 6 weeks to check that testosterone and FSH are rising and if everything is OK we will repeat SA in 3 months and then consider another IVF. Our urologist suggested stim IVF to improve the odds and did not recommend natural IVF. When I tried to explain that natural worked better for us because of my high FSH (at least we had a chemical pregnancy while with stim cycle we did not have any fertilasation), he kind of hinted that our clinic may not have been the best place for a stim IVF.

DH started the treatment last night but 3 months seems like ages.

Update: we are 6 months into the treatment and while DH's testosterone went up (the difference in his sex drive is very noticeable!) his SA is still quite poor, even lower than before the treatment: count below 5 million, 1% morphology. I just do not understand it. Dh has been so good in staying away from his beer and it's all for nothing.

 

[CaliDreaming]

We had a follow up appointment with our urologist and the good news is that our karyotype testing came back fine, no genetic issues, all chromosomes are in place - what a relief! I was so worried.

based on Dh's test results and particularly lower testosterone, the doc suggested the following treatment:

(i) increasing the count: FSH. There are three possible options for taking FSH: 1. tamoxifen, 20 mg/day for 30 days, which is what DH was prescribed; 2. some other anti-estrogen, forgot the name but basically it's only for overweight men; 3. Clomid, but the doc said this is too aggressive and may increase the testosterone too much and shut the system off completely;

(ii) improving the quality/morphology: antioxidants i.e. proxeed.

The doc was very clear that the above treatment may increase his count by 30-40% but it will not necessarily lead to pregnancy. We need to check DH's blood in 6 weeks to check that testosterone and FSH are rising and if everything is OK we will repeat SA in 3 months and then consider another IVF. Our urologist suggested stim IVF to improve the odds and did not recommend natural IVF. When I tried to explain that natural worked better for us because of my high FSH (at least we had a chemical pregnancy while with stim cycle we did not have any fertilasation), he kind of hinted that our clinic may not have been the best place for a stim IVF.

DH started the treatment last night but 3 months seems like ages.

Update: we are 6 months into the treatment and while DH's testosterone went up (the difference in his sex drive is very noticeable!) his SA is still quite poor, even lower than before the treatment: count below 5 million, 1% morphology. I just do not understand it. Dh has been so good in staying away from his beer and it's all for nothing.

Oh wow that is puzzling. What did the urologist say about it? Please don't let it get you down. Even though the numbers did not improve, that doesn't mean that it's all for nothing. Since you're doing ICSI the numbers don't really matter as much, and who knows maybe this will be the difference between a CP and a rainbow baby. Sometimes improvements aren't always captured by the numbers.

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

Sorry to hear that Briss - it's so difficult to hear news like that when DH has been doing so much to try and improve it.... Just feels like a giant big kick in the stomach. As Cali said what did the urologist say? Are you doing a third cycle of ICSI?

I know it's hard but don't give up - I love the quote in your signature so try and remember that.... and in the meantime hugs - I can imagine your DH is feeling pretty fed up esp. since he has been so good at not drinking but try to keep him motivated to keep going....

 

[Briss]

Thanks ladies, it really is pretty devastating to be honest. The urologist thought that his numbers should be improving because his testosterone went up so no idea where all this testosterone has gone. My Dh is not doing body building or anything like that. where does it go if not for sperm production? we are waiting to hear from the urologist. We have also been waiting for the NHS funding for our IVF, am still to do a few things before we can get an answer if we are eligible, it's taking ages. being on CD2 is not helping either, I have been dreaming that DH's sperm has improved and we can get pregnant naturally, no such luck…

I do not know how to keep DH motivated, it's been hard actually last 6 months, he was close to going out with his mates for a beer many times and took so much for him not to go but now he's just going to say none of it makes any difference I may as well enjoy myself. what can I say to that?

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

Hugs - it's so tough!! I really do feel for you. My DH has a count of 4 mill with low motility and morph. They recently discovered that he had a varicocele which the urologist said was a low grade 2.... I thought it was the answer to all of our problems and that was the explanation for his low count etc but after getting an ultra scan they decided it wasn't bad enough to warrant surgery so that was that! I was so disappointed (still am) cause basically the urologist was done with him and now we're just left to accept he has a count of 4 million..... He has started taking Fertilaid and has been great at doing that so will see what happens but if no improvement after 3 months then we are off to the FS to see what our chances are although I don't think we will go as far as IVF with ICSI (for many reasons)... It's so hard and I know if after 3 months there isn't an improvement DH will feel the same as your DH - what's the point?!

Thinking of you and hoping something chances for the better soon