Advice for a friend

[Marley&Me]

A friend of mine has just undergone her 5th IVF cycle with no luck The problem seems to be sperm morphology. It is very low, like 2% normal I think. As far as I know there is nothing wrong with her. And the clinic isn't changing anything either, it's the the same regime every cycle (not sure if this is normal?) She has been seeing the same clinic here in Melbourne for all cycles so I suggested maybe changing clinics. I know I have seen a few threads on here with ladies having success from switching clinics.

Do you think this would help?
Any other advice for low sperm morphology?

Any advice is much appreciated

[~TT40~]

no specific advice but wishibg the best for your friend. there are other girls on her who would be able to share if changing would help.
have they tried sonething like hm takibg vitamins etc?

[Pholi]

Are they doing ICSI? (Where a normal looking sperm is selected for injection directly into the egg, rather than just putting it all together in a petri dish.)

With MFI that would be the usual plan, as far as I understand.

I would change clinic after 5 unsuccessful attempts, otr at least be sitting down with my FS to ask what they are doing and why it isn't working.

[MummyNaomi]

DH had this problem, we did ICSI with huge success. Male factor problems are a lot easier to treat as the issues are often more straight forward.

I too would be wanting the FS to outline their plan of attack too, no point in flogging a dead horse and doing the same thing over and over when there might be a better action to take to increase the chances if success. Also its very expensive to cycle endlessly, not to mention the physical and emotional strain. DH took menevit and nurefon before our cycle to improve his sperm quality too.

However I wouldn't offer your friend advice unless she has specifically asked for it.

[Now we're 3]

That was going to be my question too if they were doing ICSI?

Personally I think its quite difficult to know whether she should change clinics or not as you can't tell if its the protocol that the particular clinic is using that is impacting the success or lack thereof or if its just the numbers game. We didn't fall pregnant with DS until round 5 and that was really hard to bear when all the rest of my friends (and there is quite a lot) were falling pregnant cycle one and cycle two - especially as we fell into the unexplained infertility diagnosis. I'd suggest she has a long chat with her FS and then make a decision based on what he/she says as to what is happening.

Wishing her all the best. Its a hard road but soooo worth if it works out at the end X

[Marley&Me]

no specific advice but wishibg the best for your friend. there are other girls on her who would be able to share if changing would help.
have they tried sonething like hm takibg vitamins etc?

Thank you

Are they doing ICSI? (Where a normal looking sperm is selected for injection directly into the egg, rather than just putting it all together in a petri dish.)

With MFI that would be the usual plan, as far as I understand.

I would change clinic after 5 unsuccessful attempts, otr at least be sitting down with my FS to ask what they are doing and why it isn't working.

I didn't ask her if she was doing ISCI actually, I will inbox her now and ask...

DH had this problem, we did ICSI with huge success. Male factor problems are a lot easier to treat as the issues are often more straight forward.

I too would be wanting the FS to outline their plan of attack too, no point in flogging a dead horse and doing the same thing over and over when there might be a better action to take to increase the chances if success. Also its very expensive to cycle endlessly, not to mention the physical and emotional strain. DH took menevit and nurefon before our cycle to improve his sperm quality too.

However I wouldn't offer your friend advice unless she has specifically asked for it.

Thanks, I mentioned changing clinics and she said she didn't think she could because she has 8 eggs frozen already. So I said I'd do some digging and find out some more info. I also mentioned to maybe try some acupuncture as well and she has now looked into it. She was very grateful

I will find out if it is ISCI they are trying.

[Marley&Me]

UPDATE: She has been doing ISCI with no luck And she is yet to book another appointment with FS. Changing clinics was the only thing I could think of that might help going by some of the threads I have read in here. having tried for over 3 years myself I feel her pain and I desperately want to help. She is very optimistic about it all though. Her words about IVF were "At least we are lucky enough to have this option" I admire how well she is looking at things.

Unless there is any other advice from anyone....

[Pholi]

Another possibility might come from the number of embryos they transfer. In most australian clinics they now transfer one as a standard procedure, but they might do two after some discussion of the risks/benefits (ie, greater risk of twins/triplets, which is a higher risk pregnancy.)

Also, has she been fully and closely monitored during the luteal phase, ie, monitoring of progesterone levels and so on, because she might have hormonal deficiencies which were overlooked when they found the MFI - ie, they find poor sperm, and don't look any further for reasons that they're not falling pg naturally. If she did have hormone level problems, this might explain the repeated failures, and they need to modify her luteal phase support at that stage.

[Marley&Me]

Thanks Pholi, I'm pretty sure they have checked her out. But I will mention it just incase. FX for her, I really hope it works next time.

[onthefly]

It might be time for a fresh perspective, yeah. You can transfer your embryos between clinics. It's just a matter of filling in paperwork with the new clinic, I believe.
Good luck to your friend.