any chance for us???

[jess88]

hi i know this is prob a silly thing to be asking but here goes anyway...

dp has had chemo and radiotherapy, of wich his last lot would have been about 11 years ago. we have not had his sperm count checked ever as we have always thought there would be nothing there anyway.
i know our thinking is probebly right in that sence, but i cant help wondering if after 11 years there could still be hope.

we have also been through 6 failed cycles of ivf wich is the reason im starting to look at other alternatives.

so i guess what im asking is, has anyone been or known of anyone in a simular situation as us and is there any natural ulternative for him to increase our chances of conceiving naturally???

any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Muppity]

Hi Jess

There is no silly question on BB! Trust me - it's the theory I work on - and I have asked some doozies

Are you saying that your DH has never had his sperm checked? I don't know the exact figures but I had a friend who had childhood leukemia and he has always been told it is about a 50/50 chance that there won't be anything there. I suppose that this would be vastly different depending on the chemo regime and the age he was when it happened etc.

Chemo can have a major effect - but as far as I know (no medical expert here) radiotherapy doesn't have a lasting effect - unless it was directed at that exact area IYKWIM.

I think that if I were you I would probably ask if he could be tested - it isn't expensive or invasive (despite the amount of whinging that the boys do about it!) and at least then you would have answers and stop yourself wondering.

As for natural therapies - these can really only work if there is something there to begin with - so they are good at improving numbers or quality but I am not aware of anything (nor can I imagine that anything would exist) that would have an effect if there were no sperm being produced in the first place.

Good luck

[Porsche]

Hi Jess88

I haven't done IVF but I have looked into it and from what I understand through my research and correct me if I'm wrong, but if there was nothing there to fertilize your egg via IVF why would they continue to put you through those cycles knowing that there was no hope?

There would have to be some sperm there otherwise would they not suggest using doner sperm?

And why have they not asked for a SA? That should have been the first thing any respectible fertility clinic should have done at your very first appointment regardless of prior history.

I appologise if I've got the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps I've missunderstood. I'm just going off of my expericence and limited knoweledge.

[Zinnia]

hi i know this is prob a silly thing to be asking but here goes anyway...

dp has had chemo and radiotherapy, of wich his last lot would have been about 11 years ago. we have not had his sperm count checked ever as we have always thought there would be nothing there anyway.
i know our thinking is probebly right in that sence, but i cant help wondering if after 11 years there could still be hope.

we have also been through 6 failed cycles of ivf wich is the reason im starting to look at other alternatives.

so i guess what im asking is, has anyone been or known of anyone in a simular situation as us and is there any natural ulternative for him to increase our chances of conceiving naturally???

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Jess...

Do you know about Lance Armstrong's story?

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, underwent surgery and chemo that basically wiped out his sperm totally. Ended up having 3 kids via IVF... and in 2008 his GF fell pregnant naturally...

If I am not mistaken it is possible for the sperm to come back if that makes any sense!

[jess88]

thanks for the replies,
sorry cant remeber all of what was posted back to me but ill try and remember haha.

as far as chemotherapy and radiotherapy go in terms of strongest, im pretty sure that with chemo you have a 50/50 chance but radiotherapy kill off every living thing in your body. if that makes sense??

sorry should have cleared this up before, dp had sperm frozen so that is what we have been using for icsi. we had 8 straws and were really good quality, but after using 2 for both collection cycles, we now only have 6. this is why im looking into getting dp count checked as we will eventually run out of frozen wich is a little scary. i have also been diagnosed with pcos recently by my gp, so its only recently clicked why my egg numbers dropped dramatically last icsi cycle. anywhoo thats a completely different story, lol

as for the fs not checking sperm from the start, he decided that it was quicker and easier to just go with the frozen because im so young and was just expecting it to work straight away. i never recieved any tests either, so we went the whole year, 6 cycles later without knowing i had pcos...even though they new i wasnt ovulating and rarely got af without any help??? i know pcos doesnt really have an affect on ivf anyway but it makes me wonder what else they bypassed because of my age and if ive been a key factor in us not falling pregnant naturally????

[jess88]

Jess...

Do you know about Lance Armstrong's story?

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, underwent surgery and chemo that basically wiped out his sperm totally. Ended up having 3 kids via IVF... and in 2008 his GF fell pregnant naturally...

If I am not mistaken it is possible for the sperm to come back if that makes any sense!

sorry didnt see ur reply there!

i know its an amazing story...gives me hope, i guess i will just have to push him into to getting the "dreaded" check done! its deffinately worth giving it a go!

[jess88]

sorry didnt see ur reply there!

i know its an amazing story...gives me hope, i guess i will just have to push him into to getting the "dreaded" check done! its deffinately worth giving it a go!

dp also had testicular cancer and 1 removed... although, everything still functions properly so not sure if that makes any difference?? god hes gonna kill me for posting all of this hahaha

[onthefly]

Hi again Jess
Just wanted to say that it makes very good sense to get yourself checked out more thoroughly before doing any more cycles - 6 is quite a lot already! If your current doctor doesn't want to do it, then your best bet may be getting a second opinion
All the best~

[Porsche]

Hi Jess

Ok the frozen sperm makes more sense. But I can't believe they did not have tests ordered for yourself knowing that you have irregular AF. It is completely bizar.

I guess you know now that, PCOS (which I have) is a factor and you can deal with it accordingly.

I agree with Marcellus and perhaps a second opinion wouldn't go astray even if it's to set your own mind at ease.