Anyone with severe male factor infertlity had success?

[SIZE="3"]Hi All,
My DH (33, me:30) has severe oligospermia due to y-chromosome microdeletions. We are starting our 8th ICSI cycle and are running out of steam. I have had the whole gamut of tests and scans & they can find nothing wrong with me, so it seems that is the only issue. . I know that the y chromosome deletions are very rare and as such i havent heard much about success rates etc. Drs always sidestep that one - and start talking about donors as a backup. I would love to know if anone out there has had a similar experience and had success or knows of someone who has.
Cheers :)[/SIZE]

Hi Stargazer,

Can't really help much but my partner has issues with DNA fragmentation - there are things that can be done such as vitamins (Menevit) and surgical sperm extraction. I think you should seek answers from your doctor, it can't be right going through so many cycles without moreinformaiton. I am not sure where you are located - we've seen Dr Lok at SIVF fro a 2nd opinion who is a specilist for male factor infertility. Wishing you good luck on your journey.

Sara

Hi Sara
thanks - best of luck to you also! Im an in Perth & have just started at Hollywood (owned by SIVF).
We have tried Menevit but there was no improvement in DH's sample after 4 months so arent on it anymore. We have changed Drs a few times - never really felt like we have the right one. We know our problem is very severe, so i suppose we are a challenging case... I dont know what it is like over east, but Drs here are generally very busy and ours have taken upto 5 months to get an appt so i rarely see them and try to get the clinic to communicate with them & relay info back to me.
Hopefully Hollywood will have a different approach & it will work out better for us this time! :crossfingers:

Hi Stargazer

Firstly, :hug:, sounds like you need some :)

I think that I would be making an appointment with your current FS at their rooms (you should only have to wait a little while as a current patient) and go in with a list of questions that you want answers to. And don't leave until you are satisfied.

Also, you could possibly ask about PICSI which is something that SIVF are trialing (so the people at Hollywood should know about it) which helps them pick better sperm in the ICSI process.

Good luck

Hey Muppity
thanks for your encouragement, :hug: back! I will make an appt - by the time i get in we should have had 1 or 2 more cycles which will be our limit trying with both our cells. After that we will consider donor although are not keen. As Hollywood doesnt permit donor unless they are family or a friend, we will have to look elsewhere, prob go back to our old clinic as they have a donor register.
I will look up PICSI on the net to find out more about it - thanks for the tip!
xx S

Hi Stargazer just want to add to PICSI - we have used that as well and in the cycles we used it we had a better result than with the surgical sperm extraction.

Sara

first you need a :hug:

The sperm is not viable from my husband. He only has 5% of his sperm that swim but are very very slow. He has it from a genetic condition that was unknowingly passed on to him via his mother.

We have decided to go donor sperm. I have no option. His genetic condition even if we used surgically removed sperm would have a high chance of miscarrage. Even if the pregnancy was to continue the child would have a 50/50 chance of getting an illness that would mean a medical appointment in sydney every 6months.

I wish you every bit of success and hope that your journey is short

I'm not sure if this will do you any good, but my aunt married my uncle, and he already had four kids. He'd gotten a vasectomy as he thought he wouldn't be having any more kids.
They got it reversed and it took a couple of years, but first they had their beautiful little boy Jayden, and now, two months ago, she gave birth to their little girl Matilda.
Kylie (my aunt) said it was the hardest journey of her life, and she ended up having around 15 miscarriages.
Jayden was nicknamed the $270 000 baby, as thats how much they spent on treatments until she got pregnant with him. Matilda and Jayden are actually twins as their from the same "batch"

This might not have helped, but i hope it works out for you hun!

Hi girls,
thanks for your responses - not having heard much from people in a similar situation has been disheartening, so its good to hear we arent totally unique!
Red lady - thanks hon, :hug:back to you. We have little viable sperm, though they have never really been able to give us any real indication of success. I am on a cycle now, and unless we get a BFP this time we are thinking donor is our only option. We will have to change clinic to do that, but are used to obstacles emerging regularly - the latest having to change insurer this week as ours has decided to no longer cover half the private hospitals in perth after a disagreement with ramsay health!
Do you know of any good resources on donor issues?
It sounds like you are making a sensible choice in a difficult situation - and hopefully you will have your BFP very soon!
Sophie Rose - thankyou for sharing your aunty's story. Wow - she must be an amazing woman to go through so much for so long - i wish i had half that persistance! All the best for the arrival of your little one soon! :D