No Sperm found, should be do a Biopsy

My partner and i had been trying to conceive for 5 years when we decided it was time to investigate it further. I had alway thought it was my fault we couldn't conceive because when i was teen i had POS, When we went to the doctors he just casually mentioned my partner should get a sperm count before we went through costly tests with me.
To our surprise it came back with zero sperm, we were referred to IVF where He was sent for tests, His blood came back good, his chromozones came back fine, his ultra sound on this testicles came back with no blockages and all was good, 2nd sperm count came back with no sperm as well.:wall:
My test results reviled i was all normal again no more cysts.

He is heart broken, all he has ever wanted is his own family, and now he cant have it.

The IVF specialist did mentions something about a biopsy but he said it was highly unlikely we would find anything. I don't know if he could go through the disappointment again if they were to find nothing.

He isn't open to the idea of a sperm donor cause he will feel like the child isn't his own, i hope he changes his mind as i don't want to get to 50 and realized i missed my chance. :crying:

Can someone please give me some hope???

And does anyone know how much it will cost to have a biopsy done?? (no privet health insurance)

Advise please!!!!:confused:

Jen, I'm so sorry to hear your story. I'm afraid I can't offer any personal experience, but why don't you google some of the private clinics? Some of them publish a price list, and otherwise you could just phone a few and ask the receptionist. I'm sure they're very used to dealing with enquiries like that.
I really hope you find a solution.

Hi Jen, and welcome to BB! I'm sorry to hear of you and your DH's predicament. My DF had a snip 12 years ago so when we got tested before we tried for a baby his count came back at zero. Luckily wheh they did the biopsy they found enough of the smimmers to do a cycle. I guess the difference between my DF and your DH is that my DF had sperm but they just weren't coming down the tubes. I think from memory it cost around $500 but that was 3 years ago. I really hope they find some swimmers in your DH. All the best in your TTC journey hun.

Hi Jen and welcome to BB.

It doesn't sound like your specialist was very hopeful but they did suggest it so maybe it is worth a try.

I know that you say that you aren't sure how your DH would cope with the disappointment if they can't find anything but maybe it would be the little push that he needs to think about other options and if they find something woo hoo! There is a possibility that there are some there but for whatever reason they aren't making it our (lack of strength etc).

I'm not in any way trying to push you towards having the biopsy if your DH doesn't want it but I am a no stone unturned kind of person and it would do my head in knowing that I hadn't explored every option.

I'm sorry that I can't tell you about the costs - but your specialist's receptionist would be able to tell you.

All the best - and don't be a stranger - we are always here to have a chat - the disappointments associated with long term TTC are well known to many people here on BB.

HI Jen & welcome to BB.

A friend of mine DH has the same issue - no sperm found but they opted for a biopsy & found some, so they are ttc via IVF atm. (first attempt, they had no success & are on their 2nd attempt)

I don't know the costs associated with a sperm biopsy, however this will be discussed with you prior to commencing IVF.

Best of luck

Thanks for the support people...:D

Muppity - I agree with you it would do my head in knowing all options had not been explored i just hope my partner will come around to idea... maybe hearing these stories will give him some hope.

RhiChiChi - thank you for sharing your story with me as it gives me more confidence that there may still be chance for us!! and best wishes for your friends.

Miss.B - even thought it was a couple of years ago it still gives me a rough idea of how much it will cost.

Pholi - thanks for that advise i might just give my local doctors a call to get a price!

What a shock for you! :hug:
Maybe with a bit of time to process this your partner will be ready to try biopsy.
Wishing you all the best~~

Welcome to BB. From what I know in men that have no sperm found from a SA it is very rare to have a biopsy and no sperm to be found. I'd say the likelyhood of them finding sperm would be much much greater then not finding any from a biopsy. I guess before you both make the choice as to weather to have the biopsy or not you need to way up the pro's and cons and both outcomes. I too wish you both the best of luck. If I can find my IVF book I'll write what it says in that about sperm biopsies. I know it covers an area where no sperm is found and where to from there.

Hi Jen86

I know exactly how you feel. My husband found out 3 years ago that he had no sperm after he did his semen analysis. We had also been trying for 5 years and thought it was my endo that was causing the infertility.

We went to a fertility specialist in NZ who did a biopsy and actually found sperm, they discovered he had a blockage.

In august 2009 we did an ivf icsi cycle where he had a fresh biopsy. We ended up with 12 embryos, but only 2 made it to 5 day blastocyst stage. We had one embryo transferred and fell pregnant! We now have a 13 month old boy!

So I would definitely try it if your husband is up for it. My husband went under a general anasthetic and couldn't complain at all. I think it cost about $500 plus theatre fee. We went through Monash. You should be able to call them for a price list.

I am about to have the second embryo transferred next Tuesday! If it doesn't take, we have my husbands sperm frozen so he won't have to go through the process again.

I wish you all the luck in the world. It is a very emotional time, but if you don't try, you will never know!!

Any questions, please ask!

Good luck!

Amy

Hiya Jenn,

I felt like I was reading my own story when I read yours!!!! My husband had exactly the same thing. We decided to forgo the biopsy and take our chance at our FS actually cutting him open and searching through the tissue in the testes. Worst case scenario was that I would have gone through a whole IVF cycle and they would have had to freeze my eggs. I waited until he was out of surgery before I went in, the FS came out with a big smile on her face and said they found enough sperm for 3 IVF cycles.

We did one cycle last August, they could inject 5 of my eggs and of the 5 only 2 survived. We used one which resulted in a chemical pregnancy and the other (along with his other sperm) is in the freezer awaiting our return from Europe.

Dont give up.....definatley get a second opinion from another FS.

Good luck, Amy x

Hi Jen,

We also had a biopsy done via the MIVF clinic and DH only had a local and he was fine. They also found sperm which was great but as he had a vasectomy reversal which scarred over so we kinda new it was more they couldn't get out than any issue.

While there is no guarantee they will find sperm I would encourage DH to do it only so you know you have left no stone unturned. Maybe once you know you have done everything you possibly can to have your 'own' genetic child you could talk to the counselor and maybe they could help your DH to start thinking about other options if you need them.

Mind you my DH was exactly the same as yours....he didn't even want to think about donor when it was brought up before we did the biopsy!

After not talking about my partners problem for over a year...... We had a chat about it the other night... He has decided he will get the biopsy done!!!:clap:
Were going to look into it next year after our wedding!!

Once a man has been Diagnosed with Azoospermia does that mean we will never be able to conceive naturally? Have there been some cases where the man has produced sperm for no reason after being diagnosed with Azoospermia??

Jen, I can't answer your question, but I'm very pleased that your partner has come around to the idea of a biopsy! best of luck!

Thats greats news Jen! I cant answer your question, but we have been given a 1 in 10 million chance of a natural conception:(

Jen,

Wishing you all the best! I just want to update on my previous post & say that my gf ended up doing another round of IVF and she fell pg with twins & is due very soon! (her husband had to have a biopsy). Best of luck!!

Wedding is done now!!! 10.11.12 - best day of my life!!! :loveshower:

I have now given up smoking to increase our chances of conceiving through IVF.
But first we need to have the biopsy done. Hopefully we will get it done mid next year (2013)!
I find i'm get anxious about the whole thing, i just want to be a mother already!

Has anyone used or heard of FSDW (free sperm donation worldwide) ???

If my partner doesn't end up having any sperm i was thinking about using the site but i would like to know other peoples experiences?

Congratulations to all those who have conceived :happyforyou:

Jen xxx

Hello again!!!

So my DH had a meeting with the IVF specialist today to discuss his Biopsy.

The receptionist told me our referral was still current, that we had until April 2013..... but the lady at the desk today said it expired in April this year. I wouldn't have made the appointment if my referral wasn't current because you don't get any $$ back from Medicare. I am already frustrated with the whole process!! LOL :wall:

Anyway The doctor said all is good, we just got to call him when were ready to have it done, Its only a 2 week wait. :dance:
We don't want to do it until Mid 2013 as we have house renovations to do first!
The specialist recommends a OPEN BIOPSY. DH will require 2-3 weeks off work to heal. :o
For anyone who is wondering about costs the sperm collection (assuming there is any) is around $620 and you get around $420 back from Medicare.
For the scientist to attend its $325 (no Medicare rebate) and initial freezing costs are $300 for the first 3 months and $200 for every 3 months after that (no Medicare rebate).

Jen

Hi Jen,

Good news that you are going ahead with the biopsy! Do you mind me asking what your DH does as a job? The reason I ask is my DH is a diesel mechanic and after his open biopsy is took 6 weeks before he could be back on the tools. Even on light duties he split the stitches twice!!!

Hello.

My DH is a delivery driver for a spare parts company. So in and out of cars and sometimes he has to pick up large drums of oil. Maybe he can ask his boss if he can be in the office when he returns for a few weeks if need be??

Jenna

I think that would be a really good idea, then of he feels better he can always go back onto harder duties earlier.

I don't think hubby and I were prepared for the swelling or the amount of pain he was going to go through. Obviously you can tell from my ticker that it's was well worth it!!! I would suggest asking doc to take as much as they can while they ate in there. They only opened up one side on my DH, we got three straws of sperm plus what we used for our fresh cycle even though I'm young and have good eggs, they don't fertilise well so we are hoping the two straws we have left will be enough to complete our family.

DH has already said regardless of the pain and recovery, he would do it all again if he had to.

Feel free to pm me with any questions.

I had no idea either, i watched a testical biopsy on you tube and it was just a little incision with 2 stitches.
When DH asked his Doctor, the doctor said they need to cut the sack, cut the testical pretty much in half and scoop out the middle of the testical and send it away for testing.

So now i understand why he needs the 2-4 weeks off work.

Fingers crossed there is something in there.:pray:

Will keep you all up dated in this post. The site wont let me make a blog???

Jen

Yay Happy new year everyone!!!!

Plenty happening on the TTC side of things this year.

DH biopsy will be done around June/July after we do some house extensions and if they find some they will freeze it for us.

Then if we have enough money (and if i have lost enough weight) we can go ahead and use IVF.

If not, then we will start trying to find a donor.

Plenty going on, its going to a long a rough process especially for my DH but we will get through it!!!!!

My DH is booked in for his surgery! I'm feeling very nervous for him, if the results come back negative I don't know how he will react.. I'm also nervous about the surgery in general, fingers crossed we find some baby making stuff!!

Good luck Jen, I hope your hubby has an abundance of swimmers & you're UTD in no time! FX :D

Best of luck Jen, I've got everything crossed for you both! Xxx

Hi guys!

Just to let you know, my DH had is biopsy done on Wednesday, he is doing really well, we thought the swelling, bruising and pain would be a lot worse!! The doctor said it doesn't look good, we have an appointment with the doctor next week just to confirm.
He will also probably put us on the wait list for a sperm donor. Does anyone know how long the wait is?

Oh, I'm sorry it's not looking great for your husband's sperm . :(

I don't know about sperm donors, but my understanding is that it's a lot easier to find a sperm donor than an egg donor.

Hi Jen,

How has it all gone and what decisions did you end up making?

My husband and I have been through the same process. After the azoospermia (no sperm) diagnosis from his semen samples, my husband had the microTESE surgery last year. They told us from the start that our odds of finding any sperm were poor (less than 20%). I did a stimulated IVF cycle and had eggs retrieved at the same time so that if they found a lame sperm or two they would have eggs available to fertilise with ICSI straight away. The microTESE was unsuccessful and they froze my 20 retrieved eggs. Then our real pain began! My husband was utterly broken… and still is 15 months on. He too, really wanted to have children but struggled with the idea of donor sperm. After much agony, ruling out adoption, and me admitting how painful it would be to not have children at all, we decided to do IVF with donor sperm. We have had a lot of counselling and taken our time to get to this point. We put our names on the waitlist at our clinic as soon as donors became a possibility because the list was six months long. I also spoke to other clinics in Sydney – one had no waitlist at all (imports sperm from America) while others require that you BYO donor (which wasn’t an option for us). We stayed and waited at our original clinic because their program seemed good and we trusted them. We have just started IVF using an anonymous donor. Even now, my husband is finding the idea of me pregnant with another man’s sperm very tough. He has really struggled to be involved in the IVF process but will hopefully find things easier when we are able to talk about a baby rather than eggs, sperms and embryos. I have been finding the IVF cycle quite difficult too because I have been doing most of it on my own and my husband has struggled to even deal with the good news along the way. My little joys and successes seem to exacerbate his sadness and make him dwell on his own infertility. We are in the two week wait after our first embryo transfer and I am scheduled for a pregnancy test on Friday 13th. I hope we, and you, have happy times ahead! I would be happy to chat with you anytime if you want to compare notes or vent.

Best wishes!! I hope things work out for you guys whatever you decide! xx

Also wondering what city you live in?

I have spoken to lots of clinics in Sydney over the past year about their sperm donor programs and discovered that:
- IVF Australia has a good donor program - the wait is about 6 months long and then you get a choice of about 20 donors from Australia and the US.
- Fertility First in Hurstville has a good donor program with about 20+ donors constantly available straight away. Most of their donations were imported from the US at the time we looked.
- Genea does not have an anonymous donor program - they require you to find your own known donor.
- Westmead Fertility also does not have an anonymous donor program - they require you to find your own known donor.

I know that different states across Australia have very different laws about sperm donors that affect availability and waiting times.

I noticed that you mentioned one of the donor websites (Free Donors Worldwide) in one of your posts a while back but I think that it is better to go through a proper sperm bank at a clinic unless you want a known donor (like a member of your partner's family or a friend). Sperm donors in Australia are not allowed to be paid anyway so the fees that you pay for a donor at a clinic only cover the costs of the donor's testing, storage of sperm etc - it wasn't very expensive for us at all in the scale of the whole IVF treatment. Sperm banks in Australia are highly regulated and there are a lot of laws in place to protect everybody involved. The donors are tested thoroughly for diseases, the sperm is quarantined for 4 months, then the donor is re-tested to make sure no new diseases have shown up. The donors also provide a lot of info about themselves and medical history of their family. Also, on-the-books donors can only donate to four different women in their lifetime (in NSW - this varies between states) to avoid a situation like in the US where some men end up with hundreds of donor offspring. There are no controls like this on the donors who just advertise themselves to provide sperm and I think it could potentially be a little risky.

Hope this helps a little. Feel free to ask me any questions because I think we are one step ahead of where you guys are at the moment.

Thinking of you! xx

Hi dizzy

We get our results today. We live on the central coast and are using Gosford ivf Australia. We have decided if the results are negative then we will go on the waiting list for a donor.
When we first did a sperm test 3 or 4 years ago and the results came back negative my husband (then boyfriend) was so upset, he felt useless, less of a man, his Whole life he wanted to be a dad.
Since then he has come to terms with his diagnosis. I suggested we try a sperm and egg donor but he doesn't want me to 'miss out' on having my own biological child. The biopsy he had last week was just a confirmation of what he already knows, of course it would ideal if we found some but if not... Such is life...
My husband knows its going to be a tough road ahead. He also knows a father isn't always the sperms owner, so he is ready to be a dad.
We went to visit his new nephew last night and everyone was asking who the baby looks like. It breaks my heart knowing we won't be able to do that or compare photos etc, but my DH has a good out look and is very supporting.

I hope it all works out for yourself as well, I will log back on and let you know the results this afternoon!

Hi Jen,

All the things that you are saying sound so familiar. I guess most men with fertility issues probably go through the same difficult process! Glad to hear that you are also with IVF Australia - we are with their Sydney clinic.

Good luck this afternoon!!! I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

Liz

It's a no go. Which is what we were expecting. It takes 2 cells to make sperm and my DH is missing 1, this could have been cause by various reasons. Eg a virus or infection. Or something traumatic when he was younger.
We will close this door and move on.
We have registered to be on the donor waiting list. Our doctor said there are only a handful of donors in Australia. So we just have to wait our turn but it could be as early as 3-4 months.
We have chosen to use IUI as the first step. I will have hormone injections to make me ovulate. But first we have to have 2 Counselling sessions.
I didn't know if you fell pregnant with triplets or more they will terminate??
It's all a bit scary really.

Well fingers crossed it all works!!

Hi Jen,

I feel for you guys! I remember the day that we got our final confirmation in June last year. Even though we expected it, it was still hard to hear. I think my DH has the same condition as yours – he has Sertoli Cell Only Sydnrome – so is missing one of the types of cells too.

We have found the donor program at IVF Australia good. We were on the waitlist for a full six months but it was worth it. When we got the list of donors in July this year, they had a really good selection (about 15 or 20 in total, mostly Australian donors but also a few imported from the US - although not all of them were suitable for IUI, some were only sufficient quality for ICSI with IVF) and we found one that seemed a perfect match for us. We had to do the counselling through IVF Australia too – it was actually useful.

It sounds like the two of you are dealing with everything really well!! Your young age is definitely in your favour as you start fertility treatments and it is great that your husband has accepted his diagnosis so well and is able to be so supportive of you. I think that going through something so tough sometimes brings couples closer together. We have definitely had our ups and downs through the whole process and my husband still has days when he gets quite down on himself about being “useless, less of a man” but I feel confident that we have happier times ahead.

Lots of cuddles and kind words for your man tonight! Always here for a chat! Hope everything goes well for you!!

Liz xx

Hi Jen,

Hope that you are going well and feeling okay about everything!! Keep us posted about how it all goes for you!

At the moment, it's looking like our first donor sperm cycle has been a success but I'm waiting for a scan before I really let myself believe it.

I'm looking forward to hearing happy news from you soon too.

Liz

That's great news Lizzie!! Did you do ivf or IUI?

Hi Jen,

We did IVF straight away because we already had eggs frozen from when DH had his surgery last year. We figured that we may as well just keep going down that path and use them up. It was expensive but the process was not that bad at all. The hormone injections and the procedures were all relatively painless. Now I’m just really hoping that my pregnancy looks okay when they do my first scan on 3rd October.

Are you still planning to do IUI? I don’t have firsthand experience of that but it sounds like a good option. I really hope that you don’t have to wait too long for a donor and that it goes well for you when you get started!

Looking forward to good news from you!!

Liz

Hi Lizzie

I think we might go with IVF as the success rate is higher. I was wondering about the egg retrieval! Just got to save more money and wait for our name to reach the top of the donor wait list!!

Fingers crossed for you guys :crossfingers:

Hi Jen,

I was pretty happy to go straight to IVF for the same reason. Maximising our chances seemed important since we knew that we only had three tries with our chosen donor before going back on the waitlist. Another good thing about having done it as IVF is that the clinic was able to make us 6 good embryos in the one cycle so we still have 5 frozen ones – if this pregnancy goes well, we will be able to use them to make a brother or sister in the future by just having a simple frozen embryo transfer (much cheaper and without any more egg retrievals etc).

I honestly didn’t find the egg retrievals that bad at all. I have had two in total and both times I just went to sleep with the anaesthetic and woke up feeling pretty good. I had quite a bit of bloating and some belly pain the day after my first retrieval because I had lots of eggs collected (21). The second time was much better – I only had 10 eggs collected (which I think is more normal) and it was almost totally painless. I didn’t need to take any painkillers at all. I think that the thought of the egg retrieval is much worse than the actual operation.

Thanks for the crossed fingers!! Mine are crossed for you too!!

Hi lizzy

How did your scan go??

Hi Jen,

I hope that you are going well and surviving the wait!

Our scan went really well and showed a little heartbeat. It really was an amazing moment and made all our earlier difficulties fade into insignificance! I have my ten week obstetrician visit on Monday and am actually starting to let myself believe that we are finally having a baby!

I am sure that these same excitements are just around the corner for you and your DH too!! So much to look forward to!

Keep us posted about how you go with everything over the next few months!