Azoospermia Success Stories?

cinnamonrollcupcake · June 2013

Hello - My DH has been diagnosed with azoospermia (most likely obstructive). All testing that has been done so far (hormones, cystic fibrosis, etc.) has came back normal, which is great news. We have met with a couple of urologists to discuss doing a biopsy to try to find sperm to use for IVF/ICSI. For those of you who have dealt with azoospermia, what testing (blood tests, ultrasounds, etc.) did your DH have before the biopsy? We're trying to figure out what testing is necessary since we're paying out of pocket. What kind of biopsy was done (TESE, micro TESE)? Did you use fresh or frozen sperm for IVF? How many IVF cycles did it take before you were successful? Any other information you are willing to share would be greatly appreciated. This has been a very depressing diagnosis as we still don't know if sperm will even be found. Looking for some glimmer of hope.

Thank you!

kaf7 · June 2013

Sorry about your diagnosis. IF sucks. There are lots of us kicking around that have been in your position so there is definitely hope! Our situation was a bit different because my DH's issue was a hormonal issue he was born with rather than obstructive but he was on injects for about a year and then he started producing sperm. We tried IVF/ICSI but were cancelled because I didn't respond to injects but then we got a surprise bfp while waiting to try IVF again. DH had frozen 3 samples prior to our first attempt and the plan was to see if there were any in a fresh sample for ICSI and if not to use the frozen stuff. There are definitely women here who had success with the TESE procedure. i just cant keep straight who. GL!

kaf7 · June 2013

You could also consider asking this on PG after IF and the IF board as women there have been through lots of testing too.

cinnamonrollcupcake · June 2013

Thanks for sharing your story and congrats on your baby!

I had been wondering what was the difference between this board and PG after IF. I will post over there too. Thanks!

kaf7 · June 2013

Here on SAIF we've delivered. On PAIF the buns are still in the oven.

LuvWIfootball · June 2013

I have a brief hx in my siggy. DH has retrograde ejaculation and azoo due to surgery and chemotherapy for treating Testicular Cancer. For close to 3 years he wasn't even producing sperm, so a lot of the testing he did was to find out if sperm production had resumed. His testing basically consisted of blood work to check hormone levels. U/S weren't needed because we already knew of the retrograde ejaculation. Any obstruction wouldn't have changed our course of tx.

It was recommended that DH have a TESE prior to my ER so that we'd know if there would be any sperm, let alone viable sperm, and then we could freeze and do procedure again day of ER. We couldn't afford more than one procedure or the amount of time off it would require for DH's recovery, so we opted to have donor sperm as a backup. DH's "hail mary" biopsy was done at the same time as my ER and we were lucky to find enough healthy sperm for ICSI and to freeze if we wanted to. We didn't freeze extra because we could only afford one fresh IVF.

We transferred two embies on day 5 and now have triplets. We also have 4 frosties waiting for when we "try for our girl" Wink And yes, that's a joke. I'd be more than happy to have the entire boys basketball starting line up, lol.

Feel free to send me a pm if you want to talk more. The 3 years we spent in limbo were a sad time for me, but I spent it stalking the IF/SAIF boards looking for success stories and researching every possible option we could try. And even when it looked like DH would never produce sperm, the option of donor sperm gave us hope too (although that took DH much longer to agree to as an option). There are many ways for you to have a family, so never give up.

Pnut30 · June 2013

Hey there! I am so sorry to hear you are dealing with this dx, it is very hard to go through.

I will try and briefly tell you our story. DH's first SA came back with 200k sperm but only a few were "twitching". He saw uro#1 who did an exam, b/w (hormonal testing), and a scrotal u/s to check for varicocele. All that came back normal so the Dr. did a regular testicular biopsy and was hoping to find production and then look for a blockage. Unfortunately while the Dr. was in there they found very little evidence of production at all and were unable to freeze anything.

We then went to see the RE and were hoping that the few twitching sperm in DH's sample would be enough for IVF w/ICSI. Our RE wanted DH to see their uro (who was a bit more specialized than the first one we saw). On his first visit to uro#2 they did another exam and SA (with the hope of freezing for IVF). This sample came back at zero. The uro also ran some genetic testing on DH to check for any chromosomal abnormalities. The new plan was now to try a micro TESE. They wound up finding sperm during this surgery but unfortunately they did not survive the freeze/thaw. So at that point they suggested doing another micro TESE at the same time eggs were being retrieved from me so that way they could use the sperm that was surgically extracted right away.

As I was getting started with a few tests on my end, we agreed to have DH give one more sample just to see if there was anything. Miraculously there were a few motile sperm in this sample. These were frozen and survived freeze/thaw. I started my drug protocol and wound up having 14 eggs retrieved. They had DH give another sample on the day of ER and there were a few motile sperm in that sample and those were used to fertilize with ICSI. We transferred one blastocyst and actually wound up having 6 make it to freeze. Our results are so different than what we and our Dr.'s thought we would end up with that I actually had a fear that there was some mixup in the lab with DH's sample. Luckily DS looks exactly like his Daddy!

The only thing that DH really did differently was start on a vitamin regimen that the second uro suggested. Everyone (including the uro) was pretty confident that it wouldn't do much but certainly wouldn't hurt. If I remember correctly it was vitamin e&c, and also coq10 and l-carnitine. I don't remember the dosages and believe me I am not trying to say vitamins fixed this but it is the only thing he did different. I know it at least made DH feel like he was doing something. It is hard, there isn't any drugs that can fix this if the problem isn't hormonal.

The advice I have is make sure you find a good specialized uro for this with lots of experience. A bad uro can actually make this problem worse. It might mean that you have to travel or wait a long time for an appointment. I know it is hard but have patience. It was about a year from getting this dx to when we could actually start IVF and it was the most painful year of our lives.

Oh also I wanted to tell you that we had to front the money for the micro TESE because the uro's office manager said it wouldn't be covered by insurance. It actually wound up being covered and we used the refund for part of our IVF cycle so you might want to double check that. It was $7500 so a pretty big chunk of money.

I wish you lots and lots of luck and hope you make it to PAIF soon. If you have any questions let me know.

Pnut30 · June 2013

Yikes sorry so long!

cinnamonrollcupcake · June 2013

Thanks ladies - you're all so helpful and supportive! I'm happy for each of you being able to have success after such a difficult diagnosis. It gives me hope.

BabyRN2006 · June 2013

DH's first SA came back with 10k sperm with 0 motility. We went through all the testing and never found a reason. During that time he tried all the vitamins that are supposed to help and they did nothing. By the time we were able to afford IVF, we did another SA and it showed zero sperm. DH had the TESE performed last April and they were able to get enough to freeze 3 vials. We used the frozen for IVF w/ICSI. Of my 12 mature eggs, 10 were fertilized at 5 made it to day 5. We transferred 2 and froze 3, and our Emma was born in Feb. Our entire journey took 3 1/2 years.

Good luck!

kaf7 · June 2013

BabyRN2006:
DH's first SA came back with 10k sperm with 0 motility. We went through all the testing and never found a reason. During that time he tried all the vitamins that are supposed to help and they did nothing. By the time we were able to afford IVF, we did another SA and it showed zero sperm. DH had the TESE performed last April and they were able to get enough to freeze 3 vials. We used the frozen for IVF w/ICSI. Of my 12 mature eggs, 10 were fertilized at 5 made it to day 5. We transferred 2 and froze 3, and our Emma was born in Feb. Our entire journey took 3 1/2 years.
Good luck!

BabyRN! I was just thinking about you and wondering where you were.love the new siggy pic!

BabyRN2006 · June 2013

kaf7:
BabyRN2006:
DH's first SA came back with 10k sperm with 0 motility. We went through all the testing and never found a reason. During that time he tried all the vitamins that are supposed to help and they did nothing. By the time we were able to afford IVF, we did another SA and it showed zero sperm. DH had the TESE performed last April and they were able to get enough to freeze 3 vials. We used the frozen for IVF w/ICSI. Of my 12 mature eggs, 10 were fertilized at 5 made it to day 5. We transferred 2 and froze 3, and our Emma was born in Feb. Our entire journey took 3 1/2 years.
Good luck!
BabyRN! I was just thinking about you and wondering where you were.love the new siggy pic!

Thanks! I haven't been around much, hopefully I can start posting more often again, I need to get caught up on how everyone is doing!

Want a personalized experience?

Azoospermia Success Stories?

Re: Azoospermia Success Stories?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards