Varicocele vs IUI or IVF? XP with Infertility board

TeamCohCoh · January 2015

My DH and I are debating whether he should undergo surgery for his varicocele or if it is better to choose the IUI or IVF route. Of course, we finally met with a urologist this week to discuss potential surgery, and my OB is on vacation for a week. So now I have a few days to lose sleep over which method to choose before discussing the best option with the OB upon his return. Have any of you dealt with this? Any thoughts? TIA!!!

deelopi9 · January 2015

DH saw two different urologist - did they perform ultrasound to confirm varicocele and is it bi-lateral? One Urologist confirmed surgery and the other indicated his was slight and the improvement provided by the surgery would not be significant enough since DH varicocele was slight on the left side. My RE left the decision up to the urologist.

TeamCohCoh · January 2015

Thanks Lemonliz. I guess you could say we are in the preliminary stages of trying to figure out WHAT to do. We got pregnant with DS on first try, even knowing then that DH had a varicocele. I've been checked out and everything is fine on my end. We met with the urologist, and of course, he wants to do surgery, but in discussing it with him, it didn't sound too promising. He obviously couldn't make any guarantees, but we're worried about potential side effects of surgery. DH's SA showed he had good volume, just not as many fast swimmers as they deem "normal," so now we're trying to decide whether surgery is necessary or if we should just go the IUI or IVF route. I am unsure WHOM to meet with to discuss it, so that's why I was waiting on OB for guidance for next steps.

TeamCohCoh · January 2015

@deelopi9 DH has a prescription for an ultrasound, but figured he'd wait until I got advice from my OB so we don't rack up expensive medical bill before it's necessary. Maybe this is TMI, but only one testicle is deformed so based on my medical knowledge (HAHAHAHA!!!), I am guessing it's unilateral.

Thanks again @lemonliz---I will definitely ask for a referral when my OB returns next week. (sigh)

BunnyBerry · January 2015

I'd definitely ask for a second urologist opinion since you guys aren't totally sold on the advice of your current urologist, and also consult with an RE to look at your entire picture.

deelopi9 · January 2015

We ended up getting a 2nd opinion since the first urologist wanted us to go straight to surgery without doing the ultrasound. Thank god for Dr. Google and this awesome wifey right here, who did the research and noticed varicocele is fully diagnosed with ultrasound. If it were me I'd get a 2nd opinion and wouldn't schedule the surgery until you receive the results from the ultrasound. Usually the urologist would provide you with the recommendations. Also, I would make sure the urologist specializes in infertility.

TeamCohCoh · January 2015

Thanks @deelopi9! DH was diagnosed about 10 years ago with varicocele and had the ultrasound then. I believe the urologist was doing it as a followup to the first one to see if there were any changes, although since it was 10 years ago, he didn't have the results from the first one handy <sigh> at the time of our appointment.

How did you decide to do IUI instead of IVF?

deelopi9 · January 2015

@teamcohcoh DH and I are still in the IUI stage. Our first RE did not diagnose DH or myself correctly, we did 3 IUI's with her. We sought another RE and with the correct diagnosis we decided to move forward with the last of our 3 IUI's. Our decision to continue with the IUI is due to the fact my insurance covers them up to 6 IUI's in my lifetime. After this month we have one more IUI. Depending on where we are at we will either decide between adoption or IVF. The decision to choose between IUI and IVF is up to each individual based on their diagnosis, finances, beliefs, etc. Wishing you all the best.

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