Looking for success with severe MFI

GarnerWife · March 2016

hi Ladies, I'm looking for some hope and was directed to this board.

We had 2 SA's come back with 0.1/0.2 million sperm/ml. Not good. We're waiting to see a urologist but assuming they'll send us straight to IVF with ICSI. I'm reading horror stories of very low fertilization rates with such a low sperm count and I'm wondering if anyone has been in a situation like this. Luckily everything checks out fine with me, it's just DH who has issues. We're in our mid 30's.

He's started ubiqinol and Fertilaid but I'm not hopefully it will make much of a change because the numbers are so low.

Please share any positive stories! We are so saddened by this.

Gregermis · March 2016

personally I don't have experience. I have some friends who have take home babies with severe MFI, some that had to turn to donor sperm, and some that are now CFNBC. If you are doing IVF with ICSI, that will be your best chot

Vagarcia16 · March 2016

Hi There,

We struggled with fairly severe MFI. DH's numbers weren't quite as low as your describing (our first SA was 1-2 million, with 2% motility.) The urologist was not much help to us, as they were not able to determine a reason for the low numbers. RE recommended that DH take Fertility Aid supplements, which really worked for us! After starting the Fertility Aid supplements the SA numbers kept getting better and better. We had a SA done about every 2 months. After 6 months using Fertility Aid supplements DH's count went up to 13 million, which is still low, but WAY better than 1-2 million.

Another interesting fact is that our RE noticed that DH produced a lot of mucus in his semen, which was slowing down the sperm. She had DH take Mucinex for 2 weeks prior to our first IUI. I was on Clomid and we did the trigger shot for ovulation. Also, because our issue was MFI we did two IUIs 24 hrs apart.

We ended up getting a BFP after our first IUI, but that ended up being a CP. We got another BFP after our second IUI (again with Clomid + trigger, and 2 IUIs 24hrs apart.) I'm 19 wks pregnant now and everything seems healthy!

I know how devastating it can be to struggle with IF. Especially with MFI, unless you go straight to IVF, it's a waiting game to see if there is a way to increase the sperm count before ever moving forward with the actual IUI. That was the worst part for me, the waiting. It gave me hope that DH's numbers improved every time we did a SA, but it was still so hard to feel helpless in the process.

I wish you the best on this very difficult journey! Which ever decision you make, I'm sure it will be the right one for you. Good Luck!

GarnerWife · April 2016

Thank you so much for writing, this has given me so much hope. We just found out the second SA numbers have risen to 1 so I'm hopeful they will keep increasing.

This is message has made my day, I truly appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Toller · May 2016

My husband had 3 sperm

(and not swimmers)

He underwent surgery and we got 5 fertilized eggs that made it to blastocysts. Currently have a 2 year old daughter and waiting on our final FET results!

So you're already better off than you could be!! Even if you have to do IVf- it's not so bad..... Best of luck to you!

blessyourheartmama · June 2016

@GarnerWife I know this is a late response, but maybe it will help someone.

My husband is a cancer survivor with no sperm in his SA. We have a completely healthy 3 yr old son conceived through IVF, ICSI, and testicular biopsy. Sometimes this can be done through testicular aspiration instead of an actual biopsy on the man, but we had to be more aggressive in our case. We are now 22 weeks pregnant with healthy looking boy/girl twins also conceived the same way. Find a good urologist that works in conjunction with your reproductive endocrinologist. That was how we found our clinic. It was the one where the urologist actually came into the clinic to do the surgeries on my husband on the same day as my RE did my egg retrievals. Other clinics in our area used separate facilities, and although the urologists were completely capable, I felt more confident in the handling of the specimens when they were done by the same lab.

laball11 · June 2016

My husband and I were given a 0% chance of natural conception. He suffered with low sperm count, low motility, and morphology issues. His sperm were 100% deformed. Not slightly deformed either. I'm talking no heads, no tails, 2 tails...all screwed up. Doctors said no egg would accept a sperm like that, and if by the grace of God it did, it would die. Well, it took almost 3 years but I'm now 18 weeks pregnant with a baby girl conceived completely drug and intervention free. Like they say...it only takes one!

good luck!

singingirl96 · August 2016

My husband had 0 sperm. Had surgery for sperm extraction, 0 found. We ended up going the donor route. We have a 4 and a 2 year old. They are our life and infertility is mostly a thing of the past. Hope your successful, but if you find yourself in a situation where you have to explore unexpected options, you can still be successful in having a family even if it is not the way you always wanted it to be. Good luck in your journey.

baker+RN · July 2017

@Toller and @JessK1014 I know this is a WAYYY late response, but I wanted to say thank you for posting your success stories with severe MFI - it's giving me some hope over here

Looking for success with severe MFI

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