Community› The Bump Message Boards› Infertility
Infertility
New Discussion

Intro & advice on Klinefelters diagnosis

sadiebaby1011sadiebaby1011 member
in Infertility

Hi all –

I’ve been casually stalking this board since receiving the results of mine and DH fertility screenings. There are so many brave and supportive people here that I knew I should post to get some advice and perspective.

I’m 31 and DH will be 40 this May. We’ll be married for 2 years in October and we share two amazing dogs (both pitties), who we love to death.

Despite treating our dogs like children, we both knew we wanted real kids, so we started TTC at the start of 2016. After a year, we sought help from a fertility clinic. My screenings presented nothing strange or concerning; however, DH’s SA came back with a big fat 0. He was then later diagnosed with Klinefelter’s Syndrome.

I’ve been keeping it together emotionally, mostly because this has been pretty trying on DH. But I also know that we still have hope. Our urologist laid out our options and told us that even with this diagnosis, there’s still a 70% chance of finding sperm.

I’m curious to know if anyone has experience with this diagnosis and what route you took. Did you biopsy and freeze sperm before starting an IVF cycle or did you start the cycle and then do the biopsy right before egg retrieval, not knowing if they’ll even find sperm?

It sounded as if the doc recommended the latter, given that they usually lose sperm during the freezing process and that they may not find a lot to begin with.  He also mentioned that the biopsy could be pretty intensive and that it could take several months for DH testosterone levels to normalize.

At any rate, was just wondering if anyone here has any advice or experience they’d like to share. Thank you for reading and I look forward to getting to know you all!

Report Reply to Post

Re: Intro & advice on Klinefelters diagnosis

  • skysong113skysong113 member
    Hi and welcome, though sorry you have to be here! I don't know anything about Klinefelter's, but if you're worried about the possibility of biopsying right before an egg retrieval and having nothing to work with, maybe having donor sperm available would be an option. That's obviously a very personal decision for you two, but I thought I'd throw it out there. You could have the donor sperm on hand just in case. Hopefully your DH will have some sperm that they can find.

    My DH doesn't have Klinefelter's, but he does have retrograde ejaculation, and it's been hard on him feeling like it's partially "his fault". I've just assured him that I don't blame him and I'm not upset with him, and I've been very careful to get his permission before sharing any information about what's going on with him with our friends and family. I don't mind talking about my end of things. :wink: Luckily, he doesn't need biopsies to recover sperm (so far at least!), they've been able to do some workarounds. Sounds like you have a good urologist to work with and they've been able to give you some options. Good luck with whatever route you go with, sorry I wasn't more help, and keep us posted!
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • caitb13caitb13 member
    Hi @sadiebaby1011 and welcome! Although I'm not familiar with Klinefelfer's syndrome, my husband was diagnosed with azoospermia in November.  We did a biopsy in January to see what they could find and, hopefully, to freeze enough to successfully complete IVF cycle(s).  While they did find good quality sperm, unfortunately they did not find much. They froze what they got to use as backup, but recommended a second biopsy at the time of my egg retrieval to ensure there would be enough healthy sperm to fertilize all of my eggs. That could be an option for you guys if you're worried about not finding any sperm the day of. I know everybody is different and reacts to procedures differently, but my husband has found the recovery from the biopsies to be pretty easy. We actually had our egg retrieval/biopsy today(!!) and he's already up and moving around.  Good luck moving forward!!
    Report Reply
  • HottLemonade2886HottLemonade2886 member
    Welcome! I just wanted to recommend that you don't rely on a frozen biopsy. Biopsied sperm doesn't freeze well. My husband did one and they said they found lots of good mobile sperm and didn't think we would need a fresh biopsy. Luckily we did prepare for a fresh one just in case because it turned out our frozen biopsy sperm didn't thaw well so we needed to do a fresh one. My husband said the second one was easier recovery than the first. I think the recovery was different because the first time they did both sides but the second time they did one. We are about to start our second IVF cycle later this month so we will be doing a 3rd biopsy. Men don't love it but to me it makes the process feel more equal. Haha! Good luck!
    Me: 31 DH: 31 Married: 8/2007
    MFI - Due to blockage
    IVF#1 Feb/Mar 2017 - ER: 14 Eggs, 13 Mature, 7 Fertilized, 1 Blastocyst (PGS tested abnormal)
    IVF#2 May 2017 - ER: 16 Eggs, 14 Mature, 5 Fertilized, 1 Blastocyst (PGS tested abnormal)
    IVF#3 July/Aug 2017 - ER: 15 Eggs, 13 Mature, 12 Fertilized, 6 Blastocyst, 5 PSG normal (3 Girls, 2 Boys)
    FET# 1 September 29,2017 1st Beta - 236 2nd Beta - 806 3rd Beta - 2932
    Due Date - 6/17/18 Father's Day!
    Report Reply
  • junicekjunicek member
    @sadiebaby1011 one person I know from my infertility group talked about this recently. Her husband has Klinefelters and had a testicle removed and they did find sperm. Major decision but just throwing it out there 
    Report Reply
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    Welcome, OP!  We don't have kleinfelters but some kind of azoo.  Our plan is to see what's there after MESA/TESE, freeze, and go from there.  But I understand that it may be handled differently if our doctor seems to think it's primarily obstructive :/  I dunno

    @caitb13 Congrats on your ER today!  Fx for a great report :)
    Report Reply
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"