[curleya]

My husband & I have been TTC for over 2 1/2 years now. Through series of fertility testing he was diagnosd with varicocele. In Jan he recieved surgrey. I was just wondering is there anyone out there with good success rate stories.

[Inna]

A friend of mine, had the surgery done and the numbers are very good 6 mo after. For them it is difficult b/c it looks like she has now some egg issues as well.
But the surgery was a succes! Good luck!

[Brookelyn510]

Hi curleya-
How is your hubbie doing? My DH just had surgery on Monday for his varicocile and they actually found 2 varicociles.
On the 20th of March they are going to take a look at his hormones and then we will be doing another SA in 3 months. In the meantime I have him on a series of hers and vitamins, which is something the urologist encouraged us to do.
Have you guys had any tests done since then?
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. With varicocile surgeries you never know if they are going to work or not.
PS-A few of the other girls' DHs on the az thread have had the varicocile surgery as well.

[T_wants1]

Afternoon ladies,
I'm new here and just poking around the site to check it out. I thought I would respond since my dh is also going in for bilateral varicocele repair at the end of March. We've been ttc for three years now, and even after going to a fertility clinic it was me who "diagnosed" him as having varicoceles. This is giving us a glimmer of hope after we thought all was lost, but we are staying positive and praying that this works.
Babydust to you all!!

[prayingforjustone]

Hi Ladies,

I just wanted to write you all a quick note to offer myself as a resource for those who have varicocele questions. I had the surgery 2 months ago, and will be going in for a SA in 2 more months. It is a scary thing for your husband, but honestly, you ladies go through so much more, so we can deal with it! Good luck to you all!

J

[Carrbear]

My husband was also dx with varicoceles. We decided not to opt for the surgery and try fertility treatments first since he is not having an pain or discomfort from the varicoceles. We are going through IVF with ICSI (will start Lupron on Sunday) and are hoping this will be successful. If not, DH will have the surgery and hopefully his numbers will go up afterwards. I'd love to hear what results people have had from the surgery.

[CaribbeanQueen]

After 2 unsuccessful IVF attempts with frozen TESE sperm, my DH had a varicocele repair in the fall of 2004. Our RE and his urologist made it clear that we probably would not conceive on our own after that (though we tried!) but that it would help improve his quality for our next IVF attempt.

In April of 2005, we had our 3rd IVF cycle. To prepare, DH was on testosterone and antioxidants for 3 months. On my ER day, DH also had his procedure. Happily, he did not need another TESE, and the urologist was able to get what we needed through PESA. As you can see from my siggy, this is the cycle that worked for us!

We're about to embark on our 4th cycle next month. DH is once again on testosterone and antioxidants. Though his varicocele has grown back to some extent, the urologist thinks that he'll be able to find what he needs on ER day (we're hopeful).

Feel free to PM me with any questions that you may have. DH and I have certainly "been there." Best of luck to you on your journey.

[Lance1Woods]

Hey everyone, I am a 25 year old male volunteering in the Philippines. I was recently diagnosed with bilateral varicocele Phase 1 (R up to 3.2mm L up to 4.5mm). And basically, I am kind of freaking out. The Dr. didn't tell me much besides what it is, it can cause sterility, and I will have to deal with the "aching" when I work out and such... So some of my questions are: Is the aching normal when I work out or when it is excessively hot outside? If so do you all have any "tricks" to deal with it? Is my case (the size in mm) considered bad? I.E. higher than your numbers? If so will that make me more prone to sterility? Have people had the treatment? How did it work for you all? What is the price etc? What is my next step, sperm analysis? and then see my numbers and go from there? Is it good this was caught at a relatively early age?

[ces03k]

I'm new to the boards, but today we went to the urologist and my DH was told he had a stage 3 varicocele. We're going on Tuesday for an ultrasound to confirm, but the dr. seemed almost 100% sure that's what it is. The thing is, he said we need to wait 6-8 months to even talk about surgery because the pain isn't severe enough and we haven't been TTC for over a year. We started TTC in Dec. and got pregnant in January. But then I miscarried the twins in April. We've been TTC since then with no luck. I know it hasn't been that long compared to most people here, but it still seems like so long. And each month that passes with no baby is just devastating. And now that they're telling us to wait it out for another 6-8 months before even trying the surgery I'm even more discouraged. Especially because it seems you have to wait another 6 months after that for any kind of results.
I guess I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do in the mean time. Are there any dietary or lifestyle changes that you've heard of that we can try while we're just waiting around?
Also, I was wondering if anyone had heard anything linking varicocele to miscarriage. The dr. said that varicocele causes abnormally shaped sperm. So I was wondering if those abnormal sperm can still fertilize an egg, but then they don't develop properly and result in miscarriage. My miscarriage was called a missed abortion because everything seemed to be progressing normally. I had morning sickness out the wazoo, fatigue, swollen breasts, the works. I was even starting to show at 13 weeks because it was twins. But when we went in for the ultrasound, the gestational sacs were 13 weeks, but the babies were only 7 1/2. We were told they just stopped developing probably because of a genetic abnormality.
I just don't want to go through another miscarriage again if I don't have to (duh). And if the surgery could help us avoid that by normalizing his sperm, I don't understand why they wouldn't go ahead with it? Maybe I just don't understand how the whole varicocele thing affects sperm.

[hopeful23]

My DH had a varicocele repair done back in 2002. His numbers right after the surgery were good, but after about 6 months or so after that, they dropped back down. We were told that the only way for us to conceive was IVF, due to his sperm count being so low. That was tough to hear, but we did it, and now are expecting twins.. Good luck to everyone who has had this procedure, and to those thinking about having it!

[desperate]

My husband had the procedure done when we were TTC on own and just starting IUI's. Not to much changed unfortunately and we had to move forward with IVF after a long haul anyway. My hubby said it didn't work at all. But lately his sperm samples have been better and doctors are now blaming the problem on me. Go figure.

He also take a wide variety of vitamins to help, gets acupunture, and eats healthy -- so that might have something to do with better samples as well.

[strongradio]

I am new to the community, my husband also had a varicocele repair (2 of them) in Feb. of 2008.. we have been ttc 2+ years. we just had a SA done at the 6 month point and his morphology is still a low 7%. I am afraid our only hope is IVF... any thoughts on this??