[kim3395]

My DH had 2 SA. The first had 1 sperm (not 1 million, just 1) and the other had 0 sperm. His urologist recommended varicocele surgery. Has anyone had success where they had 0 sperm count before the surgery? We have to wait 5 months for the surgery and then 3-6 months to see if it worked. It seems like a long time to wait if the surgery may not be successful and we can try IVF-ICSI in the mean time. Thank you.

[Carrbear]

Originally Posted by kim3395

My DH had 2 SA. The first had 1 sperm (not 1 million, just 1) and the other had 0 sperm. His urologist recommended varicocele surgery. Has anyone had success where they had 0 sperm count before the surgery? We have to wait 5 months for the surgery and then 3-6 months to see if it worked. It seems like a long time to wait if the surgery may not be successful and we can try IVF-ICSI in the mean time. Thank you.

I don't have exactly the same situation, however DH does have varicoceles. His viable sperm count was lower than normal b/c of this. We decided to proceed with IUI (we had 2 unsuccessul attempts) and then decided on IVF. This is our 1st cycle of IVF. For the IUI, DH's sperm count were low. We h a bad to combine samples to get over 1 million to proceed with both IUI attempts.

Our RE said we needed to decide whether DH would have varicocele surgery and then try on our own to have a bay 3-5 months after surgery, or try IVF. He said that if we did IVF with ICSI our chances of a successful IVF cycle would increase. We did not want to wait 3-5 months to try to have a baby and possibly not have the surgery help his sperm count. So, we decided on IVF. DH gave 2 samples early on just in case there are not enough day of. He called the lab to check on the semen analysis to see if he should bring more samples in and was surprised to hear that he had about 25 million in each sample. We think it may be b/c he's exercising regularly over the past few months. In any case, do what is in your heart.

[TMY]

My husband has bilateral varicocele and his sperm count is low and they are all abornormally shaped. I also have endo, one ovary, one tube etc. My doctor was against the surgery, he said it only works 50% of the time!! Those are crazy odds to go through that.
We did one IUI and it did not work. We just did our first IVF and they ICSI and now I await the results. 2 Embryos transferred.
I would not rush into that surgery, but we are 35 and 37 so we did not want to postpone the process by months--

Originally Posted by kim3395

My DH had 2 SA. The first had 1 sperm (not 1 million, just 1) and the other had 0 sperm. His urologist recommended varicocele surgery. Has anyone had success where they had 0 sperm count before the surgery? We have to wait 5 months for the surgery and then 3-6 months to see if it worked. It seems like a long time to wait if the surgery may not be successful and we can try IVF-ICSI in the mean time. Thank you.

[prayingforjustone]

See my post below...I just posted this yesterday in the General Infertility Treatment Forum:

Hi everyone! I posted here a few times back in January when I was going through my varicocele surgery. I promised I would write back with my results and how the surgery went, so here goes.

Pre-Surgery Results:
Total Count - 5 Million
Progressive Motility - 8%
Morphology - 0%

Post-Surgery Results:
Total Count - 44 Million
Progessive Motility - 18%
Morphology - 40%

Now, I understand that my current numbers are still below the average, but there was a significant improvement! Not only did I choose to have the surgery, but I chose some lifestyle changes that I believe helped. I exercise 4 times per week (and lost 10 lbs), eat much more healthy, no soda, and I took Fertilaid Vitamins. A lot of us guys want to become a dad so much, that these changes are easy. The surgery was not bad either...a little pain for about a week, but honestly, the thought of it is much worse than the actual procedure.

I hope this can offer a little hope to someone who had or will have the surgery!

The only problem now is...what form of treatment should we do if any???.....:-)

[mgmsrk]

Kim,

Welcome to the site. I hope things work out for you. I don’t know what your DR has said but based on your DH’s numbers I don’t think you can try for IVF even with ICSI. Wish you all the best.