Male Factor & IVF

I went for my 2nd IUI yesterday & the RE told me that under our conditions (low morphology & low motility) we should seriously consider IVF. He feels we will be good candidates for it...

How many ladies have done IVF for Male factor only????

I have to call NSUH financial IVF counselor today & see if we can qualify for the Grant. I have a follow-up appt on 9/8 so between now & then DH & I have to decide what to do....Never in a million years could I imagine myself on this road & facing this. I must have cried my eyes out last night & even today, my eyes are so swollen. The worst part, we have NO IF coverage!!!! so that is what is making the blow so much harder!!!

Re: Male Factor & IVF

I'm so sorry you are going through this. We were told, due to severe MF, that IVF was our only option. We weren't even given the option of IUI. Well, we had success with our first try!! If you have any questions, just ask.

Re: Male Factor & IVF

I think it's always a difficult decision to move onto IVF but especially when it's out of pocket. We had done 3 IUI's the 3rd ended in a chemical. I had read a lot of success stories with MF and IVF and that helped in our decision making. We also did ICSI and were able to get 6 eggs(all of them) fertilized. I'm guessing your IUI's are out of pocket too, so I think at this point I would move forward to IVF. That way they only need one good egg and sperm.

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Oh I am sorry you are feeling this way...I know how you feel as I have been there myself.....

You already know my story and all I can tell you that MF & IVF is the easiest to overcome.....since there is no problem with you and you are still very young, you will have great success with it....

I know that finances are a big problem since you don't have coverage....we spend around 100K on treatment to get us where we are but I don't regret any penny of it.....you can apply for a grant, use credit cards, even apply for a loan..once you get a BFP you will not care and you will pay off the debt with a smile...trust me....

I wish you all the luck in the world!!!!

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Awww Kristen....I'm so sorry. You know I'm here if you need to talk

Re: Male Factor & IVF

we were told that IVF was our best bet due to our situation

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Didn't you say you could wait until October to do iVF with new insurance? It's only about a month and a half away and you guys could get yourselves as healthy as possible. Your DH could try some vitamins and acu to help his counts if possible. Just a thought. Best of luck. The board seems to be having pretty good luck with IVF lately

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Posted by melijane

Didn't you say you could wait until October to do iVF with new insurance? It's only about a month and a half away and you guys could get yourselves as healthy as possible. Your DH could try some vitamins and acu to help his counts if possible. Just a thought. Best of luck. The board seems to be having pretty good luck with IVF lately

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Kris, sorry to hear about this and the unfortunate financial part.



thinking of you always.

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Just wanted to give some

I do hear you get much better results with male infertility and IVF. NSUH is a great clinic and I'm sure they are giving you good advice. Especially if you are paying out of pocket - as least they aren't letting you "waste" your money on IUI's that they don't think will work.

We didn't deal with a male factor, it was all me when we went through IVF.

We did qualify for the grant because we had no coverage. What you get financially is on a sliding scale and is based on what your total income is. The staff at NSUH were amazing with our questions and paperwork - they made the process so easy and fairly quick! I have to say - it was not a cheap procedure even with the grant.

Best of luck!

Message edited 8/26/2008 4:09:42 PM.

Re: Male Factor & IVF

I'm so sorry

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Same here, we have severe MF and on top of that I have PCOS and we have no IF coverage....so I am here if you want to talk It seems overwhelming at first but once you get a handle on it, it makes a lot of sense

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Hey, I didn't see this post earlier today. I am so so sorry hon... I can't imagine your emotions right now. I think it is a good option though and that your doctor was being honest. Since you have no other factors your chances of getting pg are pretty high, right? I hope that you guys can get that grant. I am so so sorry that it came to this.

Please Fm me and we can chat.

Re: Male Factor & IVF

I am so sorry! We are dealing with only MF as well and have IVF scheduled for October. This really is the only option for us unfortunately. We also have zero coverage so I can feel the double pain that you feel. I am here if you ever want to vent!
Some days you will feel worse than others. But we are all here for each other!

Re: Male Factor & IVF

I was in your boat last fall. We were diagnosed with MFI in Sept., did our first back to back IUI in Oct which failed and another failed one in Nov. At the actual IUI in Nov the post-wash count was so bad the first day we decided to skip the second one all together (we were also out of pocket and didn't want to waste the money). We made our decision that day that if that IUI did not work we would move onto IVF. I did not want to do medicated IUI's- if I had to use meds I wanted it to be for IVF. Anyway, we had our IVF consult right after the IUI (before the cycle was even over) and my RE gave us a great chance for success. I'm young (was 26 then) and had no issues and with ICSI you are bypassing any male factor issues becuase they pick the best sperm and just use one to fertilize the egg. Of course, since we were also out of pocket, anything short of a 100% guarantee made me nervous, but we spoke to the RE about our concerns on the financial end. She told us the practice would discount a second cycle IF we needed it and there was a good chance we would have some embryos to freeze which would mean a FET cycle which is only a fraction of the cost. We made the decision to go ahead with the cycle and it was the best decision ever. I responded very well to the meds, did a 5dt with 2 embryos and got pregnant with twins (m/c one at 8 weeks) and am now 35 weeks pregnant with 11 frozen embies for the future. Yes, it's a HUGE financial commitment, but you find a way to make it work. And after everything was said and done I was thankful that MFI was our only problem as it is one of the easiest problems to treat.

If you have ANY questions please don't hesitate to FM me. I know how devastating it feels to face the news that you need IVF. But once you start your cycle and get moving it goes SO fast. Good luck, I really hope you're able to get everything figured out

Re: Male Factor & IVF

Thank you ladies I spoke with the IVF Financial Counselor yesterday at NSUH & she really gave me a more detailed plan on the cost & what not. I am feeling a lot better about it. She suggested that since my RE was NOT the one that told me to do IVF, I wait until my 9/8 appt & discuss it with him. DH & I "might" do one more IUI since we could do the legwork for IVF & not miss out a cycle. DH is not 100% sold on IVF bc he wants to know the % for someone in our circumstances, so hopefully after the IVF consult, he will feel better about it.

On a happier note, my progesterone levels still showed I was surging, so Doctor's orders last night were "have sex!" Maybe the timing was not so bad afterall.....

Re: Male Factor & IVF

We have MF and were advised against IUI from the begining. We went straight to IVF/ICSI and got pregnant on our first IVF.

DH tried accupuncture and vitamins and it helped him some. He is having varicocele repair surgery next month so we are praying that works. Good Luck!!!

ETA: We only have MF issues also. The first time I heard the dr say the chances of us conceiving naturally were basically non-existant and IVF was probably our only hope I cried my eyes out. I don't think I have ever cried that hard before or since. It took a while to sink in...I felt angry, hurt, betrayed...it took a while but it did sink in and it did get better. For me I had to go through steps, I was angry and hurt then after I let that sink in I had to decide that it was normal to feel that but I had to move forward if I wanted to achieve my dreams of becoming a mother. Eventually you just learn that even though it sux and it's not fair you will get through it.

Message edited 8/27/2008 1:44:00 PM.