Re: So my DH has a varicocele.

Posted by jellybean78

Ugh so frustrating. Husbands can be so oblivious at times. FTR my DH had a varicocele for years. He also dismissed it but it did cause most of our fertility issues. He did have varicocele repair surgery after DD was born. The urologist said in some cases it helps in some it doesn't. It really depends on the severity of it. DH had bi-lateral with extremely low counts. The surgery improved the counts somewhat but unfortunately not enough to help us get pregnant and be able to take home a baby. I have gotten pregnant spontaneously since then and even before but it always ends in M/C...so the point of my long drawn out post is that although the surgery does help at times it's not always a guarantee. I think DHs urologist said like 50/50. I know it's super frustrating but I would just try to keep a positive outlook on your current IVF. Hopefully it brings you your take home baby

Re: So my DH has a varicocele.

My DH has multiple varicoceles, but the trick is, when you're dealing with DOR, wasting 6 months to see IF surgery helps is sort of unwise. I would recommending that you see Peter Schlagel @ Cornell, who does testicular aspiration to get the sperm before the varicocles do their damage. I think he does it only 4 times a year, but his next round should be in May (not too far off) if you want to go for it. Your doctors can use BCP to sync your cycle to his OR schedule so that you're working with a fresh sample the day of ER.

Re: So my DH has a varicocele.

so sorry you have go through time. I can only imagine how frustrating it is.

So my DH has a varicocele.

Ugh. I can't even imagine how frustrating this must be for you. I hope that, notwithstanding this, your current IVF works!

Re: So my DH has a varicocele.

Our Dx is MFI due to varicocele as well. Very low count, low morph and low motility - all three. That said, we did research on the surgery and the success rate wasn't high enough for us so we opted out. We did four rounds of IVF with ICSI and I'm now 38w5d pregnant. The key is knowing what you are dealing with - now that you have that knowledge your doctor is in a much better position to set you up for success!!

Re: So my DH has a varicocele.

Thanks ladies for all of the recommendations!

Re: So my DH has a varicocele.

Just wanted to give you some hope- DH has bilateral moderate varicoccele. His morph was consistently 1%. We did 4 IUI cycles and RE said we really should just move on to IVF. Anyway, we waited one month and got pregnant naturally. 1 year later, we again got pregnant naturally even with the bilateral varicocele! I know this isn't the norm but don't lose hope!

ETA: My RE did not recommend the surgery for DH if we were planning to do IVF anyway as ICSI with IVF would greatly assist and find the few good sperm. He said no guarantees with the surgery and it can take a while to truly affect sperm.

Message edited 3/24/2014 9:06:41 PM.