Yesterday, I finally had an appointment with a new IVF doctor.  I chose him because he does thing differently to other IVF doctors. After 13 cycles with no positive result, I decided it was about time to try something new.  Some of you may recall that I had decided to stick with my current doctor since he finally changed my treatment protocol and that I had seen another doctor at another clinic who also didn’t seem to have any other ideas.

I suppose I could have given up, but I made a third appointment with yet another doctor. The wait was long and arduous but well worth it.  My now new doctor asked me a whole stack of questions that had never been raised before:

• Have you had a biopsy on day 21 to test for natural killer cells
• Have you have blood tests for x, y & z ? Did you fast for the thyroid test that you had?
• Has your husband had a blood test on his chromosomes?
• Has your husband had the SCSA sperm test?

My answers were mostly negative.  So we are now all set for a fresh round of tests.  The SCSA test that my husband has to do is a test for sperm DNA fragmentation. I read somewhere that if sperm fragmentation is over 30% then the likelihood of getting pregnant is 1%.  If this is the case, then we may need to consider other options like a sperm donor.  the cost of $500 but I think it is money well spent given I have now spent over $50k on IVF.  It would have been better to assess this earlier – maybe I could have saved time and money. I guess I will soon find out.  Personally, I feel this could be our major issue. We have lost a lot of embryos due to fragmentation and there is some possibility that the antibodies in my husband sperm have had an impact on this. I feel sure that these things are connected in some way.

The biopsy that I have to do is a test to see if I have any natural killer cells that try and destroy my embryos. Charming.  There is heaps of information about this on the web but I recommend not reading the information unless you have a good understanding of biology. For me, reading about this stuff bores me to tears – it is far to technical for my liking.   The main point of interest about natural killer cells,  is the fact that my new doctor has helped 60% of women found with natural killer cells become pregnant.  Apparently the treatment is simple – just some medication to fix the issue.

The other tests are also important and essentially will help the doctor determine the right protocol for me – particularly if the there are no other likely issues revealed by the other tests.  So my next test is 2-3 weeks away.  Unfortunately we know the full extent of the problem until my Doctor returns back from the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) conference in Italy which is a massive annual event about all the latest findings on IVF.

So it seems my next steps won’t happen until July.  That’s exciting.  I hate the wait but hopefully we might know more than what we did before and be able to make some decisions from this point.  My husband is really annoyed though – he is angry that our other doctor hasn’t done these tests. I can understand that but it does seem that many doctors follow the tried and true path.  My advice for anyone in the same boat is to try different doctors - particularly if you feel you issues are not being investigated thoroughly.

New Doctor, New Outlook is a post from: The IVF Club

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At a recent human reproduction and embryology conference in Europe (http://www.eshre.com), some interesting findings on Male Factor Infertility were uncovered.

One of the studies titled “Keep the River Flowing” was an exploratory study investigating the effect of daily ejaculation for 7 days and sperm DNA damage. Anyway, the study uncovered that 3 days of abstinence followed by 7 days consecutive days of ejaculation, resulted in reduced sperm DNA fragmentation (down from 33% to 21.8%), increased motility and improved morphology.

It was concluded that sex / ejaculation for 7 days leading up to and including ovulation during a normal female reproductive cycle may then increase chances of conception. The implication being that if the same thing was applied leading up to a sperm collection for IVF/IUI/ICSI then the chances of conception may also be improved. There is the usual caveat that more studies are needed to look at this further but I don’t need any convincing. We’ve tried many things – might as well give this a go and keep the river flowing as well. My poor husband is going to be exhausted (he works full time and studies part-time)!

Tips To Improve Male Infertility is a post from: The IVF Club

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I spoke to our Chinese herbalist today. She has been a great source of support to both me and my husband. My husband sees her to help his sperm. His sperm count and motility have improved quite dramatically. However, his sperm morphology and the antibodies in his sperm are still a problem.

I have also been seeing her and have had acupuncture on a regular basis but this is the first time during treatment that I haven’t had it. There were a number of reasons for this.

The first was that I have developed an aversion to needles. I am so sick of needles, blood tests and injections that I just couldn’t face seeing any more. Whilst acupuncture does not hurt, I just couldn’t do it.

The second reason was that my transfer happened on Wednesday. Having acupuncture would mean that I would have to commute for a couple of hours after work in peak hour traffic three times in that week for treatment. I decided, probably selfishly, that my time was better spent relaxing at home rather than stressing out in traffic. Maybe I am trying to make myself feel better about not going, but it sure feels like all her good work is undone when I get back into the car and stress out in the traffic.

On a positive note, my lovely IVF nurse has arranged for me to have my pregnancy blood test on Friday which will be Day 14. So with a bit of luck or misfortune, I will get to find out if I am pregnant… or not.

Normally, the clinic asks you to have a blood test on Day 16 but that happens to fall on a Sunday but the clinic is closed on Sundays. I also think my nurse is feeling sorry for me and does not want to keep me in suspense. Mind you, my period is as regular as they come so I don’t think I will waiting the whole weekend to have an answer any way.

IVF, Acupuncture and Male Infertility is a post from: The IVF Club

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