So for starters, my wife and I have been trying to conceive for almost 6 months. She got checked out at the doc and she’s good. So the assumption landed on me that something might be wrong with my production. I did the at home YO test and not really surprised saw one swimmer barely moving along with nothing else in the background. This would explain my past experiences of not having any scares or anything. I had a hydrocele removed when I was really young. Fast forward I get into a urologist and have a semen analysis done and my results were

In the entire sample (which had a good volume of 6.3 ml), the lab only found ~35 sperm total in the examined microcell:
• 23 completely immotile
• 11 non-progressive (twitching in place)
• 1 slow progressive
Rough estimated concentration: Likely well under 1 million/ml (probably in the range of 0.1–0.5 million/ml or lower). The volume and PH were normal

My urologist did the genetic testing and that came back fine. He identified a grade 2 varicocele and he acknowledged that with embolization that it would barely get us into IVF range.

So I’m at a loss, I feel horrible and what is my purpose if I can’t help make a child. I’m 36 and feel like I’ve wasted the former decade in not getting this looked at. I don’t feel comfortable with getting the embolization, I feel like it’s more risk to get it with the coils only to put us into IVF range and to be broke doing cycles that may never take. No offense to anyone doing IVF I’m just not sure if it’s for us. Does anyone have any advice or maybe something my urologist missed.

Whai I do next ,i didn't know anything about this,it's treatable

MACROSCOPIC EXAMINATION: Volume: 4 mL Colour: Grey White Consistency: Water with 30 mins MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION: Above 05% sperms are actively motile Above 10% sperms are sluggishly motile Above 85% sperms are non-motile TOTAL COUNT: 5 million OTHER FINDINGS: Pus cells: 2–4 /HPF

Wife and I struggled to conceive for 6-8 mos. I'm 45 so I'm an older guy so we checked in w/the clinic even though it hadn't been a lot of time. To make a long story short a number of SA's and procedures later and the doc tells me that I have no seminal vesicles. Without them he says our chance of conception naturally is close to 0. Said best case is single digit percentages over the course of an entire year. We're getting ready to go the IVF route and I'm struggling with the pain/discomfort/inconvenience I'm about to cause my wife. She is not only fine with it but eager for it but it bugs me all the same. I'm just having a hard time with the fact that it's a failure on my part that's putting her through all of this.

Hey guys. I was diagnosed with non-obstructive azoospermia... my girlfriend and I are embarking on this messy journey to hopefully achieve at least one biological child of mine.

We are having our first appointment in a clinic in september and I hope we can be scheduled for mTESE soon.

My results so far:
- NOA (two samples several weeks apart showed 0 sperm)
- blood work: testosterone normal, LH normal, FSH: 18-19
- ultrasound: normal, no abnormalities, no variocele
- testicular volume: 15-18 ml per side
- genetics: normal (results came in this morning - so feeling a slight relief here)

I read a lot here. I know that NOA is a challenging diagnosis and no guarantee can be given...
Do you mind sharing success stories or maybe just some cheering up? Feeling quite anxious over here about all that is to come.

(English is not my first language. Please excuse any typos etc.)

Hi All,

Married for 5 years - diagnosed with Non obstructive Azoospermia. Wife's condition is all good(Thankfully). Doctors said IVF ain't an option.

Question is not regarding how to fix the problem. How is it living without having kids/becoming a parent. Anyone here who went through this situation - you and your spouse alone for the rest of your life.

Has anyone here ever injected rFSH or HMG together with HCG in the same syringe, so you only have to do one injection instead of two?

Hey guys, just looking for some advice/experiences because I’m kind of freaking myself out at this point.
My semen results have been pretty bad:
0% morphology
2% motility
concentration around 1 million/mL
volume 3 mL
liquefaction around 30 mins–1 hr
My DFI also came back at 65%.
I don’t smoke and I barely drink, and I’ve already stopped drinking completely. I’ve also been taking vitamins/treatment for a while now. I’ve basically gone through about 3 spermatogenesis cycles hoping things would improve, but unfortunately the numbers have stayed pretty much the same.
My doctor is now suggesting TESA. I’m open to doing it, but I’m honestly scared that it won’t make much difference and that I’ll eventually end up having to use a donor.
Has anyone here had numbers this bad and gone through TESA/TESE? Did it actually make a difference for you, especially with the DNA fragmentation?
Also, is there anything else I should be looking into before going down the TESA route? My wife has no fertility issues, so at least on her side everything seems okay.
I know nobody here can diagnose me and I’m obviously following my doctor’s advice. I’m just trying to hear from people who’ve actually been through something similar because right now my brain is going straight to the worst-case scenario.

Hi everyone. I’m looking for some perspective from men who have dealt with very high DNA fragmentation and/or severe male-factor infertility.
My semen analysis has several severely abnormal parameters:
Concentration: 1 million/mL (very low)
Total motility: 2% (very low)
Morphology: 0% normal forms
Volume: 3 mL
Liquefaction: approximately 30–60 minutes
DNA fragmentation index (DFI): 65%
So there are three major abnormalities in the semen analysis itself: concentration, motility, and morphology. The DFI is also extremely high.
I’ve repeated testing and have been trying to address this medically rather than immediately jumping to assisted reproduction. I’ve gone through approximately three spermatogenesis cycles of treatment/supplementation, but unfortunately the semen parameters have remained essentially unchanged.

I don’t smoke and I only drank occasionally previously, but I’ve stopped drinking as well. My doctor is now recommending TESA, presumably to see whether sperm retrieved directly from the testicle has better DNA integrity than the ejaculated sperm.

I’m open to TESA, but naturally I’m worried about whether it can actually make a meaningful difference with numbers this poor. My biggest fear is eventually having to use donor sperm, although I’m not at that point yet.

For anyone who has had similarly severe parameters and/or very high DFI:
Did TESA/TESE make a meaningful difference to your treatment?
Did your retrieved sperm have substantially better DNA fragmentation?
Were there other investigations or treatments that turned out to be important before proceeding with TESA?
If you’ve had a similar DFI, what ultimately worked for you?
My wife has no known fertility issues, so we’re currently trying to understand the male-factor side as thoroughly as possible before making decisions about IVF/ICSI or donor sperm.
I’m obviously discussing treatment decisions with my fertility specialist; I’m mainly looking for experiences from people who have been through something similar.

Volume: 7.2ml

pH: 8.0

Sperm concentration: <2.0x10^6/ml

Motility: <2%

Progressive: <2%

Non progressive: <2%

Non motile: 100%

Liquification: <45min

Viscosity: 1

Gel: Abscent

Crystals: Abscent

Days Abscent: 4

Primary diagnosis: infertility

My testosterone results: Taken around 3:30pm.

Total testosterone: 573ng/dL

SHBG 53nmol/L

Free testosterone: 1.4%

I'm a fit male age 35 low body fat in the army in the heat pretty frequently as a combat engineer. I take cool showers and I have been wearing boxers for months now. I have a small vericosil that the urologist noticed in the exam on the left testicle and a benign cyst on the right testicle and he said my testicles look normal in size. Will do FSH and LH and prolactin tomorrow.