Hello all , I’m after advice , I’m really struggling with the fact that a sperm donor might be our only option , has anyone gone down this route ? If so did you have the thoughts of ‘ maybe I won’t be excited of the we’re pregnant , getting the nursery ready together , having that special connection with the baby that’s biologically not yours ? How did you cope with all these thoughts ? I have something called double strand dna damage , don’t think its ever possible to have children naturally, we have done 3 rounds of IVF first round 2 fertilised 2 embryos 1 blast didn’t stick
Second round 1 fertilised 1 embroyo got put in early didn’t stick third round 0 fertilised , all 3 rounds we have a high number of eggs over 20 ,
It’s getting between the relationship because my partner desperately wants children but I can’t give her that and this seems like the only option , she doesn’t really want to adopt because there’s nothing wrong on her side and she wants to experience giving birth which I totally understand , just wondering how other people in my situation if any got through it or didn’t . There’s no one to really open up to in my life because I don’t know of anyone going through it or have gone through the same thing.
Thank you for taking the time to read

Hi all (posting from my wife’s account because I don’t have reddit)

I’m sorry we’re all in this boat, but I’m new to this and wanted some insight from people who’ve been here before. My genetic test results just got back and they are normal, no microdeletions or genetic abnormalities.

My hormone panel was also normal (US):

FSH: 5.5
LH: 4.9
Test: 363
Prolactin: 12.1
Estrogen: 10

This seems like obstruction with these results, right? Urologist appointment with scans isn’t for two more weeks but I don’t want to be shocked when I go in. I know Sertoli only or even maturation arrest is a possibility, but a less likely one given an (alleged) pregnancy accident in college.

If your stats were similar to mine, what was your diagnosis? Did you move onto TESE/TESA right away or did they do further testing? Did they suggest micro-TESE anyway? I would really rather have them collect my sperm via TESA/TESE.

Thank you guys in advance

Hi everyone, I’m having my first TESA (not TESE) next month on the same day as my wife’s egg retrieval and I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through this.
I have almost 0% sperm motility although my sperm concentration and count are relatively good. The main reason for the TESA is the lack of motility and we’re planning to use the sperm for ICSI.
I have a few questions:
1. Recovery and driving
*How painful was the procedure once the local anaesthetic or sedation wore off?
*Did you experience swelling, bruising, or significant pain afterwards?
*Were you able to walk normally and move around, or did you need to rest for the rest of the day?
*Most importantly, were you able to drive afterwards? Would driving around 4 hours after the procedure be realistic, or is it better to arrange someone to drive you home?
2. What should I expect?
*How long did the procedure take?
*How many days did the discomfort last?
*Were you able to return to normal activities the following day?
3. Two sperm collections before TESA
This is something I’m particularly curious about. My clinic has planned the following schedule for my wife’s egg retrieval day:
6:00 AM: First sperm collection at home and bring with us to the clinic. The clinic gave me a special liquid called culture medium to use with the sample.
9:30 AM: A second sperm collection at the clinic. In my case they have often been able to obtain better-quality samples from the second collection.
Around 12:00 PM: TESA.
My question is: After two ejaculations on the same morning, is it still realistic to retrieve sperm through TESA? Could the two previous collections affect the number or quality of sperm available in the testicles or does TESA retrieve sperm independently of the ejaculated samples?
I understand that the testicular sperm may also be immotile and that the laboratory needs to assess their viability. I’m just wondering whether anyone with almost 0% motility has had a similar protocol and what their experience was.
Any advice, personal experiences, or things you wish you had known before your first TESA would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you! 🙏

I am now a patient of Dr. Turek after struggling with infertility for 2.5 years. We did FNA mapping and they did not find any sperm, but I did get a diagnosis of early maturation arrest. We are starting the isotretinoin clinical trial. I guess I am just looking for experiences/advice. Curious about ESSM at MAZE and if we should do that instead of a standard semen analysis at a lab. All baseline labs were normal except for testosterone was a little low at 204. History of medication (clinic, HCG FSH), and failed TESE a year ago

Hi everyone, I'm 29 years old male and been married for 2 years. We've been trying for over a year to conceive but nothing happened so we went to get ourselves tested. My wife is in very good condition but we discovered that my sperm is pretty bad. These are the results from January 2026:

Volume: 3.5ml
Concentration: 5mln
Total Count: 17.5mln
Progressive: 13%
Nonprogressive: 5%
Immotile: 82%
Normal forms: 1.5%

FSH: 12.64 mIU/ml
LH: 2.88 mIU/ml
Estradiol: <10
Free Testosterone: 8.95pg/ml

Other info: The urologist did a physical exam and he didn't find any varicocele, but he told me that my testicles were very small. I did an ultrasound and they were around 7ml volume. I also did genetic testing, everything was normal and I had no Y deletions either. My family doesn't have fertility issues either. This is the first time that I did a SA so not sure how it was before.

After these tests we saw a urologist and he prescribed some supplements to take for 3 months to see if there's any improvement. Unfortunately, after 1-2 months of taking the supplements I started getting fevers and I was diagnosed with Brucellosis (bacterial infection). I had to take 3 different antibiotics, one IV for 14 days and two tablets for 12 weeks.

When the infection was no longer active in June, we were interested to see how's the state of my sperm and we did another SA. It came back with literally zero sperm. We were kind of upset but it kind of made sense given the continuous on and off fevers that I was having for an entire month until we figured out what was happening.

My antibiotics treatment finished on August 14 and on October 14 (2 months after antibiotics), I went for another SA to see what's happening. I was upset to see that it has become worse. Here are the new results:

Volume: 1.5ml
Concentration: 2mln
Total Count: 3mln
Progressive: 20%
Nonprogressive: 0%
Immotile: 80%
Normal forms: 0%

Note: Abstinence here was 2 days whereas 3 days in the first SA. Not sure how much this matters.

I've spoken to my urologist and we're leaning towards IVF since chances of natural conception seem to be extremely low. The issue is that he told me that the 0% morphology is terrible for IVF and needs to be improved first. That's the part that I'm mainly worried about. I'm also worried about the possibility that my testicles are failing. I understand that brucellosis probably did some damage and it might not have fully recovered in 2 months.

I'm back to taking supplements (coq10, zinc, selenium, the usual stuff) and trying to improve my lifestyle (no heat, no alcohol, more exercise) for 1-2 months, as instructed by my urologist.

I'd like to know what other people think of my situation and whether there's good hope that I'll be able to have a child since I'm kind of feeling down at the moment. I guess I just want to chat with people about it since no one in my private life knows about this.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read through!

How/Where are you all getting your HCG? I'm prescribed 10k bottle to take 2500iu 2x a week. That means I'll need two bottles a month. It's so expensive and most of the pharmacies I have been to act dumb about ordering it. I finally got CVS to order it but it requires a PA. Hopefully it goes through and I get some insurance coverage. Any recommendations on where to get my prescription filled in U.S. ? I tried looking for online pharmacies but I'm still not sure.

Hello, this may sound funny but does anyone else feel like after the procedure, it's hard to keep the little guy hard? Please let me know if you've experienced this lol

Your semen analysis results are below.
-Total volume is_3.2_ mL, we like to see this equal to or greater than 1.4mL
-Sperm concentration (number of million sperm
per milliliter) is_2.5_ million/mL, we like to see this equal or greater than 16 million/mL
-Total motility is _55%, we like to see this equal or greater than 42%. This percentage shows the sperm that is moving.
-Morphology/Normal Form (shape) is_3%, we like to see this equal or greater than 4%.
-Total Motile is _4.4 million, we like to see this equal to or greater than 20 million.
-Total Progressive Motile Sperm is_3.8_
million, we like to see this equal to or greater than 8-10 million to be considered adequate for IUI (intrauterine insemination). This number encompasses semen volume, sperm
r- entration, and sperm that is swimming forward

I originally posted my story on here to give everyone some hope, but now I’m in desperate need of some hope myself. I think I posted the link to the original post above.

Unfortunately, the two embryos we implanted resulted in a very early chemical pregnancy.

Since then, we did another IVF cycle and were lucky enough to retrieve 11 eggs. Unfortunately, when they thawed my frozen vial of tissue there weren’t nearly as many viable sperm as they thought (originally estimated to be approximately 200). After thaw, there were only 3 viable sperm (2 nonmotile and 1 motile) that they injected into 3 eggs.

Today, we were told that only 1 (one of the nonmotile sperm) successfully fertilized the egg. The other two are still being watched, but chances are fertilization didn’t work. We are waiting to hear back in a few days whether or not development continued.

I consider myself extremely lucky that they found sperm to begin with. I know how many of you hope for that miracle only to be met with negative results. However, it is a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Finding sperm is just the first most basic step in this process and there are so many pitfalls that follow once you get past that initial hurdle.
I guess I am also sharing this as a cautionary tale that this journey isn’t over until you are holding a baby in your arms.

I don’t mean to sound so negative or ungrateful. I’m really not. I know what a miracle it was to find sperm at all. But, I could really use some positive stories where 1 lonely embryo worked and lead to a live birth against all odds for someone with NOA SCOS.

We do still have more eggs and I can do another surgery, but after getting knocked down so many times in the last few months I’m finding it really hard to find hope in this situation. Thanks for listening and sharing your own stories and hardships. I wish I had better news to update you with, but unfortunately this is the reality we are all forced to deal with.

Sucks to be making this post, but I'm 30M and was diagnosed with non-obstructive azoospermia after about a year of workup. Honestly, I’m completely at a loss. This looks like an emotional and expensive road, and I don’t have unlimited funds, so I’m trying to be strategic about where to put money first.

I’m currently looking into Columbia’s STAR program. Should I also be looking at Maze’s ESSM, or is it basically the same idea? Has anyone done one before moving to surgery?

Hormones (Apr 10, 2026)

• FSH: 26.2 mIU/mL
• LH: 11.85 mIU/mL
• Total testosterone: 243 ng/dL (lab ref 197-670)
• Prolactin: 8.9 ng/mL
• Free testosterone: 6.66 ng/dL (Aug 2025)

Genetics

• Karyotype: 46,XY
• Y-chromosome microdeletion (AZF) test: negative

Other

• No medications, no steroids or testosterone, nonsmoker, 1-2 drinks a month, exercise regularly
• No risk factors found on history or exam
• Partner has no known fertility issues

My urologist said micro-TESE success is about 40-60% overall, and probably under 50% for me because of the FSH, though some studies say otherwise.

What I’m looking for:

1. Has anyone with FSH in the 20s found sperm with micro-TESE?
2. Experiences with STAR or ESSM, and whether you did that before surgery?
3. Surgeons or clinics you’d recommend in the Mountain West (Utah, Colorado, Washington), and what you paid out of pocket?
4. Anything you wish you’d done or asked earlier?

Thanks for reading. Any advice or just hearing from people who’ve been through it would mean a lot.

This is the place for partner's perspectives today.

Has anyone gotten there inhibin b tested? I got all sorts of labs done and I was diagnosed with non obstructive azoospermia 4 years ago but recently did some new labs. Inhibin b was undetectable (less than 4) FSH was elevated at 28.1 and LH was elevated at 15.7. All this gave me an answer as well of Sertoli Cell Dysfunction. I had recently seen a doctor, absolutely amazing, who created a high frequency ultrasound to determine if any sperm germ cells could be present. However in my case, there were some signs of possible sperm, but those areas unfortunately were scarring when the biopsy was sent off. It showed 60% of the tubules contained Sertoli cells and 40% were scarred. Now with that only being a single biopsy, it may not represent the entire testicle but because of how severe the scarring is, I was given the 5% chance of finding sperm if I will proceed with the mTESTE. He mentioned if I would be interested in trying a reboot protocol that involves taking testosterone plus HCG for several weeks to lower FSH production. Once FSH has been suppressed for a couple weeks, we would re-introduce HCG and FSH to see if the testicles can be stimulated. This would be done to try to salavage any of those Sertoli cells to get some of them to be functional. If there is a rise in the inhibin B, then a MicroTeste could be the next step with a 5% chance of finding sperm. Also, if anyone has gotten the MicroTeste done, were you told to be on testosterone for the rest of your life? We are both just at a loss at this point and we are hoping to get any sort of answers from any men or couples who have had similar results to ours. This community has helped me not feel alone, but I am just tired.

I'm going to try to make a long story short, but in essence:

Started showing low testosterone symptoms in summer of '25, went to the doctor and got officially diagnosed with low T, and was put on Clomid 50mg EOD. Prior to starting the Clomid, FSH was 14, now it's in the 40's. T levels are good, E's are fine but could be better, but now I'm azoospermic. I've had 2 SA's in a 5mo span after we realized my wife wasn't getting pregnant anymore. In 2025 she had 3 pregnancies, all resulting in early miscarriage. She also had another miscarriage in 2023, but that one lasted longer, up until (I believe) 20 weeks.

Yesterday I had my first consultation with a reproductive urologist, and she basically told me that:

1. My typical urologist is an idiot for not doing a SA prior to starting Clomid
2. My high initial FSH indicated that something was already wrong
3. It's likely that I was either already azoospermic or severely compromised before starting Clomid

This is extremely concerning, for obvious reasons, but also because not much has changed in the 3 years that me and my wife have been together. The only thing that I can immediately think of is my weight gain. In 2023 I was 200-205lbs and around 25-26% body fat (I was in the gym a lot), but now I'm 226 and ~31% body fat after putting in some effort to lose weight. I peaked at nearly 240lbs and 37% BF

Can anyone provide any insight on their own experiences with something similar? I'm trying very hard not to spiral, and I know that getting back in the gym wouldn't hurt, but I also know that it's probably pure copium to think that something like this can be fixed just by lifting again.

I was diagnosed with varicocel grade 1 with no reflux on my right testicule, I'm going to the gym 3 -4 times a week .

Should i stop definitely the gym , or are there some precautions or exercises i should avoid?

I need help, please

This is the place for partner's perspectives today.

35m Daily cannabis user for 17 years (3-4x daily, bong). Normal BMI and very active. 2 or so drinks a day with dinner. First SA came back with pretty low count around 10M after 82 days total cannabis abstinence, everything else looked relatively “normal”.

Started Bird & Be Men’s pre natal + CoQ10 and now over 115 days cannabis free. Cut back on alcohol, have started jogging 5-6x a week about 30-45 minutes a day, and hoping that things will start to improve. Any advice? Will see a urologist if no improvement or pregnancy in a few months.

Me and my girlfriend where trying for over two years with no success we went for tests and where told that they would be giving her injection shots to release her eggs we done 5 courses of those with no results. We have no broke up mainly because of the stress of the whole situation. I contacted my gp and got a date for a semen test. I got my results yesterday and here’s what I received back. I’m 37 years old with no kids & feel like time is ticking away for me.

Sperm concentration: 28.9 million
Total count: 121 million
Progressive motility: 63%
Total motility 69%
Immotile: 31%
Morphology 1%

Alguém que teve esse diagnóstico o que ajudou a motilidade aumentar mais ? Os meus estão imóveis mas tem espermatozoides

Everything is in the title. Our ICSI is scheduled in November but I'm very confused about the lab results.

First SA: 450k sperms (~30% ish motility)

First freezing attempt: None found

Second SA: 50k sperms (48%) motility

Second freezing attemp: 2 sperms found, unable to freeze

My oligospermia is extremely severe but my SA results gave me hope that ICSI would be a good option for us and we were looking forward to it. But the fertility preservation center has widely different results which makes me think that we might not even qualify for an ICSI, my wife and I are devastated.

Has this happened to any of you? I have an extended sperm search using the microdroplet technique scheduled in 2 weeks which will determine whether we can proceed with IVF or not... Is there hope?

This is the place for partner's perspectives today.

Got results from a recent semen analysis that are in the severe oligospermia range. I haven't been sick in the last year but have heard that illnesses and even some vaccinations can impact sperm count and health for months afterward. I'm taking a bunch of supplements that are supposed to help and have an appointment with a doctor to see about my hormone levels. To be clear, I'm not anti-vax at all but I have covid/flu shots due this month and am second guessing whether getting them might negatively impact our conception efforts? Can't find a lot of good info online so am hoping someone here might have some experience with this stuff. Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I'm 25 years old, 1.79 m (5'10.5") tall, and weigh 94 kg (207 lbs). I'm hoping to get some advice and hear from people who may have experienced something similar.

I work five days a week and walk for approximately one hour a day as part of my commute. On weekends, I exercise at home.

Several years ago, I underwent surgery for a varicocele. Unfortunately, I never had a semen analysis before the surgery, so I don't know what my sperm parameters were like at that time.

On March 17, 2026, I had a semen analysis through my country's public health insurance system. After reviewing the results, my doctor told me that my chances of having children were roughly 50/50, although I understand that a single semen analysis cannot reliably predict fertility. I was referred for a Doppler ultrasound, which thankfully showed no evidence of a current varicocele. However, I haven't been able to follow up with my doctor because of my workload.

Here are my semen analysis results:

\- Semen volume: 4.2 mL

\- Sperm concentration: 90 million/mL

\- Total sperm count: 378 million

\- Progressive motility: 19%

\- Non-progressive motility: 41%

\- Total motility: 60%

\- Immotile sperm: 40%

\- Normal morphology (Kruger's strict criteria): 4%

\- Sperm vitality: 70%

\- Liquefaction time: 70 minutes

\- Sperm agglutination: Positive (+)

\- Microflora: Positive (+)

\- Leukocytes: Less than 1 million/mL

\- Abstinence before the test: 4 days

My main concern is the low progressive motility (19%), although my total sperm count is quite high and my total motility is 60%.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on a few questions:

1. Improving sperm motility: Have lifestyle changes, weight loss, dietary changes, or specific exercises helped anyone improve progressive motility?

2. Weight and physical activity: Is walking for an hour a day during the workweek, combined with home workouts on weekends, enough? I'm also wondering whether losing some weight could improve my semen parameters.

3. Agglutination and microflora: My report shows positive sperm agglutination and microflora, but my leukocyte count is below 1 million/mL. Could these findings indicate an infection or antisperm antibodies, or can they sometimes be insignificant? What follow-up tests would be worth discussing with a urologist or andrologist?

4. Liquefaction time: Is a liquefaction time of 70 minutes a significant concern?

5. Repeat testing: Given my history of varicocele surgery, would it be advisable to repeat the semen analysis and consult a fertility specialist? How much can results vary between tests?

6. Ejaculation frequency and wet dreams: I haven't masturbated for several years, but I do experience nocturnal emissions (wet dreams). Could infrequent ejaculation affect sperm motility or overall semen quality? Would ejaculating regularly make any meaningful difference?

I'm not currently trying to conceive with a partner, but I want to understand my fertility and take reasonable steps to improve it before that stage of life.

I'd be grateful for any personal experiences, practical advice, or suggestions about what I should discuss with a specialist.

Thank you!

Hey,

I have been battling with male infertility for 9 months with following results

Concentration: 8-14mil/ml
Volume: 8ml
Total sperm count: 50-112 million
Progressive motility: 15-23%
Total motility: 26-37%
TPMSC: 9.6 - 25,7 million
Morphology: 1%
MiOXSYS: 1,86-3.75

In april I had best results in all parameters but today the doctor prescribed Letrozol 2,5mg every other day.

Hormones:
S-Tes-VLIK 292 pmol/l
S-Testo-IK 21.8 nmol/l
S-SHBG 48 nmol/l
S-LH 2.3 U/l
S-FSH 3.0 U/l
S-PRL 279.8 mU/l

Is this normal having to take letrozol when hormones are ok? Any side effects? Does this actually work?