ICSI and lifestyle changes - help

[WHeatherW]

Hi everyone - I really need your amazing advice…

My OH’s sperm sample results were great but we did the DNA frag test which came back high (there was a trial at our clinic). Our consultant told us to make lifestyle changes for 3 months and take impryl before our next round - which would be ICSI.

I had surgery last week to remove a large dermoid cyst and was told to ring them after that to get dates in the diary. I rang this morning to be told “oh I thought if you were having ICSI you could start on your next period” and gave me the impression it was either ICSI or lifestyle changes for 3 months.

I’m about to turn 39 and have a low egg count so I was naturally worried about waiting 3 months but wanted to do everything we could for this round and it wasn’t positioned as “either” “or” during the results call.

Is it worth waiting 3 months if we are doing ICSI? Or should we crack on with ICSI right away?

I was worried about “lifestyle changes” as he exercises, eats lots of veggies, only drinks at the weekend etc so I wasn’t convinced that the changes we have implemented would be enough to change anything. We have added more fruit to his diet, no alcohol, no heated seats in the car etc and more supplements.

Help please xx

[JA-fnuk Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

If possible can you discuss this with with your Dr/ clinic what he thinks would be best . They know your history , results etc This may help you make a more informed choice

Look after yourself

Janet-Partner

[WHeatherW in reply to JA-fnuk]

Thank you for your reply. My consultant said to take 3 months and do ICSI which I was obviously upset at the thought of delaying but happy to take her advice as I thought it would be for the best. It was during a call to schedule the next round that the nurse said about starting at my next period as we were doing ICSI. She seemed confused and said she would call back with a plan after reviewing my notes so hopefully it all becomes clear soon xx

[happilyevershahs]

Hey, that's a tough one. My husband has high DNA fragmentation and so he took impryl for three months but at the time we were early 30s. I would speak to your consultant and see if it is really advised to wait as you have low AMH. Ultimately, it's a risk either way.

[WHeatherW in reply to happilyevershahs]

Thanks for replying. Did you retest? Did the impryl make much difference?

Thanks xx

[happilyevershahs in reply to WHeatherW]

Yes, after three months we got retested after impryl and dietary changes and there was improvement. We also did an extra technique called zymot where the sperm is filtered. This resulted in my miracle daughter.

[Penguinw21]

Just to give you some home I have a very low AMH and my husband had bad results. We did hold off on IVF for a while and whilst it was nerve wracking as I felt a massive countdown clock was ticking over my head, it ended up being the best thing for us because on our first round of ICSI we were successful.

Impryl for both of us and I also took coq10 and vit d supplement. I also think my fertility accupuncture helped so much. I has 2 eggs collected and thought it was all over but I'm currently nearly 18 weeks pregnant so it can work ♥️♥️

Sending so many positive vibes your way xxx

[WHeatherW in reply to Penguinw21]

Wow, thank you so much for sharing - congratulations! When we were told to wait 3 months we decided to do everything we could to try and help during that time so I’m also doing fertility acupuncture. Fingers crossed it’s all helping and that BFP is coming our way xx

[Eloquentia]

Hi! In terms of lifestyle changes, like others, we switched to Mediterranean diet, lots of yoghurt with honey and nuts for me, as well as oral and vaginal probiotics (Biogaia and Canesfloor). We stopped using plastics at home, to the extent possible, as well as scented housecleaning products. Switched to Ecover. ICSI worked well for us and gave us a high fertilisation rate. Good luck with whatever you decide!

[WHeatherW in reply to Eloquentia]

Thank you for replying. It’s so reassuring to hear what changes you made as we have also made these changes (except the vaginal probiotics so will definitely look into this).

I’m hoping to get a call from the clinic today about the plan going forward. Thanks again xx