How long to wait for infertility workup when there are some known causes?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am 29 and have a DS who is 2, and I'm currently TTC #2. We have some known fertility issues in place (I have 1 tube, DS has marginal sperm analysis from 4 years ago and he is 36), but we were able to get pregnant with DS1 on my 2nd cycle when I was 27. Now, however, we have been trying for 8 cycles and no luck. TCOYF recommends an infertility workup if you have been charting for 4-6 months and one year if you have not been charting. Well, we have been charting pretty aggressively due to my tube issue, and no luck. I am worried that DS's sperm count has gone down, but I am not sure if we should give it another few months before getting tested. Advice please.

[Anonymous]

I'd go now. I went after 3 months of charting because I knew something wasn't right. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Agreed: go now. Some RE will tell you there's nothing you can do about sperm issues. We've tried goji berries (TCM) and vitamin C. Also have sex every other day instead of daily. DH sperm at 40 improved.

[Anonymous]

I agree that you should go as soon as possible, just keep in mind that most insurance companies won't consider you infertile unless you've been trying to conceive for a year, so make sure you tell the RE you've been TTC for that long at least.

[Anonymous]

I'd also go now, depending on how aggressive you want to be. An RE would be able to tell you your chances/month trying naturally given your particular diagnoses and that could help you with your decisions about "what next." If sperm count is really low, AND you only have one tube, it may be that you want to take other measures and personally I'd rather be armed with that information sooner rather than later.

I also had one tube (and wound up doing IVF after similar questioning). For what it's worth, I was basically told that my fertility was about half that of what it would be if I had two- i.e., you ovulate every month of course but only half the time does the egg have a chance of being fertilized; you alternate, roughly, between each side. (This may seem obvious but it was amazing to me that different OBs told me different things about how this worked). So my RE told me basically to double th etime it would take to get pregnant naturally, but this is without any sperm issues. In the end, it appears after having several cycles monitored thatI personally appear to ovulate way more on the side I do NOT have a tube on.


I think I was told with one tube, and at my age (33) the chance given how long we had been trying )6-8 months) was about 5% (and we have a daughter who was conceived when I was as 29 naturally).
Although we didn't have insurance, it's my understanding that given that we had explained infertility, that might change what insurance would pay for. Unfortunately our insurance didnt pay for anything, regaerdless, but I've been told by others on this board that i could likely take my diagnosis and the fact that I'd done IVF out of pocket to the next insruance, and if andwhen we swtich. without a waiting period.

[Anonymous]

Definitely get checked now. If as a first step you want to get the sperm tested, his PCP can order that. My OB was even willing to write orders for that. Having said that, if you end up going to an RE, the RE may want it redone to his specifications.

[Anonymous]

Definitely get tests so you know what you're dealing with. After a year or trying, we had the misfortune of learning DH had barely any sperm and our chances of conceiving natural were virtually nil. He tried surgery to correct a blockage but the doctor was only successful in freeing a few sperm, so our only option was IVF w/ICSI. It was not what we wanted/expected to hear, but in hindsight we are really glad we didn't waste extra time/energy/money trying things that wouldn't work. No more months of sex-according-to-the-calendar, ovulation prediction kits, male virility vitamins, etc. Of course I hope your news is better, but regardless think it's better to know what you are dealing with so you can come to terms with it.

[Anonymous]

OP here...I guess this possibility is hard for me to wrap my head around b/c we already have a 2 yr old conceived naturally...but maybe a few years can do a number on the sperm count, and in conjunction with the my one tube, this might make #2 difficult, even though I am young. Thanks for the advice.

Question -- do you need to get tested at the RE who ends up doing fertility work? Or can you use results from one and then go to another (for example, if I think I want to use Dominion for NCIVF, and they say I am not a candidate, can I take these tests to SG and use the same or will they reorder tests?)