men, ivf, sperm

[Anonymous]

Should men abstain from ejaculation during week before ivf? Is it better to clean out the pipes a day or so prior to them doing their part at retrieval? Thoughts? Advice? Do you have sex at all during ivf?

[Anonymous]

Best to abstain 3-5 days before .....

[Anonymous]

PS (I am the PP) Yes you can BDas much as you want during IVF (with the exception of the 3-5 before the retrieval). That being said, after a couple weeks of injections in your tummy and having your ovaries full of fluid, it is hard to feel 'romantic'. Also, after the retrieval, if you are taking endometrium (instead of PIO shots) it is a big sloppy mess for a while (the best way I can describe the endometrium is like having a yeast infection WITHOUT the itching. Just kind of messy....

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP mostly, but would add that some REs discourage sex in the two week wait after IVF, because the cervix is often still irritated from the transfer/ultrasounds, and it can introduce bacteria and cause inflammation. (They also don't seem too keen on the "joustling" if you have OHSS, even mild cases, though I don't really think it would physically hurt the embryo.) The basic rule is not to do anything you would potentially regret if it fails, and if you get a BFN but had sex a few times after transfer, that might be the case. Though everyone is different, of course.

[jindc]

I would be curious about this because DH has low numbers and morphology.....I've read that frequent "release" can improve morphology, but if you shouldn't 3-5 days before IVF, wouldn't that harm morphology?

[Anonymous]

DH has severe male factor and ejaculated about 2 or 3 days before egg retrieval so we could get a new batch for IVF with ICSI. We've gotten grade A embryos from those times. During one of the cycles, DH did not ejaculate for two or three weeks before egg retrieval and we got B and C quality embryos with more fragmentation. I don't know if the embryo quality is related to the sperm or not. We brought this up with our RE and he doesn't seem to think that it is (he said two or three months would make a difference but not 2-3 weeks), but we read on some sites that people said their REs told them that DH should ejaculate about 2-5 days before retrival. You should ask your RE.

[Anonymous]

I was on a slow low dose (follistim) for IUI and I have never felt more in the mood than when we got close to the trigger time. I guess since I don't usually ovulate I hadn't been used to ovulation time when sex is supposed to be the best. My DH was so happy he kind of didn't want it to work so we could keep trying, but luckily his slow swimmers did the job. We painfully abstained 2 days before IUI and it helped his count and motility.

[Anonymous]

what happens if we forgot to ejaculate befor retrival?

[Anonymous]

We were told that DH should ejaculate 2 days before the retrieval date to optimize sperm quality (our MF issues were both morphology and motility, but not count). This was true across 3 IVF cycles at two different clinics.