Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has ever had any experience (or know of anyone) that has had MF and had a SDD test (it checks sperm DNA..trying to see why DH counts are low) and also proxeed.. it is a supplement to hopefully bring up the numbers. We were told to prepare for IVF and hopefully will be starting our first cycle later this fall. Thanks in advance.
Baby dust to all!

Heather, the SDD checks why sperm doesn't fertilize an egg...do you know that this a problem? Exactly how low are the counts? Are there other problems (motility, morphology, etc.). Has your DH done hormonal testing? Has he been treated by a urologist? I'd follow those routes before I'd do an SDD (I'm guessing you are self-pay and that's probably expensive)....but that's me. Besides that, if your DH sees a urologist for treatment, your insurance will likely pick up the tab.

Proxeed...I personally think it's a load. I know there are people who swear by it but I am of the mind that if it were real, it would be tested and go through the FDA and some drug company would be making a fortune on it.

Best of luck to you!

Hi Suzi,
Thanks for your help.

I do not know the exact numbers, the results are at home. I know that the motility and actual count were low enough for further testing to see why...so his ins is covering it.

We were never told that we would have a problem with fertilization, although we have never been pregnant either. I guess we were just hoping that it would happen for us and then we just kind of in a state of denial that there is a problem so we stopped talking about TTC. This is our 1st time seeing an RE. That is who suggested the test.

So far this is what he had..1st semen analysis was low #'s like i mentioned. He had the SDD and bloodwork on 5/22/06.

Apparently the results take forever, our next appt is june 20. But we were told to prepare for IVF. The RE suggested proxeed... he has not taken any yet, that was just a general opinion question.

Thanks so much for listening. I am glad to have found this website!

We had SDD test. It was the only thing that came back really bad for my husband. He has poor motility and morphology but we can get PG. However, we keep miscarrying. I just lost our 7th and it is always the same way.

I am trying to find others that had the SDD test. What were your husband's numbers from that test?

If you have had 7 m/c, have you been tested for recurrent PGY loss? If not, you need to be tested PRONTO!

Of course. I have been tested up and down for everything since the second loss. I have tried everything on me - BA, Lovenox, Folgard, thyroid meds, LIT, etc. Nothing changes it.

We had the SDD just before this last PG.

If the SDD test came back that bad, you might want to look into doing an SCSA (Sperm Chromaitn Structure Assay). There is a lab in South Dakota that does the test, it runs about $350. They will work with DH's urologist or your RE, whichever.... The test will tell you the extent of chromosomal abnormalities in the sperm and you can go from there.

On your m/cs, has your OB or RE done any testing on the tissue? They can analyze and find out WHY if it was a chromosomal problem. Maybe something to check into.

We did not bother to have the SDD done - we did 7 IVFs and we already knew that motility, morphology, and concentration were HUGE problems for us (motility and morphology less than 30%, density less than 50,000).

Suzi:

We have done everything as I said before. Karotyped 4 losses - all normal. Waiting to find out about this last one but I expect the same. We are both normal karotype so no chromosomal issues.

We did a test like SCSA when we did the SDD. He was borderline which is why I think we get PG often while others have more trouble.

DH also has poor motility and morphology. DH morphology is 0-1% normal. I am still amazed we got PG once naturally! Other times were 2 IUI no drugs, 1 IUI w/injectables, 1 IVF fresh (twins) and 1 IVF frozen.

We haven't had fertilization problems. Out urologist said the SDD indicates the DNA transfer which happens much later in the process. He said that is why they seem to progress fine then they don't. It has to do with the slow unraveling of the DNA.

Our IVF embryos were called "perfect" with all but 1 making it to blastocyst stage. Urologist said that is more of an indicator of egg quality then sperm issues.
We did do ICSI when we did IVF. I was a poor responder to the drugs (we almost cancelled the retrieval) but the eggs we got were good. We ended up with 4 blasts and 3 resulted in pregnancy.

Heather: Are you still out there? What were your SDD results?