r/maleinfertility

32M from Hyderabad, India. Looking for advice from anyone with severe male factor infertility, especially around IVF/ICSI outcomes and doctor recommendations in Hyderabad.

Latest semen analysis (3 days abstinence):

• Volume: 2.5 ml
• Sperm concentration: 3 million/ml
• Total sperm count: 7.5 million
• Progressive motility: 0%
• Non-progressive motility: 10%
• Immotile: 90%
• Morphology: 0%
• Impression: Severe OATS

Other findings:

• Hormones largely normal:
  • FSH: 4.05
  • LH: 4.62
  • Prolactin: 10.1
  • Total Testosterone: 338
  • Free Testosterone: normal
  • SHBG: low
• Ultrasound:
  • Reduced testicular volume (~7–8.5 cc)
  • Grade 1 bilateral varicocele
  • Normal blood flow/structure

Current medications:

• Spercus (L-Carnitine + CoQ10 + Lycopene + Zinc) – twice daily
• Maxoza-L sachet (L-Carnitine + Acetyl L-Carnitine + CoQ10) – once daily
• Addyzoa – once daily

Questions:

1. Anyone with similar numbers (especially 0% progressive motility and 0% morphology) who had success with IVF/ICSI?
2. Did supplements/lifestyle changes significantly improve your reports after 2–3 months?
3. Any good male infertility/andrology or IVF doctors in Hyderabad that helped in similar cases?

Trying to understand realistic expectations and avoid wasting time.

This is the place for partner's perspectives today.

Me (41M) and my wife (39F) have been trying for a child since 2017.

Covid delays, NHS admin/funding issues and long waiting lists certainly didn’t help the process, but after years of tests, referrals and appointments, I underwent a microTESE in London this week for non-obstructive azoospermia.

Unfortunately, no sperm were found.

Our consultant, Maria Satchi, has been brilliant throughout. She did warn us that we likely wouldn’t remember much of the post-op discussion, and she was absolutely right. Everything after hearing “no sperm found” became a blur. We are currently in that horrible period of grief, shock and trying to process what this actually means for our future.

I’d been on Clomid prior to the procedure, which did improve some of my hormone levels/results pre-op, so we went into this with some hope that there may be pockets of sperm production. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

I’ve always suspected something wasn’t quite right development-wise growing up. My testes are very small and I don’t think they fully developed through my teenage years for whatever reason.

Physically, I think I’ve been relatively lucky so far compared to some experiences I’ve read.

Day 0:
Very little pain really. Mostly tired, emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted. Bruising/swelling surprisingly mild.

Day 1:
Still manageable physically, although we had to make the journey back from London to the East Midlands by train / car because the procedure couldn’t be done locally. NHS at its finest.

Day 2:
Woke up early feeling heavily winded with pretty awful back ache and discomfort. I’m assuming trapped gas from the procedure/anaesthetic because it feels more like pressure and aching than surgical pain.

They gave me a course of antibiotics and dihydrocodeine for any pain, to use alongside ibuprofen and paracetamol.

Emotionally though, this is by far the hardest thing I’ve dealt with. Recent bereavements in the family, including losing my sister and my dad, have also weighed heavily on us over the past couple of years. It honestly feels like we just cannot catch a break at the moment.

I’m really struggling to digest the idea that I may never have my own biological child. My wife has been incredibly strong and is putting on a brave face, but one of the things hurting me most right now is not wanting to take away her opportunity to experience pregnancy and motherhood because of me.

Where we go from here, honestly, I don’t know yet. Donor sperm, adoption (probably not possible due to dogs being ‘reactive’), stopping entirely; everything feels too raw to even think about properly right now, and I don’t think we need to make those decisions immediately.

I think I’m posting because I feel pretty alone in all of this, and male infertility still feels like something people rarely talk openly about.

The plan is I will be going on TRT.

Hello, I have been trying to conceive with my wife for about a year now with no luck. In April I went for a SA and the results were not great about half of what range should be. Went back urologist and they suggested a 2nd test to confirm about a month later. I also took a blood test for testosterone and hormone levels and those results came back good with no issues. Have both result numbers below.

Since the first low results I’ve made significant life style changes excercising now at least 5 days a week, cutting out sugar as much as possible, replacing snacking with fruits. Already ate well meal wise so just continuing that and eliminating fried foods as well.

Unfortunately I don’t see my urologist again until June 1st so I’m left waiting for about 10 days with these results. Feeling stuck and stressed about this situation as I wait.

5/20 Test
Concentration: 5.11 M/mL
Sperm number: 14.31 M/Sample
Progressive: 20.66 %
Motile: 32.86 %
Morphology: 3.90%

4/17 Test
Concentration: 4.38 M/mL
Sperm number: 17.96 M/Sample
Progressive: 16.02 %
Motile: 31.49 %
Morphology: 0.91%

We just got the go ahead for free ivf treatment just waiting in the call from the clinic now to get started also with my last sperm test showing a much better result .
We might still achieve naturally but getting the ivf free is a great bonus for us after trying fit 3 years .

Hi everyone,

This sub has been incredibly helpful to my wife (30) and me (28) as we navigate the IVF process with severe MFI – NOA. Thank you all. I wanted to share our experience so far. FYI—my wife and I share this account.

After getting chemotherapy (4 rounds BEACOPP and 2 rounds ABVD) at age 17 for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, I knew I had azoospermia for years. I cryopreserved three vials of semen before starting treatment, but because my cancer was so advanced, they were low quality (immotile).

My wife and I tried a round of IVF using my cryopreserved samples in spring 2025 at Cornell in NYC. Four fertilized with an experimental technique known as oocyte activation. Unfortunately, all four embryos arrested and none were viable. (The Expect Miracles Foundation helped finance the cost of our treatment, and we highly recommend this organization to any cancer survivors who need financial help during IVF.)

All doctors recommended doing an mTESE as our next step, but, after numerous SAs with zero sperm found, we weren’t too optimistic. My FSH was 12 and my LH was 14. My inhibin B was 32. I also had low testicular volume consistent with “mild atrophy” according to my doctor, although I don’t remember the exact numbers.  

We needed to maximize the chance of success. We started out by repairing my varicocele in August 2025 in Dubai. My doctor was wary of giving me Accutane given my medical history and he thought I likely had SCOS, but we advocated for ourselves and he eventually agreed, giving me 20mg daily (though the study had participants take 40).

We also took a kitchen sink approach to supplements from the time of my varicocele repair until the mTESE. I was on Proxeed Plus, Lycopene, NAC, COQ10, Theralogix Solo multivitamin, and Fish oil. Tried exercising more but didn’t make a meaningful change there (I’m already healthy BMI and lead a relatively active lifestyle). Barely drank any alcohol also.

March 2026: Tried STAR but found zero sperm. This was a really low point for both of us.

May 2026: On the morning of the mTESE, we were convinced it wasn’t going to work (doctors told me there’s a 20-30% chance, but I thought they were being nice). We had selected a donor backup as we were ready to start our family one way or another. I think that helped us psychologically.

When I woke up from surgery, they told me they found “hundreds” of sperm and only needed to operate on one “area” of one side. We were shocked.

The next day, my wife went in for her egg retrieval. We got 10 eggs, 9 of which were mature. 8 fertilized normally and four of our embryos made it to blast. They also froze 2 vials of my semen from the mTESE. They used oocyte activation again this round.

We transferred one of our four blastocysts, and today, my wife got a positive pregnancy test result.

Recovery: I was extremely scared before my surgery but to be honest, the recovery is not bad. There’s pain the first two days but within five days I felt normal again. Ice is the best thing for it.

Advice/Reflection: This community has a been a great resource for us and we learned a lot.  We did find however, that spending too much time researching and scrolling the subreddit was actually harmful to our mental health. Eventually, it’s important to recognize when you’ve learned everything that you can and let the doctors take over. Infertility can dominate your life and define you if you let it. We did couple’s therapy throughout this whole process, and it has been incredibly valuable.

I want to think this community and wish you all good luck. I can answer any questions here in the comments. Cheers.

33M, TTC, looking for insights on semen analysis

•	Count: 13 million/mL  
•	Motility: 41%  
•	Morphology: 40% abnormal  
•	Viability: 85%  
•	Volume: 4.5 mL

I think don’t drink/smoke and eat healthy. Exercise twice a week and the only factor I see is stress levels. Slightly high. Averaging 36 on my Garmin watch

Pathologist noted low count consistent with hypospermatogenesis, suggested repeat test. Anyone seen improvement with lifestyle changes or have experience with IUI at these numbers?

Men, I’m in my thirties and my doctor says my FSH is on the low end of the normal range for FSh.

Have you dealt with this? What have you done to improve this? What are you dealing with?

Results came back from SA, 0 sperm in sample. Went to urologist, did ultrasound on testicles, then did blood work, FSH 22.5, LH 9, T 3.56. Ultrasound showed testicles much smaller than average male (i had no clue). For reference i did these tests in a country with basically UK/english medical system. Went to US, did over all test. Same results but T 710, and FSH 19.1, LH 3.6, 0 sperm in sample again. Went to see specialist male Urologist in USA. He says i have non obstructive azoospermia. No Y chromosome micro deletion, or klinefelter syndrome thankfully. USA urologist told me my only option is microTESE. Doctor put me on clomid 50mg every other day (i am only 148lbs, is this too much?). But my family now wants me to see a quantum healer and i went to see her yesterday and she told me i have to come off of the clomid entirely and that she will have my wife pregnant in under 3 months. What should i do? If i do this i am worried it will delay my surgery, as if i go that route and it doesn’t work then i have to start clomid over in august then do the surgery in December. Is there any chance that what i have is progressive and it is further damaging my sperm production and that each day that passes my odds of having children will be decreased? My doctor seemed to think that is not how it works but i am very confused because i did not get an actual diagnosis or reason why this is happening, all i got from both urologists is that i have testicular failure and non obstructive azoospermia. How do they even know that it is non obstructive?

Thank you kindly for any help or advice gentlemen.

My scrotrum got harmed by myself but no pain no swelling but while i typed this to google it says it will cause infertility through BTB break even without pain and swelling.

Hello Everyone,

My partner and I have been together 12 years and have never worn protection, we have never had any sort of pregnancy scare (not a scare for us but) . With this being said we're currently going through the procedure of being tested and just wanted to know if my results look okay? Really appreciate any information on what is good and what is bad as i dont really understand it.

I have stopped using Cannabis 5 months ago, i smoke about 20 cigarettes a week and only drink maybe twice a week, if this factors anything in

VOLUME- 4.4ML

pH- 8.1

Sperm Concentration-26.93 10*6 mL

Total count- 118.49 Mill/speci

Total motility- 54.25%

Progressive motility- 47.65%

Fast Progressive Motility- 38.15 %

Slow Progressive Motility-9.50 %

Non-Progressive Motility- 6.60 %

Immotile-45.75 %

Normal forms- 1.0 %

Apperance- Viscous

Thankyou for any help/advice

Hi everyone,

I am a 28 year old male who just had a semen analysis done with 2 days abstinence. The results came back but with no explanation from the doctor.

I received two separate tests: semen analysis (count, forms) and semen analysis for sperm presence and motility.

Below are the results along with the labs normal range/value.

First, semen analysis (count, forms):
1. Appearance, semen:
Normal value: normal
My value: normal
2. Sperm count, semen:
Normal value: >=15.0 M/mL
My value: 81.2
3. Spermatozoa, morphology
Normal value: >= 4%
My value: 6

Second, semen analysis for sperm presence and motility:
1. Collection time, semen
My value: 11:12am
2. Semen volume:
Normal value: >= 1.5mL
My value: 2.5
3. Semen, time read:
My value: 11:38am
4. Liquefaction, semen:
Normal value: normal
My value: normal
5. pH, semen:
Normal value: >= 7.2
My value: 8.5
6. Spermatozoa, motile %:
Normal value: >= 40%
My value: 46
7. Sperm progressive %, sem fld, qn
Normal value: >= 32%
My value: 31
8. Spermatozoa, immotile %
My value: 54
9. Spermatozoa, nonprogressive%
My value: 15
10. Viscosity, seminal fluid
Normal value: normal
My value: normal

As you can see, my progressive % came back low.

My wife and I have been trying for 12+ months now with no success.

Can anyone please help me understand these results?

Thank you all in advance.

Hi guys. I've got NOA. 34m/33f NOA diagnosis for many years.

While we all know NOA is something couples have to tackle together, there is a burden I've seen men specifically, including myself, struggle to carry. It's incredibly helpful to know I'm not the only man carrying it.

The last several months, several of us have been getting together for a video call every other week. It's been amazing and I'm way thankful for the guys in it. All we do is chat about what's going on and the experiences we've had. No other agenda. It's not professional counseling. We're just a group of 5-15 guys, depending on the week.

If you're a man with NOA looking for support, and want to lay any shame or other burden you're feeling down, this is a great place to do it. We'll have a call this Thursday 5/21 at 7pm central time. Below is the link to our Discord event where it will be. Join the group and let us know you're in!

If you've got something other than NOA (non-obstructive azoospermia) this won't be the group for you. And again, men only. See you there.

https://discord.com/invite/TjAMHHzn5?event=1486895809743294474&fbclid=IwY2xjawR52dFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEepb7y63JhZgdtmfpmg2umG4lmw62ZvEWRJewV6FEaU_Nf01gfE4o3_vWqKR8_aem_uNAr9Pd8YMsK67F25TsfSA

I thought I'd give an update on my azoospermia journey.

In February this year I did my first SA after me and my partner have been TTC for circa 2 years.

After getting nowhere with the NHS (slow, seemingly uninterested, in limbo), I booked a private consultation with Professor Jonathan Ramsay at the Beaconsfield Clinic.

I have today had the consultation, and I can't recommend this highly enough to anyone in the UK going through this.

Prior to the appointment I provided Mr Ramsay with my hormone results, SA result, and other medical history.

From start to finish it took 2.5 hours.

For starters I had a 45 minute consultation in which Mr Ramsay spoke with myself and my partner regarding our history and the NHS test results this far and what they could indicate. He went through what tests he would suggest I do and the reasons why.

I did a Karyotype and Y deletion blood test, an ultrasound, and an SA.

The consultation was £350 and the tests totaled £959.

Once I had done all of the tests we had another discussion with Mr Ramsay in which he reviewed the ultrasound and the SA. The amazing thing is that they found 3 sperm in the SA, meaning that I now have Cryptozoospermia and not Azoospermia.

Mr Ramsay suggested that this suggests an Obstruction (60% chance).

He has prescribed 1mg of Anastrozole (to increase testosterone, decrease estrogen and increase sperm production).

He will see us again in June to review the Karyotype and Y deletion blood test results, to do another SA, and arrange an operation depending on the results. He even said that he may be able to remove the blockage so that sperm return to Semen in much greater number, although he says this is only successful in 30% of cases. But if so we wouldn't need to do IVF ICSI.

Over the moon and can't recommend highly enough.

Not sure where to begin. 35M and wife is 33F. Been trying to convince for almost 3 year now. Issue lies with me. History of Crohn's and had a complete proctolectomy about 4 years ago which essentially killed me but I pulled through and living with an illeostomy.

Regarding my fertility, I've had 3 sperm analysis where nothing was found. LSH and FH high but Test in normal levels. Genetics results were normal, well the urologist said good enough to perform mTESE. Had the surgery last week and nothing. Only options now are donor sperm or adoption.

We have funding for IVF through the NHS but in UK funding is valid for a year roughly and ours got approved Jan 2026. Yesterday my wife's IVF nurses called her to rebook to begin the process for egg retrieval near the end of June next month as they said it will take roughly a month for donor sperm to be sent, etc etc.

I have never been this lost, I'm usually really good with dealing with trauma, because of all the shit I've been through, but I never thought. But everything is moving too fast, I don't know how I truly feel about donor sperm. I think I'm ok with it but everything is moving so so fast for me to even process. I broke down the other day just trying to look at donor sperm profiles.

I love my wife to bits we are open with each other, but she's doesn't want to lose this opportunity and I get that and having caused her so much pain with my Crohn's (she was at my bedside during my time in hospital for my big surgery for 2 months straight without fail) and now not being able to give her a child through natural methods is killing me. Her dream has always been to be a mother and live in a forever home.

Everything is just overwhelming to not wanting to tell anyone about this problem( at least donor sperm part) Parents included. What if people realise it's not mine, what if I won't feel love for the child should everything be successful after this. There's religious aspects to this also.

Sorry for the rant, I don't know exactly what answer I am looking for here, perhaps to just vent. My wife has sacrificed so much for me so I feel I just need to just get on with it but I just don't know. Nothing is fair.

Pretty desperate, so know this is a long post but any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Doctor wasn’t interested in explaining and wanted to stop altogether.

I was diagnosed with HH at 18 and started TRT, which I did for about 5 years or so. During this time, my levels stayed at around:

500 ng/dL Total T
60 pg/mL Free T
0.7-2.41 mIU/mL FSH (higher number was early on, then plummeted)
0.2-1.51 mIU/mL LH (higher number was early on, then plummeted)
48 mIU/mL
32 nmol/L SHBG
4.6 g/dL Albumin

Since then I switched over to hCG (3,333 3x/week) a year and a half ago. Before adding FSH, I was at:

700 ng/dL Total T
66 Estradiol

Started FSH (75 3x/week) 5 months ago with the following results:

3.2 FSH
1.1 LH
58 Estradiol

SA taken two weeks ago came up completely empty, stating:

1.5 mL Semen volume
Incomplete Semen Liquefaction
High Semen Viscosity
8.5 pH
No sperm found

Lifestyle changes are priority #1, as I’m overweight and don’t eat healthy anymore. Doing those and taking some supplements.

Doctor said not much else to do, besides a microTESE. I want to understand what’s happening - my understanding was that if I had primary HH, hCG wouldn’t be working at all. Since it’s able to be converted to T, would this mean that there should be some hope?

Did any of you have good success with a Micro Tese?

Husband (34M) SA with centrifuge confirmed azoospermia, FSH 15.5 and LH 13.9. Ultrasound said bilateral varicoceles and slight heterogeneous texture.

RE referred us to a urologist who after inspection said he couldn't feel the varicoceles so he's not sure if that is the cause but he did say my husband's testes are on the smaller side not for his height. He said he's going to do an mtese/biopsy and the embryologist from our fertility clinic will immediately check for sperm. He said if the embryologist doesn't find any sperm on that side he'll go to the next. He said that he'll also tie the varicoceles since my husband would be under anesthesia. It's a bit much to take in. My husband is kind of nervous for this. The urologist said that he's not sure what is causing my husbands azoospermia but he will investigate with the mtese. It's been 5 years of infertility. Happy that some steps are getting taken. We're finally in a position to do IVF/ICSI. I just don't want my husband to get cold feet for the surgery. The urologist didn't sound so optimistic tbh. We talked about donor sperm and due to personal reasons that's off the table for both of us. I guess I'm looking for success stories. I feel numb tbh. Why does infertility suck so bad?

First Semen Analysis last year was pretty poor... volume 4.2mL, concentration 2.9 M/mL, motility 41% (all slow progressive), normal morphology 3%.

Also at the same time got some blood work done. (M30)

Total testosterone 2.3nmol/L. Among other things... Repeated tests have the same results.

Got referred to an endocrinologist. Who says testes were "below average" in volume. But didn't think it was Klinefelters at least. Which was my biggest worry.

Anyway, long story short we are at least now on the waiting list of ICSI/IVF. Fingers crossed by the new the year. But in the meantime Doc has put me on hCG to boost testosterone.

And it works! Testosterone now 27 nmol/L! The biweekly injections aren't very fun but it was a relief that my body is at least responding to something about 1 year on from the first Semen Analysis. But I am just happy that something about me is "normal" for once.

Not booked in another Semen Analysis yet, doc says to give it time for the testes to react. But she's not particularly confident it'll make a huge difference, but it's worth a try in the meantime. At least now my ED problems are gone, and who knows we will continue to try naturally until the time comes. I'd rather not have to put my wife through egg retrieval etc but at least it's good to know that option is there.

Currently 2 weeks off trt and started HCG now at 2000iu + 75iu HMG every second day so 6000iu of HCG a week. Im feeling a slight pressure In my head and behind my eyes and feeling tired. Is this because the HCG or because I've stopped testosterone ? I hope this goes away as I plan on running the HCG + hmg for only 3 weeks

Enclomephine.

I was on Omega 3, Multi, CoQ10, D3, Ashwagandha, Boron, Tongat Ali, Magnesium Citrate. Nothing made a huge impact until I hopped on Enclomephine. More than doubled my test and my wife is pregnant after 2 months! Nasty stomach bug for 1 day—may have been a symptom—but that has been the only downside!

Edit: I also started eating really clean. No additives and kept my phone in my back pocket.