julie , i have just looked at your website, i hope you don't mind me asking these questions publically, it was hard to read the website 'cos i had to keep moving the screen backwards and forwards. don't ask!!!! how many men with cf, percentage wise, can sucessfully father children if they are assisted with ivf techniques.? i know you can't be expected to know everything about ivf procedures for male infertility but do you have any idea? personally if my son marries and adopts a child i could love it like i would a genetic related grandchild but it would be nice to be able to tell him ,when he is ready, that he could have a biological child if he wanted to. i don't know about elsewhere but in the uk cf is discussed in school as part of the national curiculum (spelling?) can you imagine the poor boys with cf in a class of thirty all being told that a male with cf is invariably infertile. how awful. thats in the future for us so i "try" really hard not to think about it . thanks in advance julie . take care. janet<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
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a question for julie
- Thread starter welshgirl
- Start date
Janet,
Mark too was told when he was about 18-19 that he could not have children either. What the doctors didn't mention is that they meant "you cannot have biological children naturally", although not ALL men are infertile, about 95-98% are (stats vary from country).
I have talked to about 15 CF couples (with male factor infertility) since I started the website who had either already had some successful IVF procedures, or were headed down that road, and to date have now been successful with an IVF procedure.
I have NOT yet met a CF family (with male factor infertility) that had an unsuccessful IVF procedure except for one family's story who is on my website <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Success_Stories_IVF_2.html">http://www.cysticfibrosismalei...ess_Stories_IVF_2.html</a>
Unfortunately at this time, I am not aware of any statistics that would give the percentages you are looking for- although I know exactly what you mean and what you want. I too was looking for the same info when we started on our IVF journey. I will however, update my site with that information if it ever comes about, but I feel those kinds of stats are years down the road from being gathered and published (specific success rates of males with CF using a sperm retrieval method and IVF).
It was very hard for us to proceed with IVF wondering if we would be successful, because sure, we had met 15 other couples who had been successful. But what about those with CF who hadn't, because I am sure some exist????
I do know this much though, men with CF who have normal hormone levels (this would require testing of testosterone, FSH, LH, prolactin, TSH adn a few others), do have sperm to retrieve from the testicles. This inforamtion has been told to me by our current IVF doctor, in addition to two different urologists we've personally worked with and 3 other IVF doctors that I have had written communication with over the last 2-3 years. <b>All of these doctors have told me variations of: "I have never had a male with CF who had normal hormone levels, have no sperm to retrieve. They always have viable sperm"</b>. And even in Mark's case, where his hormone levels weren't completely normal, he still had very viable sperm retrieved.
When your son reaches puberty, I strongly recommend he have a semen analysis done. I don't know about in the UK but here in the US, most insurance companies cover it and it's only a few hundred dollars for the analysis (I know, "only"). That way, he can at least know for sure and be prepared. I realize that's years down the road though.
Let me know if I can answer any more questions for you. I know I wasn't able to give you the specifics of what you were looking for (believe me, I'm still searching for those percentages myself) but hopefully I gave you some information that is useful (about the hormones). Feel free to ask more if this sparks some interest.
Mark too was told when he was about 18-19 that he could not have children either. What the doctors didn't mention is that they meant "you cannot have biological children naturally", although not ALL men are infertile, about 95-98% are (stats vary from country).
I have talked to about 15 CF couples (with male factor infertility) since I started the website who had either already had some successful IVF procedures, or were headed down that road, and to date have now been successful with an IVF procedure.
I have NOT yet met a CF family (with male factor infertility) that had an unsuccessful IVF procedure except for one family's story who is on my website <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com/Success_Stories_IVF_2.html">http://www.cysticfibrosismalei...ess_Stories_IVF_2.html</a>
Unfortunately at this time, I am not aware of any statistics that would give the percentages you are looking for- although I know exactly what you mean and what you want. I too was looking for the same info when we started on our IVF journey. I will however, update my site with that information if it ever comes about, but I feel those kinds of stats are years down the road from being gathered and published (specific success rates of males with CF using a sperm retrieval method and IVF).
It was very hard for us to proceed with IVF wondering if we would be successful, because sure, we had met 15 other couples who had been successful. But what about those with CF who hadn't, because I am sure some exist????
I do know this much though, men with CF who have normal hormone levels (this would require testing of testosterone, FSH, LH, prolactin, TSH adn a few others), do have sperm to retrieve from the testicles. This inforamtion has been told to me by our current IVF doctor, in addition to two different urologists we've personally worked with and 3 other IVF doctors that I have had written communication with over the last 2-3 years. <b>All of these doctors have told me variations of: "I have never had a male with CF who had normal hormone levels, have no sperm to retrieve. They always have viable sperm"</b>. And even in Mark's case, where his hormone levels weren't completely normal, he still had very viable sperm retrieved.
When your son reaches puberty, I strongly recommend he have a semen analysis done. I don't know about in the UK but here in the US, most insurance companies cover it and it's only a few hundred dollars for the analysis (I know, "only"). That way, he can at least know for sure and be prepared. I realize that's years down the road though.
Let me know if I can answer any more questions for you. I know I wasn't able to give you the specifics of what you were looking for (believe me, I'm still searching for those percentages myself) but hopefully I gave you some information that is useful (about the hormones). Feel free to ask more if this sparks some interest.
thankyou julie, that was very helpful to me and to others on this site with sons who have cf . good luck to you and marcus with your babies.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> i look forward to seeing their pics on the forum when they are born. take care<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">