My husband got Covid and a 24 hour fever on August 5th. I was worried about doing another IVF cycle because the first one had already failed and we found out his dfi was at 35%. I told his fertility urologist about what happened and he ordered another dfi test but to wait about 2 months to see if it impacted his sperm. Husband didn’t test in October and it came back 39%. So relatively the same range. Doc recommended to do TESA for our next IVF cycle. I have diminished ovarian reserve and I’m 34, husband is 36. So I don’t make too many eggs. It is soon to be December and I was thinking we could do the TESA procedure and IVF cycle this coming month. My question is do you think 4 months after the fever is enough of wait to see if his dfi will have gone down or if waiting another month, say in January will help a little more? That will have put us 5 months after the fever. I want to do a successful IVF cycle not just do IVF.

Could someone please share success stories using frozen TESA sperm for high dna fragmentation 45%.

Has anyone here had any experience with reproductive immunologists? We just had our 2 MMC but I have 33% DNA fragmentation, so we went ahead and used a TESE to get 4 embryos on ice with my wife's younger eggs, which we are planning to implant soon.

I'm tempted to have us go down the reproductive immunology rabbit hole, but it just sounds like a lot...and my wife has no autoimmune disorders that we know of...any thoughts? TIA

Hi guys, Last month I've miscarriage in 18 week, out baby girl was diagnosed with rare KAT6 syndrome. We've been trying for a baby for 1,5 years, then doctor told us we will not be successful because of my husband morphology (2%, 0% straight movement). Two weeks later I was pregnant.

Now we're waiting for dna fragmentation results, but could this cause this kind of dna mutation?

I'm still in very bad mental shape so thank you so so much for all help.

I am looking into the evidence of DNA fragmentation for T21 risk and in general chromosomal disorders.

My other SA metrics seem fine but haven't gotten the dna fragmentation yet and am wanting to know how connected this factor is to chromosomal disorders.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated as well as where to get reliable, accurate, and timely testing for dna fragmentation.

Thanks!

Previously had an ectopic pregnancy and then a T21 diagnosis with my partner. I have done 2 SA and the parameters are in good ranges, however, I am nervous because the SA didn't include DNA fragmentation testing. I want to do my part and ensure the best I can that we can successfully have a healthy child. Which testing agency do you recommend for accurate and timely results. I am willing to invest so cost isn't really the concern as the investment in a healthy child and avoiding more painful birthing situations is really worth a lot.

Thanks!

My partner and I are expecting our first baby in February. We’ve had 2 rounds of IVF, 4 eggs (2 fails, 1 miscarriage and 1 pregnancy).

During the start of the latest fresh cycle while I was abstaining from alcohol, taking all the supplements, being the healthiest I could be etc I did a DNA fragmentation test. We found out my partner was pregnant before I got the DNA results, and we decided not to open the results when they came. The recent miscarriage had taken its toll on our mental health and we didn’t want to add another layer of concern into the mix with the new pregnancy if the results came back with a high chance of miscarriage, there wouldn’t be much we could do at this point either way so why worry.

6 months into the pregnancy I’m wondering now if the results of the DNA test will have any bearing on the health of our baby leading up to the pregnancy? Or are we past the point where any dna fragmentation would make an impact? Would there be any benefit to knowing the results at this stage?

Thanks for any input

My husband and I have been TTC for 7 yrs. Er #1 at 32: 18 eggs, 5 fertilized, 3 embryos, did not test, 1 live birth, 2 failed

Er #2 at 34: 10 eggs, 3 fertilized, no blast

Er #3 just turned 37: 10 eggs, 6 fertilized, 6 embryos, 1 normal

• a million iuis and TI

No tests are abnormal except my husbands low Sa and 26% dna frag

My doctor says he doesn’t think the sperm is an issue, he doesn’t have any facts or indications it’s the egg though? Why doesn’t he think the dna frag is telling? My husband won’t stop propecia or ozempic or cigars and basically doesn’t eat or get any nutrients. I’m irritated the dr won’t tell him to try some lifestyle mods.

Hi, hoping to hear some experiences around TESA/TESE for idiopathic/non-obstructive severe MFI. (It seems like a lot of the success stories are for obstructive cases.)

We’ve tested everything possible (hormones, chromosomal tests, bacterial cultures, physical factors, etc.) and my husband has been on antioxidant vitamins for 9 months, Clomid for 6 months (testing monthly hormone levels to confirm estradiol and T don’t rise too high), has a great health routine, etc. 

10 semen analyses over the past year show an average of 5 million total count, often with no progressive motility, but sometimes 5-10% progressive motility.

DNA fragmentation has been 65 and 70 on two tests 6 months apart.

The two SAs we did at our fertility clinic have shown no motility, so we have been advised by 3 doctors to proceed with testicular sperm. The procedure would begin as a TESA and progress to a TESE if needed.

Has anyone had success in a similar situation?

Hey,

I'm wanting to collect some experiences/success of those doing IVF/ICSI cycles without the use of ZyMot. Our more complete story is at bottom of this post, but we would be doing ICSI anyway for low sperm count and have DNA fragmentation of 32%.

I've scrolled this subreddit for a bit and most success stories were using ZyMot, so it thought I would create a post myself.

ZyMot is not available in my country, even when self-funding. This is in New Zealand (so we're a bit isolated and hard to travel). Looks like there's at least 1 clinic that will do ZyMot in Australia but we just can't afford the overseas travel on top of IVF.

Our story so far in case others are similar: 27F + 29M, known low sperm count, recently did one cycle of IVF using ICSI. 15 eggs retrieved, 13 mature, 11 fertilized, 0 embryos. Day 3 checkup on the embryos all 11 were developing well, 8 of those graded the highest grade for amount of cells. Day 5 those 8 were morula stage, the other 3 almost, but there was none in blast stage. Day 6&7 there was no further development. DNA fragmentation test was done after this failure showing 32%. I don't think my country and the specialists here know much about DNA fragmentation. We've been told 32% is a "slightly" elevated result but they don't think this was the reason for our embryo failure? They're leaning towards egg issue, I have no issues apart from a high-ish AMH which makes them think mild PCOS (i have regular cycle/ovulation).

My partners last SA test came back okish, but dna fragmentation at 20%. Another year passed by with no pregnancy, fertility clinics are now advising us to proceed to IVF ( I seem ok right now but turned 35 this year so starting to worry about time)

He did smoke some weed daily in the evenings, nothing crazy, we would share a joint or two. Apart from that he is super healthy, works out a lot ( dr said he should calm down with that and do no more then 1 work out daily) and he does like to wear tight pants. He is drastically making changes now and has completely stopped smoking, I’m going to go and buy him some looser pants today and he is trying to cut back from the extreme exercises he likes to do daily. Do you think this may help or should we just proceed to IVF? If we can avoid it I rather would.. part of me feels nervous to go through that. Any advice is appreciated 🙏

Does anybody know what sperm results are correlated with dna fragmentation? I know there is a test but I am wondering if something in my analysis can indicate that I do have it

When is TESE recommended? DNA fragmentation percentage, etc.? How much does it improve outcomes? I am see conflicting data about TESE. It seems that it may lower fertilization rates in individuals with normal sperm parameters. Trying to figure out if and when TESE would be beneficial. Thank you!

I have my TESE this week. It seems like many clinics' abstinence time for a TESE varies quite a bit, from 2-5 days. My best DNA frag % is with a 20-hour hold, so I'm thinking just to do that.

Does anyone else have experience with different abstinence times?

My husband’s first semen analysis came back very low on everything. He made a bunch of lifestyle changes and started on a handful of vitamins. Got labs and an ultrasound which were normal. His repeat analysis 3 months later the count did double and barely hit normal range but his motility dropped drastically and his morph went down to 1%. Urologist put him on clomid which we just started. I have questions on DNA frag this is all new to me! Is there a point to get a DNA frag test at this point? If it were to come back high is there really any way to improve it besides the lifestyle changes and vitamins that we are already doing? It is expensive so I’m just not sure if it’s something we should just go ahead and do or hold off.

Can ZYMOT and PICSI be used together? If yes, is PICSI first and than ZYMOT, or ZYMOT and than PICSI?

Hello, after 4 months of clomid use oxidative stress doubled.Is it possible to happened due to clomid?

Hello everyone Looking for success stories with unexplained RPL please; I had so far 4 consecutive miscarriages and all the tests we’ve done haven’t brought anything that could be considered a good enough explanation for what is happening (MTHFR for me and 23% -26% DNA fragmentation for husband, first value for a 1.5 days hold, second for a 3 days hold). So losing hope really. We are both healthy, healthy diet, regular exercise, supplements. If you had success stories with unexplained RPL please share including if you think something you’ve done has helped in having success. IVF is not an option so interested in success with natural conceptions.

Looking for positive stories to help ease anxiety. Husband received results just before we conceived naturally. I’ve seen a heart beat but it’s still very early. I am waiting on edge everyday for a miscarriage to begin.

Anyone here have a healthy live birth with similar results?

Hey everyone. We’ve been on this infertility path for a while and we’ve just started IVF. I was diagnosed with a left sided varicocele and went through microsurgery two months ago. Prior to the surgery, my sperm parameters were on the lower end of normal and DFI was on 13% using COMET. I have just done a couple of SAs after two months and the semen parameters for one of them was way up and the other one similar to before. However, DFI (using SCSA and TUNEL) has increased to 23% and 28% respectively. Since we are in the middle of the IVF cycle, after seeing these results our RE is recommending us seeing my urologist and an embryologist to see if we need MicroTESE or not. From my own research it looks like with numbers like mine usually ICSI in combination with Zymot is usually used. But I was wondering if anyone has had similar experience and was suggested MicroTESE? Is it a viable treatment for high DFI? I also found a study which suggested a three hour abstinence as a treatment for high DFI which I’ll like below. Does anyone know anything about that?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7822978/#:~:text=Results,improved%20into%20the%20normal%20range

We had a high attrition rate from day 3 to 5 during our last round of IVF and would like to get a DNA fragmentation test. About how much did it cost? Did your insurance cover it? Are there any other tests you would recommend? Thank you!

For those of you that did IVF for MFI how and when did you discover that the DNA fragmentation is an issue. Did you have low fertilization rates or high attrition from cellular phase to blasts or reoccurring miscarriages.

What did you do to overcome the high DNA fragmentation.

Did you use Zymot?

Not looking to go the donor route (thank you for those suggestions in advance)!

Hi all,

I have frag'd sperm, and we're about to go into a cycle of IVF. The clinic uses MACS, but also has Zymot available. I'm wondering if both techniques are as effective as the other. Or is one preferable for frag? My other parameters are ok -- not amazing -- but good enough. Thanks!

First off, big thanks to everyone in this group! Our journey is not over, but we are moving along.

We have had an MMC and a failed IVF round. DNA Frag came out to 59%. After a ton of pushing, I was finally able to see a fertility urologist and he is very experienced with the TESE and is ready to go with it. My last conundrum is that my wife has 15 frozen eggs from when she was 33. She is 38 now. We want to do a fresh round and my urologist said we can do 1 TESE and fertilize the frozen eggs at the same time as a fresh round.

Now this sounds great and would save us a lot of money and time, but I'm not sure I trust the lab to be able to handle all these moving parts. Am I just overstressing? What if there are delays and the sperm ends up incubating for several hours? (supposedly increases DNA frag) We can always opt for separate TESEs, but that's a good extra $7-9k.

Has anyone had experience with this?

Could this be due to DNA fragmentation. Haven’t tested for it. Rules out Y micro-deletion.

Husband has very low everything. Below a million count with just a few moving sperm.

We have done ICSI all 3 times. Near perfect fertilization but our embryos arrest on day 3.

Help! (Not interested in the donor route)

I am 32 YO and have looked into DNA Frag over this past year due to 2 early pregnancy losses with my wife and because I have a varicocele. I tested in January 2024 at 13% and April 2024 at 9%. I implemented a bunch of protocols at start of the year that I assume helped results - vitamins, good sleep, no underwear, icing, etc. I know the original test was not high % to start, but I had already started some lifestyle improvements a few months prior in 2023 that I think may have contributed to good result.

Similarly saw improvements in some hormone levels - testosterone, cortisol, etc. Sperm Analysis were a bit mixed - low morphology in both (1% in January, 2% in April), increase in sperm concentration/count (34 mil concentration/135 mil count in January, 89 mil concentration/268 mil count in April), but a sharp decrease in motility (86% progressive in January, 35% progressive in April). The total progressive counts were similar though because my count/concentration increase, so my urologist was not concerned and said the parameters are known to fluctuate but the progressive count is what they really focus on test to test. I was fighting a nasty respiratory/fever/stomach bug during the April test, which I assume may have caused some dip. but who knows.

At the end of the day, the docs don't think there is MFI contributing to the pregnancy losses, but my wife's testing has been completely normal. So I am just trying my best to be as healthy as possible for the next pregnancy.

My question is related to retesting DNA Frag. Since it's been 4 months since last checking it, I just worry about potential changes. I've kept up with most of the protocols, no major changes or illness during this time. I pay out of pocket for the test, so I know it's not reasonable to constantly monitor. But just wanted to see if anyone has experience with tracking DFI over time.

I miscarried in week 19, and the baby had hydrocephalus, and looked a bit abnormal according to the doctors. He was normal-looking and healthy 4 weeks before his death.

My partner haven’t tested his dna fragmentation. But could this have happened because of my partners possibly dna fragmentation, or would I typically had miscarried earlier in the pregnancy then? This was our first pregnancy. His recent sperm analysis showed bad sperm quality (16% progressive motility).

Hi, hope @chulzle will chip in. •How much freezing / thawing affects DNA frag %? My hubs recent test came back at 20%. Wondering if to freeze a sample now since my body not ready for IVF yet, or freezing it will damage more & it will be like 30% after freeze/thaw. Of course, ideally we should be jumping into ivf cycle now but my body not ready yet. Brief history below. 03/2023 - frag 37% 04/2023 - varicocele repair 07/2023 - frag 31% 09/2023 - frag 24% 10/2023 - frag 18% 11/2023 - got UTI end of the month 01/2024 - frag 30% 03/2024 - frag 19% 04/2024 - frag 21% 05/2024 - got flu vaccine 06/2024 - frag 32% 08/2024 - frag 20%. Would not obsess so much but it seems frag % directly correlates w our fertilization % but multiple doctors denied that could be "a thing". Hubs is game to do TESE but Dr Paul Turek said TESE sperm has LOWER fert rates.