so confused - Male Infertility - Ghost!

[leorira11]

We have to do IVF/ICSI because of severe male factor (count is super low -- morphology and motility is normal).

When we started this (after the bad bad bad semen analysis), the doctor ran blood tests on my husband. We were told they all came back normal - testosterone, FSH, LH, etc. After doing physical exams (u/s, etc) for blockages and chromosonal tests (karyotype looking for micro-Y deletions or other sex chromosome problems) - we were told there was no explanation for my husband's infertility and that IVF/ICSI was our only choice.

Our new RE just ran a bunch of tests again. This time *I* am getting the results (and passing them along to him) instead of the RE getting it directly.

FSH 4.30 MIU/ML ( 1.20- 16.00) (.*.......)
LH 2.96 MIU/ML ( 1.10- 9.00) (.*.......)
PROLACTIN 571.99 M/UL ( 50.00- 280.00) (.........)*
TESTOSTERONE 13.30 NMOL/L ( 5.80- 28.00) (..*......)
TSH 4.19 MIU/ML ( 0.34- 5.60) (......*..)

I checked the last set of results (from 3 years ago) - also all normal, except a very high (over 500) prolactin level.

What does this mean? I asked "Dr. Google" and maybe this could be an explanation for the male infertility (and possibly treatable?!?!?!) http://www.sharedjourney.com/malediagno ... actin.html Usually, I'm not one to look online and decide I know more than my doctors... but what does this mean?

His testosterone is normal (as is his sex drive (several times a week) and no impotence problems).

Should we worry about a prolactinoma?

He does take anti-depressants (for 2 years now -- not before the first set of tests when his prolactin was also severely elevated) (40mg of Prozac/day).

Thanks!

[sorcet]

Hi there just wanted to chime in with my experience with high prolactin levels my DHs blood work initially came back with high prolactin levels. The urologist said if they rested and it came back high again they would do an MRI to check for pituitary tumors and if that was negative it's easily treated with meds, and that if it was truly high it could absolutely be the cause of MFI. I'm not sure how high levels have to be to make a significant difference bc unfortunately for us when he was retested it came back normal no easy fix for us. I often wonder even if it's high half the time couldn't that influence his counts ? I'm especially skeptical since my DH has a DD that was conceived in one encounter when he was 18. We try for years and nothing. I'd definitely look in to it my dear hope everything else is going well !

[Ghost]

No idea. I'll see if I can ask one of the docs.

[Ghost]

The urologist said if they rested and it came back high again they would do an MRI to check for pituitary tumors and if that was negative it's easily treated with meds, and that if it was truly high it could absolutely be the cause of MFI.

I talked to the docs and this is exactly what they brought up. Very high prolactin will apparently shut down testosterone production and sperm production. One prime suspect is a pituitary tumor.

[blueeyedreamer]

Interesting. I wonder what the significance of prolactin is in females. Mine is fine, but my RE does test it frequently along with my thyroid, which is also fine.

Leora- I'm sorry you are having to do so much research on your own.

[leorira11]

thanks so much.

We have an appt with the GP to discuss on Wednesday. Hopefully he'll either explain why this isn't a concern, or refer us to an endocrinologist and/or MRI.

OMG - if we could conceive WITHOUT the IVF? What a friggin DREAM!

Then again, I would have to buy a shotgun and go discuss this with all the fertility specialists we've seen in the last FOUR YEARS....

Maybe nothing, but maybe everything. I'm not getting my hopes up - but I want an explanation.

[woodyanita]

When it comes to infertility issues, most people wrongly assume that women are the only ones with this problem. The fact is that over 50% of the infertility cases are because of the males. The most common reason why men will have fertility problems will be low sperm count. The male infertility is curable if a correct treatment is given by the infertility specialists. You can contact Rotunda Fertility Clinic and Keyhole Surgery Centre situated in Mumbai India and seek there opinion. You can contact them at http://www.rotunda.co.in/ or http://www.rotunda.co.in/index.php/all- ... ctors.html