FNZ Support
Total Posts: 47
Joined: July 18, 2012
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Re: Sperm antibodies
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Hi there,
My boyfriend and I have been TTC for just over 2 years now with no luck. I had a laparoscopy, hystoscopy and a DnC in Oct 13 which confirmed my doctors suspicions that I have endometriosis. Although its only mild (stage 1-2) its still not helpful. My boyfriend has had two semen analysis' done and both times it came back with slightly low motility at 39%. We have had our first consultation at fertility associates, Wellington and after another more detailed semen analysis it has revealed that he has 70% anti sperm antibodies - this is the first time we have heard of it, but kind of glad as we now know why we haven't conceive.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so I would love to hear from someone with any advice or natural/IVF success stories?
We are now on the public funding list and are looking at about a 12mth wait. We will be doing IVF with micro sperm injection.
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Hi there Felicity14,
Thank you so much for your reply. I'm glad I'm not the only one dealing with antibodies, but I'm sorry that you also have to go through with this too 
Wow, I can't believe how alike our situations are, pretty much exactly the same.
Where abouts in the country are you? We had our first consultation at FA's on the 28th Jan and received the paper work a week and a half later (he said it usually takes 2wks). The letter said we are on the list for public funding in Feb 15 (so a 12mth wait which seems so far away!) It would be interesting to see how long your wait is as I believe it varies over the country.
Our specialist said we can go ahead with private treatment when ever we want to and that it won't affect our place on the list.. but its just a lot of money without any guarantee, so makes the decision hard.
If you ever need someone to talk to I am hear as I know how hard this all is. Did the doctor tell you what percentage of antibodies your husband has?
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Hi Hanna24,
I'm in a very similar situation.
We've been ttc for 2ish years and the issue was originally associated with me and endometriosis was suspected. Had the same procedures as you with and results came back with mild endo but a clean bill in general. We then did additional analysis with my husband and that's when we found out about the antibodies.
We're deciding next steps now - going to see if it's worth a round of IUI or just to move forward with IVF.
We're also been submitted into the public system. Have you had any paperwork / confirmation from them yet?
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Hey Hanna24,
Apologies for delayed reply but been on a holiday 
Crazy how similar!!
We're in Auckland and have received the letter saying up to a 12 month wait too.
Husband has 50% but seemingly anything over 40% would be challenging to conceive naturally.
So, we'll see specialist next week to chat over options should we want to try a paid treatment in the meantime or just decide to wait.
Pretty challenging when so many people get pregnant at the drop of a hat but looking on the positive that we're healthy and at least know why this is happening.
Let's def keep in touch on this journey - would be great to know how things are going for you.
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Hey,
Am very keen to keep in touch as I haven't heard from anyone dealing with anti sperm antibodies! I hope you had a great holiday
Glad your letter arrived, so looks as though we will do treatment around the same time if we wait for funding.. which is looking likely for us, as its just so much money with no guarantees huh!
Yip I totally get what you mean about people getting pregnant so easily.. but at least we will have a shot at it eventually.. a year really does seem like a lifetime away, but im hoping the year will just fly now so I can get on with it. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I'm 28, will be 29 in July.
With 50% did your specialist offer IVF with ICSI for treatment?
I have also heard that sometimes people get bumped up the public funding list if they have cancellations etc so that makes it not seem so daunting.
Look forward to hearing from you, take care
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Hey Hanna24,
Hope that all is well?
A quick update from our side.
The icsi method was positioned as our only option based upon the sperm mobility issue.
We've not had any further contact on the public funded side of things, and we've decided to do a private round of treatment next month. Pretty crazy amount of money, but we thought we'd give it a shot ahead of the public funding.
Will keep you in the loop on how we go!
Take care.
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Hi all,
We have the Antibodies as our reason being unable to conceive also......We have been TTC for almost 15 years, but more so in past 5 trying everything possible. 4 years ago we were in CHC and went to the doc with referral to fertility consultant, had all the tests then the earthquakes came and endured long waits, only to find they lost all our tests in the meantime, we went through it all again, this was over a course of 12 months - each hospital appt being months apart...agony the wait so I sympathise with you there...finally by the time they tested me they then turned to hubby & realised its hubby with antibodies. So hard to understand - there really isnt a lot of info anywhere to be found about it ...or trying to treat naturally...I am still to this day researching it...we tried all the naturapath, chinese med, acupuncture....etc etc ...anyway so by the time they got round to it, my weight had increased from 57kgs to 75kg, I lost 3 family members including my father, was under lots of stress as also lost a business to the earthquakes, so when I sat at the docs office an she tells me I am too fat for treatment I bursted into tears, that made matters worse as she then told me I was too stressed to go home and relook at my situation....we then waited 2 years came to Auckland and started again at fertility Plus, still at 75kgs - less stressed but same answer from them - loose weight & then look at it, if only things had worked out before they lost the tests I would have been the right weight for funding, I am trying very hard to loose it but as I approach 40 its only getting harder...my eggs are now limited also so they wont do IUI with us now either because of age....All I can say is dont let time get away....and watch things like weight ....if you want a family & can afford to fund it yourself do it...time is precious...there is no cure I have yet found for antibodies, if I find something I will let you know, I wish you all the best as its such a strange thing isnt it! its rare by the sounds of it, and I wish they could find a treatment...i wish you best of luck and that you succeed, please let us know....I dont come accross many people who have antibody issues, so interested to know how you go....if anything hope my story makes you seize the day & dont let time slip away!
Posted on September 3, 2014 at 10:03 AM
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hanna24
Total Posts: 9
Joined: August 31, 2014
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Re: Sperm antibodies
Hi there,
so sorry about all your troubles with the dreaded antibodies too, it sounds like u have had a pretty hard time with it all. Wow 15yrs is a long time to be going through all this TTC business, it really is draining and an emotional rollercoaster. We are due to start ourfirst round of ivf in feb, and looking forward to itbut also extremely nervous that it wont work out.
How are thingsgoing with u now and how is the weight loss treating u? I hope ur not beating yourself up too much.. loosing weight really isnt easy! You have been through a lot and im so sorry to hear about the loss of your father, it is horrible. Itsonly natural to gaina little weight during stressful times like these. I really do wish u all the best for the future, and hope u get that little miracle as well.
Felicity, hope your still checking this. Im dying to know how your private treatment went? Allthe best to you both
Posted on November 21, 2014 at 11:10 PM
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Brian
Total Posts: 1
Joined: August 8, 2015
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Re: Sperm antibodies
I just thought I'd share my personal experience with sperm antibodies and maybe offer a further solution before throwing in the towel. Me and my wife had been trying to conceive for over 2 years and then took the basic fertility tests to see if there was a problem. My wife came back with good egg reserve but whereas motility and count were good on my sample I had a sperm antibody result of over 50%. We visited one of the top antibody specialist here in the UK whose feedback I have to say was pretty negative - basically we had very little chance of conceiving naturally and there was very little that could done to remove the antibodies. After the emmotional roller coaster of the next few weeks, and repeating the test with the same result, I decided to research this properly myself. It appeared that medicine is unable to deal with them at the moment and it was caused by a break in the blood barrier around the testis region possibly caused by some kind of injury in childhood (never happened to me) or a few people are apparently born with the break. Further research also suggested another theory that other people could be effected by environmental aspects which could raise their immune response and therefore antibody levels. I researched this further and found that whereas only a small number of people are gluten or lactose intolerant a much larger number of people are mildy sensitive but this could be enough to raise an immune response without obvious signs. Well over the next 3 months I threw the kitchen sink at it, gluten gone, lactose gone, booze gone, weight programme in the gym replaced by more cardio/ running work deemed less stressful on the body, and a lot of anti-oxidants (high dose vitamin c - 5g/day plus). I also went through a heavy metal detox. I then took my next sample with the specialist and he was flabbergasted to report I had a sperm antibody level of 5% and confirmed this wouldn't now be a factor.. he concluded with "I can't explain it but just keep doing what you're doing."
The story didn't end there though. We continued for another year with no success when we found a factor on my wife's side which we were able to fix. Unfortunately I had slipped back into my old routines and diet and on further retest my antibody levels were back to over 50%. Wife's specialist (different guy) concluded we had no chance of natural birth and should revert straight to ICSI. Obviously I felt differently and went back onto my regime hell for leather. 3 months later we conceived naturally (we were both mid to late 30's).
I'm keen not to try and raise any false hope here. There might be a genuine immovable condition which is raising these antibody levels in some men. On the other side, none of the specialists that I saw offered any hope of treating this with a clean-up of the diet and better health - seemed to me that they'd concluded if it couldn't be fixed by an operation or medicine then it couldn't be fixed. Best of luck with it all, I know how stressful it can be.
Posted on August 8, 2015 at 5:29 PM
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