Vasectomy Reversal

Hey purpledragon just out of interest what vitamins and homopathic stuff did your DH take to increase his count? My DH's is really low and just wanting to know what he should be doing. I have put him on blackmores mens performance tabs, Vitamic C and Fish Oil. Thanks

So realistically, once the guy gets it done, it's still a whooooole lotta work to get a chance at a baby?

Why did i let him do it? argh would be so much easier if he hadn't had it done in the first place.

Edited by mum2paris

An update...
DH had an analysis done yesterday, and both the motility and count is 3 times what it was in the last analysis 5 months ago. so that was amazing news for us, as last time we were told that there was no chance of us getting pre naturally, and now there most definitely is. I think the thing that made the difference was 3 supplements from the health shop:
Co-Enzyme Q10
L-Arginine
L-Carnitine
I did some research in the medical journals, and research has shown an increase to normal levels in serverely infertile men after 6 months on Carnitine. It's quite hard to get though, and quite expensive. The cheapest I could fins is Red8 brand, which costs $38 for 50 caps - basically a months supply. But he's been on other supplements for ages, and although things had improved a little, this big difference has only come about since he's been taking these. So maybe the $5k was worth it after all - and he had his vasectomy done at age 24 and reversed 20 years later.

Hi Purple Dragon

The reversal was in July 05; In Nov 05 the count was 2 mill, with 5% total motility.
In June 07 it was 3.3 mill with 16% total motility of which 7% was rapid (25% is normal)
about 10 days ago the count was (I think) about 12 mill with 32% total motility and yesterday, about 9 million with 58% motility.
This might be TMI, but the number of days abstinence seemed to really make a difference: the one 10 days ago was after 5 days abstinence (while AF was here ) which had a high count but lower motility, then yesterdays was after two days abstinence = lower count but great motility = so they seem to start dying off after about 3 days.
Hope that helps! Things seem to really be improving for you anyway.

We were lucky in some ways that we stored samples before the vasectomy. I wanted some extra insurance just in case I changed my mind. Unfortunately it was only later that we discovered that we hadn't stored as much as we thought, so we only have enough for 2 attempts at IUI and maybe a little for IVF. Therefore, even with pre-existing motility and count issues, it's still worth trying for a reversal, and leaving IVF for later. A successful reversal at least gives us less problems for undergoing IVF. However this means we're facing paying for both a reversal and probably IVF. The current storage cost is $180 per year, so not a lot in the scheme of things.

Fingers crossed purpledragon and catie, it all sounds very promising!

What I'm trying to say is that our backup option hasn't turned out to be very promising for us, but I would still recommend it to anyone thinking of having a vasectomy. Sorry that's not much help to you now mum2paris, but maybe it could help someone else knowing it's an option.

Yup my DH did have one, I think it cost around $800. It was successful, but unfortunately due to it being 5 years since the original vasectomy, his body thought the sperm was 'disease' and created antibodies to fight the disease, hence killing off the sperm. We did IVF in the end and that was successful. But if it's not long since your DH had the op it has a high chance of being successful. Good luck!

I'll sign too