The basics

I realize that not all guys out there are dealing with azoospermia. I'll try and tackle some other male infertility issues in due course. For me, azoo is what I've been dealt with.

What is azoospermia? Basically it's the lack of any sperm in the ejaculate. I can't believe I've just typed this. Boldly going where few guys have gone before, men! So that ultimately means that conceiving naturally is pretty much impossible and believe me, I know. It's not for lack of trying! For me this also meant numerous sperm count/motility tests, plenty of bloodwork, an ultrasound on my testicles (embarrassing, but knowing what my wife deals with each cycle, I'm not going to complain - much!), and day surgery.

Azoospermia can be a result of hormonal problems, testicular failure, or the varicocele. Definition time again. A varicocele is essentially the vein of the scrotum. These veins can become dilated and allow blood to pool in the scrotum which doesn't bode well for sperm production. Yours truly had one hell of a big varicocele (notice I'm falling into the trap of celebrating it's 'bigness'. Just give me that one.) I did have day surgery in the hopes of correcting this and releasing swimmers. Unfortunately for me, it didn't make a difference. But I'll deal with that in another post.

Guys with azoo aren't automatically unable to father their own children. Methods are possible to harvest sperm (ouch!) and use methods such as IVF and/or ICSI to produce biological offspring.

So those are some of the basics about azoospermia. Maybe you've found your way here because you've just had that term put in front of you and your upset and confused. If there's a question that I can help you with, leave me a comment. I'm happy to try and help. Obviously I'm not a doctor. But dealing with it myself, sometimes it's just nice to be able to talk to another guy who gets it.