Anyone with husbands having low sperm count?

[marissasmommy]

Hey everyone,

Just curious if anyone's husband came back with low sperm count(my husbands was 7 per ml) and what course of action did your doctors recommend? It seems like our doctors aren't trying to really work with us and said IUIs and ect. would be way down the line for us. (we have been trying to conceive for 1 1/2yrs) I think Im going to change my doctor and his but just curious to know before I do that what everyone else has experienced or in the works of doing? Thanks for the help!

 

[honeycat]

My husband has low sperm count. 4 million first SA and 12 million 2nd SA (but volume was only 0.5mL so total count was 6 million).
Our RE told us our only choice was IVF+ICSI. IUI is really a waste if the total motile count is under 10 million. I have done 2 ivf cycles and those were the only times I ever got a bfp so it just proves that our problem all alone was my eggs weren't being fertilized because of the so low count.

 

[Jem88]

My other halfs got a low sperm count. i actually got preg the 1st time we had sex :$ but it ended up a mc but that was 15 month ago, an weve been ttc ever since. the doc wasnt much help either, he said it'll happen but will just take time. but he did mention ivf in the future.

 

[marissasmommy]

Thanks for responding back. I appreciate any input!!and congrats with your pregnancy and I hope you the best!!! I can't wait for mine!

 

[marissasmommy]

JEM88- Thank you for posting, That is exactly what our doctor said to keep trying...but then why would they tell you to keep trying naturally but than on the other hand say IUI is just a waste a time for this case? that contradicts itself huh? (I have done research on IUI and IVF and who would qualify and I ran into a lot if low sperm count the IUI doesn't have quite as high success rate and can take multiple times to do if that...not to mention its expensive, especially if your insurance doesn't cover it!!

 

[Jem88]

yeah. we've both young aswell, i'm 21 an he's 23 so weve loads of time & we kno i can get preg because its happend. i just hate the wait

 

[marissasmommy]

Yea Im 22 and hubby 25...Sorry about your m/c...I had 2 as well but I do have a 2yr lil girl and we had her naturally as well but she is def. our miracle!! best wishes to you!

 

[Jem88]

how long did it take to concieve ur little girl? im hopin it'll happen again or us. its just hard not havin a since BFP since when we kno it can happen.

 

[marissasmommy]

It took a yr. (my previous miscarriages was with someone else) so she was the only pregnancy with me and hubby. But on the other hand we have been having "unprotected sex" for five years....and nothing...but we have really been trying to a 1 1/2yrs with taking opt's and stuff and my doctor just gave me chlomid which I have taken for one month but she told me it wouldn't do us any good if husband still had low sperm when he went for 2nd SA but she could tell that I felt I needed something needed to happen. I spend 35 bucks to sit in her office for 5mins. talking about taking my basal temps. and then she sends me on my way and calls me in a month later to read it on so forth..so I am ready to go to a specialist now b/c I feel like I waste my time and money on her...there hasn't been one time I waited less than and hour and a half in the waiting room just to sit in her office ...errr..well let me stop venting... I can really see how much I don't like her! lol

 

[Ilove]

Hey hun

My husband has had several SA's, average results are around 5 million, 4% morphology and very low motility aswell

We are in the same boat unfortunately Theyre not taking it seriously and are still busy prodding and injecting me instead. We too have been contraception free for around 4 years and nothing, no positive tests, ever

We're taking our suppliments and riding it out. We changed doctors and they seem slightly more interested and are doing more, but like you they have said any treatment is way down the line for us Unfortunately they insist that by some miracle I will get pregnant because I am young. I only wish that really did magic more quality sperm into my husbands body!

 

[honeycat]

That is horrible that your doctors won't take you seriously. I was older when I went to the doctor - 30, but he listened to me right away (I had been to a previous bad doctor who blew me off the month before - thank goodness I found someone else). We immediately sent us for testing. DH had a SA done in December, with a repeat in January. In February we were sent to a urologist who determined there was no explaination for the low count and therefore no treatment (though I have had dh on clomid for almost 3 months now, going to see in another week if it did anything). In March we had our first RE appointment and by the end of April a bfp from ivf. MFI usually doesn't get better on its own and yes you can get pregnant naturally with it (just like people can win the lottery), but why waste all that time. After 12 cycles of timed bd there is an IF problem and it won't get fixed with more time and relaxing. I would have loved to have gotten all this done in my 20s, when my fertility was still good. Even though I just turned 31, I have ovaries like a 41 year old (just got really lucky that our 2 ivf cycles that only produced 2 good embryos each were able to produce a bfp). If I would have waited a few more years I know they would be having the donor talk with me.

 

[Dancingkaty1]

hi.....we have been trying to conceive for a year now & my husband has been told he has low sperm count & motility. The fertility specialist didnt seem too bothered & told us really horribly by saying @oops u have slow swimmers!! thats prob the reason you cant fall preg!! my husband was sooo upset the way she had worded it & couldnt even talk to me for the rest of that day. She advised him to take vitamins etc & improve diet & exercise which he is dong, he is taking fertile aid for men, any1 heard of this...good/bad??? Im having my fallopian tube checked for blockages at the end of this mth & then go bk & see the specialist on oct 22nd. if my tube ( i only have 1 as my other ovary was removed when i was a baby) is/isnt good then does any1 know what they will do next for us??? i worry that if my tube is damaged thats it for us x

 

[rachelle1975]

Hiya

We had a result with a count of 1 million total in September last year - our GP said to eat a bag of onions Fertility books recommended basic vits so we took vitamins, loose underwear, no hot baths and did exercise and lost weight etc. The next text 4 months later showed the count was up to 8 million and the last test we did 6 months after that was 16 million.

Basically vits, diet and lifestyle changes are the biggest things for us - good luck x

 

[jojoD]

Hi girls, we have been trying to conceive for over a year now too. Husband has been told he has low sperm count & poor motility. We were told our chances of natural conception were slim, but not impossible. Straight away after SA results our specialist recommended ICSI, they never mentioned IUI. So that's the road we are going down. We are 27 and 30. But I still hope for a little miracle while I'm waiting..............

 

[marissasmommy]

Wow I think I started a good thread!lol Ive never had this many post to mine!! thank you all and I appreciate all the responses, It gives you a feel of what you should expect for yourself and give you the confidence to be your own advocate and handle the situation in hand when talking with your doctor, so thank you for that! I hope this helps everyone else...
ILOVE-push the issue on the "long time down the road" I think you have waited long enough to get some help for sure! That fustrates me to no end!
HONEYCAT-congrats on pregnancy and best wishes for you ahead!!Im glad to hear that there is some good doctors out there that care about getting things done!
DANCING KATY- Im not sure what they will do but Im sure there is options there I would def ask my doc. on that, tell ur hubby sorry about that b/c it does strip a man down in the way that there less of a man or knocks there ego if they dont have what they are suppose to (atleast for mine) he just says it effects his manhood....but what do you do?
RACHELLE-Thanks for the advice on the vits. that does dramatically change it, but enough to effectively get preg. naturally?
JOJO-best wishes to you, I would like to go that route too! Seems like the thats the most effective way to get preg. fast...Im just ready now!lol Thats us humans we are always selfish on our wants...but I do know its all in gods hands ladies...I have a precious 2 year girl and I know I count my blessings!!

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!!Please anyone post your storys if your in the same boat so we can learn more and see what everyone elses experience is...it def helps me!

 

[peartree]

Hiya!

My hubs has very low sperm count - the first SA came back as 'too low to count', and the second came back with <1million. We were referred immediately to the urologist, and are currently in the process of ultrasound scan, chromosome testing and a further SA (all for him). Once the results come back, we have a further appointment with the urologist, who says the next step is referral for IVF (ICSI being the only option).

In the meantime, he's started seeing an acupuncturist/TCM practitioner, who has recommended some lifestyle changes - diet (cutting out bread, eating nuts, having breakfast...) and to lead a less stressful life (DH has a very stressful job). On his first consultation yesterday, she did acupuncture and prescribed him some pills. She seemed quite confident that things will improve.

Following Rachelle's fantastic results with her DH, he has also started taking Wellman tablets.

DH has always taken showers, but he's lowered the temp at which he takes them.

We're holding on the further SA until closer to the time of the next urologist appointment, to give the TCM a chance to work and see if all the above will have made a change to any readings.

I haven't had anything done other than a CD21 test which came back normal, so not sure if there's anything wrong with me too.

All the best to ladies here with MF!

 

[vineyard]

We didn't have low sperm count overall but we had low motility so the number of good quality sperm was low. We did 2 IUIs but on both of them the counts were pretty low. So, we went to IVF after that and it worked on the first try! We are now 29 weeks pregnant with twins!

During that time though, i had him take double the multivitamin, add in extra vitamin c, eliminate caffeine and alcohol, and no hot tubs. His count went up quite a bit during that time but was still lower than it needed to be.

Best of luck to you!

 

[EMBY]

My Dh also has a low sperm count. He has done so many SAs that I can't remember exactly, but it is typically below 8 million (pre-wash) with poor morphology and progression. So far I have checked out fine. We have done one IUI ending in a BFN, and AT THE DAY OF the insemination the Dr. told us we should do IVF/ICSI. And that really scared us...cost and invasiveness AND the timing of the topic..HA. So, in the meantime my sweet DH had been referred to a wonderful urologist who found a large varicocele. So we opted to have his varicocele repaired sugically and WAIT to see if his counts improve enough for us to have another IUI. Hopefully they will! We are going to find out the first week of October, which is 3 months post-op.
I hope we get a miracle soon! Until then, we wait!

 

[Mendy]

My DH had low sperm count. 6 million on one SA, then 3 million, then 2. So it was all going downhill. We were told anything under 5 million is usually not good odds for getting PG with IUI, but we still went ahead and did 3 rounds, all BFN. We were told from the beginning we would need IVF with ICSI, but I wanted to make sure I covered everything I possibly could before moving on to ICSI.

Good luck, I hope you soon get your much deserved BFP!