Can you improve morphology?

[~Hope~]

I've tried searching the forum but am struggling to find any threads. We just got the results of DH's SA test and all the numbers look great apart from the Normal Forms which is only 8%.

Is it possible to increase this number?

I think that heat can be a culprit for morphology so I'm going to ban his laptop - but is it worth taking a supplement like fertile aid?

Here's the numbers in case it helps:

Vol 5.2
pH 8.1
Viscosity increased
MAR 3
Concentration 57
Progressive motility 69
Normal forms 8
Motile normal sperm concentration 3.1

The note from the clinic said to retest in 3 months to confirm or refute.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[kidloco1]

Hi Hope - I'm not sure about improving morphology but definitely reckon it's worth trying supplements such as zinc, vitamin C if you're not already. Your motility looks good so fingers crossed for you

 

[~Hope~]

Hi Kidloco1 - I've just ordered a raft of vitamins including C, L-Carnitine and Pycnegenol which I think are all supposed to increase the number of normal form sperm.

The rest of the results do look good which makes me think there is more than this as an issue. We've been trying now for 16 months with no BFPs at all. I'm definitely ovulating as I've been temping - and had 21 day bloods.

 

[MrsJA]

Hi hope,

Zinc is the main thing in terms of supplements. The only other thing our FS was really strong on was smoking, so if your DH does, get him to stop.

Good luck honey

 

[kidloco1]

I spoke to my friend who is a doc and has worked in fertility clinics. She told us not to be concerned about the morphology rate as it is very common to be low - ours is 8 too. The main thing is that the progressive sperm is above 50

 

[lurdes777]

Sperm Morphology: New Guidelines Announced: 4% is Normal
Wow, what a relief to know that what we have been saying for years is now finally officially stated. Any sperm morphology over 3% is considered normal.

How did this change come about? The World Health Organization (WHO) determines the normal parameters for semen including volume, count, motility, forward progression and morphology. The WHO published their guidelines in 1987, with updates in 1992 and 1999. The original “normal” cutoffs were based on estimates from old data, some of it dating back to the 1950’s. There were inconsistencies in the way data was collected, ie the sperm studied was collected and analyzed in many centers, but there was little regulation of how the tests were being performed. Plus there was not clear data on the history of the men.

This time the semen tests were performed using similar protocols in all of the testing centers. Plus, some history was obtained from the men, mostly related to fertility status.

4500 men in 14 countries on 4 continents were tested. Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Chile, Singapore, France, the UK, and the USA were some of the countries included.

Men were placed into one of 4 groups.
Fertile men. All men in this group had initiated a pregnancy sometime in the 12 months preceding testing. This was the most important group because the researchers could establish normal values based on men know to have fertile sperm.
There were 3 other groups evaluated. To save a little confusion, I’ll summarize and say 2 groups were a little more random in nature and the fertility status of the men was mostly unknown. The 4th group was also fertile, but the time since last pregnancy was unknown and may have been longer than 12 months.

The results.
The normal fertile men’s sperm had the following results.
Volume: The median (midway between the lowest and highest results) was 3.7 cc, but anything over 1.5 cc was considered normal
Concentration: the median was 73 million but anything over 15 million was considered normal
Motility: the median was 61%, anything over 40% being normal
Morphology: the median was 15%, anything over 3% was deemed normal.

Some important points.
You may have noticed that morphology is not the only parameter with a new normal value. Volume was at 2.0 cc, now it is at 1.5cc. A normal count was 20 million, this changed to 15 million. Motility was 50%, now it’s 40%. The normal morphology had the biggest change, as it went from 15% to 4%.

 

[Goonergirl]

My partner takes a product called wellman conception its 1 tablet a day and contains all the vitamins needed it helps improve all the important factors including morphology each box is a 30 day course and cost's £10 you can buy them from boots and holland and barrett, i also take a product called pregnacare conception which gives me all the vitamins i need including folic acid again 1 tablet a day each box is 30 days and they are also £10 from boots or holland and barrett you can get these as a his and her combination box for £17.99 from Boots.. hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!!!