how many SAs has your OH done?

[foquita]

funny you should say about the acupuncture, we've decided we're both going to have it from october onwards (can't afford it til then ) so I'm so, so pleased to hear that it worked for your hubby! I think what I'm going to do then is ask if we can have a retest in december, three months after he starts acupuncture between now and october I'll just make sure we're both eating well. I had a look at the foresight hair testing thing a few months ago, would you recommend it then? do they tell you how much of each supplement you should be taking based on the results?

I am really glad I posted this thread because this morning I felt pretty glum about things because I have PCOS and don't ovulate so this is just adding to the problem. I feel that 16 million is something to work with at least, even though only 4 and a half million of them are actually moving.

Canadian maple, I am so sorry about your husband's diagnosis I think you used to post in a long cycles thread I post in because I recognise your username huge good luck for your donor IUI

 

[readyformore]

We've had too many to count. They do one with each IUI. We've done a total of 8 IUIs, but we have done 3/2/or single IUIs per cycle. So........about 16 SAs.

We are unexplained infertility though. His count is anywhere from 47 million to 6 million (if it's a second day SA or too many consecutive days of sex). Which leads me to ask you, how long did he abstain prior to the SA? My DH would never get a low count diagnosis because his # are good after 3-4 days. But with only 1-2 days of abstinence, it's 6-10 million, which is crummy.

I would definitaly get him to a urologist and see if there is a structural problem or something that can be solved prior to IVF/ICSI. And a second SA for sure.

 

[foquita]

thanks readyformore, we abstained for 4 days before so 16 million is a bit shit isn't it? god knows how low it is when we every day! he's going to get a doctors appointment today and ask for some advice, I feel a bit like we've had no help or support!

 

[aintlifegrand]

20 million is what you need to have a good shot, so 16 million isn't that bad. Don't quote me on it, but I read you shouldn't abstain too long before, as all the older built up sperm isn't as good as if it were fresh.

 

[readyformore]

20 million is what you need to have a good shot, so 16 million isn't that bad. Don't quote me on it, but I read you shouldn't abstain too long before, as all the older built up sperm isn't as good as if it were fresh.

I have read that everywhere, but it's not my husband's experience. Even the clinic has told him to ejaculate 48 hours prior to IUI. But, his best sample was after 7 days of abstinence. Not only did he have about 40 million sperm, but it was 97% motility! Awesome count and motility, unfortunately the IUI was timed too early.

In fact, our second child was conceived after 2 weeks of abstinence! We have never conceived from daily bd....which they say helps. We have conceived with every other day bd too.

I'm sorry, I thought you said the count was 8 million, not 16. Still not fabulous, but different for sure.

If you try IUI, they will wash the sample. I have found that the sperm LOVE this. It seems to really increase the motility. If the count is 16, it might be worth a go to try IUI. It's way cheaper than IVF, but the success rate isn't very high. Just keep that in mind.

 

[foquita]

I wish I had a way of testing the sperm at home to see if he's better after a period of abstinence or every few days or what I guess it's just trial and error!

when I wrote this thread I thought it was 8 million because that's what the FS said but xxxshellsxxx (I think that's her username ) said it could be 8 million per ml and that makes more sense because if it was 8 million in total I think they would have been more concerned and ordered a retest, plus she said it was 'just slightly under' normal and I was a bit puzzled about how they could say 8 million is just under 20 million so I'm pretty sure it's actually 16 million (volume was 2.1), that would make more sense! it was a case of crossed wires I think, and her english wasn't the best!

97% motility is amazing! we've now been condemned to ICSI with a waiting list of two years but we're going to fund our own private IUI next year, probably september the NHS won't fund it for us because his count is under 20 million in the meantime we're both going to have acupuncture, even if it doesn't work I need to feel like im doing something!

sorry for the essay

 

[readyformore]

I wish I had a way of testing the sperm at home to see if he's better after a period of abstinence or every few days or what I guess it's just trial and error!

when I wrote this thread I thought it was 8 million because that's what the FS said but xxxshellsxxx (I think that's her username ) said it could be 8 million per ml and that makes more sense because if it was 8 million in total I think they would have been more concerned and ordered a retest, plus she said it was 'just slightly under' normal and I was a bit puzzled about how they could say 8 million is just under 20 million so I'm pretty sure it's actually 16 million (volume was 2.1), that would make more sense! it was a case of crossed wires I think, and her english wasn't the best!

97% motility is amazing! we've now been condemned to ICSI with a waiting list of two years but we're going to fund our own private IUI next year, probably september the NHS won't fund it for us because his count is under 20 million in the meantime we're both going to have acupuncture, even if it doesn't work I need to feel like im doing something!

sorry for the essay

I would call back to double check the count. I've never had my clinic give us a count from ml. It's always stated as the final number. Maybe your clinic is different, but I'd call and find out to be sure.

And I can understand why they would not pay for IUI. It's not very successful even with perfect count and motility. Obviously it's not too effective, I've had 4 recent failures! The nurse basically congratulated me on my pregnancy with such a high motility!

2 years to wait for IVF/ICSI is a loooooong time! That NHS moves so slowly.

 

[foquita]

I'll do that on monday, you're right that I should check my OH is going to the doctors the following week to ask for a retest, the last one was done in the middle of june so by the time we get another one it'll be a few months on so it'll be interesting to see how it changes.

yeah we are lucky to have free healthcare here but the fact it's free is really reflected in the quality of care! I try not to complain about it but right now I'm a bit with the NHS, why can't they look at why we can't conceive and try and fix our respective issues (i have PCOS) instead of putting us on a waiting list for expensive treatments that would probably cost them more my OH asked if there was anything he could do to improve the quality of his sperm and she said no not really like no advice or anything, thank f**k for the Internet

 

[coralym30]

I was just wondering can the sample be done at home and brought to the lab ? or does he have to do it there ?

my oh is stressed about it and doesent wanna do it unless he can do it at home and bring it over .

 

[Ava G]

My OH has recently done an SA, we didn't get any feedback other then it's "abnormal", so I'm not sure what that means. I don't think gp's know much about fertility issues. When OH went to the gp to talk about the results the doc jus said he thinks the results are abnormal because the sperm aren't moving properly. Anyway he said that OH would be referred to a specialist, this was 3wks ago and have heard nothing since! Goin to try and get OH to chase it up.

Apparently u can do the samples at home if your able to get to the clinic within 40 minutes. Well that's what it said in our letter. We live 20 minutes from the hospital so OH did the sample at home and dropped it in to the clinic. He wasn't happy about having to perform at the hospital. But because him sample was abnormal I'm hoping maybe it was because of the amount of time it took to get there. Who knows will jus have to wait and see what's the next step x

 

[coralym30]

Thanks Ava

Im positive theres something wrong .. were going to the dr.s today hopefully the dr will agree that my fiance should do one . our dr seems to think that were gonna get pregnant . Ive had the feeling that something was gonna be wrong with us since before we even began ttcing

 

[coralym30]

Oh and I love you name .. We wanna name our daughter Ava lol well if we ever have one

 

[macca197831]

funny you should say about the acupuncture, we've decided we're both going to have it from october onwards (can't afford it til then ) so I'm so, so pleased to hear that it worked for your hubby! I think what I'm going to do then is ask if we can have a retest in december, three months after he starts acupuncture between now and october I'll just make sure we're both eating well. I had a look at the foresight hair testing thing a few months ago, would you recommend it then? do they tell you how much of each supplement you should be taking based on the results?

I am really glad I posted this thread because this morning I felt pretty glum about things because I have PCOS and don't ovulate so this is just adding to the problem. I feel that 16 million is something to work with at least, even though only 4 and a half million of them are actually moving.

Canadian maple, I am so sorry about your husband's diagnosis I think you used to post in a long cycles thread I post in because I recognise your username huge good luck for your donor IUI

The foresight was definately good and I would recommend it, a lot it made sense around my husband having a low count. We didnt purchase all the vitamins they recommended because there were loads and they were really expensive. Instead we took the results to our accupunture lady and she picked out the vitamins we needed and sourced these at a fraction of the cost. It may be worth doing at the same time as your accupuncture and seeing if they can help with it. In the meantime I would suggest lots of zinc and selenium in addition to a good multi vit! You can also buy zinc footbath crystals online which are good.

 

[macca197831]

We've had too many to count. They do one with each IUI. We've done a total of 8 IUIs, but we have done 3/2/or single IUIs per cycle. So........about 16 SAs.

We are unexplained infertility though. His count is anywhere from 47 million to 6 million (if it's a second day SA or too many consecutive days of sex). Which leads me to ask you, how long did he abstain prior to the SA? My DH would never get a low count diagnosis because his # are good after 3-4 days. But with only 1-2 days of abstinence, it's 6-10 million, which is crummy.

I would definitaly get him to a urologist and see if there is a structural problem or something that can be solved prior to IVF/ICSI. And a second SA for sure.

Hey, it sounds like we are in a similar situation! My hubby has had a count of 19 million with every test where he has abstained for 48 hours, if he abstains for 3-4 days then it goes up to 58 million! It's a pain as we go from feeling positive to feeling deflated depending on the results. It also causes a lot of disagreements shall we say about the best way to get pregnant. He wants to have sex every day where as I think every 2 days might be better given the counts. Either way we are still not pregnant after 2 years of trying so next stop is IUI through the NHS but we are hoping to save enough for IVF privately given the poor success rates of IUI.

He is going for a private SA next week so we will see what the results are like then!

 

[Lulu33]

Hey ladies
We too are dealing with low sperm counts. My DH's counts have ranged from 5-7 million/mL in the past 3 months. What it should be on the low end of normal is 20million/mL. What are fertility specialist told us is that total sperm that are progressively moving (motility) in a sample should be 30 million total (that's what they like to see on the low end) In our case we were sent to a urologist and my DH has been tested and it has been found that his testosterone is low and he is now being treated with clomid. He also just started acupuncture this week. He will have blood drawn next week to see if the clomid is helping his hormones. Unfortunately there isn't great evidence on if clomid is going to work, but it does work for some. Right now with our counts being 5-7million/ML with 2 mL and 50% motility we are looking at IVF with ICSI as our best shot. We will probably try a few IUI's as my insurance pays for it. Unfortunately for us the IVF would be about 10,000 dollars a try out of pocket so we are planning to wait a few months and try a few IUI's before we resort to that if we don't see any improvement in his SA with acupuncture and clomid.
I would defiantly recommend another SA as they are known to fluctuate.
Also to note I did get pregnant on my own 1 year ago, my first month off birth control. I did miscarry but I'm thinking it was a pregnancy with low counts.

 

[xxshellsxx]

well DH's second SA went to the lab this morning

Lets hope his lazy buggers have woken up a bit this time! lol