Male Factor Roll Call

[FBbaby]

Suzie, what was your OH results? My OH only had one SA, his count was on a low side, but not drastic, 18M, motility was good at 65%, especially since a least an hour elapsed before they tested, the concern is with the morphology at 4%. I read that anything over 5% is not alarming and that it can go up and down from one sample to another, so I tell myself it only takes a bit of an improvement and things won't look as bleak.

When did your OH had his last one done? It would be better to wait 3 months to do it again, although our FS said two months.
Yes, I am CD1, 7dpo I think. The only good thing about this is that I am so much more relaxed about the 2ww. I haven't lost complete hope, but knowing now that the chances are probably closer to 1% than 30% makes it so much easier not to symptoms spot.

Chocci, your words and bfp as so inspiring. I can relate to everything you wrote. Remember when I commented on your thread about me thinking it was also unfair that couple when one partner has children already are not entitled to NHS funding, well, I certainly did think as I typed the words that it would be my case but here we are!

grneyednurse, I too struggle to cope with not being able to know why my OH sperm isn't good. He is as healthy as a man can be. Not knowing is putting pressure on me because my instinct is to want him to not do anything that could be the cause, no more cycling and squash tournements, no more beer at all, no more jaccuzzis etc...., but this is his life, and even before we knew there was a problem, he'd told me that if there was one thing he could never do without it was his sport. I don't want to patronize him especially when there is no true evidence that quitting it all would help, but it is hard not to show my disapproval when he opens a beer.

 

[suzie7]

FBbaby
our total count was 21.6 million, 1.8 ml total, 12 million per ml (anything less than 20 mil per ml is abnormal), motility only 16.7% leaving us with only 3.6 total motile sperm.

Have you seen any improvement in your DH's count since changing diet/ other activities?

My husband is healthy as can be. I don't know what more we can do without completely sterilizing our lives (he did use to drink quite a bit of alcohol and coffee) and has since cut out all caffeine and cut back on alcohol dramatically (only has 2-3 glasses of red wine a week).

 

[suzie7]

Oh yeah- he had his last analysis about 4 weeks ago

 

[reversal]

My DH had a sperm count of only 2 million after his successful vaesectomy reversal in 1999 and we have 4 children, the first concieved only 3 months after the op!
So there is hope ladies!!
I now have high prolactin which is not helping but GP said DH's gun may not be as fully loaded as he thinks!!! LOL!!
We assumed his count had improved due to conceiving naturally but as he smokes then maybe not as we haven't done the SA route yet.

hi my husband has an appointment on the 24th of feb to arrange his reversal yr story has gave me hope good luck

 

[DragonMummy]

Hi can i join the list please. we have been LTTTC for nearly 6 years with male factor DH has low sperm morphology (7%) currently awaiting for IVF on the NHS. i have PCOS to top it all off.

Same boat as me hun - we have pcos and low morphology issues too. xxx

 

[ald]

Wonder if anyone can answer a couple of question for me, my dh takes the Wellman conception tablets which have some MACA in them, is this enough Maca or should he be taking MACA tablets as well?

Also this question may sound thick so I do apologise in advance but can't quite get it right in my head.......... my dh only had 10% motility, so will the 10% that are moving live as long sperm from a normal mans result, ie. up to 72 hours in fertile cm? Or will they die quicker?

With motility problems, how often do you

Thank you xxx

 

[MissAma]

I can't help as we don't take anything to get better sperm -well apart for the usual vitamins, minerals and antioxidants regiment I have him on for general health purposes- but I'm sure someone else will come along with answers.

 

[looknomore]

DH has low count- 30 million/ml but worrying part is that motility is low 35% with grade a = b of 18% which my doc says is on the lower side for IUI. She has prescribed HCG injections for hubby for 4 weeks (one every week) to increase count and motility. Has anyone been thru anything similar. Wondering if this can help the sperm count?

 

[suzie7]

Your husband should take AT least 750 mg of MACA for it to be effective. Reco
mended dosage is 1500 mg - 3000 mg

 

[suzie7]

ALD, do not BD every day during your ovulation/fertile week. BD every other day. I am trying to BD every two days to give him more time to replenish and our doctor said only to BD "2 or 3 times during the fertile week."

Also, have your man stay erect for at least 30 minutes prior to the canon going off. This increases blood flow to the area and thus can increase count and motility. It's actually a little harder than it sounds- 30 minutes sometimes feels like a long time for me, personally.

 

[MissAma]

ALD, do not BD every day during your ovulation/fertile week. BD every other day. I am trying to BD every two days to give him more time to replenish and our doctor said only to BD "2 or 3 times during the fertile week."

Also, have your man stay erect for at least 30 minutes prior to the canon going off. This increases blood flow to the area and thus can increase count and motility. It's actually a little harder than it sounds- 30 minutes sometimes feels like a long time for me, personally.

Not to be contrary but this about the 30 minutes is news to me and I've been around the Male Factor block once or twice While maybe motility could be improved strictly mechanically by the force of the ejaculation, there is NO way that the increased blood flow would increase count. The quantity of sperm that will be ejected has long been produced and it will not increase in 30 minutes in any significant fashion...

 

[ald]

ALD, do not BD every day during your ovulation/fertile week. BD every other day. I am trying to BD every two days to give him more time to replenish and our doctor said only to BD "2 or 3 times during the fertile week."

Also, have your man stay erect for at least 30 minutes prior to the canon going off. This increases blood flow to the area and thus can increase count and motility. It's actually a little harder than it sounds- 30 minutes sometimes feels like a long time for me, personally.

Not to be contrary but this about the 30 minutes is news to me and I've been around the Male Factor block once or twice While maybe motility could be improved strictly mechanically by the force of the ejaculation, there is NO way that the increased blood flow would increase count. The quantity of sperm that will be ejected has long been produced and it will not increase in 30 minutes in any significant fashion...

Thank you for your advice, will be giving it a go. Haven't heard about the staying erect for 30 minutes before but will certainly try it - does seem a long time though lol.

We don't have a problem with count and I understand that what is there is there and staying erect wont increase that, but it certainly makes sense about helping motility - just never though about it that way I guess!

 

[FBbaby]

Just a question for the expert? How much does the ratio count/motility/morphology matter?

For exemple, if you have not good morphology and motility but excellent count, does it make up for it a bit, ie, more of bad but also of the good. Similarly, if you have a not so good count and not so good morphology, but good motility, there is not so much out, but at least they do make it to the egg... I guess what I'm trying to fathom is whether all three have to be above a line to be 'normally' fertile.

I am trying to fight the I'll try everything in desperation. I did that with ttc and ended up taking things that messed up my body when in the end, I am perfectly fine. I have ordered fertileaid for man (which was supposedly dispatched last Monday but haven't received...), and I am trying to encourage OH to lower his alcohol intake (so far not doing too well!!), but putting pressure on him to stay erect for 30 mns is going too far. I have read enough about how stress can affect SAs, I am not going to put even more pressure on him!

Suzie, we've only done one SA so far, second one will be mid-April. I know whatever he is doing now won't have much affect by then, so might have to do a third one at some stage, but we will go along with this one as our 2nd appt with FS is 16 April.

 

[suzie7]

Not to be contrary but this about the 30 minutes is news to me and I've been around the Male Factor block once or twice While maybe motility could be improved strictly mechanically by the force of the ejaculation, there is NO way that the increased blood flow would increase count. The quantity of sperm that will be ejected has long been produced and it will not increase in 30 minutes in any significant fashion...

You're right, not count but helps motility. When I was doing some research online I found that the longer your partner is aroused it means the vas are bringing up sperm and activating them. In one S/A study it was shown this method on low count individuals cause approx 280% increase in amount of good motile sperm.

I will try to find out some more medical/scientific reasons why it may help. To me, it can't HURT.

Anyone else have any tricks? Does anyone know what the CHANCES are of conceiving naturally with low sperm count and motility?

 

[grneyednurse]

looknomore my hubby is taking the HCG injections and things are looking up already! Does your hubby have low FSH also?

 

[FBbaby]

looknomore my hubby is taking the HCG injections and things are looking up already! Does your hubby have low FSH also?

Is this normal practice to test for low fsh in male factor (or do any other tests)? Our FS went straight to talk about icsi after reading the results, which were not good, but not a complete disaster either. I understand that he would encourage it because of my age (39), but since we'd have to pay, if there are other things we can try to increase count, I'd rather try that first. I was the one to say that I thought we should wait for a second test before making a decision, which FS didn't contest at all, but I still think he should have said it himself. I have a feeling that if next results are still low, he won't suggest anything else, so I'm wondering whether I should then ask for any other tests.

 

[mrs C]

Hi. My DH just recently had his first SA and is was not good news at all: sperm count 100,000/ml, morphology 10%, motility 40%
We went to the Urologist on Monday who said this was nothing to be worried about! He is running labs and DH is supposed to have another SA in a month.
I am trying to be hopeful as DH had a 103 F. temp 3 months ago, works very long hours, was wearing briefs, and uses a laptop, oh yeah and always has his legs crossed. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries in Dec.

 

[hopesforababy]

I think it has to do with why there may be low count or poor morphology, etc. For unknown reasons, I think vitamins/hormones may help. In my case, DH has one testicle and it's been radiated, and vitamins aren't going to help. My OB/gyn tried 2 IUI's, but my endocrinologist told us that ICSI was our only shot. He said he wasn't surprised that the IUI's didn't work with DH's numbers being so low.
So I think (and it's just my opinion) that vitamins may help, but not in all situations.
As far as chances of conceiving naturally with male factor........... I figured our chance to be less than 1%. If a normal couple has a 20-30% chance each month with 40 million sperm, then your chances go less than that with reduced count. But I'm no doctor, it's just my opinion.

 

[grneyednurse]

looknomore my hubby is taking the HCG injections and things are looking up already! Does your hubby have low FSH also?

Is this normal practice to test for low fsh in male factor (or do any other tests)? Our FS went straight to talk about icsi after reading the results, which were not good, but not a complete disaster either. I understand that he would encourage it because of my age (39), but since we'd have to pay, if there are other things we can try to increase count, I'd rather try that first. I was the one to say that I thought we should wait for a second test before making a decision, which FS didn't contest at all, but I still think he should have said it himself. I have a feeling that if next results are still low, he won't suggest anything else, so I'm wondering whether I should then ask for any other tests.

At 39, you probably don't have time to mess around with correcting your hubby's problem and that is why they probably pushed you straight to ICSI. I myself would go straight for it at 35 if I ahd the money, but we are sticking with this for now.
It is good practice for a doctor to test your husband anyway to fix any problems, but most male factor problems aren't going to be deadly anyhow UNLESS he does have low FSH/LH, etc as this would indicate a problem in the pituitary (tumors, etc) and not the testes and therefore something that could affect other things besides a man's fertility, hence the MRI they did on my husband (normal).
Most infertility in men is idiopathic (no known cause) and also doesn't have a cure either, sadly. In my husbands case, his hormones were all low and so hence the HCG shots to give his body what it is not producing for whatever reason (FSH/LH). We have yet to see if it works. What I have read online it usually does make counts higher in men with low FSH...some studies have shown small improvements and others huge improvements and some no change-so it is all up in the air. A man cannot take HCG injections if his FSH/LH are normal or high as this would only create bigger problems and a man cannot take HCG indefinitely either as you all know what happens to men who bodybuild and take HCG ("steroids")-their testes shrink and their hormones dwindle and they become infertile.

 

[FBbaby]

thanks grneyednursed for taking the time to go over this. I know you are right about going straight for icsi...if only it was free, or more like, if only you were guaranteed a baby for your money! Anyway, I think it is the route we will take, just because I don't think I could live with myself not having at least tried whatever the financial impact.