Sperm morphology and DNA fragmentation - will anything help?

[LacePrincess]

We're currently having our fourth consecutive early loss in a row. We are secondary IF and RPL.

For the first few losses our RE kept blaming my eggs plus bad luck. But even he can't claim that poor quality eggs can be blamed for this many losses in a row.....I mean if my eggs were that poor they wouldn't even be fertilizing at all!

So now the new theory is that my husband's lousy morphology (4% on strict Kruger) is to blame as well, and the RE suspects maybe there's some fragmentation issues going on too. But I don't know what else we can do!

Neither of us drink at all. I cut out caffeine in my LP and my hubby is limited to 2-3 cups at most a day. DH does not bike/hot tub/exposure to chemicals. We don't smoke or do drugs of any kind and never have. We eat pretty healthy, are at good weight, and regularly exercise. DH takes FertilePro + L-Carnitine (which has zinc, vit C, etc).

I'm thinking of starting DH on methylfolate just in case he has a MTHFR mutation, and supplement him with vit D as well.

Is there anything else we can do?!? My RE thinks if we just keep plugging away eventually something will stick. But I really don't want to keep losing them!! I even brought up using donor sperm IUI to get around the male factor problem....which is a solution but my RE thinks I'm insane for jumping to that. Frankly neither me nor my husband give a crap about genetic links we just want another baby. I'm also wondering if there's a theory that you can develop antibodies to your spouse's genetic material, hence why I'm thinking maybe we should try donor sperm.

But for now I'd love some ideas on anything that might work for morphology and fragmentation problems!

 

[WishnandHopn]

I am really sorry you're going through this. My husband is also taking FertilPro for poor morphology (3%). I recently heard of something called Wellman Conception that has even more stuff in it than FertilPro and is cheaper.

Has your husband's sperm been tested for DNA fragmentation or is this just speculation by the RE? Is your husband taking medication or has he been exposed occupationally to toxins or radiation? There are so many things that can cause miscarriages...have they done any chromosomal testing on either of you?

I have never been pregnant or had a miscarriage...but my mom had three in a row after having me. She started using progesterone suppositories as soon as she found out she was pregnant and eventually carried 3 more babies to term with no miscarriages in between. I know this doesn't work for everyone and there is a lot of debate in the medical community about whether progesterone supplementation actually works, but I would say it works for some people.

I would also wonder about getting a second opinion from a different RE if that's an option. Good luck...I hope you get a BFP that sticks soon

 

[LacePrincess]

Thank you so much.

No DH hasn't been tested for fragmentation, it's just our RE's theory. Neither of us take any prescription meds, no alcohol, very moderate coffee, never smoked, etc. We're so clean now we squeak, lol.

Hubby is military so I guess he is exposed to some chemicals possibly in the workplace, but he's an officer and not really in the field. He is around the equipment and such but doesn't use it and his trade is computers, engineering, and communications equipment.....I'd think no more exposure to chemicals than working at, say, Microsoft!

I already take progesterone as soon as I get my bfp. I have had lots of testing and my progesterone has always been more than fine in my LP. Plus with the loss in Dec it was a MMC with no spotting and no dropping prog at all. Unfortunately that hasn't done the trick, nor has baby aspirin.

We're getting karyotyping done now. We didn't have it done before because we've had living children together.

I'll lookup Wellman Conception, thanks!

We're thinking about another RE.....unfortunately in our area there's only ONE infertility clinic (yeah it sucks!) and my RE is like the head guy. So I'm not sure changing RE's within the practice would help us but I'm thinking about it. Also like none of the RE's at this practice specialize in repeat loss either. Sigh.

 

[miranda007]

So sorry you're dealing with this. It can be so hard. And your angel babies.. That must have been such a hard time each one I'm so sorry. Can I ask how you had your 3 children before? Just happened? Sorry if u said it in your first message.
Have u on Coq10? We were for a few months before IVF and I reckon it really helped for us.. Sperm and egg quality.

My husbands sperm was low in all 3 areas.. We did IVF as it was the only way. Think the place did a DNA fragmentation test really early.. And he was ok - some good ones in there - that's all u need.

 

[lisap2008]

Coq10 helps with egg and sperm quality takes about 3 months to see improvement .

 

[LacePrincess]

Thanks, miranda. It's tough but I don't know how to quit. Unfortunately this last loss has sent my pre-existing anxiety disorder spinning out of control, so aggravating.

Our boys were conceived naturally but they did take longer and longer each time with perfectly timed intercourse. DS1 was 4 months, DS2 took 9 months, and DS3 took 14 months. And our timing was perfect too. Our RE figures our morphology just got worse over time and then I started having ovulation problems too.

Femara seems to have fixed my ovulation issue but RE thinks the morph problem is causing the early losses, especially so many in a row. I've started DH on the following now:

-Fertile Pro with L-Carnitine
-vit C 2000mg
-vit D 2000iu
-methylfolate 1 mg
-coq10 200mg
-L-arginine 1000mg

The coq10, l-arginine and methylfolate are new this month so fx they'll help.

 

[miranda007]

Ah you've got him on everything! Fingers crossed it all works.
My husband was on bee pollen and Royal jelly (hard to find) But there's no proven studies out there - just anecdotal stories online.
But he's probably on enough already!

I really hope it happens for u guys. Can only imagine friends say ah you've already got 3 boys already. Blah blah. But you feel like your family isn't compete yet. So don't listen to those people!

 

[LacePrincess]

Yeah I'm leery of adding anything else, LOL. I really don't want to have some inadvertent interaction and make things worse!!

Both of us are on like 11+ capsules/pills everyday. It's so ridiculous - and $$$$!!!

 

[Sweetkat]

I am still googling like crazy about fragmentation and found some more useful information:


https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/a...cess-stories-highly-fragmented-dna-sperm.html



https://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=295971.0





https://community.babycenter.com/post/a27990889/low_morphology_and_recurrent_miscarriage


There are quite a few success stories, but also some scary stuff about miscarriages.

We are still waiting for OH's test results (which we will get in 2-3 weeks).


How are you feeling LacePrincess?