Spouses with low sperm count.

[melly2]

His urologist prescribed Clomid, because it's suppose to help with hormones, which thus, should help with SA. His testosterone is normal, but the low end of normal. His FSH is getting higher, which could indicate testicular failure. Now, this sucks for us, because he had testicular cancer, so he has only one left. All I know is after he had the testicle cancer surgery, he has never been back to normal. This has been two years ago. It's almost like his hormones just starting tanking. He has ED, very low sexual desire, etc. Aside from the low sperm count, our other even bigger issue is the fact that he is having a very hard time maintaining an erection. So, based on this knowledge, his doctor prescribed Clomid. We thought it was helping, but he has another bad couple weeks...so I'm not sure. I honest never thought we'd be dealing with these kind of issues at age 37....I was thinking more around 67. Very, VERY Frustrating!!!!

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

I'm sorry to hear that Melly2 - it must be super frustrating, especially since you are trying to conceive Sending hugs and hoping you get some better results back - Maybe it will give him a confidence boost?

 

[aintlifegrand]

My husband just had Varicocele Repair. It won't kick in for 9 months or so, fingers crossed it works!

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

How frustrating that it takes so long! But fingers tightly crossed for you

 

[leahjones]

hi everyone i posted on this thread 2 years ago ( around about) as we were trying to conceive and we found out that hubby had low sperm count and his morphology was really low too,
anyway after going through all the tests etc at the fertility clinic we finally decided on IVF which was going to happen that april - it was september at the time of the tests. in november 2011 i actually fell pregnant naturally after putting away all the ovulation tests and finally relaxed knowing i would be getting ivf in april 2012. on 1st august 2012 i gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. i felt so lucky but also understood that low sperm count and low morphology didnt mean a thing!! that it only takes 1, 1! out of those 100,000s to be ok and to swim up to the egg.
to this day im getting ready to celebrate cerys 1st birthday on 1st august and...... im currently 31 weeks pregnant! yep! i caught naturally again 5 months after cerys was born!!!!!!!!!!!
so i am a success story and them some - i just hope this gives you all hope that it does happen naturally with low sperm count/low morphology or not - and keep smiling it will happen xxx

 

[melly2]

Thank Leah for your inspiring story, it helps us all!

Update on my hubby. He had another SA done on Friday. I suppose the good news is, he's now up to 5.9 million, 78% motility (GREAT), lower than average morph. When he was tested back in February it was 2.5 million, so this is much better, but as our FS says, "not good enough". According to them good enough is 10 million, and I'm like "Whatever!". I really don't want to resort to IVF; I seriously hate the idea of it, but we'll see. Not sure if anyone has had great success with these numbers, but this is what we're dealing with now.

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

Leah - thank you for such a lovely, encouraging story and congratulations!!

Melly - I think that it's great that the numbers have gone up so much, even if the Dr says "it's not good enough". It's really encouraging that there has been so much improvement. Fingers crossed that things will continue to improve.

 

[Briss]

Thank you, Leah, truly inspiring story!

Melly, it's great that the count is improving so you just need to carry on doing whatever you are doling cos it seems to be working. may take some time though

No changes from my side, yet another unsuccessful cycle, CD5 for me. DH's count improved from 1 mil to 11 after he quit beer for 3 months but unfortunately he since then resumed drinking beer from time to time, not as much as before but I still believe this is our major issue because he's taking tonnes of vitamins but nothing changes. I am meeting FS tomorrow and if my FSH lowered we will probably be getting IVF referral… after struggling for 3 years I feel more ready for this step, although my DH is still resisting and thinks we can conceive naturally. I do not believe this any more

 

[smurfy]

Thank you, Leah, truly inspiring story!

Melly, it's great that the count is improving so you just need to carry on doing whatever you are doling cos it seems to be working. may take some time though

No changes from my side, yet another unsuccessful cycle, CD5 for me. DH's count improved from 1 mil to 11 after he quit beer for 3 months but unfortunately he since then resumed drinking beer from time to time, not as much as before but I still believe this is our major issue because he's taking tonnes of vitamins but nothing changes. I am meeting FS tomorrow and if my FSH lowered we will probably be getting IVF referral… after struggling for 3 years I feel more ready for this step, although my DH is still resisting and thinks we can conceive naturally. I do not believe this any more

Good luck for tomorrow, let us know how it goes, i have my appointment in 3 weeks and i dont think SA has improved enough to keep waiting for natural conception. I am mentally ready for this now to be honest as each month for over 2 years not getting a positive results is more mentally tiring. With all the dieting/eating well you will be a good position for your body to take whatever happens.

 

[ababytogether]

As you can see from my sig my OH count, we stopped all the supplements shortly after his last test but we've started again 4 months ago on Fertilaid and Motility Boost, DH is booked in to see Doctor next week to get a SA done so will know within 4 weeks whether they have increased any of his counts!! He's started exercising, cut out caffeine and all alcohol completely, Christmas he's allowed beer, lol.....pray I get a BFP by then though xx

 

[Ticktock35]

I just received my husbands SA, doctor said it's not good. 14.7 count and 15% motility. He suggested IVF. Has anyone had success with those types of numbers? I really want to concieve naturally, I just don't know if it's possible?!? Made the hubby an appointment with the urologist. But if he has Varicocele surgery it can delay us another year. Wondering if I should just go straight to IVF?

 

[Briss]

Your DH's count is OK, not great but it's possible to get pregnant naturally, motility can be improved with vitamins and lifestyle choices i.e. quit alcohol, coffee etc.

Whether or not to proceed with IVF is a really tough question, I've been postponing IVF for 2 years waiting for hubby's sperm to improve and conceive naturally, his sperm has improved but still no BFP but unfortunately my FSH has increased in the last two years because I got older and now when I am finally ready for IVF it is no longer available to us. but two years ago I just was not ready for this step, maybe I made a mistake in not agreeing for IVf right away

 

[melly2]

I just received my husbands SA, doctor said it's not good. 14.7 count and 15% motility. He suggested IVF. Has anyone had success with those types of numbers? I really want to concieve naturally, I just don't know if it's possible?!? Made the hubby an appointment with the urologist. But if he has Varicocele surgery it can delay us another year. Wondering if I should just go straight to IVF?

I'm with Briss, his motility can be improved drastically with vitamins. My husband went from way below average to now 78% motility in 3 months!! With you dh's numbers plus strong motility, I would think natural should be possible.

 

[Ticktock35]

Thank you Briss & Melly2!! Keeps me hopefully that this can still happen. Good luck to both of you!!! Melly2, what supplements is your DL taking? So far I've started mine with a daily multi-vitamin and zinc. He doesn't drink/smoke and he's in good shape, but he does drink a lot of diet soda. Trying to switch it out with iced tea. Your husband's #'s have improved in a short amount of time. I want to get my guy on that path. Thanks again!!

 

[Ltruns33]

I don't know if I belong here or not. We've been trying to figure out hubby's sperm count issues and how they relate to our fertility...I'll give you what I know.. Total count 23 million. Motility score 2+ (not sure the number? But 2+ on the key said slow and aimless. Again, not sure percentages etc)

We thought he had a varicocle, turns out he doesn't. No definite reason for the low count. We were referred by the urologist and my dr to a FS.. But before all that, what are some natural ways to increase count? He exercises regularly, doesn't smoke, or drink, orbit in hot tubs/saunas. We are very healthy eaters, and he takes multivitamins. We both are having acupuncture tomorrow.

I've had all blood tests done, get positive OPKs every month, regular/painless 27 day cycles, had lap and all looks normal on my end. We've been ttc 15 months.

We just want to increase his count so we can get pregnant naturally or have success with iui. What do y'all think?

 

[Ltruns33]

hi everyone i posted on this thread 2 years ago ( around about) as we were trying to conceive and we found out that hubby had low sperm count and his morphology was really low too,
anyway after going through all the tests etc at the fertility clinic we finally decided on IVF which was going to happen that april - it was september at the time of the tests. in november 2011 i actually fell pregnant naturally after putting away all the ovulation tests and finally relaxed knowing i would be getting ivf in april 2012. on 1st august 2012 i gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. i felt so lucky but also understood that low sperm count and low morphology didnt mean a thing!! that it only takes 1, 1! out of those 100,000s to be ok and to swim up to the egg.
to this day im getting ready to celebrate cerys 1st birthday on 1st august and...... im currently 31 weeks pregnant! yep! i caught naturally again 5 months after cerys was born!!!!!!!!!!!
so i am a success story and them some - i just hope this gives you all hope that it does happen naturally with low sperm count/low morphology or not - and keep smiling it will happen xxx

Thanks for the encouraging story! Glad you followed up!

 

[smurfy]

I just received my husbands SA, doctor said it's not good. 14.7 count and 15% motility. He suggested IVF. Has anyone had success with those types of numbers? I really want to concieve naturally, I just don't know if it's possible?!? Made the hubby an appointment with the urologist. But if he has Varicocele surgery it can delay us another year. Wondering if I should just go straight to IVF?

Hello my husband has similiar volumns our FS said go away for over 3 months, take 1500mg of vitamin c and 600 mg of vitamin e cut back on drinking and then the usual, colder showers etc take another sample and we will see where you are at. he also said DTD every 2 days rather than daily. He said the odds were 50% if this would improve things, yes it doesnt rule out getting pregnant naturally but could take ages, even an average person over 35 only has around 10% chance a month, for people like us this is such a small %. We have next test this week and back to FS in 3 weeks, where we will be put forward for IVF. We have been trying for over 2 years and probably had sperm count issues all that time so I dont think it will happen naturally now.

I think it depends how old you are if i would wait or not and how long you have been currently trying?

 

[melly2]

Hello,

Here's the changes my husband has done thus far, and he's seeing double improvement since February. However, he started with 2.5 million and now at 5.9 so still very low, but we're getting there.

He takes the following:

- Maca Root
-L-Carnitine
-FertilAid for Men
- High grade Ubiquinol (this is pricey)
- and some Chinese herbs we got from the acupuncturist
- Fish Oil
- He was going to weekly acupuncture as well; but hasn't for the last few weeks.

 

[Ticktock35]

I just received my husbands SA, doctor said it's not good. 14.7 count and 15% motility. He suggested IVF. Has anyone had success with those types of numbers? I really want to concieve naturally, I just don't know if it's possible?!? Made the hubby an appointment with the urologist. But if he has Varicocele surgery it can delay us another year. Wondering if I should just go straight to IVF?

Hello my husband has similiar volumns our FS said go away for over 3 months, take 1500mg of vitamin c and 600 mg of vitamin e cut back on drinking and then the usual, colder showers etc take another sample and we will see where you are at. he also said DTD every 2 days rather than daily. He said the odds were 50% if this would improve things, yes it doesnt rule out getting pregnant naturally but could take ages, even an average person over 35 only has around 10% chance a month, for people like us this is such a small %. We have next test this week and back to FS in 3 weeks, where we will be put forward for IVF. We have been trying for over 2 years and probably had sperm count issues all that time so I dont think it will happen naturally now.

I think it depends how old you are if i would wait or not and how long you have been currently trying?

I'm almost 35 1/2. He'll be 38 in a couple of months. I've been off BC for about 3 yrs now. I was kind of waiting for nature to take its course, but then my younger sister got pregnant on her honeymoon and it made me wonder, what's wrong with me? I decided to have a full panel done and I came out with flying colors. So the next step was get him tested. Sure enough looks like his low sperm count and motility has been the problem. (Concentration=14.7L, progressive motility = 23L, progression = 15L. I can kick myself for waiting so long to get him tested) My GYNO, right away said "let's get moving on IVF", but I thought there has to be another option? I've been reading posts and others with lower counts have conceived, so I'm taking any and all suggestions. After the DH's appt. with the urologist, I'm hoping to know a little more about the cause behind the low count?

Sorry for the dumb question, but what's DTD? I wish you/everyone lots of luck!!! I hope you get a BFP before your FS appt. Please keep us updated on your progress.

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

DTD = Doing the deed!
Good luck with everything