Spouses with low sperm count.

[alamaya]

nvm found my answer scrolling back on this thread

 

[alamaya]

Relaxedlevis, thank you very much. My Dh has been on every known vitamin and antioxidant and Chinese herbs etc etc you name it for several years. the reason why genetic testing has been suggested is because none of that made any substantial difference. Having said that vitamins/lifestyle is the first thing to try to improve and if it works you will see the results in a few months. if it does not unfortunately you need to move on and investigate further.

btw, our urologist recommended to limit any exercise to 30 min and not more as it increases body temperature and kills sperm. Also BD every day around O (rather than every other day)! I know this goes against everything I read so far but I totally trust our urologist, he is considered the best in the UK and he said it will improve the quality.

if it's helpful here's my DH's list of supps:

Wellman Conception
Vitamin B complex
1,000 Maca
1,000 Ginseng
200 COQ10
60 Pycnogenol
1,000 Flaxseed oils
1,000 Fish oils
1,000 L-Arginine
1,000 Carnitine
700 Horny Goat weed
500 tribilus
60 Zinc
50 Selenium
800 Calcium
1,000 Vitamin C
1,000 Vitamin B12
800 Vitamin E
4,000 Vitamin D

Briss - So your hubby takes wellman conception + all of those listed below or does that cover what wellman has in it lol

 

[Briss]

Pinkmoon, I am very sorry you found yourself in this situation. All docs you described seem really useless. Your dhs poor results could be due to antibiotics he was taking to fight the bacteria his numbers may still improve. Considering your age ivf is not a bad idea. I know it took me 2 years to come to terms with it but we had over 15 SAs and all bad despite all the vitamins hormones etc so we do not have a choice. I wish I accepted ivf earlier. Your dhs first as was not bad actually so you may still get pregnant naturally. At our age it may just take longer. Do not despair.

Re vitamins, my dh takes welman + all other vits from the list. Sometimes I give him fertilaid + count and motility boost + a few others

 

[Pinkmoon_75]

Hello Briss, Thanks for your kind words! I feel more optimistic today. It is kinda difficult to deal with male infertility, because there is not too many information about it. I even had a hard time to find this blog! I'm happy I did, I will be around for a while (not too long, I hope!).

 

[Darlingbump2]

Dear pinkmoon, so sorry that your doc”s been so useless. When he says that you are basically infertile, he means that in relation to you asa couple: it means you have a low chance to conceive, because of your age, coupled with your DH’s low SA parameters. I think there are loads of causes for low sperm count. Bluetooth, trauma, stress… and they come and go.

Here is a post of mine, where I explained how you need to interpret an SA in terms of snapshot. I hope it makes sense: https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/p...-supplements-do-they-work-2.html#post33598243

In statistical terms the doc was saying (your low chance because of your age) x (his low chance because of his SA) = very low chance. Unfortunately he did not communicate it well.

Only you can decide if you have the time and money to give it a shot. My advice is if you have the money get him on all the best vitamins (who knows they may improve his numbers) and do IVF asap.

Do also consider adoption.. I totally believe that you will learn to love an adopted child as yours. I am divorced and my new partner has children from a previous marriage and I love just like like I do mine.

Personally, I don’t think much of Wellman Conception (see link to the above post). You DH would be better off taking amitamin m forte (which worked for me) with perhaps VIGARIN by aminoexpert. He’ll be taking far less pills and I think it’ll be cheaper too.

Good luck!!

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

Briss - I really, really hope this is your cycle! Thinking of you and sending lots of

Pink - hello Sorry to find yourself here, it is such a difficult thing to deal with so it's good to know you aren't alone. Hopefully you work things out and get that BFP soon!

Darling bump - thanks for the info you shared....I read your old post as well plus the link you had on that.

TBH - I am just so exhausted with TTC and trying to understand why my DH has such a low sperm count that I'm just at the point where I almost just have to accept it...Nothing makes sense and we have done everything we should do to try and improve it but as far as I'm aware nothing has changed (he hasn't had a SA for almost a year but obviously I'm not pregnant so it could have improved a bit, just at this point not enough for a pregnancy to happen). This month is his 3rd month of taking Ferilaid but I don't think it's made much difference - I am currently in the 2ww so will know soon enough but right now not feeling that optimistic. My DH is 36, healthy, non-smoker only moderate drinker (we stopped for a while but it made no difference so now we have wine at the weekend). We eat really well and exercise (although not excessively). He never has hot baths, hot tubs etc and has always worn loose fitting boxers.....No laptops etc close to him and he always keeps his phone in his shirt pocket...He does have a small varicocele but the urologist said it didn't warrant an operation.... There is just no rhyme or reason why he should have such a low count. Our DS took 5 months to conceive and prior to that I am about 98% sure I had a m/c 4 years before DS was born (we weren't trying etc so didn't know until I had the m/c). So we have conceived twice.... We are now approaching 3 years of TTC our 2nd child. We have no other option at this point but to go and talk to a fertility specialist and weigh out our options....

I wanted so badly for it to happen naturally but it just seems that it isn't going to be, however I have read lots of encouraging stories where it has happened for ppl so it's not all doom and gloom!

Anyway sorry for the depressing story - sometimes you can do everything right and everything they say to do and it still doesn't make a difference. Still I am optimistic that one day we will get our BFP and have baby number 2 in our arms!!

 

[SmrtShe]

I feel bad for not reading all the posts in this thread. I got through several pages when I realized how many there were! At least I know there are others out there going through this same struggle.
Quick background. Husband and I are both 28. I've had all the usual blood work and an HSG done. All results normal. Husband is type 1 diabetic since he was 12. Had an SA done with low volume being the main challenge, can't find the actual numbers. Going for an in depth SA on the 25. Hoping his numbers will be different. Any other type I spouse's out there? He is taking a ton of vitamins now but many of the fertility specific multivitamins contain certain selenium and other vits that are not good for diabetics. Just got all our test results 4 days ago so am still pretty new to this.
Also, not to start a storm but... Any thoughts on drinking diet soda? I know aspartame is supposed to be TERRIBLE but my husband drinks quite a bit. He is working on cutting down but it has been difficult.
Sorry for the huge post. Hopefully some of you ladies will have encouraging or insightful knowledge to share. Many thanks.

 

[melly2]

Hello All!

I truly feel like male infertility is the worse! Long story short, my husband had testicular cancer 2.5 years ago and had a testicle removed. His doctor said we should have no problem getting pregnant...WRONG! My husband's count was always poor, even after taking tons of vitamins, FertileAid, etc. I just feel like he's one of those guys that have always and will always have a low sperm count. We finally conceived this year with IVF, and it was my absolute last resort. However, after 2+ years and being 38 years old, it was our only option.

Here's what I learned: This can come and go for some men. Pink, I don't think yours is hopeless seeing that he had a high count before. But, that said, with age, you may be better off going the IVF route. If you're younger, then it will take longer to get pregnant, but I think it can happen, as I know others who have. If you're older then jumping to IVF is probably best.

Unfortunately, doctors appear to be quite ignorant when it comes to male infertility. It's not well documented, and the problem appears to be getting a lot worse in the past decades. Ie. Normal count for men in the 1970s was 25+ mill, now it's dropped to 15 million. There is also no clear way to fix the problem...it's like a bunch of voodoo magic. I personally don't think acupuncture, vitamins, or anything else helped us much (maybe a million or two at best), but maybe other have better success.

Keep your spirits up. I know it's a very hard and demoralizing road. I pretty much gave up by the time we resorted to IVF, and I wasn't even convinced that was going to work. Fortunately, it did, so there are ways around this!

 

[Relaxedlevis]

Just a quick update on myself - still no BFP with my DW but we are still trying. I'm going back in on the 22nd to get a checkup and make sure I'm still on the right track. I've posted this list of what I'm taking elsewhere for people to see but I'm still on it. Here is the details:


3x 100 MG of Co-Q10 / 1 morning - 1 noon - 1 evening
3x 1500 MG of Vitamin C Time extended release / 1 morning - 1 noon - 1 evening
1x Time Release Vitamin B-100 Ultra B-Complex / 1 noon
2x 400 MU of Vitamin E / 1 noon - 1 evening
1x Men Daily multivitamin with 87mg of Selenium / 1 morning
6x 1000MG of Fish Oils (Omega 3) / 2 morning - 2 noon - 2 evening
4x 50MG of Maritime Pine Bark Extract 2 morning - 2 evening
6x 500MG L-Carnitine / 2 morning - 2 noon - 2 evening (no food)
3x 1000MG of L-Arginine / 1 morning - 1 noon - 1 evening (no food)
6x 500MG of Maca / 2 morning - 2 noon - 2 evening
2x 50MG of Selenium / 1 noon - 1 evening
2x 25MG of Zinc /1 noon - 1 evening
3x Veinsmart by Lorna Vanderhaeghe / 1 morning - 1 noon - 1 evening
1x 5ML of Creatine / 1 morning with my protein and fiber.
5x 500ML Water / all day and while taking these

 

[Briss]

just a quick update, no good news for us unfortunately. after 8 months on hormonal treatment, tonnes of sups and no beer (the hardest bit but DH was really good, can't be more proud) DH sperm got much worse on EC day his count was 1.3 mil, 1% morphology - one of the lowest in our TTC history, but his motility went up to 90%! anyway even with IMSI my 4 eggs did not fertilise. on top of that my ovaries started bleeding internally after EC and I was admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pain. today a week later I am still in a bit of pain and the blood is still inside the clinic decided I do not need to do anything but just wait for it to be absorbed. I am not quite satisfied with it and am seeking second opinion. anyway, DH is very demotivated that all his efforts and for so long did not bring any improvement to his SA.

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

Briss
I am so sorry to hear that after everything you have been through that is the outcome. I hope you are looking after yourself and taking the time you need to recover from everything and I agree it's good to get a 2nd opinion....

My DH would be exactly the same if that happened/happens to him... It's such a kick in the stomach when you have been so good and tried so hard and all for nothing. Do they have any idea what is causing his low sperm count?

Anyway big hugs, take some time out and look after yourself

 

[Briss]

WhiteOrchid, thanks! words cannot describe how I feel, it's the lowest I've been in our 4 year TTC journey. I wonder when things will finally start to look up for us

 

[WhiteOrchid24]

 

[MissCassie]

Has anyones partner used menevit? And does it actually help? My partner has been taking it for about 1 month and I think there has been a bit of a difference but not sure.

 

[Hopethisyear]

Hi there! My husband just got the results from his analysis and the nurse said his count was 17 and they like to see 20 and motility was 59%. That was all the information she gave me. Can anyone explain this to me? Thanks!

 

[CaliDreaming]

Hope, the 17 figure means your hubby has 17 million sperm per mL of semen. That is slightly below the minimum needed for normal conception, which used to be considered 20 million per ML. Now the minimum is 15 million per ML. If the sperm count is below 15-20 mL, that doesn't mean conception is impossible but only that it could take years and years for it to happen. If a man's sperm meets the minimum parameters that means that conception will likely happen within a year. For men who are able to impregnate a woman quickly every month, you will need to get those numbers up to about 65 million per ML and about 75% motility. 50 years ago the average numbers were about 100 mil+ per mL, so male fertility has been on a steady decline.

The 59% motility figure is fairly good. The minimum for motility is about 40%. However, that is a total motility figure which doesn't tell the whole story. You need to be sure that they checked how quickly the sperm are moving and if they are moving in a straight line. The only sperm that have a realistic shot at reaching the egg before they die are the ones that are moving quickly and forward in a straight line.

So Hope, the takeaway from this is that your hubby's sperm is slightly off, but the good news is that it should be an easy fix. His sperm is bad enough to where it is the likely reason you haven't been conceiving, but there is a very good chance that it can be improved with a few months of supplements.

 

[Hopethisyear]

Wow, Cali thank you for all that information, that really helps. We are going to pick up some fertilaid and see if that helps.