Troubles with trying to conceive

[soul832016]

My wife is 30 and I'm 33. We have been trying for about 6 months (we missed two months since March when she had to go overseas to see family).

I got a bad result from a pathology test around 2 weeks ago. 2% morphology, 16% motility but the promising reading was 52% alive and 90 million count.

The technician thinks that the collector took too long to send the results to the test. I was left waiting around 15 minutes for her to return. It was also a hot day and recently I'd been drinking a bit. I was also consuming 2 or 3 cups of coffee on the odd day at work. I had been taking menevit pregnancy vitamins.

Since then, I've cut out most of the caffeine. I've had one cup yesterday and today for the first time in over a week. My vitamins now include 500mg vitamin C, menevit, co-q and vitamin b12. I've had a couple of drinks for Xmas but otherwise have been careful. I changed from wearing regular underwear to wearing boxers instead.

I'm really hoping we get a good reading on the next test. It has me worried. The doctor did mention IUI techniques but she wasn't very supportive. Went to my regular GP and she was very supportive in saying try for at least a year but if my readings come back low again, she will send me to a fertility specialist.

Are there any other recommendations that people have about improving lifestyle? I am a bit overweight and after Xmas plan to hit the gym again.

Would love some encouragement! We really want to start a family. It will be our first time to have kids.

I was doing further research and found out varicocele veins are common in men. Not sure about this or how to really tell. But if the results are low again, is it worth getting an ultrasound to rule that out?

 

[sarah2211]

Hi there, sorry you haven't gotten many answers here. It might be worth posting in the long term TTC page. I wouldn't wait 12 months if you've got a known problem. But in saying that, it's probably not impossible that you could conceive naturally with your wife.

How much of a rush are you both in? If you're in more of a rush then pay and see a fertility specialist privately. I live in New Zealand and my doctor wanted me to wait 12 months but I knew I wasn't ovulating so we decided to pay to see a private specialist. Within 3 months I'm pregnant!

My husband's motility is on the low side. He did his first SA and it was actually fine. But then he decided to take Conceive Well Men's vitamin because he wanted to feel like he was doing something to help. Well his SA after taking the vitamin for 6 months was much worse. Might have just been luck.

My husband has a varicocele too. To be blunt, when you're standing up, do your balls feel like 'a bag of worms'? Then when you lie down, does this feeling go away? I did a bit of reading about sirgery for varicocele as well as Clomid (which is what I took) however, research seems to show that although they can improve SA results, the number of pregnancies doesn't actually increase.

IUI or IVF is probably your best options. We were almost ready to start IUI, mainly because of the sperm washing. They spin the swimmers and this separates the good from the bad. Then they can inseminate with the best swimmers really close to the egg.

Good luck

 

[soul832016]

Hi there, sorry you haven't gotten many answers here. It might be worth posting in the long term TTC page. I wouldn't wait 12 months if you've got a known problem. But in saying that, it's probably not impossible that you could conceive naturally with your wife.

How much of a rush are you both in? If you're in more of a rush then pay and see a fertility specialist privately. I live in New Zealand and my doctor wanted me to wait 12 months but I knew I wasn't ovulating so we decided to pay to see a private specialist. Within 3 months I'm pregnant!

My husband's motility is on the low side. He did his first SA and it was actually fine. But then he decided to take Conceive Well Men's vitamin because he wanted to feel like he was doing something to help. Well his SA after taking the vitamin for 6 months was much worse. Might have just been luck.

My husband has a varicocele too. To be blunt, when you're standing up, do your balls feel like 'a bag of worms'? Then when you lie down, does this feeling go away? I did a bit of reading about sirgery for varicocele as well as Clomid (which is what I took) however, research seems to show that although they can improve SA results, the number of pregnancies doesn't actually increase.

IUI or IVF is probably your best options. We were almost ready to start IUI, mainly because of the sperm washing. They spin the swimmers and this separates the good from the bad. Then they can inseminate with the best swimmers really close to the egg.

Good luck

Hi. Thankyou for the reply

How did you know you weren't ovulating? Did you take test kits and not get a positive reading each month?

 

[sarah2211]

I knew I had PCOS and was diagnosed at a teen but I was on the pill so my cycles weren't really accurate. When I came off the pill, slowly my cycles went longer and more irregular. I never got a positive OPK but I did get a temperature rise. I got fed up about the 6-7 month mark and my GP ran some blood tests that showed I wasn't ovulating. I did however fall pregnant the next month but MC at 5 w 2 d. We then got into see a private fertility specialist and did all the testing. My ovaries showed no sign ofovulation and my blood tests showed no sign too. So I got put on Clomid.

My advice, if you can, lie about how long you've been trying for. Lots of doctors won't take your seriously until you reach the 12 month mark, even if there's a clear problem.

 

[Bordeaux]

Proxeed plus is what the fertility clinics recommend for men and improved my husbands situation

 

[broodymrs]

It sounds like you've made all the right changes to your lifestyle. It can take 3 months to see a change in sperm quality though.

I'd personally recommend acupuncture but it's obviously a personal choice if you feel it would be beneficial (I've got two acupuncture babies!).

Other than that I would suggest giving it a bit longer for changes to your lifestyle to have an affect. Up to a year is normal to conceive although I do understand the desperation as I've been there.

 

[soul832016]

I knew I had PCOS and was diagnosed at a teen but I was on the pill so my cycles weren't really accurate. When I came off the pill, slowly my cycles went longer and more irregular. I never got a positive OPK but I did get a temperature rise. I got fed up about the 6-7 month mark and my GP ran some blood tests that showed I wasn't ovulating. I did however fall pregnant the next month but MC at 5 w 2 d. We then got into see a private fertility specialist and did all the testing. My ovaries showed no sign ofovulation and my blood tests showed no sign too. So I got put on Clomid.

My advice, if you can, lie about how long you've been trying for. Lots of doctors won't take your seriously until you reach the 12 month mark, even if there's a clear problem.

Thanks again for your replies. I'm sorry to hear of your loss

My wife and I did the mandatory blood tests and they came back fine. She gets a strong reading at that time if the month when she is ovulating.

Does caffeine have a significant effect on sperm motility and morphology? I like to have a cup of Nespresso in the morning with breakfast.

I'm going to take the test in a couple of weeks. If it's still a bad reading, the GP said she'd refer me to a fertility specialist straight away.

I've heard that assisted techniques such as IUI have been successful for some couples. Otherwise I guess it would be full IVF methods of choosing my best swimmers.

I'll stay patient as we'd like to conceive naturally and I'm taking into consideration that new sperm requires 3 months to mature.

Thankyou for all of the replies

 

[broodymrs]

Caffeine is pretty bad but I wouldn't beat yourself up over one cup a day. You've made lots of positive changes so just enjoy the one cup you do have

 

[sarah2211]

Like mrsbroody said, 1 cup a day isn't really a problem. It's a good sign your wife is ovulating naturally and all your blood tests came back ok. A doctor would probably suggest the lifestyle changes your making as a first step anyway. When we looked into IVF we were going to go with ICSI. This is when they select the best swimmers and insert them right into the eggs. There are options. Good luck.

 

[soul832016]

Like mrsbroody said, 1 cup a day isn't really a problem. It's a good sign your wife is ovulating naturally and all your blood tests came back ok. A doctor would probably suggest the lifestyle changes your making as a first step anyway. When we looked into IVF we were going to go with ICSI. This is when they select the best swimmers and insert them right into the eggs. There are options. Good luck.

Thankyou for all the positive support I'm going to get retested in the next week or so and hoping for a good result.

Out of curiosity, is it necessary for a woman to have orgasm a during sex to help move the sperm along?

 

[cutestuff]

Hi there. Not sure if my reply will help or not because my dh and I never got tested but we were in your age range when we got preggers. For us it took nine cycles pregnant in number 10 start to finish I did go off coffee but I'm pretty sure dh still had energy drinks and such. Both of us are over weight though I had been working out and over a few years got myself into better shape. I don't claim to have all the answers but often times we hear so often about people who get pregnant easily that we forget it can take time and timing is everything. The month we finally got pregnant I was having fun. Changed the routine and I had to take muscle relaxers for a back injury for the first half of my cycle so I wasn't expecting anything. Can you all change it up? I was 31 and dh was 33 when lo was born so it might just take a minute. I also started drinking some fertility tea I found on Amazon but I can't know for sure if that helped or not. Yes female orgasms help but since pregnancy can result from traumatic situations too it's not necessarily required

 

[Ele3085]

I have heard good things about at home insemination(due to certain hobbies of his) he has lazy swimmers , do you think if we tried that it might get them closer to where they are supposed to end up without getting "lazy" before getting there?
Any advice will help! : )

 

[Ele3085]

I'd personally recommend acupuncture but it's obviously a personal choice if you feel it would be beneficial (I've got two acupuncture babies!).

I tried acupuncture 3 cycles in a row with no luck , how long did you do it before it worked?

 

[cutestuff]

I have heard good things about at home insemination(due to certain hobbies of his) he has lazy swimmers , do you think if we tried that it might get them closer to where they are supposed to end up without getting "lazy" before getting there?
Any advice will help! : )

I have never tried it. I think that is something you should ask a doc. If you do go for it use a turkey baster. I would be interested in knowing if it works.

 

[Ele3085]

Haha, yeah that's one of the terms used for it . I just have to find a kit to use to try it with

 

[broodymrs]

I'd personally recommend acupuncture but it's obviously a personal choice if you feel it would be beneficial (I've got two acupuncture babies!).

I tried acupuncture 3 cycles in a row with no luck , how long did you do it before it worked?

3 months of weekly tcm acupuncture with no 1. I also made a lot of lifestyle changes. 5 months of monthly 5 element acupuncture with no 2. No lifestyle changes particularly.

 

[Ele3085]

What were the lifestyle changes you made ?

 

[broodymrs]

I basically bought zita west's fertility and conception book and followed plan a. So dietary changes, taking certain vitamins etc plus the acupuncture

 

[Ele3085]

I just started taking folic acid and magnesium , as well as a few others . So hopefully those will help . And I am trying to do a diet change as well