Hello again - advice please

[mrspc]

Hello LTTTC Ladies old and new....

Hope you're all feeling positive and proactive.


After a break from ttc and the forum, we're back on the wagon and have just got our results back from OHs first SA.

He has to go and have another one because motility is low.

The results were
6.23 vol
7.4 ph
28% motility
10% prog motility


Any thoughts?

He's just going to take care with lifestyle and heat etc take all the vits and keep trying.

If his next test comes back similar then we're off to the fertility clinic, if it comes back ok then we're still off to the fertility clinic because it will have been 2 years ttc by then!!

Just going to keep on trying. Anyone got any low motility advice?

Just catching up with you all at the moment...

Lots of love and dust xxxxxx

 

[hayes]

No ideas on mobility im afraid but im glad to see you bak hun.

Fx all goes well with you.

Michelle. x

 

[LouiseB]

What's the concentration and morphology? xx

 

[mrspc]

The only other number is 16 mil per ml - is that the concentration? xx

 

[mrspc]

Another number is 1% - norm 4% Might that be morphology?


Sorry...GP wasn't very forthcoming. I went armed with a list of questions and made notes and she got a bit defensive and closed up. I don't think she knows a lot about it all. Can't WAIT to see a specialist!!!!

xx

 

[LouiseB]

Yeah, those sound about right for the concentration and morphology

The concentration and volume and pH are all good, but the motility and morphology are pretty bad

The progressive motility includes both slow moving and fast moving, so it's possible (and likely) that you have more slow moving than fast moving which makes it even worse.

In a typical sample i estimate you'd only have 100,000 sperm cells that have progressive motility AND normal morphology - that's an ICSI job.

It might be possible to improve it, but your hubby would be looking at a total lifestyle change, not just multivits. Hopefully the second one will come back better.

Sorry if that's a bit of a shock to you xx

 

[mrspc]

Thanks, Lou. No not really a shock, I had researched it beforehand. It's just annoying not to be able to reflect on it with an expert. The GP really didn't have any idea she just read out what the lab had put. She seemed pretty positive and therefore so did OH... but I knew better. Didn't say anything though.

To be honest there's not much he could do lifestyle-wise because he is fit and healthy. Just cut out caffeine and alcohol completely and take the vits - not sure there's much point though?

Am still hoping that the next one will come back a bit better. OH did get hit by a football a couple of months ago, so I'm crossing my fingers!!

Do you know much about ICSI? Do you think it would work for us? There doesn't seem to be much wrong at my end at the moment!

Any tips from anyone are welcome xxxxxx

 

[LouiseB]

I've had ICSI three times unfortunately so quite well researched

The exact same thing happened to us. We both attended the same GP appointment, I came out feeling physically sick and hubby came out beaming with relief

You can't really expect a GP to be very useful. If you imagine how many different conditions and complaints they have to be able to recognise and prescribe for, it'd be impossible for them to know anything more about them.

The problem is that instead of not saying anything and admitting that they don't know enough to comment further, they try to give advice that ends up being very misleading.

If you really want hubby to put the effort into trying to improve it, then cutting out alcohol and caffiene are essential imo. He would also want to avoid snug underpants (with him playing football), any artificial colours/preservatives/sweeteners so no diet drinks or drinks that don't need refrigerating and also heavily processed foods. The multivits that he takes should be designed for male fertility and contain high amounts of antioxidants.

I think it's definitely worth it. My hubby has seen significant improvements in his pH, concentration, morphology and motility.

Not enough to mean we don't need ICSI, but there are other things that will impact the outcome of treatment cycles like oxidative damage to the DNA within the sperm and that will be improved also and that will be what will make the difference between a cycle being successful or not.

You can get loads of embryos and they could all look perfect, maybe even implant and turn into a pregnancy. At some point any DNA damage will kick in xx

 

[Kay Kay]

Hi mrspc, nice to have you back. Sorry about hubbys sperm. Lou really is the expert on all things sperm and icsi. GPs shouldn't even pretend to know about fertility, they are not specialists.

Anyway, you still planning new york? It's December you're going isn't it? I'm going in Nov and cannot wait! It's really giving me something to look forward to . Hope you're good xxx

 

[KMG]

Hello and welcome back!

Really sorry about oh's results - we are currently waiting for hubby's results and it is terrible!

When we get the results i am going to make sure we see a specific doctor because he was trying for 4 years and understand the system and i hope woudl have more knowledge than other!

Wow Louise that is a lot of changes that can be made - hubby has never really believed me that he needed to do more. I have been take vits, cutting everything our of my diet to help and only after his visit to the clinic has he accepted that he can do more - now i see there is so much more wait until i tell him!

I hope the next results are betting and the changes help!

xx

 

[Gizzy Kelly]

Wow Mrspc welcome back! Nice to see you again. Sorry about the sperm result. The good thing is that you are both on your way to getting help and you have us of course. Lou as Kay Kay has already pointed out knows a lot about SA.

Good luck with the second sample and welcome back. It is good to hear from you

Love gizzy xxx

 

[ab11]

Heya hun, welcome back!!!
Hope ur okay.
We changed our diets completly, hubby takes wellman. Doesnt hav hot baths.
It made a huge difference!!!
Xx

Sent from my LG-P692 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mrspc]

Thanks so much guys Your posts really helped me yesterday.

Lou - sorry for being thick I knew you'd had lots of IVF just didn't realise what ICSI was until now! Thanks so much for being a font of knowledge Just re-reading your diary...

KK - Hi love. Yeah, can't wait for NY in NYC - you'll be able to give me some tips when you get back!!

Gizzy - Am catching up with you all at the moment, nice to hear from you too!

KMG - Good luck with results, lucky you for having a sympathetic doctor!!

Michelle - Nice to 'see' you too love xx

ab11 - thanks hun. OH is back on the wellman and going to work on the other stuff too - got to try to be proactive, right?



Wasn't as bothered about the GP being uninformed as I was about her seeming unsympathetic and cold. I didn't want to get visibly upset to save OH's feelings but surely she should understand how horrible this is?

Is it worth me pinpointing ov days still or should we take the more relaxed approach to BD? What's the best BD pattern for low motility?

Any thoughts on supporting OH on this? I'm worried about how this will make him feel...

xxxxx

 

[LouiseB]

I hope it helps

We were relaxed about lifestyle at first thinking that ICSI would fix it, but it doesnt fix anything except the issue of the sperm reaching the egg. So much more can impact the outcome and I really wish we took it more seriously - not that we was really bad, but not as proactive as we should have been.

The one embryo we did get was a chewed up mess

I tried finding some figures on my computer from hubby's results only to find my PC is broken

We only really started seeing any improvement after about 6 months.

His average results are in my sig (so they were typically much worse), but since he started taking the whole process more seriously he has had 50% motility and 7MIL/ml, so we're hopeful to get some decent embryos when we do get them this time.

Personally, I wouldn't bother tracking OV. You might as well assume its not going to happen and enjoy the quiet before the storm

If you are going to be one of those "omg miracle BFP" people, it'll happen even if you completely abstain from sex

You'd be aiming for sex every 3 days imo.

Oh! It is very essential that you hubby ejaculates every three days without fail even if you aren't ttc xx

 

[mrspc]

Thanks so much, Lou.

How has yr other half coped with the whole thing?

I find it hard that mine is the one who has more control over improving our situation and I can be really bossy!


xxxx

 

[Bellarina]

hey hun sorry to hear about ur hubbys results.

yeh gps arent very fothcoming with results are they....my hubby had to ring for his and didnt even get to speak to a gp, receptionist just said "normal" and me being a control freak wanted to know all the data in case he was maybe the lower end ofnormal for example, but he wasnt given it.

anyway hope you are ok hun xxxx