Naturally improving sperm count

[pteradactyl]

I am a long term er...dipper?! I have popped in and out of various threads on here over the last couple of years. I am popping up again as I wondered if anyone has seen a difference in their partner's results when they have lost weight or taken vitamins etc? My partner isn't huge, but is maybe 1-1.5 stone overweight. Diet for us both could use a lot of work too. Exercise levels also! But the consultant we saw basically said we had no hope of improving numbers as they were so low (under a mil total count) but I did think we may be able to improve things a little - I'm under no illusion we will suddenly get to 30 million or anything, but wondered if anybody else had any stories of improving counts really? Thanks x

[Scottishgirl85]

Being more healthy can only be a good thing, but with less than a million you'd need to improve his count by about 15x to have a good chance naturally, which I personally don't believe is possible. Certainly exercise, eat better, take standard vitamins and avoid cycling, hot showers etc etc, but my advice would be don't spend crazy money on fancy pills trying to improve sperm count. Are you eligible for ivf on NHS? Realistically that's your best option. Good luck xx

[pteradactyl]

Hey. Oh yes I know we will still need IVF. I didnt make that very clear did I, sorry. I just meant boosting numbers to give us more to work with, rather than making naturally conceiving possible.

[Notasperfectasallothermners]

My friend's dh was recommended 1000mg of vitamin C(soluble) twice a day for top sperm by her ivf consultant.. They had 4dc after 3 rounds!! Dd, ds twins then another dd!!

[LockedOutOfMN]

My friend was advised to give up caffeine and that helped a lot. He has never drunk alcohol in his life so that couldn't have affected it.

[polkadotpixie]

I've heard good things about Proxeed but it is expensive

[pteradactyl]

Thanks for the tips. Vitamin c seems like a cheap option that can't hurt to improve things. 4 children from 3 rounds is bloody good going!!!! And we both drink a fair amount of caffeine but don't really drink and are both ex-smokers so that's worth bearing in mind too :)

[Scottishgirl85]

Ah ok, I was worried you were trying to normalise the count to try naturally. My husband has 0.1 million and he did standard advice and wellman vitamins, nothing expensive (I wouldn't bother with Proxeed, ridiculously expensive). We amazingly had our dd1 conceived naturally (but it's one in a million chance!) and now 26weeks pregnant with dd2 after ivf. Wishing you all the best. One million count is plenty to work with for icsi ivf. X

[SummerRains]

We used proceed, Hugh dose vitamin C, L'Carnitine from memory. Saw a private urologist. Numbers improved from needing ICSI to natural conception.

[SummerRains]

Oh and we're prescribed tamoxifen by urologist

[SummerRains]

Proxeed and high!!

[helterskelter99]

Zita West’s vitamins and not keeping his phone in his front pocket seemed to help here
We also stopped drinking at home that was about it
Remember it’s a 90 day cycle for sperm x

[SummerRains]

Oh yes we also did cotton boxers, zero alcohol, no caffeine, no phone in his pocket at all ( the thing that he found the hardest), Zita West vitamins, organic vegetables etc where possible. His count went from 1% normal to 3% so was really worth it.
No idea what part helped but we had three pregnancies after failed ICSI.

[pteradactyl]

Thanks for all the tips. Will try and implement some of them.

I think his total was actually 0.4 total count. The consultant said they would possibly need to do the TESE or whatever its called to take sperm directly from the testicle which made me think we had big issues, although from what I have read as long as there is something to work with we should be ok. It was all a bit confusing. The consultant was a bit of an arse tbh! When I asked if there was no chance of a natural conception with our numbers (which i already knew, but I guess I just wanted to hear it) he said no, but then laughed and said "but I suppose miracles do happen!" I was probably being over sensitive but the laugh made me want to punch him....