Low sperm count

[Natcraigleo]

Hi, I'm new here and looking for advice/hope. I'm 35 and partner 37, I already have a 10 year old son from a previous relationship. We have been ttc for 15 months with no luck. I've been tested and doctor results said everything is fine. My partner has had his results back and a sperm count of 3 million, which is very low. Motility and everything else came back normal. I was wondering if anyone knows of anything we can do? I dont qualify for ivf due to already having a child and would have to go private. My partner was an excessive drinker and we think this has something to do with it. He has stopped drinking alcohol this past month and has been advised to go back and have sperm retested in 8 weeks. Has anyone got any advice or hope for us. Thank you in advance.

[Blondiejay24]

A bit of a personal q (sorry) how much sex are you having? Are you focusing around ovulation days or having more often. I don’t know if it’ll help at all but I was told to try doing it every other day. I was worried I might miss my ovulation window so I had sex about a week after my period until the end of my cycle, every other day so I had a constant supply of sperm and worked for us second month with my first after months of trying to track my ovulating didn’t work. Pregnant with my second now and right from go we tried this method again as I have quite irregular periods so never know when ovulating and got pregnant first month of trying.
Good luck with everything. Xx

[Helix1244]

Make sure he's not getting too hot. No hot tubs or too hot baths.
Lose weight if it's an issue.
Not sure how many you need for IUI.

[Rspu3]

My oh has about the same count 1.5-3 million but his motility is low. We’ve been trying for 5+years and I’ve never had a bfp.
We’ve been advised to do icsi as neither of us have a child.
Sorry if it’s put a downer if I was you I’d give it another 6 months then maybe go down ivf route, I’ve also been told iui wouldn’t be an option as the chances are not very good even with a normal count. Good luck op x

[Natcraigleo]

We have sex probably 2 or 3 times a week. I try to track ovulation, I have a short cycle of 25 day cycle. So I am unsure, I have used ovia app too. We had sex lastnight, will again Wednesday and Saturday and we are away on holiday to Italy for 3 days on Sunday so no doubt we will when away but just dont want to take the fun out of it. Hes saying to have sex every 3 days? But I think every second day should be fine but again I'm unclear. Thank you for replies x

[VenusStarr]

Does he take any supplements? He could try wellman conception.

My cycles are a similar length, I tend to ovulate between cd11-13. I found ovia put me as ovulating later. Do you track your cervical mucus? That's the best indication for me. Good luck 🤞

[Natcraigleo]

No I'm going to start with cervical mucus. My period only lasts 3 days and last day of period was Friday and yesterday my cm was stretchy but it does get stretchier so will keep an eye out, thank you. We are both healthy weight, partners plays football for work most days. Think its just the alcohol consumption so hopefully with staying off the booze and vitamins and doing the deed during fertile times will help x

[VenusStarr]

Your cycle sounds similar to mine @Natcraigleo. Last month I started to get fertile cm from cd5 and think I ovulated day 11. Fingers crossed for you :)

[Natcraigleo]

It's so confusing isnt it? First time I was young, dumb and was on the pill but missed it several times. It was unplanned and this time around has been hard graft. Partner is gutted about his count and ivf would be an option for us due to low sperm count however we will not be eligible for NHS as I already have a child. Think we will try with cm and maybe try opk? I have tried these in the past but they confuse the life out of me. I think we will try it every other day or 3rd day as his sperm count is low. Confused as a chameleon in a bag of skittles lol. Yeah my period was last Tuesday, finished on the Friday and had cm yesterday and when doing the deed was very soft and easy so I think ov is coming up. I'm cycle day 8 today. Who knows, I will only hope and hopefully the Italian passion while we are away on Sunday might give us a helping hand ha x

[VenusStarr]

Sounds like good timing :) 🤞 try the opks but I think your plan of tracking cm and dtd regularly will be a good start. Opks can sometimes not be definite. With a short cycle, you might find it peaks soon. If you do it after cd10 you might miss your surge then it could be more stressful.

Hope you have a good break

[Teddybear45]

Well man fertility vitamins, no drink, no smoking, and loose pants should help his sperm count if he does it over 3 months

[AnnaSteen]

My DH went from 1mil to 5mil to 18mil. He took proceive Max sachets, no caffeine, no alcohol, oily fish x3 times a week, lots of nuts, leafy greens, minimal junk minimal gluten, minimal dairy plus taking herbs from acupuncturist for low sperm count.

[Whatelsecouldibecalled]

My DH went from 2 mil to 7mil along with improvements on morphology and motility. He took coq10 100mg vit c 1000umg and Wellman conception tablets for a year before we had ICSI. On day of ICSI they said sample was good and we have 5 good quality 5 day blastocysts in the freezer. I have no doubt the supplements helped. He also cut down on his drinking. Exercised well and ate a good diet.

You could try fertility friend for tracking. You have to pay and it’s quite intense but gives a good insight into cycle. Especially if you want to monitor bbt. I used it for a year.

[Mistymeow]

Hi- my dh had a similar count and we did fall pregnant naturally twice (sadly ended in miscarriage). Slightly different as my dh has a condition that’s treatable, so his sperm count has risen from 2m-10m with injections. But he takes the vitamins and has cut down on alcohol and caffeine which has helped.

I have a similar cycle to you but I would highly recommend opks and temping. You don’t have to temp throughout the month, just to confirm ovulation. I use the free version of fertility friend and it’s very useful. It’s really important for you to pinpoint the day of ovulation and dtd around that time. Also I recommend dtd every other day during your fertile week to allow the sperm supply to recover. Google sperm meets egg plan for low sperm count- this really helped me to fall pregnant naturally. The opks and temping takes a bit of getting used to but well worth it. Wishing you the best of luck x

[Ajhu12]

Hey! Any update on this?