Low % of normal sperm

[eldestgirl]

Have been TTC for about 8 months now. Discovered I do not ovulate very regularly and am now on my second month of clomid. However, DH has now been told that his % of "normal" motile sperm is 5%, (subfertile is at 4%, "highly normal" is 14%).
I am quite upset and feel that this is directly due to the horrendous work stress he is constantly under, spending hours on planes and sitting still, tapping away furiously at his laptop for long periods of time. I am not sure how much of this can change in the short term.
Does anyone else have any experience of this? Did you eventually conceive? Any advice on what we can do? I have got selenium, zinc and folic acid on my shopping list for him, and may force him to sit in a cold bath regularly but would really appreciate any advice. We have two DS, conceived naturally and without any problems in the last 5 years, so it's not the end of the world, but I am really longing for another child.

bump

there are 3 parameters used when taking a sperm count IIRC .. you cannot just go by one of the factors in isolation

I think its numbers, percentage of normal and motility

if the other 2 factors are higher than normal then it may well even out

the best thing is to talk to someone directly who has the actual results to find out what exactly that means

DH also had an issue with percentage of normal sperm (again IIRC), but his numbers were high and I used clomid and we conceived first cycle .. don't know how

Eldest girl
You must nag your DH to make sure he puts something on his knee before the laptop. There was quite a lot of research that came up a while ago about laptops causing low sperm counts due tothe hea of the laptops frazzling mens private parts.
\link{http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1395183,00.html\times}
here is link to an article but there is quite alot of info about if you google laptops and sperm
I have recently been telling my Dh about this but it wasn't until I printed the article off and REALLY had a go a him that he consistently 'protects' himself
HTH

Thanks for the advice.
Twiglett, his numbers are good and motility is 10% above average, so there is some hope. Hopefully this will jog him into making some lifestyle changes. He can't go on putting himself under so much stress.