1% Active Sperm Count - Is there any hope for us?

[misseskimo]

DH and I have been TTC for just over 3yrs, the last 7 of which have been using the expensive cbo kits, vitamins etc.

Many arguments with Doctors later (they kept telling us we were young, healthy, and don't need to worry about tests just yet. I'm 28 DH is 29), we finally persuaded a Doctor to run some fertility tests for us...

Mine all came back as normal, however DH's finally came back today and he's been told he only has 1% active sperm and he needs to come in to speak with a Doctor. They originally booked him in for 3wks time, but after some gentle persuasion DH rang them straight back and they've now rescheduled for tomorrow morning.

He's a little shell-shocked atm, saying it's all his fault he can't give us children when we've been trying for so long; and doesn't know what to expect, what questions to ask tomorrow etc...

Has anyone else been through this and can give advice? Has anyone been told this and still managed to conceive naturally? Or is there no chance for us now? Are there any particular questions we should be asking the Doctor tomorrow, or things we should be doing to help boost his ahem active count etc?

Would really appreciate any advice you could give us. Been a tough few years, and rather than us getting the good news we were hoping for this month with a BFP, we've had this news instead :( x

Does he drink a lot ? Or is he overweight ? I believed these affect your sperm so he can do something about it of this is the case .

Simple things like vitamins are not of much benefit to boosting semen count so would not waste money on those.

You should be referred now as a couple to a subfertility unit. He should also as part of this see someone like a urologist to see if there are problems pertaining to the testes, there may be something like a varicocele causing such issues.

A man often associates his sense of masculinity with the ability to conceive a child. Some men find that low sperm count or poor sperm quality makes them somehow "less of a man" or not as virile. Men may experience profound feelings of guilt, anger, and low self-esteem, which can affect all aspects of their lives. It is essential to recognize that the male partner may be experiencing pain that is not dissimilar from the female whose self-worth and femininity is wrapped up in motherhood. A couple facing infertility, be it male factor, female factor, a combination or unexplained, need to communicate about what is happening to them.

We had the same issue. Had icsi which worked first time. I breastfed our now 2.7 year old son and AF showed up twice and never a third time when he was 15 months. I now have a 9 month old daughter. Natural conception.

Hi Bishboschone,

No, we both rarely drink, as in one every few months, and he is completely normal weight/BMI wise. We eat healthily and get regularish exercise.
I can only think of maybe 2 times in the last 10yrs that he's been sick x

I have no experience of this, but from a purely mathematical POV, 1% is actually quite a lot when you think that the average, healthy male produces anything from 40 million to 1.2 billion sperm cells each ejaculation!

So if we take 1% of that lower figure - 40,000,000 - he's still producing 40,000 viable sperm cells each time. I have no idea what this means, in reality, but as a non-medical person that sounds like rather a lot. However, to make sure one of those 'active' ones gets it together with one of your eggs it may be that you need to have a bit of medical intervention.

I would certainly be asking tomorrow what you can both do to increase your chances of natural conception through diet, exercise, food, weight management, etc.

DDs BF is icsi, as is her younger sister (her Brother was after 10 years of no contraception) rather a surprise.

Ah that's a shame .. I'm sure they can offer some help though .. Good luck .

Thankyou all for your comments.

AttilaTheMeerkat I think it was actually you who originally gave me the push (like 2yrs ago!) to change doctors and push for tests! Finally got my way earlier this year, so almost 2yrs later!

ThunderboltKid He currently takes the Boots own-brand conception vitamins, and has been for the last 6months ish I'm pretty sure those already have Zinc and Selenium in them, but maybe not enough? Maybe worth us asking tomorrow if there's a better brand to use which has a higher % of the two vitamins...

Unsureif Elephantsneverforgive This gives me some hope thanks, though I'm not overkeen on the idea of invasive procedures, I suppose if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes!

Juneau I thought the same thing, but DH said the Doctor sounded almost defeatist, as though it was a really bad thing... I suppose we'll find out more tomorrow...

I honestly honestly don't know if they work because DH has never been tested but he takes fertilaid for men - they seem to get good reviews and some reviews claim that they dramatically improve sperm count. Worth googling them?

Would he be prepared to try acupuncture? I'm having it a couple of times a month to help with fertility & my lovely lady was telling me this week there are 'points' that you can use to increase sperm count. She made it sound like it was easy & no big deal at all. Can't hurt giving it a try for a bit I guess (might hurt the bank balance though!)

Have you tried using a conception lubricant? Like conceive plus or preseed? These can help protect the sperm, help it travel and ensure the ph balance(?) inside you doesn't kill off the sperm during their journey. Lots of people report good results, we were trying for 5 months and then got pregnant the first month using Conceive Plus.

blue2014 Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look into that one in the morning! The other one that seems to be highly reccomended is the Wellman brand, so I'll try and compare the two.

Grizzler He just pulled a skeptical face when I mentioned acupuncture... Men! rolls eyes I'll do some research into it, I think I can claim back a very small amount of acupuncture on my works healthcare plan, which will make it a little less scary bank-balance wise!

Justyouwaitandsee We were using Preseed for about 18m-2yrs, then recently switched to Conceive Plus as we obviously weren't getting any results... I did a lot of research on it and read as you've mentioned, that it helps with sperm motility etc. So hopefully it will help us a little in this case also!

I'm keeping everything crossed for tomorrow that they give us some sort of positive news that will help up to conceive.

I just can't understand it if I'm being honest... If I'm being completely open about it, I'm the one who's always ill; I have a long list of medical issues, a second long list of hereditary illnesses in my family which Doctors are constantly checking me for just in case, and seem to be forever getting ill, and so I was so sure I was the reason we were having trouble. My DH is never ill, he's only been in hospital 3 times in his life touch wood (once was when he was victim to a mugging, so shouldn't even count), no family history of hereditary illnesses, and generally goes a year or two without a sick day - He's one of the healthiest people I know, especially compared to me! Lol. I think that's why it's such a shock that it's him.

I admit I don't know much about this but wouldn't you be a candidate for ivf ? I'm sure they can do something for you both .

Sorry to hear these. The test should be repeated because things can drastically change from one result to the other. Would definitely recommend him also getting a sperm fragmentation test and to get a test done for any underlying infections or inflammations. Bugs can hide and be asymptomatic but cause infertility in men. Antibiotics can clear these up.
We went to Andrology Solutions in London for these tests as not sure the NHS covers them. Worth checking their website for information about various tests out there. Hopefully he can be see. By the NHS though and get investigated.
But there is lots of hope for you just don't get fobbed off because of your age. My doc tried that and I am now 35 and was 30 when we started. You have to be pushy! Best of luck.

Hi op, just want to say that my dh had bad test results first time but at repeat three months later much improved. The only difference we made was he started taking zinc supplement and eating 3 Brazil nuts a day. Still not pg yet but results were drastically improved :)

My dh had a poor sperm count the first test and was fine the next (lower side of average but still in normal range). We were told it is quite possible he had a cold or other infection that impacted it the first time.

Also we took two years to conceive number 1 and during this time we started to investigate fertility treatment. We didn't need it in the end but at one open evening the clinic said that if you even have one single healthy sperm then they will find it and use it so if you do end up going that route don;t worry, they will find the single good sperm for you and help make it into a baby. And remember 1% of many million is still a lot. We conceived naturally after two years and number 2 took just one try. TTC number 3 now - started last month. Am on af so didn't happen first go but am full of hope it won't take two years again.

One thing I didn't realise is just how sad dh was and how less of a man it made it, because I had issues too so we just assumed the problems were on my side. I had to give him lots of assurances I loved him and would stay with him and we'd have children by hook or by crook even if it meant adopting but that whatever way we did it it would be together. When we conceived naturally he was so pleased and kept making comments about how he wasn't shooting blanks etc so clearly it had been a major worry for him even though he kept it bottled in.

Hi all, thanks for all your comments and personal experiences, its really encouraging to know that others have got around these "complications" for lack of a better word, and managed to conceive one way or another.

We saw the doctor Friday morning and got very confusing news, he read through all the results and said that DH was above average for nearly all of his levels bar one which wasn't to do with sperm count... However the particular one result was extremely off in comparison to the other levels and so he was going to call the lab to check... Unfortunately he couldn't get through to them and he eventually got back to us late last night, where he advised he had cleared things up with the lab, and that he was going to do two things;
First, he would leave another form at reception for DH to pick up and do another sample next month.
Second, he's referring us BOTH to... X department (darn DH forgot where he said the referral was going to!) and that we should expect to hear from them in around 6weeks for an appointment we both have to attend in order to progress further...

I'm not really sure what department this is, and DH said the Dr didnt actually outright say what was wrong with the results, but implied that there was nothing wrong with DH and hence referring us both... But needed a second test to be done just before our appointment so the person has two sample results to compare...

Does this mean anything to anyone? Does this mean that we're actually getting somewhere in the system for fertility treatment? I'm so confused! X

It sounds like you're being referred to fertility specialist which would make sense if it's for both of you. After 3 years ttc, you need to think that this isn't likely to happen without some sort of intervention so the next step should be the fertility clinic. Was it the morphology that was only 1% or motility? If the overall count was high then this might not matter. The test should really be repeated too because they can vary so much month to month. If it is male infertility then you will probably be looking at ivf with icsi.

I'm not sure tbh raydown. He reeled them off so quick I didn't manage to take any exact figures or references in :-( I got DH to ring them this evening to check the referral and its for the local NHS fertility clinic as an initial appointment. So i suppose that means were finally getting somewhere! Just now have to wait 6weeks for the initial appointment... This time though I'll attend armed with a notepad so i can keep records of the figures and whats normal/not normal etc. For my own peace of mind x