Abnormal sperm - home test

[e11even]

Hi everyone, my husband has just told me he's taken 2 home sperm testing kits from Dam Health and both results were abnormal. He took one early last week and another one this afternoon.

We're both 30 and have been ttc for baby 1 for 2 months now so I'm not sure that a gp would test us just yet.

Has anyone had any experience with these home kits and found the results were accurate? We're both so worried now so any advice is welcome

My husband did two. Both came back low motility. We are paying for a proper one later this month. Will let you know

@RiderofRohan thank you! I hope all turns out well for you both

@e11even was it this one? Does it just test for sperm count or anything else? -
damhealthshop.com/products/male-fertility-at-home-test

I'm looking for one for DH

Those tests only test for amount. They don't tell you anything about the quality etc. I asked my husband to do one before and it just caused unnecessary stress.

This was the one

@chocolateflapjacks it has caused a lot of stress now. Did you both get expert advice afterwards and how did it go?

Got a proper test done and all was fine.

We had a baby, then struggled with the second hence the home testing, ended up having ivf for the second BUT that was nothing to do with sperm count, quality etc. It was for unknown reason, possibly due to having a c section with the first.

The best thing you can do is relax and keep trying for at least a year, then if you need to, have proper investigations done.

Trying for two months is way, way too early in my opinion - no judgement, I know how emotional TTC is xx

We didnt do a home test to avoid the stress of an incomplete result. Those only give you half the picture so as has been mentioned already get yourselves down to a clinic and get a full report. We spent around £500 and got the results within a couple of days.

@chocolateflapjacks Yh you're probably right about it being too early. Thanks for responding, it's helped x

@e11even very normal for couples to take a year... doctors won't do any tests on either of you until you reach the 1 year mark. Home tests are a waste of money. You can get a sperm analysis done at a lab / clinic for a very reasonable price £80 ish to £150 ish depending on your location. £500 ish as mentioned above would probably be for you and your partner which is called like a fertility MOT, again too early for this imo. Just keep having regular sex and enjoy life. Trying to conceive can steal your energy and mind and this early on, you do not want it to begin to control you.... it can be a long journey, but statistically is likely not to be! Best of luck x

@FlyOnTheWall89 I'm in london so i suppose it depends where you are. Itd be another £600 for a womans fertility mot 😁

@FlyOnTheWall89 thank you. We went through a lot of emotions today and trying to relax now. I appreciate the advice x

We paid around £150 at CRGH which is on Great Portland Street

@NatGee we are also London, in the most expensive borough. A sperm analysis alone isn't £500. We saw Dr Ramsay and the individualised test from the clinic he uses / recommends was around £120 from memory just off Harley Street.

Update - DH had the semen analysis in the end which doesn't look good and pretty much everything is abnormal apart from the volume. We have our consultation this week which will explain more but we received the report.

Count is very low at 3.75m
Motility is 29%
Morphology normal forms is 1%

We're so devastated at the moment. I don't know what to do. I feel so hopeless.

@e11even I'm so sorry. Has anything been recommended to try and up the numbers?

@JuniperandI not yet, our consultation is tomorrow so we're hoping there will be something we can do but I'm so scared there won't be

My husbands sperm analysis was worse than your husbands. It was barely worth testing. In one sample he had 3 sperm. Not 300 or 3 thousand or 3 million which would all be consider low but THREE. We had 6 cycles of IVF with ICSI and we have one son. I remember the first time we had an analysis back and it was heartbreaking. It seemed like an uphill battle we could never win. But we did. I spent years on Fertility Friends forum where there were numerous women who conceived naturally with husbands with a similar sperm level to my husbands because, and it's massively cliched, it only takes one.

Was this an at home one or a clinic one? @e11even

If you were a year in to trying, you'd now be referred for IVF with ICSI which is where they select sperm and put them into your collected eggs to form (hopefully) embryos. As you're only a few months in, the good news is, by testing so early, you can start to work on his numbers through lifestyle changes and supplementation. I would also really recommend paying privately, or using private health care if you have it, to get a physical examination. The NHS won't do anything at this point... I guess this is the downside as it is likely to take some time to conceive naturally.

Ok, so I know this is probably not useful to the OP, but I promised to report back. Hopefully it can help someone else. After two low motility Exseed tests, we have had a proper semen at the clinic. The results are normal. Really good actually and the problem might be with me instead.

Anyway, I just want to caution everyone against using this company and at home sperm tests in general. It's caused us a month of anxiety over nothing.

@e11even I hope they were able to give you some options. Sending my best wishes.

Thank you for reporting back and I'm really pleased for you that the results were normal @RiderofRohan

Sorry that I hadn't responded to the other messages before. Truthfully I was on a bit of a downer but feeling better now. The consultant said we should try lifestyle changes and she recommend Proxeed Plus which he's now taking. She said she's not sure how much it will help with a reading like his and we should see a urologist as well. He used to take pre-workout and protein shakes which she said are terrible for you so he's completely stopped this now.

We've decided to take a breath and try the recommended lifestyle changes first and see how we go

@e11even that sounds like a really good mentality and approach. We've started lots of lifestyle changes too. Fingers crossed for you both!