Low Sperm Count - actupuncture, success stories?

[GryffinGirl]

Hope I am posting this in the right place

DH and I have been trying to conceive for around 18 months with no success. Following tests it is clear that DH has a very low sperm count, which is regarded as unexplained (i.e. he hadn't had mumps as an adult or any other physical explanation). The next step is likely to be some form of assited conception. I have clockwork cycles and have been given a clean bill of reproductive health so far.

DH's results look somehting like:

Number = less than 2m per ml
Volume = 2ml per ejaculation
Motility = 40%
Formation = 35%

so not great. I have read lots by googling (can be dangerous ) that acupuncture can be excellent in improving sperm counts so I was wondering if anyone had any experience or success stories or negative comments?

I kinow that our local NHS hospital fertitlity unit uses acupuncture in conjunction with IVF as part of the treatment and claims it has improved their success rate, so I assume there must be something in it or the NHS wouldn't waste resources.

Has anyone's DP/DH used acupuncture to improve male infertility?
How did you persuade your DP/DH to go for acupuncture? If it does have benefits, I'd really like DH to try it, but my DH is probably a typical man, i.e. not into acupuncture which he thinks is "new age faddy rubbish akin to chanting spells over crystals", so he is highly sceptical and not keen to have any complimentary treatment unless "proven". He will need some convincing . Any thoughts?

thanks to everone for reading/posting

GG

eek - sorry for the poor spelling in the title!

Griffyn girl- did not want to leave this unanswered.

My DH had a SA done and it looked fine- very high count (117 million per ml) but low morphology (6%) so we started to take some steps to try to improve morphology.By the looks of things you really need to improve count- morphology and motility look good. here are a few tips I came across.

• vit E- natures secret fertility ingredient apparently. my DH takes 400 iu a day.

• l'arginine and l'carnitine- my DH takes 500mg of l'cart a day and 1000mg of l'arg a day, these 2 ingedients are the building blocks of sperm, so should be good for your hubby to improve his count.

• fruit smoothies- at least 1 a day.

-lots of water- 2 litres a day.

-vitamin C- 1000mg a day.

• general healthy living e.g light excercise, no smoking and less than 3 units of alcohol a week makes a MASSIVE difference.

After 15 months of TTC we made these changes and I got pregnant. unfortunately I had a miscarriage but I am confident that we can do it again.

Has your DH had tests done to check for a blockage?

Oh and in answer to your question- my acupuncturist says that she has seen wonderful results from using acupuncture on male sub-fertility but only in conjunction with lifestyle changes

The DH of a friend of mine had sperm count problems, they tried accupuncture and lifestyle chnages (diet, no alcohol I think)and his sperm count improved and she got pregnant 6 months later (after 2 years of trying). Baby due shortly.

HTH

Good luck!

thank you for answering mummy2olivia and kitsilano. I thought I'd ended up in the MN graveyard of unanswered threads

DH has been examined by the doctor after our referral and there are no varicoles or suggestion of blocked tubes, although we are having a follow up appointment in a few weeks and I will definitely raise it. My DH has made lifestyle changes. He cut down drastically on alcohol to a couple of glasses of wine a week, but he found the halfway house too hard and (to my surprise and pleasure!) for the last month he has completely cut it out . He's on daily Man-Vits too, but general ones.

Thanks for the tips on supplements and smoothies M2O. He has always liked smoothies and makes them regularly himself, so I'll up the ante and make sure they are organic too. I am so to hear of your miscarriage. Wishing you every good wish for TTC again.

Kitsilano - it's great to hear success stories. I am in central London (west) and i see from your profile that you're London based too. i was wondering about your friend, did he go to a local actupuncturist in London? I'd love to have a referral name to suggest to DH.

I think anything is worth a go- if you can afford it and you have recommendations it is worth a go. You will find that the positivity you get from being proactive will in turn make you relax. Which can only be a good thing.

We will be TTC agian- not sure when

OOH also- look up Marilyn Glenvilles wbsite- there is a supplement plan there for infertility. Me and DH have started it, it looks pretty impressive.

And promise me you wont look up anything else on the internet. Been there, done that, it doesnt help, it doesnt give you answers, it just makes you feel sad and desperate. dont do it!!!

I know - must stop googling "sperm"

GryffinGirl - I'll try to find out. My friend is in SW London

Don't know about acupuncture for that, but Zinc and vitamin C apparently is good according to my ex IVF doc.

hello gg.

Sperm is a very complicated thing and in comparison to the female reproductive system very little is known about it.

What I would do is ask for a referral to a urologist to see if any cause can be established. Also, has your dh had more than one count done? ideally counts should be done three months apart, as there are numerous things that can affect sperm count, ie if you've been on a long-hall flight recently/has been ill etc, and it's worth bearing in mind that the sperm produced today was made three months ago which is why tests should be done three months apart.

There are viatmins that can be taken to try to improve sperm count, but what you need to be aware of is that excessive amounts of vitamins and minerals should only be taken for a short period (no longer than six months) as too much build up of these vitamins/minerals can cause damage in other areas ie the liver.

My dh was diagnosed with low sperm count nearly two years ago, and he did take some vitamins for a while, but they eventually ran out and so he stopped. And we didn't get pregnant, so there are no guarantees unfortunately.

However it's also worth bearing in mind that it only takes one sperm. I fell pregnant naturally with ds, and we did go for tests which flagged up a low count for dh but I got pg that month so never followed up. It wasn't until we'd been ttc for baby no 2 for over a year that we were tested again.

good luck.

thanks everyone for your advice .

wannabe - he has had three sperm tests done over the space of the last six months. The last one under the supervision of the festility unit, not specifically a urologist, but I will def follow that up when we go back to the unit and ask for a referral - thanks for recommending. We are waiting for the results of the last test, but the first two test results indictated a pretty low count. I am hopeful there will be an improvement, after all DH's hard work lifestyle changes over the past few months (if there isn't, then nothing will improve them!! ).

I am a believer in an holistic approach and while I don't believe that DH will be "cured", we both want to try realistic and proven ways of maximising our chances of TTC naturally and/or being as fit as possible for IVF. That's why I wondered about acupuncture, but I won't grasp at straws.

This may not be helpful for you (I actually know very little about it) but I was in our local assisted conception unit talking about hypnobirthing (which, if you get that far, I can recommend!) and they said they recommend hypnofertility- unfortunately not on NHS- to many of their clients. www.hypnofertilityyorkshire.com/
and I can recommend this practitioner, and I've heard people travel from all over the country to see her.
Good luck!

GG, which general area are you in?

Wow, hypnobirthing. Yorkshire is a bit far for me. I am in London, pretty central.

sorry, I pressed send too quickly

thanks mumofk - will def look into hypnobirthing more locally to me

Could you get to Essex easily? I know a brilliant acupuncturist there. If you can, I'll find her number for you.

I'm not sure all hypnobirthing instructors do hypnofertility, but I just hope something works out for you. Fingers xed!
There are quick trains to Leeds, and she does teach some courses away from home (though now she has 2 little ones maybe not...)

You're right not all hypnobithing practitioners do fertility. Lots of hypnotherapists do though google free mp3 hypnosis fertility to look for free fertility relaxation downloads -there are some great practitioners around who list stuff like this for free.

I learnt about it from a friend of mine who was trying for 3 years, diagnosed as pre-menapausal, and then saw a wonderful hypnotherapist for a couple of sessions, listened to a cd she was given and is now 15 weeks pregnant! The Dr was bemused and has no idea how she managed to get pregnant.

Incredible...Good luck.