Sperm analysis results...playing the waiting game

[chundercatsarego]

And trying not to speculate. I had day 21 blood tests early last week and phoned for the results on Monday, told 'Normal, no action' and next step is to wait for referral to have a tube scan (hsg?).

Dh had sperm analysis last Friday and was called today to be told he needs to make am appointment to discuss results. He is going to be devastated if it's bad news. Am I jumping the gun here though? Is this standard practice? I have regular bloods to monitor under active thyroid and am always told the results on the phone, unless there is an issue. Has anyone got any experience of this?

[naty1]

Do you mean they alway say thyroid is normal and if not give you the actual figure?
My clinic needed under 2.5 for ivf.
The sperm is different part of clinic though i guess and he could have some good some bad news.
Like high count, bad morp.
All bad but needs to retest.
I think theres hope unless its none, even then sometimes an op.
No need to worry until you get the result and then a retest.

Always worth getying a printout of results as normal could still be a but low.
For thyroid gps are happy under 4.2 but that is not optimal for conception as above

Good luck
Oh and tests done at home seem to come out worse

[victoria401]

Hi there

My dh was told he needed to go in and get the results of his 1st sa. The news was suboptimal morphology but all other parameters were good/normal. We managed to get his morph up into the normal range by his 2nd sa a few months later with wellman vits and better diet. It may not be the end of the world. Good luck x

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

If at all possible you and he should both attend this appointment. Its usual not to give such results over the phone.

A poor semen analysis however, is not the complete end; more than one semen analysis should be done and he should be in any case retested.
Infact given your underactive thyroid you should be under the care of a gynae specialist; this is not something that GPS should be potentially messing around with.

[naty1]

Atilla- they dont even refer to cons at my hospital in pg :(
Which isnt good as latest result is now very slightly hyperactive

[chundercatsarego]

I'm not under consultant for my thyroid. The gp is not going to ring dh with results. I am awaiting a call to discuss my results in more detail, as not really happy with just 'normal, no action' and to confirm the status of my hsg referral. Not sure if I should be pushing re thyroid, I have particularly weak nails and a free other borderline symptoms and feel I would benefit from upping my thyroxine but not sure whether that would be entertained at all.

[cinnamongirl1976]

Whatever happens with the SA - don't lose hope. My DH's sperm count is officially zero - an extreme case - and thanks to some very clever surgeons and 2 operations he underwent, we now have a daughter who is biologically his, as well as one frozen embryo.

Good luck, and don't lose hope.

[chundercatsarego]

Back for an update....it is bad news. Not really sure what it all means yet as just spoke to DH on the phone, he said it is 'off the scale' bad, ' only one part per million'....that's not making a whole load of sense to me right now but didn't want to probe as he sounded really upset and is at work. Any idea what he might mean?

Really upsetting to hear him so devastated . would rather it was me.

[naty1]

Possibly talking in a coded way in case overheard?
Impossible to guess could you text? Or do you think it will upset him further?

[chundercatsarego]

Just had another chat with him. It's low count. Not sure of exact details yet but have an appointment booked on the 30th to discuss options with my usual gp. Apparently doc on the phone said it is not just a bit low, but extremely low. Feel so bad for DH, he sounds devastated

In my head, I am glad we know what the issue is and we can now look to do something about it.

[victoria401]

Your poor dh :-( make sure you reassure him that you're in this together and you don't love him less or will look elsewhere! My dh was devastated when he found out his sperm was crap and didn't want to make love for 2 months because there was 'no point' and he 'couldn't give me what I wanted' etc etc. I told him we are subfertile as a couple and will face whatever the future holds together. Like I said in my previous post, we boosted his sperm with diet and wellman vits. I can't recommend them enough! They have 3 packs for £10 in asda. No harm in trying him on them for a few months. Is he having a re-test?

Good luck with your appointments x

[chundercatsarego]

Yes, absolutely the reassurances have started already. I knew this was his worse fear, but was convinced it was me who had the issue. Not sure about a re-test, will have to wait and see what the doc says, seems the obvious next step though.

[chundercatsarego]

Should have said, he has been on vits for a number of months already.

[naty1]

If he did sample at home and rushed in that can seem to make a diff.
Yes get a retest as it can vary.
50% of infertility cases are men or involve them too.
Make sure hes not doing any of the sperm no nos like smoking , tight boxers etc.
Its worth reading up on the nhs criteria for ivf/icsi in your area.
Even if it doesnt come to that. And about waiting lists.
As ive seen threads of people postponed due to high bmi or refused as 1 already has a child.
You may still need tubes checking as some blockages can can implantation issues.
If its very severe on retest, as ours was we didnt need to wait for a set time before referral as there was a low chance of conception. So i think we saw clinic at 1.5yrs

[victoria401]

We also pushed for early referral due to our sperm issues too. At first the doc said we needed to be 2 years ttc before being referred. But I'd researched and showed her referral guidelines I'd found online saying if there was a diagnosis referral could happen before 2 years. Some GP's are very un-clued up. Don't take any crap from them! From referral to actually starting my first treatment has taken another 5 months and we are now 2 years ttc. Start treatment in 3 weeks eeek!

Good luck everyone!

[misssmilla1]

My advice is to go to the drs and get the results down on paper and then start researching the actual numbers as otherwise it can be incredibly confusing, (and depressing) depending on what scale they're using.

We've had 2 SA done for my husband; one 11 months ago when we started checking in to stuff and one a month ago after we started a whole fertility rework up again. Last year, the consultant urologist gave his results the all clear, altho the morphology was a bit low. When we went to see our new fertility team, she took one look at the same results and said they were terrible and the low morphology meant we'd likely never get pregnant :o

They recommended him for another SA which we got the results back for 2 weeks ago. The results have basically switched - the stuff that was good is now bad / low and the stuff that was bad is now high. On the plus side (I think...) DH reckons the volume etc was lower than usual due to the stress of getting the sample in the cup- not sure whether to smirk or accept it...

So - what does this mean? Well, I can't get a clear answer out of anyone and the results are at odds with each other. However, I can recommend this:

• get the results on paper and the drs interpretation. I find getting results on the phone or in person only about 60% goes in. From my my reading, the recommended count is 20-250 m / ml. Studies I've read says anything over 10 you can still get pregnant, anything under and you'll struggle
  
• DH did some major changes from our first to second SA including; we adopted a more mediterranean diet, he stopped cycling as much (boils the boys...) v careful where to put laptops, phones etc, not wearing tight fitting undies / jeans etc, and he re-did his vitamin regime. I shoved him on extra folate and some sort of bark thing - who knows if it's done any help but y'know
  
• Have another SA done in 3-4 months, before jumping in to major medical way to rectify this (I admit here tho I have an aversion to v unneccesary medical intervention) They can and do often change quite a bit based on lifestyle factors - from some of what I've said above, to if he's been stressed / ill / etc However, it will take about 3 months for a positive change to show in the sperm quality and volume so

[lendi]

Hi, sorry to hear your DH has this problem. Mine did too, completely unexpectedly. It is hard for them. My DH's count was always 0-1 million per ml, which is severe oligospermia. When the count is this low it is fairly inaccurate as they count sperm on a microscope slide and the multiple it up. Important to know motility also. GP's do not know a lot about this as it is a specialist area.
My advice would be to get urology specialist input early. I don't want to be pessimistic but no amount of vitamin/giving up cycling/alcohol/caffeine etc made any difference with my DH. We tried for 3 cycles of ICSI at a normal IVF clinic before going to a urologist in London and the Lister clinic, which was excellent and although he had to have an operation to remove sperm direct from testes the next ICSI was successful and we are finally 26 weeks pregnant with twins.
The urologist is Mr Ramsay, he specializes in this problem. Cost 200 to see him but honestly the best thing we ever did and wouldn't be pregnant if it wasn't for him. You can google him. Fertility friends website has a thread for male factor infertility, with lots of helpful info. Good luck.