2% morphology

[LondonJem]

Hello, DH and I have been trying for 9 months, currently on cycle 10. He's just had a semen analysis done and got morphology reading of just 2%. Everything else normal / good.

Does anyone know anything about morphology? Jury seems to be out online - I have been googling lots. Some people it doesn't matter, others say you will need IUI or IVF.

Any thoughts or insights welcome.

My DH had low sperm morphology. Normal is 4% and his was 2%. After lifestyle problems the most common cause is low Vitamin D. We were advised that Vitamin A and D help with fertility for both sexes. We have both been taken Cod Liver Oil tablets for four months, my DH was tested again recently and his morphology rate has been boosted to 7%!!

Hi. I've been trying to find some threads on morphology that I previously read to try and share some hope. We have been ttc since January this year. In sept my dh had his SA results which were "suboptimal". Good motility, above average semen volume, below average sperm count and only 1% morphology. So needless to say we were a bit gutted. The things we changed were both decreasing caffeine and booze and dh started well men vitamins. Well by the middle of October I had conceived naturally. Just had an early scan at 7+4 and seen the little heart beat. Hope this is of some comfort and wish you all the luck in the world.

Hi,
My husband also had low morphology. He did two samples, one was 0.8%, second one was 2%. Nobody thought it was because of this why we couldn't conceive. My DH was advised to take zinc and selenium. We did finally conceive but it did take 3 years, I thought it was never going to happen. Good luck londongem!

Johno85 thanks for your story. Always good to be reminded it does happen to some people some times! Been losing hope recently but will try and dust myself off and believe again.
Friends - always good to hear from you!

Thanks for starting this thread @londongem - I too am in a similar position. Myself and my husband have been TTC for a year and have had initial tests/scans. My husband was found to have 99% morphology but everything else okay. First things first the gp has asked for the test to be repeated in the new year before our appt at the fertility clinic in January. I agree there are so many conflicting options on whether treatment is the best route forward or waiting it out another year... I am pleased they could find a diagnosis as unexplained can leave it wide open for more stress. Now we can try to up vitamins etc but I am confused to understand why this occurs in males - my husband is very slim and doesn't smoke nor drink and we try to eat organic/home cooked food. It's a mystery!!!

Place marking - I've missed some posts apologies. We're at a year now, still no luck. Will update soon

Just another message of hope. Husband had morphology between 1-2 percent. I decided to try clomid before going down the ivf route as I felt I had nothing to lose (all my tests had come back clear). I conceived on the 2nd cycle. Unfortunately I went on to miscarry but then got pregnant naturally 3 months later and now have my 2 year old DS. I've since had another miscarriage but I live in hope of having another because at least I know I can get pregnant. My only bit of advice (and I have no medical experience) is to DTD as often as possible. I was told every 2/3 days as sperm needed time to develop but I thought more in more chance!! Of course that's proving more difficult with a toddler!
Wishing you lots of luck

Thank you for sharing toolchest friends johno. I wonder why clomid made a difference toolchest, when there were no known problems with you? The body is a strange thing. It's reassuring to know you can conceive naturally with low morphology.

We're a year in now still no luck. I've had bloods and a scan - all fine. DH has another SA and got the same result. He's now on proxeed and trying to reduce alcohol and caffeine - his two favourite things

Our GP is completely dismissive of his SA result, says it's normal and not the reason why we haven't conceived. She has ordered another SA in January though so maybe she's just saying it to try and reassure me.

Keep your experiences coming if you come across this thread! They are all so helpful. I'm a morphology obsessive

I'm not sure why the clomid worked. I had tests that showed I was ovulating and tubes were clear. Maybe more eggs were realeased so there was more chance for the sperm. I'm glad I tried it though!

My gynaecologist also insisted there was no problem getting pregnant with 2 percent morphology. I guess in my case she was right

And yours too 😊

Fingers crossed

Just thought I'd share my story re morphology.

My DP after SA one had a result of 1% and SA two it had increased to 4% which was shocking to me because for months before his second test, he was the most stressed he had ever been which led to him smoking and drinking heavily. So after seeing that, I wouldn't read too much into it to be honest.
We were accepted for ICSI after the result from SA1 but our consultant did say that if it wasn't for my low ovarian reserve, she would have advised us to carry on trying for another year.

I have just had my tubes checked, which apparently makes your more fertile for the next three months so I'm hoping to catch before ICSI. My consultant told us that if I was 'extremely feritile,' there's a possibility we could catch, even with DP's low reading.

Wishing you luck OP.

Thanks for sharing leanandgreen. That's interesting re. his SAs - it just goes to show you can try and do everything right and you might not be able to influence these things at all! I'm glad it improved for him - 4% is within normal range. Fx for ttc post the tubes test - I've heard that makes you more fertile too. Good luck.

Hello how's everyone doing?

We're still plugging away, reaching the end of cycle 13 currently. We had less DTD this cycle than usual as DH was away, and I used softcups for the first time. We shall see, I'm not getting my hopes up.

DH has another SA in January so I'm hoping the proxeed has improved things. We have been referred to the fertility unit at the Homerton too now so should be getting the appointment through in the New Year.

My best mate is an obstetrician and asked two of her fertility specialist colleagues on separate occasions about our results. They both said low morphology isn't something to worry about when count and motility are good. Trying to take this in and believe it fully but until I see that bloody second line on a test I still feel sceptical

Hi London. Good to hear what your specialist friends said. I still can't really get my head round what's causing our difficulties - cant help but think I'm on my 21st cycle and if it's not his 99-97% odd shaped swimmers, what the hell is it!! As you know we're waiting for our first IVF consultation appointment so at least feel we're working towards something. Husband is on his 4th month of proxeed so feel good about that, and I've just ordered some ubiquinol to add to my regime to prep for IVF. Feel better since I stopped temping, opking etc. Already around if you want to vent/chat.

Geeup I know what you mean - if that's the only thing that has showed up then surely that's what is stopping it? Have all of your other tests been normal?

Yes all clear other than that. Wonder whether his sperm just don't fancy my egg!

Radio 5 live are doing an hour now on MFI if anyone's interested and can turn on

Hi london. Posting here as it doesn't seem relevant on the other thread where people get knocked up on their first second and third cycles! Thought I'd give you a bit more info on what happened with my DHs sperm test. He had something called a sperm survival test - I'm not sure you can have it unless you're going through the IVF process but apparently they wash the sperm and prepare it as a kind of dry run before they do the ivf and then put them in a petridish or something and see how many survive after 24 hours. Worth asking your fertility consultant maybe when you've been referred? Good luck!

Gee I've just seen this - thank you for posting. I will add that one to my list!

No news from us, just started cycle 15. DH has his next SA on the 15th, ahead of our initial appointment with the specialist. He's been on proxeed for 4 months now so I'm really hoping to see some improvement.

I feel more and more that it's going to take IVF and probably ICSI for us to conceive. It's like my brain is trying to prepare me for it before we get told it by a doctor. I just hope the waiting list at the Homerton isn't too long!

Well good luck. Your list of questions on the other thread sounded very comprehensive - look forward to hearing what they tell you in answers as we still don't know half those questions!

Hi ladies, I just thought I'd jump back onto this thread and share... for the 3.5 years we have been trying my DH has had many many semen analyses, all of which up until now have been very poor (1-10 million count and 0-4% morphology). Anyway, in September last year we had the hidden infections tests done with Serum clinic in Athens and he tested positive for a few things including chlamydia (when they say hidden, this means it wouldn't be picked up on normal tests) - I think it's more common than not that the results come back positive so we were sceptical but followed the treatment programme anyway. They prescribe a long course of antibiotics and anti viral medication for both partners. Following the repeat analysis after 3 months we were disappointed to discover that his sample was as bad as ever. After deciding it was time for IVF we had a telephone consultation with Serum and they advised he must stop taking the tamoxifen prescribed by a clinic in London that he had also been taking, as after a certain time frame (I think 3 months) it can do more harm than good. Anyway, fast forward to now and we are currently in Greece awaiting embryo transfer later today (hence my insomnia and mumsnetting!). DH has produced a number of samples whilst out here due to high DNA fragmentation (another issue!) BUT his counts have been consistently higher - he had an 18 million with a total count of 36 million (I know this still isn't exactly super sperm but it's smashed all his other counts out the park!) and a morphology of (wait for it...) 11%!!!!! Obviously I don't know for sure that it's down to the hidden infections treatment, the results of which were perhaps masked by the tamoxifen previously, but it seems like it has to be. You don't have to travel to Greece, you send the sample by post. Anyway, I just thought I would share in case anyone else on here might want to give it a try!

Good luck with transfer closephine

Are the morphology figures on the same scale (ie Kruger or WHO)?

My Dr said anything 4% and over was normal for strict criteria, which is what most clinics use. He said it was rare to see anything over 5 or 6% on the Kruger scale

On WHO 15% is normal morphology however

11% is a great improvement if it's WHO - if it's Kruger then your husband needs to become a sperm donor!!!!

Just for the purposes of this thread querying if everyone is talking about the same scale. As the 2% morphology being discussed in the OP's original post I assume refers to the Kruger scale...?

Just curious!

Ok yup Banana I think I may stand corrected :( just looked at the results and it shows 15% as the normal value so it must be WHO and I'm not sure what scale they use at home so I might be giving false information sorry ladies!

I hope the transfer went well closephine. Really excited for you. Best of luck.