Anyone else awaiting fertility referral?

[MallonMary]

Hi all,

Been ttc (unsuccessfully!) for over a year and just found out there's a problem with DH sperm (low mobility and zero normal forms), so awaiting referral to fertility clinic to seek further help/advice.

Just wondered if there's anyone else in a similar situation about to embark on this journey too?

Also similar success stories welcome :) x

Thanks @Chochaw and @Morpho123

We haven't done another semen analysis for some time but we are guessing morphology must have gone up a bit to be able to get pregnant? I know it only needs one though. We think we timed it perfectly this month accidentally.. I did the LH test after we'd already had sex because I had an inkling I was going to ovulate! At least now all the parameters are higher for your husband @Morpho123 you could technically try every day around your trigger to make sure there's sperm ready for your egg :)

@iRawra it must have improved, has he been on vitamins too? I’m literally going to give it my best shot this month with the trigger! Although my husband is back to work Monday, let’s hope he isn’t too tired, especially as we are paying for this lol! So so happy for you, this group is finally seeing some lovely bfp’s! Xx

@Morpho123 he's been on high strength zinc, selenium, acetyl-L-Carnitine, CoQ10, omega 369 and vitamin D3 4000iu :) I was taking quite a bit of supplements too from It Starts With The Egg book as I am really irregular so I wanted to make sure the rare egg I do ovulate was top quality haha! I don't even know how pregnant I am because my last period started 7th March but I don't think I ovulated until 29th April...

@iRawra Congratulation! Hope it's a sticky bean.xx

Congratulations @iRawra ! How lovely for you, I can't remember now, was morphology the only issue with your hubby? Wishing you a healthy pregnancy!

Thanks @Limeflower2

@Narwhal88 yeah it was. He had amazing motility, count and everything else in our 2 SAs that were done earlier this year. He took all the supplements mentioned above as well as stopped drinking alcohol and stopped wearing skinny jeans (still a teen at heart) and moved to chinos. Whatever it was, it's clearly worked. Tempted to still get another SA for him but he doesn't want to haha. Don't blame him tbh.

The supplements really do help morphology dispite what the internet says! I actually can’t believe it! So glad to be hearing some positives on this thread! Keeping the men cool defo makes a difference too. My husband hasn’t worn boxers at all since being on furlough (6weeks) and has only worn loose shorts, and has said he thinks that’s made a big difference! Let’s hope we all get sticky babies soon! Xx

Yeah it just proves that morphology can be drastically improved doesn't it. My DH also has really low count and not great motility either though so I think even if he does everything it's not going to get the count up enough. I have still read stories of people getting pregnant though even with the worst results so yes you only need one!
Going to try and get my DH to wear shorts whilst he is working from home, he wears loose boxers and jeans generally and will be difficult to persuade him otherwise!

We have never had issues with husbands SA but going to give everything a good go again this month. amazon delivery of vitamins due today. For DH- wellman multivitamin (has recommended zinc levels), vitamin c 1000mg, Folic acid 400mg, coq 10 200mg (1or 2?), calcium and vitamin d, omega 3 fish oil 100mg. I need to try get some selenium too.

I will take the same except change the Wellman multivitamin to fertility one for women. CD3 for me so I took clomid last night.

I reread the Sperm Meets the Egg plan today again so going to try that method for this month. I've got my cough bottle handy again. The book reminded me of this and said that clomid can dry things up too so reccomended it. I'll try all this while waiting to get my medical notes from NHS. If this doesn't work I will then go private. X

@Chochaw can you let me know the cough medicine routine please?? And what one to get? I haven’t tried this so thinking of doing it. First clomid tablet for me tonight xx

@morpho123 I picked some more up in home bargains yesterday. As long as it contains guaifenesin it will be OK. The book says clomid makes you 25% drier. X

@chochaw thank you, so you only take it a few hours before you BD? Not everyday? X

I have been taking it everyday along with my vitamins but I only reread this today so I'll try it this way this month. It was about 3 years ago I read this book and l tried some of it but not religiously so I'm determined to give it my best go this month. I tgibk we possibly DTD too much before ovulation so husband might not have had enough time to replenish his swimmers 🤣. X

@Morpho123 agree. The supps definitely help :)
@Narwhal88 shorts sound like a good idea :)

The biggest thing I did for myself was adopted everything from It Starts With The Egg. It made me feel more in control. It taught me so so much that I didn't know, such as around 50% of people can't absorb folic acid correctly and should take methylfolate instead. Taught me that my vitamin D levels needed to be majorly higher and to get there you need around 5000iu of vitamin D3 a day. There's so much in there and it's all based on science, and it gives you a list based on how long you've been trying or what particular issue you have which is easy to work off :)

@irawra I agree actually I have my vitamin d tested the other day, they said it needed to be over 50 and mine was around 80! So he said that was great, I take a 4000iu vitamin every day! I didn’t realise how important that was!

@Chochaw I think I did the same this last month 😂 we always do every other day, but I went for every day and he even said he didn’t feel like much was ‘coming out’ when he finished. So sometimes less is more, so I think we will dtd the evening on the trigger and maybe the following day 🤷🏽‍♀️ I don’t know when is actually best 😂 x

They told us not to DTD for a few days before trigger. They can normally tell you how well you are responding and give you a heads up so that the sperm is between 3 and 5 days old. For my DH both 3& 5 days had same quality and amount.once I triggered I went in for IUI 12 hours later and we were told to have as much sex as we wanted/could after as they don't know whether the IUI has caught it or sex later. I feel as if we have too much in the lead to to ovulation and then too tired after or not replenished enough 🤣. X

We were doing every day but switched to every 2 days a few months ago to help replenish the swimmers. Especially important if there are any sperm issues!
I read it starts with the egg after 6 months of trying 😂 stopped wearing nail varnish, perfumes, bought all natural toiletries etc but have given up a bit now as it was obsessive and I missed things. I can recommend the Yuka app, you scan your products and it tells you how good or bad it is for your body. I think I need to start taking vitamin D, I tried it but it made me feel really sick. Maybe I need to take it with food. Also may try the cough syrup as I can be a bit dry down there sometimes and that isn't going to help! Primrose oil also helps with this and it does work! Take 1 capsule every day up until ovulation.

@Narwhal88 definitely try taking vitamin D after dinner or another fatty me as it helps it absorb :) it's fat soluble. Yeah I didn't do much of the product changes in the book haha! It was hard to keep up with. I changed shampoo and conditioner only. Was more the diet, supplements and doses and the science behind it for me. Like 50% of us not being able to absorb folic acid properly etc

That's us officially on the waiting list for IVF. We are looking at a 10 month wait (6 month usual and then 4 extra because of the Covid backlog)
I'm at peace with that though. Just going to use the next 10 months to save, do things I had been putting off before. Get in good shape (hopefully haha). I play for a rugby team also so hopefully get another season in with them depending on how Covid allows that. I stopped trying last month as it was just putting too much stress on us so I have ditched the opks and haven't looked at my apps since (I'll still log my periods in them when they come).
Will continue to take our vitimins and supplements just to ensure when the time does come we give it the best possible chance but yeah. I actually feel like a large weight has been lifted.

The only annoying thing is that my partner passed the smoking test originally but admitted to being a social smoker so after my HyCoSy they wanted us to wait another two months until he had stopped for three months so we would have been on the list two months earlier had it not been for that. He has 100% stopped smoking since that first appointment though which is great. Lockdown has helped him a lot as we haven't been on nights out or drinking at all!

Good luck to everyone. I'm gonna be on this thread here still and checking in daily as I'm waiting for a positive result from someone with low morphology!

@willithappen I'm pleased that's you officially on the list. Now you have a date to look forward to.

I am on day 3 of clomid. Hot flushes have hit again.

How are you getting in @Etonmess20? X

Morning @Chochaw sorry to hear you have the dreaded hot flushes! It's supposed to be very warm between now & Wednesday so hopefully you're not too uncomfortable! Are you ok other than the hot flushes?
I'm 15dpo today & have been having symptoms & still no AF so I did a FRER this morning & BFN ☹️

@willithappen that’s brilliant news! At least the ball is rolling for you now! It’s great that you are taking your mind off it too, fingers crossed you don’t even need that appointment but it’s there should you need it!

@chochaw I take my 3rd tablet tonight, so far no symptoms. I’m dreading the fact it’s meant to be hot all week with hot flushes too! Do they last long? Last month I had them in the night for only about 5 minutes then I was okay again- they only woke me once every night which was bareable!

@Etonmess20 sorry to hear your BFN, it’s so deflating isn’t it. Keeping fingers crossed AF doesn’t come and it’s a late sticky baby! 🤞🏽

I worked out I can do 2x ovulation Inductions before I go back to work, so I’m happy about that it means I can relax at home! I’ll be in the tww on the second round when I return to work but that will keep my brain occupied.
I’m trying to be positive but for some reason I still don’t think it will work, even though now technically we both have no issues, we just don’t foresee it being that easy for us 😔
Let’s wait and see and stay optimistic 💕 xxx

@Morpho123 super deflating, I feel really quite crap today in all honesty. I don't even have any cramping anymore so god knows what's going on. I just feel so over it after so long TTC

That's good that you'll be able to get 2 rounds in before going back into work, it'll be nice that you'll be able to relax & take it easy. I'm completely the wrong person to talk to about positivity today unfortunately but I suppose at least if it doesn't work then that's one more treatment ticked off the list & you'll be closer to the BFP (even if that comes from a different treatment) xx

@Etonmess20 bless you 😔 are your cycles normally regular? Do you have spotting or anything? Xx

@Morpho123 I'm normally very regular & never get any spotting so I don't really know what's going on. My app predicted AF today so maybe it'll just come out of the blue later. Whilst there's success stories of BFPs late it won't happen to me, not even going to bother getting my hopes up about it

Ps- thank you for being so lovely & im sorry I'm so negative today xx