Low sperm, motility and morphology

[notyetamumbuttrying]

Hi, hoping to get some advice please. We've recently found out (late last week) that we have male factor. Dh's results were as follows:
25million
5million per ml
14% motility
2.3 morphology
56% vitality (normal)
4.5 volume (normal)
Everything else is lower than normal...
He had high ph too but not sure if this means too acidic or alkaline?

He is on wellman conception and has been for about 11 months but not continuously, so hoping a continuous 3 months will make the difference. As well as not smoking, binge drinking and doing some exercise. I've also bought some oranges as heard vitamin c is good too. Just looked up proxeed plus, can that be taken as well as wellman does anyone know? He'll need his repeat SA in nov so I'm hoping to see a difference and if not it's iui/ivf for us 😬 I just need my day 3's this week (which will be on day 5 due to availability) then we get our referral. I'm hoping it doesn't take too long as I'm 34 and he's 37, we initially wanted two...but after a year of trying and now this diagnosis, I don't know anymore. Any advice, anecdotal or otherwise would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

I try him on Proceive Max for men as it has more "stuff" in it at higher concentrations - I did a comparison between it and wellman

Anecdotal here with absolutely no evidence for it. But me and my husband have an orange every night (old farty couple traditions ha. He peels one for me ) and his semen sample was good. He was taking well man too. I've looked at proxeed and it's expensive but I suspect worth it. The people that take it seem to take it on the advice of a fertility consultant which is reassuring.

Thank you both 😊

Definitely interested in this as trying to make improvements before ICSI in a couple of months...

Just to put everyone's mind at rest about how random sleek quality can be we have done 5 rounds of IVF so partner has probably given at least 7 sperm samples in the last 3 years

His best sample by far was for the egg collection we did the first week of January after weeks of gluttony and drinking and I'd be surprised if he remembered to take 50% of his supplements during that time.

His worst was on our 5th and final round - after lockdown having spent 3 months eating healthy, exercising, no booze and all the recommended supplements. It was so bad we had to thaw the 2 blastocysts we had frozen from that new year egg collection and both stuck and I'm 17 weeks with twins 🤣

Wow 😮 good to know @ivfbeenbusy and congratulations!! Hope all goes well. Did you do ivf due to male factor then?

@notyetamumbuttrying

Yes it started out that way as DH morphology was 2% and they were slow/going backwards but found out I was pregnant with DD the day we were due to start IVF on the NHS. Afterwards when we were trying for a sibling his sample hadn't improved and then I suffered recurrent miscarriages and lost both tubes due to ruptured ectopics so IVF was our only option then. Bizarrely the month our twins were "made" his morphology jumped to 6%! So you can imagine how hard it was for me to convince him to stick with a healthy lifestyle after that

@ivfbeenbusy we never got told which way they were going, I guess you get that kind of detail once in a clinic. Was it only low morphology that prompted it then? My Dh's is 2.3 so not much more than what yours was. He also has low count and motility so I'm really worried about any of it improving even with diet/supplements/exercise but time will tell!
Oh wow, you hear so many stories like that don't you! What a lovely surprise/shock!
Sorry to hear what you went through but glad you got a great outcome in the end! Yeah I can imagine, it's good to know that it improved though, I'm freaking out about it a bit 😬

@notyetamumbuttrying

We were referred on the NHS based on morphology and the low motility/backwards swimming and that didn't improve by the time we went for private NHS. He did have a really high count which was the only good thing 🤣

Interesting @ivfbeenbusy my Dh is low! Volume was high though. How long did your referral take?

We also just found out today my DH morphology has gone down from 4% to 1% and we're due to start ivf in 4 weeks. Those of you that have mentioned Proxeed- i have googled and googled and cant find any legit places to buy it from. The amazon reviews make it sound like the ones being sold on there are fake? He's already taking coq10 and wellman but obviously isn't helping so looking for something else now. We're also now doing ICSI with the IVF as that's recommended for sperm issues

How odd @Sylva123 could they explain the cause? Re proxceed, I was just gonna get the ones off amazon? Proxeed plus. The reviews on there sound ok.

I couldn't sleep last night so ended up getting something called fertilsan or something like that. They haven't explained the cause but Google says it can be stress and diet - and my DH has been stressed and has put on a lot of weight. Now trying to up the exercise, eat vitamins and de stress....

Good luck with yours. Sounds like you're throwing everything at it. Good to see examples of good news on here too. Fingers crossed for good results for everyone

Hi @Sylva123 my DH takes procieve max, 200mg ubiquinol (better version of coq10), 1 WHC uno cardio (omega 3 DHA plus 1000 vitamin d). X2 500 vitamin c. He had had consistently improved sperm results with these (improved compared to his initial results and less jumping up and down in the various categories).

For anyone with male factor I recommend doing a DNA frag test and getting referred to a urologist just in case there is something like a varicoele that is affecting sperm.

Thank you @Racinglikeapronow that's useful.

@Racinglikeapronow that is helpful, thank you. My husband did find a lump a month ago and he has a cyst but they said it wouldnt impact the sperm. Will look into it again, and those supplements.
Unrelated - love The National and always mis-hear that lyric as 'racing like a pronoun'. So annoying, i cant unhear it! 😆

@Sylva123 I can’t un see this now 😂 Also a fan of The National😎 Was listening to high violet few days ago and couldn’t believe it was 10 years ago 😯 Made me feel a bit old @Racinglikeapronow

My other half is a fan of proxeed -mixed with orange juice. He started It last November and it improved all his parameters. Went from needing ICSI to normal IVF saving quite a bit of money. X

@JandL2020 @Sylva123 love the National and was listening to high violet myself this week. Random!!! 😃

@JandL2020 good to know! I might show my Dh your comment in a bid to get him to buy it! He said he's waiting until payday 🙄 I know he has the money though 😂

@Racinglikeapronow yeah it’s not everyday you come across National fans on an fertility forum 😂 Love it! X

@notyetamumbuttrying I found this page this week. It's really helpful wellwomanacupunctureboulder.com/acupuncture-male-infertility-how-to-improve-sperm-quality/

It says 8 veg a day. Showed my husband who is the very definition of 'all or nothing' and today he's made kale for breakfast, 6 servings of veg for lunch and hes now making a veg pie. Oh my goodness! But lots of good advice on there on how to boost levels. We're starting twice weekly acupuncture next week.

@JandL2020 @Racinglikeapronow time for a national + fertility support group! So niche!

@Sylva123 🙌 yes! I should also mention my OH eats lots of poached eggs, smoked salmon and salmon fillets. X

@JandL2020 Fab! Mine is over-the-moon excited about having salmon and poached eggs for breakfast tomorrow. He has mentioned it at least twice today already 😆. Glad we're on the right track. He's gone out and bought a mad amount of fish. Somewhere I read online that fortified cereals help - not sure, but salmon and egg definitely sound like a healthy way to start the day. Mine has started weight lifting a little bit too, to try to get in shape. Its nice to see him doing all these things now... but honestly it has been months and months and months of me asking nagging him. But hey, we're on the right track now I suppose. Fingers crossed something helps. Hes taken the results quite badly.

Thanks @Sylva123 will take a look! Good to hear that Dh is embracing it all! Mine text me earlier saying he ate an orange 😂 think he wanted a well done and 🏆