Repeat SA results have come back miles worse than the first 😔

[acaciabluebell]

Previous test was 3-4 months ago and results were:

Count: 115million per ml
Motility: 65%
Normal morphology: 2%

Because my husband had some issues getting all of his 'sample' in the pot (only got 1ml) we were not that worried and assumed that was the reason for the low morphology. I got my husband some expensive fertility supplements and also got him to take CoQ10 daily, in the hope of improving his morphology.

I was SO sure the results would be better this time round. He got all of the sample in the pot, the volume increased from 1ml to 1.7ml. But the results were:

Count: 19million per ml (normal is > 15)
Total count: 32 million (normal is > 39)

Motility: 42% (normal is > 40)
Progressive: 33 (normal is > 32)

Morphology:
Normal: 0 (normal is > 4)
Abnormal: 100%

These results are pretty much worse in every single parameter. What on earth is happening here. I'm so absolutely confused. How does sperm count go from 100+ to only 19m? What does 0% morphology mean for our chances? Are literally none of them normal? My husband is so depressed about this and I don't know what to say or do.

Honestly they can change sample to sample so much it could just have been the conditions on the day? Did he do his sample in the lab or at home?

Hi what supplement did you buy him and sprem changes every 3 months you have sprem to work with as you have count. Morphology is the shape of sprem xxx

@ivfgottwins At home, same as last time. Last sample he was actually quite stressed, struggled to produce the sample and then we had to rush to the hospital etc. This time around was much better, he got all of the sample in the pot, we were actually relaxed and got our sample to the hospital very quickly like within 15 mins.

My DH ample was much worse at home than in lab x

How many days since the last ejaculation before the tested one? I think there should be around 3 days ideally before x

Also impryl is meant to be really good for sperm quality

@MotherOfShihTzus it was 4 days. Was also 4 days last time! Which is why it's so confusing and doesn't make sense to me.

@ivfgottwins our hospital doesn't offer sample production on site at all, so not an option for us.

@MotherOfShihTzus I shall look into impryl thank you

We were told by hospital to use proxeed. My partner has massively improved on this we were suppose to do icsi. Next round they want to do half and half as it had improved that much xxx

Hi @acaciabluebell I'm not sure if you remember me from the TTC threads a little while back. I'm sorry to read this.

If I'm reading your results correctly, they all seem ok except the morphology. As PP said, it can take 3 months for sperm quality to change.

My husband also had problems with morphology. His first sample was 1.5% and after some changes it went up to 3%. I know 3% still isn't above the threshold, but as my consultant said, of xx million speed, that still leaves xx which are ok, and those are the ones that will make it (and they did).

The changes he made/supplements he took are:
-cut out caffeine.
-I sent him to work with a berry mix. (particularly blueberries) every day because they can help reduce oxidative stress.
-reduced alcohol.
-took the following supplements: Proceive max men (the water soluble one), 200mg COQ10, alpha lipoic acid, omega 3-DHA (the vita west one), 400mg methylfolate, l-carnitine. There was some omega 3 and COQ10 in the proceive supplement but we added an extra dose from reading 'it starts with the egg' (there's a men's section in it).

This is the proceive max: https://proceive.com/collections/conception-range/products/proceive-max-men

I'm sorry you're still ttc. It really is shit x

@Daffodil21 Thank you for the advice! I will definitely take it on board. And of course I remember you lovely! Gosh, time has flown and I can't believe we are still sadly TTC. How about you - you must be well into your third trimester or possibly already had your little one by now?!

@acaciabluebell over 37 weeks now and have a c section booked for 9th August. I can't believe we've come so far. Just hope the rest goes smoothly!

I hope that reassures you that you can get pregnant with low morphology ❤️ x

My partner's morphology went down between samples too- 2% first sample, then 0.25% a month later! As our doctor put it- you only need one good sperm, and 0.25% of several million is still tens of thousands of usable sperm. We'll be opting for ICSI and her words helped to reassured us. Good luck x

@evalooda that's exactly what my consultant said too. I was dubious and thought we would need ivf/icsi, but we did conceive naturally

Thanks @evalooda for sharing. I guess seeing 0% on the results sheet freaked me out, but I know it's not literally 0%, just smaller than 0.5. So there is still a chance, even if it's small.