Please help! Semen analysis results :(

[timetostartbeingme]

Hi please can anybody of any advice or is there anybody that has been given similar test results that can help to explain them?! Going out of our minds with worry and Google isn't helping!

Background; we've been ttc for years on and off, I have pcos and we both have very stressful and busy jobs. We're less sexually active now than we have been over the years for no reason other than just being shattered and not making the time for ourselves however no problems with sex etc
Hubs is on antidepressants which he was planning on coming off and he's read these can affect his fertility. I have pcos we're both overweight, he's very fit and active and not that much overweight and it won't be long till he's in a healthy bmi.

Anyone been in a similar situation, can any vitamins help? This test was done after two days since his last ejaculation. Will leave more time before his next test!

Please if anyone can help! Absolutely going out of our minds. Can't sleep! This is all we've ever wanted and now it's the right time to knuckle down and try we're hit with this. He did have a test about 8 years ago which was absolutely fine.

Thanks so much in advance! Xxxxx

The grey numbers on the side seem to be the average normal parameters and the ones in black are his results.
Antidepressants are known to alter sperm for worse, he could get away with only a dose reduction instead of completely stopping them.
He can also take lycopene, NAC, CQ10, zinc, etc to improve his sperm. Sperm regenerates every 60-70 days I think so with changes it can improve, easier than for eggs quality.
Also it helps ejaculating every 2-3 days.

Hi thanks for your reply! We're really anxious about it all :( hoping somebody comes along who has been through similar.

Thank you for the recommendations of vitamins etc I will look into it and get some ordered.

Xx

We were through the same, maybe even worse. One of the main problems were the medicines; his doctor refused to stop/swap his medicine but reduced the amount. After a few months of reduced medicine and adding those vitamins I mentioned his sperm increased to over normal parameters. I mean normal high end parameters.

Before his sperm was so low that they couldn't even make the DNA Fragmentation test, after it improved we made the test and it was really good.

He was already eating well, but also improved to add more nuts and berries.

Get him on proxceed plus works wonders. Plus 2000mg omega 3

Hi thanks for the advice! We've just started him and her pregnecare hopefully this covers some of the vitamins? Mind boggling reading about all the different vitamins and supplements he can take. Weary of getting too many is that even a thing ?!

We didn't have a bad diet anyway however he's been reading about diet and has been eating more foods that have been recommended such as oranges, nuts, seeds, leafy greens.

He's been so upset! If anything with the thought of not being able to conceive or with the possibility of it being hard it's really made us realise just how much we want our own baby more than anything X

@timetostartbeingme hi! He will need something stronger than an all round vitamin. Do some research into Proxeed and tree bark extract (pycnogenol) - my husband had 0% morphology and through the above two vitamins plus various others AND lifestyle changes it jumped to 9%. He did have other better numbers though... if you don't have children, you will be recommended IVF with ICSI on the NHS (if UK based) .... it could otherwise be a very very long and unknown wait for a pregnancy. I'd also get him to see a urologist - this would have to be private. They can check for various other things that may cause his sperm results to low. Best of luck. I know how it feels xx

Hi thanks for messaging! I've just been looking at the proxeed. We'll hopefully be talking to the dr today. Also wondering if it's worth getting in contact with a private fertility company ?!
It's absolutely baffled us as his last one given it was around 8 years ago everything was absolutely fine.
We are both very stressed so wonder if that could have something to do with it ?!

To say we're beside ourselves is an understatement. I know he will need to have a retest, is it completely delusional to think the next might be better even if slightly ?!

I suggest you look at Proxeed Plus and Punalpin Plus and see which one would suit your needs better.

My husband used to take Proxeed Plus and he would often forget or skip in the morning because he was getting late. Which meant he was not getting the full benefit. Then we found Punalpin Plus at the London Fertility Show and he started taking those instead, these are tablets and he found them easier to take (you have to dissolve Proxeed Plus in water and drink).

Just wanted to clarify that we haven't got pregnant yet, so can't vouch for the effectiveness of either supplements but his stats have improved enough to do ICSI.

Hi @timetostartbeingme my husband has extreme male factor infertility (obstructive azoospermia).

The best things your husband can do is no hot/warm baths at all, no cycling, no tight pants, no heated car seats.. basically avoid anything that warms up the testicles because it will impact sperm. Having anything like flu or covid which raises the body temp will also impact the sperm greatly if he's had them recently (only temporary impact so don't panic).

Agree with other suggestions of Proxceed. Also look into lycopene. It's an extract from tomatoes and has some good studies around it.

Other changes you can change are limited caffeine (no caffeine if possible), no alcohol, no fizzy drinks and reduced sweetners where possible.

Sperm regenerates every three months and it is absolutely possible to improve the quality with lifestyle changes. I honestly would not worry too much at this stage and would focus on making the lifestyle changes and then a repeat semen analysis in 3 months time.

@timetostartbeingme I just want to add my two cents around the antidepressants too. As my DH has an obstruction his sperm can only be retrieved surgically. The first time this was retrieved it was poor quality. After making lifestyle changes he recently had another surgical sperm extraction and we was told it was 'excellent quality' for surgically extracted sperm. By this point DH had been on antidepressants (ecitalopram) for a year. So in our case the antidepressants were fine.

My partner had bad sperm quality when we started ttc, despite being very fit and healthy. If you can afford to see a private doctor (as I don't know how easy this is to request on NHS, but you could ask your doctor) I would really recommend your DH seeing an andrologist (male hormone/fertility expert) who can do further tests to see if there are specific issues to solve. We did that and my partner turned out to have a varicocele which needed v minor surgery and that improved his sperm quality massively, brought it up to roughly normal parameters.

Also as pp have said, sperm is produced from scratch all the time so you can see improvements in only 3 months from interventions!

And if it helps with the panic/despair, it really seems to be easier to solve sperm problems with IVF/ICSI than issues on the female side, so even if not great quality, it's not a disaster. Low sperm results also get you referred quickly for IVF so that can also be helpful.

Hi
Just wanted to post back on this thread. My husbands had his second SA results back, I think most of the results are really positive which we're very thankful for! He made changes to his diet, ensuring he ate nuts citrus fruits and leafy veg etc he took conceive plus and Zinc. He continued exercising however stopped spinning. We've also worked hard on lowering our stress levels through work etc. The dr said the results are like night and day. We're just worried about the last section especially Morphology at no % given the rows above state 'not required' and no answer we don't know if it means 0 or that it's not been measured. Anxiously waiting to talk to the dr. Ultimately we're very happy that his results are looking more positive :) thanks for all of your advice! X