Husband’s low sperm count/motility

[ajc1994]

Hi all,

just looking for some advice/support really. My husband and I have been ttc 8 months for no2 after getting pregnant very quickly with our first 5 years ago. We had some fertility tests done as we thought I may have endometriosis. I was all clear however his sperm sample came back with very high viscosity (thick) motility 1% and low volume and told IVF ICSI is our way of getting pregnant. We are shocked to say the least, he has never drunk or smoked is healthy weight and lifestyle. Only thing that’s changed in these past 5 years is he has had gout and takes 100mg of allopurinol daily. So he will come off this and manage gout without his dieting to see if it makes a difference but I don’t think there’s much evidence to say this can make you infertile. He was ill with the flu over Xmas for a week and the sample was taken 5 weeks later. We are just so shocked how things could change so much in 5 years, he is 44 currently and I’m 31. He has to redo the sample in 2 months to see if it’s the same as he’d never had a sample tested before this.

my question is has anyone else experienced this or similar? Can he get his count/motility up by much? The drs won’t test for any infection or underlying cause unless he has pain and symptoms, he’s never had an injury or anything like this,

thanks x

Hi! The flu or other illnesses with fever can impact sperm for 3 months but whether it would impact those exact parameters I don't know. No drinking and smoking is obviously a great start already, and in addition I'd say no hot baths, no cycling, no laptop or other warm devices on lap, and a specific fertility diet including walnuts, lots of water, zinc, ubiquinol (in the active form) if you are happy with your supplement research and the cost of course. My husband substantially improved almost all parameters including volume, and was taking ubiquinol although also following a healthy diet and almost no alcohol so hard to tell which made a difference in our case. And while trying naturally my non-expert suggestion would be to have sex every 2 days to give the sperm time to replenish, rather than daily. Good luck!!

Thanks very much. What was your husbands levels before if you don’t mind me asking?

Hi!

Whilst slightly different, my husband had morphology issues, also pretty healthy and only 33 at the time of testing - they were very low. We tried naturally for 3 years and nothing happened. We resulted in having IVF / ICSI which cost us a whopping 15,000 lol (postcode lottery fun!!)

Fast forward 2 years and we decided we wanted another, someone I knew who’s husband had sperm issues (motility / morphology) suggested to try ProXeed first for a few months before we moved onto a potential FET. We bought 1 pack off Amazon for £40, and after the first month we were naturally pregnant!!!! No idea if it really was that, or it would have happened anyway - but something to think about if you want to try and explore some options to help with the sperm issues. Wishing you so much luck & love, it’s so tough xx

Thank you, we’re his other parameters ok at time of testing and just morphology? Yikes that was expensive- we have said we would do two rounds of icsi which would cost about £15k, not any more we could keep going finally and physically also given we have a 4 year old to take care of.

that’s crazy I will look into ProXeed thank you xx

Hi, me again. 😀 If you do end up going down the ICSI route I can recommend Thérapie Fertility in Dublin. Cheaper than the UK from what I've heard, we paid 4800 Euros, so something like £4200 for the cycle (plus meds). We did ICSI with them with great results so far (about to start down the frozen transfer route), they have a satellite clinic in London and their frozen transfers are 1500 Euros at the moment, with some UK clinics charging £2000-3000. We didn't even think about that aspect of it but ended up with 11 embryos so now we are relieved they aren't £3000 a transfer. 😀

Got my fingers crossed for you. Thanks for the info that’s worth knowing. We are based in Suffolk. They have a brand called Kind IVF at our fertility clinic which is £4,400 all in for ICSI and medication etc. they have strict criteria which is why it’s much cheaper that elsewhere, bmi under 30, age under 37 and AMH 10+
etc, but if I shift about 1 stone in weight then I will meet these 🤞🏼 x

Backing up recommendation for Therapie - currently 39 weeks thanks to them after an awful NHS experience. Dr Kennedy is the best

Hi, I’m really sorry that you’re going through this. I’m not a medical expert, and every situation is unique, but I wanted to share a few thoughts that might help.
First, I’d recommend educating yourself on the topic. This is a very helpful and comprehensive guide:
https://fertilityroad.com/mag/male-mot-man-fertility/
I also think repeating the test in 3 months is a very good idea. Sperm quality can fluctuate for many reasons — for example, recent illness (like the flu), age-related changes (especially after 45), lifestyle factors, or even simple lab variations or errors.
If the results are confirmed, try to stay positive. There are many effective procedures today that can help achieve pregnancy even when sperm quality is not ideal. From what I’ve seen in forums and patient discussions, there are excellent specialists in male fertility including a highly regarded doctor in London Many IVF clinics are very experienced in working with these situations.
I hope this helps, even a little. Wishing you good luck.