Male Infertility

bris3jbt

My DH has little to no sperm motility.  Meaning, he's fertile but his sperm doesn't swim.  My fertility doctor says everything looks ok with me.  We see a male fertility doctor in a month to hear our options.  I haven't found much on the internet about low motility.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  Waiting a month to hear my options is driving me crazy.  Thank you!

monimu13

Hi there, DH has varying, but low motility (as well as really low morph). You should be going to see a urologist that specializes in male infertility. Our doctor recommended CoQ10 and a fertility blend for men (that we got off amazon bc its cheaper). It actually did improve motility somewhat...still not normal, but improved. Its important to know that whatever lifestyle changes, supplements, etc that YH starts, will not be reflected in a repeat semen analysis for about 3 months. There is a MFI check in on the board oince per week, feel free to join in.

bris3jbt

Thank you.  We are going to see a urologist that specializes in male fertility.  I'm really new here.  How do I find the MFI board?

monimu13

No special board, but there is a weekly MFI check in for those ladies who are dealing with that. I totally can't remember the day, just keep an eye out for it on this board. Welcome!

amcastord

Welcome to the board! I certainly feel your pain as we've gone from "low motility" to ZERO this month. I hope your MFI Urologist will have a plan for you. As for us, I'm pretty sure we'll be moving on to donor sperm. We've been 3 years with poor SAs and my DH is ready to be done with the testing. 

GL and the women here are awesome! Very helpful and encouraging...would hug them all if I could (and I totally don't give out hugs to anyone but DH and my nephews!)

FutureMrsW9

We don't have this issue, but I have a question....what about IVF w/ICSI?  If you do ICSI, isn't the point that you don't have to worry about the sperm swimming?  That part of the job is done for them...Sorry if this is a newbie question, but OP made me wonder.

amcastord

FutureMrsW9 said:

We don't have this issue, but I have a question....what about IVF w/ICSI?  If you do ICSI, isn't the point that you don't have to worry about the sperm swimming?  That part of the job is done for them...Sorry if this is a newbie question, but OP made me wonder.

That was my question. However, if they aren't "swimming" they may be dead. Dead sperm can't fertilize an egg. So, there would be no reason to waste the eggs (for lack of a better way to say it). I thought the same thing...but, after hearing the explanation, it made perfect sense.

kjf114

My DH has very low everything. They might do a vitamin cocktail but to see results takes 3 months. We did ivf/icsi and that's the great thing icsi takes the leg work out of motility

Margritli

We are dealing with severe MFI, but we have really low everything. We have a few swimmers, but they are, as DH likes to describe it, "mostly stupidly swimming around in circles and such". I hope that you are about to get some answers from the urologist. I totally know what you mean, though, by being driven crazy with the waiting. 

By the time, DH's urology appointment rolled around, I had already (and surprisingly, correctly) diagnosed him with help from Dr. Google and successfully driven DH and myself crazy with the whole thing. While I would caution against making yourself crazy, reading a lot about the causes and treatment options did help me to understand what the Dr. was talking about and ask the right questions. The women on this board have been an excellent resource and the great thing is that they understand what you are going through. Good luck to you, lady! It's definitely frustrating. 

Mimaloo

I'm in the same boat - everything is fine with me, but DH has high count but very low motility and morphology.  He saw a urologist who specialized in MFI who did a couple of sonograms to check for a varicocele (I think that's the correct spelling) and couldn't find anything wrong.  We do know that DH's grandparents had trouble conceiving and ended up adopting two children before a surprise pregnancy which resulted in my MIL.  DH's parents also had trouble so I think IF just runs in his family.  DH was never put on any vitamin cocktails.  

We had four failed IUIs (because they do still have to swim) and two IVF cycles.  They did not do ICSI with the first IVF cycle and we still ended up with 6 fertilized eggs (out of 11).  So even with MFI they can still get the job done.  GL to you and hopefully you get some answers and a plan in place soon...plans are good

ninjasgirl

Hello,
I'm new to the boards. We have been TTC for 12+ and recently got SA results back. DH's dr scheduled a redo because "if the results are correct, the sperm are all dead and you may not be able to have children." Lovely bedside manner.

Does anyone know the vitamins they prescribe for low motility/morphology? Are they safe to start before seeing a Urologist?

firesiren

You can start vitamins.  It won't hurt.  We did them and it didn't help at all.  Your best bet is a uro that deals with male factor infertility. Good luck!!!!!

melcass

My husband had low everything as well. I believe motility was 1%. We tried for years to get pregnant naturally and went the IVF with ICSI route. First IVF we had a singleton and the second we had twins. This will be your best option . My husband also had 2 surgeries to correct some varicoceles. No improvement with either surgery. NOW we have fallen pregnant naturally....a total shocker! Good luck to you!

gracealone2014

I love hearing all of these encouraging stories! DH has very low sperm count (under 5 mill). His motility and morphology are decent...they aren't great but doctor isn't really that concerned. He also has a "slightly" enlarged varicocele vein but the doctor said he is not concerned. I have had him on a supplement cocktail for the past 3 months. He is taking an antioxidant, L-carnitine, and L-argnine. My acupuncturist recommended he take these three. I also went to vitamin shoppe to talk to someone and find out what specific antioxidant would be the best mixture for MFI. I found this specific one...Carlson Aces Gold. They have several different kinds but the one that I got my DH has higher amounts of Co-enzyme, selenium, zinc, vitamin A, C and E. Those are key ingredients that are good to have included in the antioxidant. The L-carnitine and L-argnine are really the same with any brand you get so that one doesnt really  matter. 

He took another SA about a month and a half after taking this mixture and the nurse said "count is still under 20 mill but that it has DEFINITELY improved." We still have not received a copy of it to say the actual count improvement but hearing those words was a definite positive. It's been 3 months now and we are going to get another SA done soon!

Lillovebug79

We have the same sort of problem. My DH's count is fine but motility and morphology are low. We see a urologist that specializes in male infertility and he has my DH taking L-Carnitine, CoQ10, and a prescription of Anastrasole (similar to Femara). He told us the cocktail takes 3 months to work and 3-6 months for optimal improvement. He had 1 SA a month after starting (for our IUI) and his numbers were already improved although it could just be a coincidence. We still have about 6 more weeks to reach our full 3 months. If this doesn't work we will be moving on to IVF.

Sk8terWoman

My DH also had motility issues. We were TTC for 2+ years, and after year 1 I had a feeling there was something going on and he had a SA completed.  He had 0% motility, some morphology issues, but counts were fine and they were alive.  In our case, my DH was taking propecia (hair loss medicine) and a small % of men experience fertility issues as a result. Three months after stopping propecia, his motility went up to 30%. We tried 3 IUIs over the summer, but none of those worked. We went to IVF with ICSI and had great success rate.  Of the 14 mature eggs, all of them fertilized, and 8 of 14 reached the blastocyst phase.   Best of luck to you, we are 10 weeks today