Sperm Sperm Sperm

CarSaidYes

Not a lot of experience here in this department lol. But my RE office called me and said hubby needed to do a DNA fragment test and another antibody test. The antibody came back high last time. Fast forward to today and the nurse said antibody came back at 11 she asks that's an okay number but our dr might still want to wash the sperm before our IUI. And then she said that the DNA came back excellent. And somewhere in there she mentioned "intermediate binding sperm". No clue what that last part means. Any thoughts?!?! Oh and does anyone know now they measure the antibodies? Assuming they want it at zero but how do they scale it? Thanks

Hollowvic

They always have to do a wash before an IUI or you would have major cramping. They won't do an IUI without the wash. I know they did some genetic testing on my H but I'm not sure about antibodies.

CarSaidYes

I agree with you ladies. I thought sperm had to be washed too. I'm going to assume this lady was confused herself and just trust my RE. Thanks.

tptbabe

Sperm absolutely must be washed prior to an IUI; however, they may be referring to a specific type of wash used for antibodies. It's not widely used anymore (due to the advent of ICSI) so if your clinic offers it, I'd say go for it! As for the agglutination, that's usually caused by the antibodies themselves. 11% is great as far as antibodies go, but it can fluctuate, with or without treatment. Antibodies usually cause issues with motility, but are there any other issues that you're dealing with? Have you attempted a wash before? (If there are high antibodies, you can have perfect numbers, but a really shitty post-wash count.)

CarSaidYes

@tptbabe‌ only other issues are my pcos, DH total count came back average and his morphology was affected. Can't remember the number... RE said it shouldn't affect much and probably could be fixed with vitamins. Which he's been on since April.

tptbabe

Good to hear @CarSaidYes Morphology is debated by REs about whether it actually affects anything or not, so unless it's ridiculously low, they don't usually see it as much of an issue. Did the morph improve at all since April? Generally supplements aren't used to treat morphology, but I'm interested to know if it helped him! Is he taking any antioxidants? (NDs will prescribe things for morphology I've found, but REs will usually throw a generic supplement at you.)

I'm glad to hear that the antibodies are improving, so I'm going to hope that they stay low for you guys! I'm also totally going to stalk you (if that's OK - though it's the interwebs, so would you really know? MWAHAHAHA!!!! OK, no really I'm not that creepy.) to see if they do the antibody wash, because they don't do it here anymore and that makes me sad

BunnyBerry

Thanks for this thread, it has been eye-opening!

Our RE has DH put his IUI sample in with the medium every time, and I didn't know it was related to agglutination. I think I remember he had some slight agglutination but don't remember for sure. Very interesting.

I read about what happened way back when when unwashed sperm was put in the uterus for early IUIs...oh my goodness, thank heaven for the wash!

CarSaidYes

@tptbabe‌ yes. Stalk me all you want lol. IUI is next week. I'll make an update on this thread with DH's swimmers stats. Lol. God he'd kill me if he knew I told you all this stuff. But it's for the good so I will continue to do it. @BunnyBerry‌ don't read it!!! It's scary lol. I made that same mistake.

tptbabe

Good luck! Looks like I won't have to wait too long