Semen Analysis Results?

babyfaith09

Hello all!

I have been on here a few times, and posted some. But mainly lurking. Hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

So my husband and I have been TTC for 15 cycles. We have never had a single BFP. On the 27th of last month I had blood work and then had a vaginal u/s and an HSG on the 1st of this month. All my tests came by clear and no issues. I have always ovulated regularly and had regular cycles.
My husband had the semen analysis done on the 1st. My doctor called me on the way home to inform me his results came back abnormal, and that we were looking at him being the cause of our infertility. I had a hard time hearing her on the phone due to my service, but asked for the results to be mailed.
When researching on the interest, you find different answered on what exactly is considered normal/abnormal with a SA. What do you all think of his results. Obviously his count is low. He has stopped some bad habits (that I believe were affecting his sperm) and is taking fertile aid for men and a motility boost. Is there a chance we could still get pregnant on our own? Does anyone have experience with similar results?
We have an appointment with a fertility clinic in January to discuss further options (IUI), but I am hoping we can conceive on our own, but I don't want that to be wishful thinking. Thanks in advance for any insight or advice!

Volume - 2.0
Viscosity - Normal
Motility - 50%
Morphology - 26%
Total Sperm Count - 14.5ml
Appearance - Normal
PH - 8.0

AlohaKumu

(If anyone saw my previous comment, I'm sorry! I totally thought I was still on TTGP!)
I'm sorry that you find yourself here, @babyfaith09. That's great that you two have worked to try to improve his sperm quality. There's always the saying, "it only takes one," so even with a low count, there's always the possibility of having a natural BFP. Still with a lower count, an RE might recommend that you move onto IUIs to give yourself a better chance.

babyfaith09

Thank you AlohaKuma!

Bababatty

@babyfaith09 My H has MFI and here’s what I would recommend based on our experiences: see the RE but also see a urologist who specializes in IF. (Ours works with a fertility clinic, although not the clinic we currently see.) A urologist will run tests to see what might be causing low count/motility or whatever. They can also best speak to whether that’s an abnormal report—I think the total count is a bit low, but I really can’t remember. Also note that a urologist will probably want to run another SA in about 3 months to see if this was just a fluke. Once your urologist decides what the issue is (or if he/she doesn’t think there is one), there are treatments that can help. For instance, men can take clomid to improve their testosterone, which in turn improves their count—which is what my H did. Note that it does take at least 3 months to see an improvement.

Personally, we did 3 IUIs before coming up with a treatment plan with a urologist, and I would not recommend that since it felt like we just wasted a lot of time (but my H had much lower motility than yours, so you could have better luck). Given the option, I would have worked with the urologist for 6 months to improve his count/motility and then done the IUIs because it would have given us more optimal conditions. But really you should do what is best for your and your H. 

Good luck!!

kerryann124

@babyfaith09 My H also has MFI and I second the recommendation to work with a urologist. They will help to diagnose the root cause. For my husband (which is SA results were way worse as he has 0 sperm), the problem is a micro-deletion on his Y chromosome which obviously cannot be corrected with meds etc. Once we knew this, we were able to move on with donor sperm.

From that perspective, with my donor sperm samples, my doctor says they need at least 5M mobile sperm and beyond that, it doesn't make a statistical difference (so 10M at 50% mobile is okay). Looks like your H has that, but the morphology does seem low.

I know its a very hard situation, I wish it was me and not my husband...

babyfaith09

Thank you both!

 @babatty - I will definitely consider DH seeing a urologist. He did have undescended testicles as a baby which required surgery, so that could be a cause. If we can improve his count and try longer, I would do that and wait on the IUI until it is felt needed. After all it will save us money.

@Kerryann124- At times I wish it were me and not my husband as well. He wants to have a family, but both him and I know I am the one who has wanted this since I was like a child myself.... lol. He will be fine if it doesn't happen and accept it, me... not so much. And I would do anything it took, within reason, to have a child. He complains about his vitamins, since they taste like throw up, but he's being a pretty good sport!

My husband doesn't lead the healthiest lifestyle. He is 140lbs at 5'9 and fine weight wise. But he smokes weed, drinks too many cokes, and eats too many unhealthy snacks, along with drinking. So between all of that I was not surprised by his count. But he is now drinking a lot more water, taking vitamins, and he has stopped smoking all together and cut way back on his alcohol intake. I am happy he is doing what it takes, but I know it's difficult. But at the end of the day, it is not the worst habits to stop. I plan to get another SA either in Dec or Jan just to see if anything has changed. And I guess we will go from there. Thank you ladies for your input!