Introduction and Low Morphology

courtneyh2013

hi, my name is Courtney and I just turned 35. DH and I have been TTC for 2 years, but not preventing for 3 years. We finally decided to start fertility testing earlier this year and found out that everything for me was normal (after several tests and one of them being a horrible X-ray of my Fallopian tubes) and that his counts are all great except morphology - he’s at 2%. We have determined that it is from prolonged marijuana use, which he needs because he has severe stomach problems and will actually throw up and not be able to eat for days.  He is going to cut back and quit, which he wants to do for many reasons in addition to TTC, but that will bring about it's own set of challenges for him. 

Doctors have told us that IUI with me on chloride is an option for us - his counts are high and his motility is normal, so the only thing we are battling now is the low morphology.  I am having a difficult time deciding what to do here - does anyone have any experience with this?  Any other advice or feedback?  I'm extremely discouraged/frustrated/disappointed/defeated at this point and have been feeling like I may never be a mom. 

Holls214

My husband at low morphology and lower counts and used fertilaide for a couple months. Seemed to help. The hard part about semen I was told is it is actually months old so changes take time to show in the tests. So start the changes now and in a couple months it should show. There are also other supplements that can help but we only used the fertilaide. 
We tried a bunch of IUIs and ended up being successful with IVF in the end. 

manders85-2

My husband has tested at 1% morphology. We tried three IUIs that didn’t take. We got pregnant twice naturally and miscarried and then 1 chemical too. 
We are now starting IVF since the doctor is convinced this will work. On my stims now and will let you know in a few months if this path worked for us! 

LauraJon2015

DH has 1% morphology, low volume but high concentration, overall high # if sperm. One (older) doctor said DH needed to stop marijuana use, but out regular RE said they really don’t know how, if at all, marijuana affects sperm... not enough studies. RE said she wasn’t worried about the sperm at all, just my wacky cycles.

On our second IUI volume was very low, so # of sperm ended up about half what they prefer, which was a shock to both of us. Nothing was different between IUI 1 and 2. RE is just like, well every sample is different! I’m beyond frustrated.

RE was so positive when we first came in, she said we had super good chances because there were no red flags. We are doing one more IUI then IVF.

courtneyh2013

@manders726 No natural conception here, still praying for a miracle.  We are in the process of buying and moving into a new home so I may wait to try the IUI until we are settled and just keep trying naturally in the meantime, but I also don't want to waste any more time. 

@LauraJon2015  - that is so encouraging to hear.  Our doctor seemed certain that it could only be from marijuana use given my husbands medical history.  And I'm so sorry - this is such a frustrating process and there aren't any hard and fast answers, which is so beyond frustrating.  Sending baby dust your way for this next IUI.  When do you go in? 

brokenparents

My husband has azoospermia (zero sperm in his semen) and we are going to do Micro TESE surgery to find hidden sperm in his testicles. We had thought our heavy drinking was part of the problem and stopped drinking about a month ago (his problem is actually from trauma to one testicle as a child). I have also read that drinking (and maybe marijuana use) would take a few months to get back to normal. A regeneration cycle for sperm says 64 days. Good luck!

somewhereinnyc

Also possibly in the morphology club. We had 1% normal morphology but then re-test was normal at 6%. Did you guys all do re-tests? So RE technically put us in the unexplained category while insurance put us in severe male factor infertility category due to the first test.. so confusing. After 3 negative clomid/ iuis w a total of 7 mature follicles and high sperm counts (probably still w suboptimal morphology), we are moving to ivf w icsi and have a consult coming up.. hoping it works bc iui def did not.