low sperm counts

KatieBride06 · December 2011

hi ladies, first time poster here i'm going to keep quiet mostly and just read your posts and learn. but i wanted to start out with an intro/background, and hopefully get some feedback on your experiences w/ low sperm count and taking that next step w/ treatment. if you read to the end - thank you!!

we just hit our one year mark of TTC, and my ob/gyn sent DH to get a sperm analysis as the first step to rule out. well it came back low, 'borderline' is what they said. approx 21 million as compared to 40 million average. my dr. went ahead and recommended that i consult with the RE office, so i took the opportunity and went to an open house/meet the doctors last night and got to tour the facility and ask questions.

from what it sounds right now (knowing that i've been O'ing and having regular cycles and no known problems) we might be ideal candidates for IUI. and i can either start that process now or wait.

DH wants to wait and thinks we can 'try harder', and I told him let's give it 4 more months. But I'm really not sure what we can do that is 'trying harder' anyways. The SA tells us there's a known issue. It could be that he's having trouble coping with that news and may be in denial. I'm willing to give it 4 more months before starting with the RE process. but after that, i really don't want to wait longer.

anyone else have a similar story with low sperm counts? and at what point did you decide to take the next step w/ fertility treatments?

this feels like a stupid question now, but 'trying harder' ?!? i'm charting and doing OPKs, we're BD'ing every other day in our fertile window, what more is there? the one thing that he does feel could be an environmental factor for him is that his sales job has him driving a lot, and he's had the habit of sitting with his laptop on his lap. he does use the lap desk, but maybe it's not cooling enough. he doesn't drink or smoke. and he's in excellent physical shape.

AKB090609 · December 2011

DH tends to have low counts in the past they have ranged from 21 million to 500,000. We have found that his counts (and other stats) are the best with a two to three days of abstinence. Also you may want a second SA because the sample you have could be from a 'good' or 'bad' day. My RE wanted a min of two samples to get the real picture of what is going on. HTH!

hootie123 · December 2011

Did you and your DH have a consult with the RE - or did you just go to the open house? I would think that after talking directly with the RE - it may help your husband better understand what is going on. You both really need to be on the same page before doing any of this.

Also - they will likely want to do another SA. But I would imagine that IUI would still be your next step. That said - IUI is easy, cheap and often effective.

Good luck and Welcome to the board!

honeygirl500 · December 2011

Just wanted to say good luck. Maybe your husband is having a hard time accepting that there could be an issue. I know mine initially did. Waiting isn't a bad thing, just remember sometimes it takes a while to get into apts or to get treatment started. I went to the dr at our one year mark also, now we are on month 20 and STILL havn't started treatment. There always seems to be something coming up that the dr wants us to do before we start treatment. I kind of wish I had gotten the ball rolling sooner. You sound like you are doing everything right as far as trying goes on your end.

KatieBride06 · December 2011

i went to the open house by myself (DH was traveling for work), but i got to speak to one of the Dr's there. DH was on board with me going to the open house, but when i set up our consultation and told him after ... i didn't realize that he wasn't mentally ready to officially go see an RE about treatments. so that's when we decided to 'try harder' for 4 more months. he wants to keep trying the old fashioned way a little longer.

setting that 4 month timeline really helps me not worry too much about it. i can deal with 4 months. but i just don't know how much more we can really accomplish in that time span.

thanks

maggie2324 · December 2011

If that's 21 per mL, then it's not low at all. I'm assuming that it's total count then. It really depends what the other numbers are to determine how much of an issue that is. If the other numbers are excellent, continuing trying naturally may not be a bad idea. IUI would also be an excellent option.

Definitely consult with a RE and a urologist. If your DH is not on a multivitamin, I would suggest that as well. A second SA will give you a good range to know the severity of the MFI.

Welcome and good luck!

Stillharbor · December 2011

My DH didn't have the same reactions as yours, but it was close. He's done several SA tests. The first one was good count, but morphology was a little off. Doc told him to take folic acid and retest in a month. Morphology was the same, but this time the count was fairly low. He was sent to a urologist to see if there was a reason and wouldn't you know...He can't figure out why either.

So DH is dealing with depression b/c he feels that it's his fault that we've had problems.

As for waiting... There are a number of tests that the RE may want to do to try and discover if there is a specific reason for the infertility. Some of the tests/bloodwork have to be done on certain days of your cycle. I would talk to the RE to see what direction he would like to take. Those tests will take a month or 2 to finish. Compromise with your hubby and say 2 months or after all the test results come in, and go from there. (I started all the tests at the beginning of August and 4 months later, we are just now getting around to starting an IUI cycle.)

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