How did your partner cope with it?

[kbean]

Hey everyone

I joined BB a while ago but think this is my first post! We've been TTC since August 2009 so not a long time, but we went to see a FS as we both just had the strongest feeling that there was something wrong. I was concerned as I have longer and sometimes irregular cycles.

So about 6 weeks ago after DH had gone and given his sample, we found out at our next appointment that he has oligoastenateratozoospermia - now there's gotta be an abbreviation for that somewhere DH is devastated. Me too of course but in a way I'm glad we know what we're dealing with rather than having a feeling something wasn't right. He just thinks it's so unmanly and there's nothing I can say or do to convince him otherwise. He's so ashamed. Has anyone got any advice about how I can help him to deal with this? How did your partner react?

Now I'm not that familiar with sperm analysis reports, but compared to the WHO stats, his numbers don't sound that good.
Total (million/ml): 8 (WHO 20 mil/ml)
Motile (million/ml): 2.5
Normal forms: 9%

Now it's the motility bit I'm having trouble with - WHO says >50% with forward prog/>25% with rapid linear progression:

Motile sperm: 31%
Rapid linear progression: 5%
Slow/non lin progression: 24%
Non progressive: 2.5%
Immotile: 69%

Not sure how the non progressive ones get included in total motility?
So as far as I can make out, he has 8million sperm per ml, however only 9% (720 000) are normal, and only 31% (2 480 000) are moving anywhere. So even the ones that actually make it to the egg are likely to be abnormal anyway.

If anyone can offer their opinion or let me know if that sounds right that would be great.

Thanks!

[nellym]

Hi there Kbean, sorry to hear you are having problems.

My DH and I also visited a FS after trying for some time without success. I also had very irregular periods so naturally thought the problem was all with me. And of course DH kept telling me he has Super Sperm so there could be nothing wrong on his end.

Anyway, it turned out I did have a prob. I was diagnosed with PCOS, but DH also had a problem. He had low and abnormal sperm count. I am not sure what that thing is that your DH has, so I am by no means assuming your issues will be fixed as easily.

My DH started immediately on Menavit, which after his second sperm test (3 months later) there was quite a bit of improvement. Still not great, but definately improved.

Also, please don't lose hope. They can do amazing things with technology these days. Just wait until you have gone through all your options with the FS.

Good luck

[albi]

Hi kbean! Sorry to hear about your PCOS and hubby sperm.
My DH also has low sperm count 9 million and low motility, 20%. He has had 2 varicoceale operations. I have started DH on Menevit and royal jelly. We are still TTC without intervention but I may be asking FS this month about what our chances are etc. and wonder wether to go for IUI
Did you get told the percentage chance of you become pregnant without assistance from FS?

[kbean]

Hey albi and nellym,

Thanks for your replies, sorry to hear you are both having some problems too. Albi did you Dh redo a SA after his varicocele op to see if there was an improvement? Also I'm not really up to speed on what supplements do what, what does royal jelly do and what is menevit?

Nellym, sorry to hear about PCOS and sperm issues, are you still TTC without any assistance? Where would I get menevit from?

Our FS has referred DH to a urologist to check for no underlying causes and he also has to do a repeat SA next month. If there's no improvement he's suggested we move straight onto IVF/ICSI - he said he doesn't think DH's numbers are good enough to try for IUI or regular IVF. He didn't give us a % of getting pregnant ourselves said it would be a very slim chance but never say never.

We've started him in multivitamin+nutrients and also trying to eat a bit healthier - when i nag him enough . Trouble is he doesn't really have any issues - he's average weight (maybe a bit skinny!), tries to keep fit, only has a couple of beers a week. I'll start reading up on supplements and see what we can do!

Take care!

[nellym]

Hi Kbean,

It sounds like your FS seems fairly on top of it, which is great.

My DH's issues don't sound anywhere near as major as your DH's. We got Menavit from a pharmacy. It is the male version of Elavit and is at most chemists from what I understand.

We purchased our own but I know the Fertility clinic we will be going to (if we need to) give 3 months supply of both upon registration.

We are currently trying with Femara (similar to clomid) to get my bits working properly, the FS said he would give us 4 months with this and then if no success we will move on to IUI.

Good luck with it all, at least your FS has a plan and has not said that it is impossible.

[farmgirl77]

Hi Kbean,
on the probs that you are having. We too went to be investigated because I thought that we had probs due to an my cycle, but no it was DH's . It also turned out that I did have an underlying issue - but that is another story altogether!

We started IVF/ICSI due to sperm issues, DH's test results were:
Count - 4million
Motility - 6%
Morphologhy - 87% abnormal due to small or absent acrosomes

At the time of the above results menevit was just about to come onto the market, but DH refused to take supplements etc - that is just him (and prob his way of trying to deal with the issue by keeping everything else normal). We were told we had about a 1 in a million chance of falling pg naturally, so when we started fertility treatment we went straight to IVF with ICSI - IUI was not considered an option for us. DH had follow up tests (inc ultrasound of his testicals which he just hated) to make sure that there were no other issues - and he was really aprehensive about those tests - but all were clear. I think for them it is a huge leap to go from thinking that there are issues getting pg, to having tests for poor sperm that could show up cancers (very very rare) or other serious health issues.

Honestly, it took DH a long time to come to terms with the diagnosis, and we did not commence IVF for 12months after we found out - not just because of getting used to the idea, we had other stuff going on as well. But it did take a while to get our heads around it. DH found it really hard as well as he could not really talk about it with his mates, many who 'just had to look at my wife and she fell pg' . When we did finally agree to tell people that we were doing IVF (and it took us a long time), we said that it was for reasons on both sides, and did not go into specifics - I think after a while he told a few mates, but it really took him a long time.

Hope this helps, and hope that your DH's test results improve. I know that it prob is not much comfort, but if the results do not improve, we are lucky to have access to ICSI and other technologies.

Best of luck
FG