Low sperm viability - did diet and lifestyle change help your man?

[buffy1]

Hello out there

Hoping someone might be able to offer their thoughts/experiences.

We got DH's sperm analysis back today. Mixed results, mostly ok in terms of volume and motility; however live sperm is only 34% and apparently it needs to be more than 57%. Our GP recommended foods high in antioxidants, Menevit, fish oil and a few other things. She seemed to think this would help sort it out over time and hasn't yet recommended any intervention.

Can I feel confident in this? Not that I want to second-guess our lovely GP, but it's always good to hear from others who've been in a similar situation....

Has anyone else had viability issues and if so, was there any improvement with a change in diet/lifestyle (and how long did it take)? Or did you need to move to assisted conception?

Thanks for reading!

[Yeddi]

Males have a 70 days cycle so changes can take a little while for diet to have effect. Studies have shown that things like celery and the white part of the watermelon has effect on how much sperm and fluid a man creates so it's completely achievable through diet if this is the cause of the low sperm count. Also, most probably heading in the direction of TMI, but another indicator that diet can be important (highly processed vs high fruit and veg content) is that most woman can taste and feel a difference in texture when they have a blow on the whistle iykwim. When a man eats a diet high in processed foods it gets a little... funky . Zinc is important in sperm production too, things like oysters, wheat germ, chocolate, and sesame seeds are natural high sources of zinc, it's interesting to note that two of the highest ones are also considered aphrodisiacs. Did your GP suggest a vitamin supplement as well? You could also try acupuncture as a less invasive and more quicker option to assisted conception. I know a lot of women who have gotten pregnant after trying it when conventional medicine (including IVF) failed them, I can't see why it wouldn't also help a man's boys, at the very least it will do nothing so you'd be no worse off then where you started. Good luck!

[buffy1]

Thanks so much Yeddi, fascinating stuff. I'll suggest he adds some of the foods you mentioned (being aphrodisiacs helps too!). Yes, I know what you're saying about the erm - funk - reminds me of that episode of Sex and the City!

He's going back on Menevit and will start taking fish oil; zinc might be a good idea too.

I love acupuncture and think it could help both of us but he's more of a traditional western medicine kinda guy. We shall see...

Again, very much appreciate your reply

[Amaunet]

My DH had dodgy swimmers (I can't quite remember the stats) but low count and forward movement I think. We went to a Chinese herbalist and both drank the prescribed teas and DH took menevit. Three cycles later I was utd so it's definitely achieveable.

[CrazyCat]

My husband's result was 40% normal. He was taking menevit, eating well and cut out all booze etc... but i think the trick to us conceiving was having a break! I know some people say not to go too long without DTD, but my husband and I weren't intimate for 3 + weeks before. (unfortunately, started having marriage problems and he moved out. ) Then one night we were together just happened to be the the day i was ovulating... didnt use protection because we thought after trying so long and not falling pregnant, there's no way it'll happen now! Oops. Wrong. 4 weeks ago gave birth to my baby daughter!
So.... yeah... i think the build up over the 3 weeks apart is the reason i got preg!

[buffy1]

We went to a Chinese herbalist and both drank the prescribed teas and DH took menevit. Three cycles later I was utd so it's definitely achieveable.

Awesome, thank you for the reassurance. That's a good option, I'll have a chat to him.

)Then one night we were together just happened to be the the day i was ovulating... didnt use protection because we thought after trying so long and not falling pregnant, there's no way it'll happen now! Oops. Wrong. 4 weeks ago gave birth to my baby daughter! So.... yeah... i think the build up over the 3 weeks apart is the reason i got preg!

That is so interesting CC as our GP suggested more often was better. Maybe we should abstain a bit and then just go for it, see what happens. Neither of us has very high libidos so would probably work

Congrats on your beautiful baby girl