Help! Severe teratozoospermia & Moderate oligozoospermia

Hi Ladies,
I am completely new to all of this and am desperate to get some information. DH and I have been trying to conceive naturally for about 6 months with OPK's & Ultrasound (ie. perfectly timed BDing). My gyn also an RE, recommended that DH have a SA as all of his investigations with me were all clear. We were pretty devastated when we did some research into the results. They are;

Volume - 2.1ml
Density- 13 (106/ml)
Motility- 71%
Progression- a-b
Agglutination- Nil
Morphology- Percent normal 1%
Total No. of fertilisable motile sperm- 0.19M/ejaculate

We are living overseas at the moment (but are moving back to Oz in June) so I am just desperate to know if the course of action recommended by our RE would be similar to that in Oz. He has prescribed testosterone (Andriol 40mg) and a very potent multivitamin. He sai that this should bring the count up to 1 mil. after which he can do IUI.

Everything I can find on the net about IUI says that you need a count of 10mil for any degree of success. Are we just wasting our time trying IUI (that is if we get to 1Mil!!!) and should we be looking at other options. Is there any hope with an initial count this low?

Any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated as it is hard for us to get second opinions until after we are back home in Oz.

Best of luck to everyone,
Jackie

Hi Jackie, welcome to BB. Sorry to hear about the problems you have been having. From what you have said about your DH's results, I would think that doing ICSI through IVF is probably a more viable option. But I am no professional in this field.

Just that my DH has had low volume and motility and was told that IUI would only have about 15% chance of success whereas ICSI has a success rate of almost 50% (dependent on age).

Howeverm, saying this I would not necessarily recommend you go straight for IVF so early in your TTC journey, it is a HUGE step - very emotional, expensive and physical too.

Hope this helps a little bit. Feel free to join our January thread to chat to others who are also undergoing similar treatments and have similar hurdles to overcome....

In the meantime, all the very best.


Keen

Hi Jackie,

I can't help with your query, but pass on my best wishes to you and DH. Keen has mentioned what I was going to say - ICSI might be an option for you both down the track, but I dare say that you have a few other options to follow first.

Hayseed

Hey Jackie,

I don't really know much about SA's and treatments, but I just wanted to wish you and your DH the very best of luck.

Take care.

Angel.

Oh gosh Jackie it sounds like you're going to have a tough time of it.

It took us 26 months to get pregnant with a low sperm count, but afterall our Dr said it only takes 1 little sperm!!

I don't know much about the process here, because our little miracle was conceived about the time we were told IVF was where we were headed. But I do want to say best of luck when you arrive back in Australia.

Thanks so much for all of your encouraging words. We are feeling so lost at the moment so I really appreciate it. I agree that it seems a bit premature to be thinking about IVF & ICSI but I guess we have to be realistic with a count that is so low. I feel a bit like its hard to find a balance between being optimistic and realistic at the moment but youve got to have hope I guess. We have just gone out and got heaps of supplements for DH- Carnitine, Arginine, Vit.C,E, Zinc etc. Poor darling, he is so full of tablets that he would rattle if I shook him! We are hoping that all this supplementation may have a really good effect by the time he does the next SA in 6 weeks.

Thanks so much and I think I will join you all in the Jan forum if you don't mind as I think we are in for a pretty long journey here.

Jackie

Jackie you're most welcome to join in the January forum or any others that you'd like to.

It's great that your DH is will to try all sorts of different things to help everything get working. Fingers crossed that he gets a fantastic result in 6w.