# Newbie - Poor Semen Analysis



## beadyeyes (Sep 17, 2010)

Just had our 2nd semen analysis and it's really poor.  

8ml, 1.5 million/ml, 1% rapid, 46% sluggish, 1% normal morphology.  

What are our chances do you think?  We've got a referal to James Cook with the first appointment is the 2nd December.  Do you think we will go straight to IVF or have IUI?  I'm so upset.  This last year has been so hard- got married, mum died suddenly two weeks later, found I was pregnant then miscarried and now this!! I don't know how I ever managed to get pregnant the first time.  Although I was only pregnant for 5 days before I lost it.   Sorry to be so down in my first post. xxx


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## Ceri. (Sep 6, 2004)

Hello and







to Fertility Friends

Sending you huge huge  What a time you've had  There is hope for you to have a baby as there are some sperm, but they may suggest ICSI.
I'll leave you some useful links shortly which will help ...

Please have a good look around the site and feel free to post in any area, and make yourself at home. There are many who are on their TTC journey, and others who have been fortunate to have little ones with assistance. You will soon discover that our members are very encouraging of one another and offering advice or just simple hugs. There's a vast amount of information here for everyone, so start reading, posting and getting to know others. You will make some great friends too, lots of members often have meet ups locally too, for chats, coffee, shopping or even nights out! You can share conversations with one another freely, simply because we all understand each other. It's hard when family and friends don't fully comprehend what this journey entails and the emotions that go with it. That's where we come in!

Here are some links which you should find really useful at the moment&#8230;&#8230;

*What Every New Member Needs To Know (includes a list of common abbreviations) ~ *   CLICK HERE

*Complimentary, Holistic and Spiritual Approaches ~ *CLICK HERE 

*Male factors ~ *CLICK HERE

*A Rough Guide To IVF ~*CLICK HERE
(This is a breakdown of the procedure of IVF which is the same as ICSI up until the point of fertilization, With ICSI the embryologist injects one good sperm into one good egg, and repeats until all are used. So it gives them a helping hand, with IVF the eggs and sperm are left to fertilize by themselves)

While undergoing treatment, you might find it useful to join other ladies having treatment at the same time. The Cycle Buddies threads are just for that. Just pop along to the appropriate month and say "Hi" when you are ready to start treatment.

*Cycle buddies ~ *CLICK HERE

If you feel ready for some support from ladies who have also experienced miscarriage(s) then please have a look at this area ...
*Pregnancy, Stillbirth & Neonatal loss ~ *CLICK HERE

You can also chat live in our chat room. We have a newbie day in the chat room every Wednesday where you can meet one of our mods for support, meet other new members and get technical support with navigating the site and using all the functions available here.  CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON NEWBIE CHAT 

You can also "meet" and chat with people in your local area through the *Location boards*. This is especially useful to find people who may be using the same clinic and or in the same PCT area. It's a small world!

Wishing you lots of luck    and 
Keep in touch
Ceri xx

PS I have also sent you a pm (private message)


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## beadyeyes (Sep 17, 2010)

Thank you.  I just can't get my head around this at alll. It's so upsetting.


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## Tali S (Aug 6, 2010)

Hi beadyeyes

Try not to get too bent out of shape about the sperm results. As Ceri said, at least there are some there. My DH's sperm isn't the best so we had ICSI done.

Try to keep positive, you'll get there in the end.

Tali S x


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## Ceri. (Sep 6, 2004)

Beady ...      It is gut wrenching I know, and It's incredibly hard for your partner too    We were told we had nothing at all, even after dh had an op to retrieve sperm directly from the 'manufacturer', so we used a donor. So you do have lots of hope hun, honestly.   
ICSI will give you a better chance, as the embryologists will only pick the best sperm to meet your eggs. Have a look at the links i posted. There's lots of success stories around the site in situations like yours x


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## beadyeyes (Sep 17, 2010)

Thank you xxxx

Ceri, how did you and your partner feel about the donor sperm?  

I am really upset at the thought of it personally - I know I've only just found out and need to get my head around what it all means but my husband is a wonderful, intelligent, very musical, funny and beautiful person and it just breaks my heart that  so much of that is down to genetics and I would want those things to be passed on to our children, as he would too.  I'm not sure how he would feel about it -I think he might see it as us bringing up another man's child.  I don't mean to upset you, having gone through it, I am sure you are wonderful parents, but it must be a lot to deal with at first, which is what I can't get my head around.  But I know that's because you had no choice.  I am so pleased for yout though that you now have your baby xxxxxxx

This is so so hard.


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## sleepypenguin (Jan 1, 2009)

Beady eyes welcome to FF I can't imagine how you must feel after a year like that   . I may be wrong but I wouldn't have thought you need to go down the donor route as your DH has sperm (you had a natural pg) and his counts show there is something there. We had similar results and had ICSI but they can sometimes do IVF on the day if the sperm are behaving a bit better. There are lots of ladies here who have concieved while waiting for tx so don't give up trying.  It is all so daunting and you are entering a whole new world, how is DH handling it? they all react differently mine has always maintained it doesn't bother him but who knows. 

Good luck

x


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## Ceri. (Sep 6, 2004)

Beady ...       I doubt that you'd have to go down the donor route either    If you had ICSI, the embryologists would pick some good sperm from his sample, and inject them into your eggs, which could make some fab little embryo's. The fact that you got pregnant naturally is a great sign. Talk to your consultant more about next time you see them, just to let them reassure you   

We didn't stand a chance of a natural pregnancy, so for us it was either a donor or adoption, which dh wan't keen on, (he is adopted himself) It was harder for me to get my head around using a donor rather than him. At the end of the day, our daughter is his little girl as well as mine, she may not have his genes (even though most people said she looks like him! - so good match!) but mannerisms and personality rubs off! Some days I sit and watch them together, It melts my heart seeing them play etc. And it's amazing how many times the phrase "You're just like your dad!" comes out from various people, including me! 
We'll be forever grateful to our donor, he gave us the chance of being a loving family. 

Visit the male factors board, link left earlier, and you'll see there is hope for you both


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## beadyeyes (Sep 17, 2010)

Ceri, that's really really made me smile and cry - I'm so happy for you having your little girl, it sounds wonderful! I've always thought i would love to donate some of my eggs.  So maybe i will later - giving somebody what you have been given would be truly amazing.

Thanks for the welcome everyone - feel better already knowing there are others like me too.  Hubby is taking it all well - the typical "it's alright" male attitude.  Why can some men put their feelings on hold/on a shelf and just get on with it?! hehe. 

Thank you xxxx


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## kellieclarke (Sep 16, 2010)

Hello Fellow Newbie, 

This is my first time on FF. I can totally relate to your situation. My husband and I were trying for 4 years before we were offered any help, then two years later we found out that my husband has a very low sperm count ( 20,000) and its not enough to have a baby by ourselves. It has now taken two more years for us to (about to) start IVF/ICSI. In between he had a 'Varicocele' where they put a coil down through the main artery in his neck, right down to his testicles and burn the end to stop the blood getting hot (?), then after that we had numerous visits to UCLH Urology and he was given Clomifen (usually for women, but its a study that they have proven affective on men) for three months and luckily it improved the amount, it was not quite 20 million (what we were told you need to make a baby yourselves) but it was enough to freeze. The volume was really low aswell but after the med he was able to get 11 viles. 
We were then allowed to apply for a fertility clinic, we have chosen Herts and Essex, they all seem really nice there and we both felt at home there. We have our first consultation next Thursday, we are very excited, although there is the small problem of getting his sperm from UCLH to Herts and Essex, but after what we have had to go through to get to this point its nothing really.

The otherside to that is we were very unfortunate in that whenever we turned up to appointments there was never any of our results from within different departments but the same hospital or different hospital to different hospital. I had to literally stand outside pathology, urology, virology, gynecologists and GP surgeys until they gave me copies in my hand so for the latter part of our time I was always prepared. But, it caused me so much stress that I ended up with nerve problems, anxiety, and well I suppose you can understand the stress levels go through the roof. At this time it is so important that we remain calm and relaxed yet it very rarely seems to go that way.

Whats happening with your situation at this present time?

I hope my story can offer some comfort to you.
Anyway, Im hear if you want to chat.


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## hurryup (Feb 10, 2010)

Hi op, 

Just wanted to say we were also diagnosed with MFI initially, cant remember exactly but my husbands count was 4 mil at the lowest. He started on zinc, selenium & maca daily & his count went back up to normal within a few months. 

Best of luck


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## IGWIN79 (Jan 19, 2009)

hi there OP, my situation was the same as happyness and my DH sample went to normal after six or seven months , his was really low and they said there was no chance with the way it was , docs couldnt believe how much it went up ,so i think its worth put yourselfs on vit
there is a good vitiam guide done by angelbumps , some one could prob send you a link for it , i followed her advice to a t
anything is worth a try 

And dh had a medical reason for his , they said it prob wont be any diff , but there is now


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## rjmett (Jun 26, 2010)

Hi Beady

I'm also at JCUH. My hubby had a bad sperm analysis back in Jan so we were put in for IVF with ICSI where they select a healthy sperm & inject it into the egg. In order for ICSI to be successful you only literally need 1 good sperm per egg. The embryologists do lots of selection preceedure to pick the good ones out. 

Anyways i put him on an alcohol ban (what a witch i am!) and also the Well man conception vitamins and his sample has improved (despite the doc saying we couldn't do anything about it). His count had doubled, motility is now 'normal' and morphology went up from 3 to 9%.

So what i'm saying is dont give up, it's highly unlikely you will need a donor. Get him on the vitamins as they cant do any harm. And rest assured that JCUH know what they're doing, they're really really good   In the end the embryologist decided to fertilised half of our eggs by ICSI and leave the other half to fertilise by normal IVF. Now i was worried but really didn't need to be as our fertilisation rate was way above average (18 out of 22).

Please dont get too down about it all, there is so many things that can be done these days to help


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## sleepypenguin (Jan 1, 2009)

*Rjmett *Wow that was great can I ask was there a known cause for your DH low sperm count my DH has a known medical reason for his and maintains giving up alcohol/taking supps will make no difference. Not sure if it is his lazziness, denial or the truth. Fingers crossed for the 2ww.

x


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## rjmett (Jun 26, 2010)

Hi sleepy

No known reason for it. He is asthmatic and was poorly as a baby so needed strong antibiotics but the doc doesn't reckon that will have interfered. I think lifestyle is a huge factor when it comes to the quality of the sperms. DH is not a health freak and he's also not a slob, but he has made some improvements since xmas and i truely believe they have paid off.

The embryologist said that he can tell from looking at the sperm if the man has been drinking or not so it must make a huge difference. 

Everyone is different tho, however it cant harm to make a few little changes can it


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