# Secondary infertility due to low sperm count



## Katymac33 (Jul 8, 2016)

Hi I'm new to this site and am relieved to see there is a forum for this. I have a ds who is 3 years old who was conceived pretty quickly at 4 months. As my husband had descended testicles as a baby we had his count done before we conceived the first time. It was a satisfying 65 million. After two years ttc #2 we have gone and had tests to show his count is now down to 9 million. This is still a big shock as it feels like a big drop. Doctors just say it happens. 

I am 33 and my husband is 32. It breaks my heart every month and now we are going to embark on IVF. Just wanted to see if anyone is in a similar boat. I'm worried about IVF - I could opt for more successful clinics in London but the travel and trains (about 1.5 hours) could add to stress or go for a closer one with less of a success rate. 

Sorry seems like I'm rambling!!


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## Molly78 (Jul 1, 2014)

Hey Katy 
It's a tough one regarding clinic choice we recently changed from one where we had success due to success rates. It is still fairly local around 45 mins away this is the max I would accept in terms of travel IVF is demanding and I have a demanding job to manage too so to spend time driving to appointments just isn't feasible and would stress me out to be honest. It's personal choice and I guess depends on how much time you have. My experience with my previous clinic was that sometimes I had to wait a while to be seen which adds to time pressures, however, this may have just been my clinic.

Good luck x


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## maybebaybee (Apr 17, 2016)

Hi katymac, welcome to FF. 

Have you looked into any sperm improvement protocols before going to the expense and stress of IVF? When we started out, my OH and I were told he had morphology problems and that there wasn't anything he could do to improve the numbers (<1% normal). Okay, so we went down the road of ICSI paying privately. BFN on both fresh and frozen cycles.

This year we switched clinics, and I read up on the improvement protocol my clinic suggests. He wouldn't take any supplements, but I convinced him to eat loads more fruit and veg, make fresh juice instead of buying prepackaged, and to cut back on alcohol and caffeine. When the sperm tests were repeated this year, his morphology was over 10%! Was this the improvement protocol or a fluke? Who knows but at least the results were dramatically better. 

Now of course we've been TTC for many years and are far older than you, and we don't already have a child - so not _exactly_ the same situation you're in. Still, it may be worth your time and a lot cheaper to try an improvement protocol, recheck numbers in a few months, and continue to TTC naturally for a bit longer before jumping straight to IVF. In your shoes, I'd at least give it a look. 

Here's a link to the thread for the clinic I went to, it has some info on what the protocol usually involves. Other clinics probably have similar protocols, just search around a bit here. Best wishes to you and your family!
http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=333692.0


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## VicksterM (Jun 12, 2016)

We opted for a clinic with slightly lower success rates that we felt more comfortable with. Go with your gut instinct. You have quite a few appointments, so you need to be happy.

We too have an older child (6) conceived without issue.

We couldn't get hubbie's results up, despite TTC for years and multiple tests, but ended up with ICSI, which doesn't matter as much if results are low. I did get him on supplements, omega 3, less alcohol and a lot more fruit, veg and ground nuts, but still no improvement. I understand it can go back up (like MaybeBaybee had) but if it doesn't, all isn't lost. We're currently 6 weeks with 3 blasts in the freezer from the last ICSI cycle. 

Good luck!


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