Fertility Network UK

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Need some positivity

Hi all, we had our appointment yesterday and was told my husbands sperm is extremely low, we knew this but it’s getting worse. We cannot start Ivf yet because I have issues with a pituitary tumour which is releasing prolactin so until that reduces we can’t start IVF. They’ve suggested to start freezing his sperm incase the count goes to 0. I am so upset. I am 25 and have no children yet. I just need to be positive and believe it is going to happen but I can’t shift this emptiness I am feeling.

I never realised how much pressure this would put on to me and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this much desire to want a child more than I do now.

I think it will be ok, or at least I am praying it will. feeling really down about everything.

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33 Replies

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Hi. When you say low, how low? We had problems with my partners sperm count. He has been taking selenium and zinc vitsmins for a while now. His count went from 11mil to 15 mil. He has 2 children from previous relationship and we had a spontaneous pregnancy 2 years ago when his count was 11. Have a look into diet, exercise and vitamins, hopefully itll help x

Literally 2000. No where near the millions so extremely low. They have said we will do ICSI and it’s still possible. My husbands extremely healthy - he’s trying well man vitamins now and is giving up protein shakes. I pray his count gets better xxx

Just remember you only need 1 single sperm to fertilise 🥰 it can be done. I've heard protein shakes arent good at all for health so that's good hes doing that. Any heavy drinking, smoking or drugs will affect the count too. I've got my fingers crossed for you xx

I’m sure my hubby’s was less than 2000, I’m sure 200.... ICSI worked in finding a good swimmer for us 🥰

Hey,

I didn’t want to just read and not reply. I know how hard things can be! I’m 24 and going through the process of needing IVF I have endometriosis and my husband has issues with his sperm, so I totally get the sense of feeling down and thinking it will never happen as I feel the same some days. Try to be as positive as you can! Also with the sperm, look into diet, caffeine, smoking etc, and also try vitamins. This is what we have been doing.

Here if you ever need a chat or even a rant. Xx

Try and stay positive hun. I know it’s hard to pick yourself up after getting what feels like one kick in the gut after another with bad news, but it’s still possible. The waiting game with fertility treatment and tests is a bloody nightmare and all I can say is try and focus on something else whilst you are waiting to start, or it can drive you mad 💕. Have they given you an idea how long your might have to wait for your tumour to stop causing issues? Hopefully if they freeze your husbands sperm, you’ll have that ready and waiting when it’s time to try and it only takes the one. Sending love 😘xX

I'd really recommend Fertilsan m from Germany. The company deliver in a matter of days. My husband went from 6mil to 26 mil after 90 days. He now has normal Mobility. I cant understand why they dont advertise in the uk we only found them after months of research.

We went to a London urologist who was also highly impressed with them, antioxidants not vitamins. Xx

Could my OH take this along side the wellman vitamins? Definitely interested in purchasing these. Can I ask where you got them? Thanks

I will dm you love as they are funny about advertising. I get them direct from the company in Germany as they are not sold in the uk. Posted to uk in 3 days normally.

They are much better quality then multi vits like Walkman and are antioxidants rather than just vits Xx

Also I'd recommend seeing a urologist for your husband, not sure if you get this on nhs as we've had to go private for all treatment. We found a good one in london. Also my husband had sperm comet test which I'd recommend. I feel like now I'm going g into round 4 with more hope at least. I'm hoping we get better than 50 percent fertilization rate as that was even with icsi. Il dm you all details I can Xx

Hi Melody, could you please message me the details? Thanks x

My Neighbours husband has a similar issue. I would recommend he takes CoQ10 supplement maybe 600 mg per day but always check with your doctor. Also ICIS after egg retrieval.

wish you all the best

Hi Amy,

Sorry to hear you're feeling so down at the moment. It's so hard to be positive when receiving news like that but I thought I would try and give you some hope.

In Dec 2016 my partner had a semen analysis. He had chemo as a child so we expected the numbers to be lower than average, but when we got the call we were told they had found zero. We were absolutely devastated, thinking about how we would never have a child together and we couldn't stop crying. They asked him to come back a week later to repeat the test but we weren't hopeful. However we got the phone call to say they had found 7 and you would have thought they had said 7 million by how happy we were!! Anything was possible!

Anyway, he did loads more samples, some of which they were able to freeze (containing 100 at most), some had zero again. He also started taking Proxeed, taking vitamins and cut down on alcohol. Eventually they suggested he had the Micro Tese op to surgically remove sperm. This resulted in them being able to store 4 more samples.

In Nov 2018 I had my egg collection and of the 6 mature eggs they collected, only one was fertilised (using ICSI) and was transferred at day 3. I got pregnant from this transfer and we were absolutely over the moon. We couldn't believe the turn around from 2 years earlier. Unfortunately the pregnancy was ectopic and although they could see a strong heartbeat at 6 weeks 5 days it was in my right tube. Another massive blow but we still had hope. We were able to get this far, maybe it could happen again.

I had my tube removed in December 2018 and it was a really low point in our lives. We felt like we just couldn't catch a break but we also knew that we were capable of making an embryo together so we tried again. In June 2019 he had a second Micro Tese, which produced much better numbers (still very low, but good for us) and we were able to fertilise 10 eggs! 3 made it to Blastocyst and I had a fresh transfer in Sep 2019. Unfortunately this ended in a chemical pregnancy but I am glad to say that I am now 11.5 weeks pregnant from the Frozen embryo transfer we had in November 2019. We have seen a heartbeat in the right place this time at 6 weeks and a wiggly blob with a great heartbeat at 9 weeks. I am due to have my 12 week scan next week.

It has been pretty hard and at times I have wanted to scream at the injustice of it all, some people make it look so easy, but we got there in the end. You have age on your side and it is great that you are already having conversations about your options. I just wanted you to know that all is not lost.

I wish you all the best for what's to come xxx

This made me cry so much. You are an inspiration, both you and your partner. I am so glad you kept faith and kept trying. Thank you so much. You have given me more hope than you’ll ever know. Xxx

Thank you! I find a lot of inspirational stories on this forum every day and it makes you realise no matter what you're going through you're not alone. Please keep us posted with how you get on xxx

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I just wanted to give you a bit of hope. I have a pituitary tumour as well. It took a while to get that confirmed with appointments with the endocrinologist, many blood tests and an MRI scan (but it seems you already have it confirmed?). The good news is that when you finally get the medication for the tumour the levels drop quickly (for me it happened within a month and my period that hadn’t been regular in years stabilised within that month, this is not unusual I’ve noticed on other forums).

I’m sorry to hear about the low sperm count. But things don’t necessarily have to take as long as it feels right now! It’s okay to be disappointed, but there is still hope!

Thank you Sandyels. Yes I am on bromocriptine - is this what you was on? I have been on it for 4 weeks now so I am having a blood test on Monday to see if my levels have reduced. Xx

They gave me cabergoline, but I’ve heard that bromocriptine also works quickly good luck!

Sorry to hear about this, Amy. Fertility struggles are absolutely heartbreaking. Allow yourself to be upset, you have every right, but know that you do have options. ICSI is a God-send and you only need one sperm for a baby as others have said. Also, if freezing sperm is a viable option for you and gives you piece of mind - go for it.

Thank you for replying and not just scrolling, that means the world to me. Yes we are freezing his sperm which is the next step!! Thank you xx

Hi Amy, my husband also has what is classed as a very low sperm count and we got told it was unlikely we could do anything about it. He has high FSH and low testosterone which is an indicator that this would probably be progressive. We froze some sperm for future use although as yet we havent had to use it. On the flip side, we have had really good fertilisation rates with ICSI so what is there does its job! The other thing is we started this long journey 4 years ago and although he had less than 1 million sperm per m....they didnt give exact numbers, it hasnt deteriortated since then. It seems to have stuck around the same and the most recent one was classed as less than 2 million per ml. I know I cant give you loads of hope as we havent had a baby yet but that is probably more likely been contributed to by my awkward body! Good luck.xx

Thank you so much. We are doing ICSI too! I am sending all my love and wishes to you too! I hope it all works out for you too xxx

Thank you!xx

Bless you, I can 100% understand how you are feeling. It's the waiting and the not knowing that drives me insane, especially when it's such a time sensitive issue.

My other half has been diagnosed with very low count, low motility and low morphology, and during my pelvic scan I was told that they think I have polysistic ovaries?! After that appointment we are having to wait 7 weeks just to be able to talk to our doctor and get the proper results.

No clue when we will start IVF?

And everyday I end up with the awful panicky feeling that this won't happen for us 💔 I'm 29 and we don't have any children (other than my cockapoo fur baby haha).

All I can offer is an ear if you need to rant- and some suggestions of relaxation.

I recently deleted all my social media as the posts from expectant mums / New born babies were just breaking my heart.

Try some meditation apps, nice warm baths with some candles and spa music, and if you can, maybe a yoga class?

I've added all of these into my routine now to try and deal with my anxiety and stress.

I am praying that you get some good news soon, and one day end up with a beautiful healthy baby (all I can think about day and night too).

Another suggestion would be plan some things to look forwards to.

This process is so hard- you need to remember why you started.

Spend some well deserved time with your OH- I took mine out on a date last Saturday. It helps to have nice things to focus on ❤

Sending you a big hug xxx

Thank you! Yes I was told they thought I had PCOS and after waiting 3months for scans they said “oh no you don’t”

It is 100% the waiting that is the problem, not knowing what is next. We’ve been going through this for a year now...

Thank you. I am also here to talk. I think I will delete social media - it’s never upset me before seeing expectant mothers but lately it’s hurt me.

I am praying for you too. I hope it all works out well for you. Thank you for replying and not just scrolling.

You’ve made my day xx

Hi, my husbands sperm was very very low meaning we needed to do ICSI. I was 29 when we did our first cycle and we were so blessed that it worked first time for us. It helps that you are still young, that’s what my doctors kept saying. Please see my previous posts, I felt exactly like you when I first found out about hubby’s sperm and here I am with my baby after three years. Prayers can be answered try and look after yourself in this time, be as healthy as you can be whilst waiting for your tumour to reduce. I took care of myself before treatment and I think it helps psychologically as you know you are doing your best to make your body as healthy as can be. 🙏🏻

Hi Amy1122. My hubands sperm quality is also poor and we froze it. Doctor recommended in case it goes off completely and we did it. At least now we know that it's there in case... And bevause you will be doing ICSI, it does not matter as much. He might have low numbers but the quality might be good. Don't focus on the negative. I know it's not easy but there's always a bright side. I'm still learning this... Also, I would reccommend CoQ10 for him. And have you considered acupuncture? I had my consultation with fertility acupuncturist this week and while I was there a woman drop by with flowers to thank her for helping her husband with sperm counts. They went from 3.5 mil to 17.2 mil. Maybe something to consider? If you would like more info on this, drop me a message. We also have health issues from both of us so I know how difficult it is xx

My friend who is a nurse said the following to me when we heard my husbands sperm were few and didn’t swim properly and were a weird shape ......

‘It only takes one sperm to make a baby ...... you are one sperm, I am one sperm, she is one sperm etc etc etc’

Hopefully with ICSI you’ll be alright. They wouldn’t offer it if it was hopeless?

Hugs 💐

Rhinocat x

So sorry you've had a tough ride, you are very young to have to deal with all this. Infertility is difficult for anyone who experiences it. We've had successful IVF (with ICSI) with my partner's sperm - they literally only find 'a few' every time, forget millions/thousands or even hundreds. And they aren't in the best shape either. We have a lovely, normal and healthy 2 year old little girl, so it can happen

My husband had significantly low sperm count, I have PCOS and and we didn’t start IVF until 37.5 yo. We were able to deliver fraternal twins Oct 2018! My husband cut out sugar, stopped certain medicine, took supplements to boost his count and it did work, but the motility was still odd/sporadic so we had them inject the sperm into the eggs and fertilize it. It’s not that much more expensive for them to do that. They just had to help it along as much as possible.

They can do so much today with technology. Reminder: it only takes 1 good one. You have time, so it’s really helpful you are proactive early. You will get there!! Freezing his sperm is a good idea in case his count decreases. You will be okay. Positive thoughts and prayers your way.

Hello. My OH had a vasectomy and then a reversal 13 years later. Although the reversal was successful we were left with a very low sperm count and 100% bound antibodies (antibodies stop sperm from working properly). On egg collection day we were told the sample he provided was very low (I can’t remember exactly but definitely not in the millions) Anyway we did ICSI and it worked first time, even though I only produced 2 eggs. Please try not to worry, you are so young so lots on your side. Xx