Hi, I would really appreciate some advice from anybody that has any knowledge or experience of using male fertility supplements. It seems to be a very grey area with mixed information so I’m hoping for some help/clarity.
To cut a long story short, when my wife and I didn’t conceive after nearly 3 years of trying I went to my doctor to get a semen analysis. The results came back poor with only the volume being normal and motility/mobility etc all very low (3.5m count)
Whilst waiting for our referral to the fertility clinic I looked into ways of improving my sperm overall and you obviously see loads of multivitamins and fertility supplements along with making changes to your lifestyle etc. I initially steered clear of any tablets until I got to speak to a doctor as I didn’t want to waste my time if they were all a load of rubbish. I have began to look a lot closer at my diet and for a couple of months now I have massively increased my intake of fruit and vegetables.
Today, we had our first consultation with a specialist and we were told that it’s going to be the IVF journey we will be taking straight away. Due to my wife’s BMI being slightly higher than that required for NHS funding we have some time to wait while she loses some weight. The doctor said during this time we can both take some multivitamins and named a couple that I’ve already forgotten.
Now I had done some research and found some of these supplements. I don’t believe reviews as I know they can be fake but what worries me is that I don’t want to start taking something for 60/90 days or even longer that could potentially have the opposite effect and damage what sperm I have. I have read on certain websites that they can be more harmful than good so I just need some real life advice/stories from people that may have used them or know more than I do to help me out. I’m also very Intrigued to see if that actually do help in any way.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post but I look forward to replies if any.
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CJM89
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Hi, sorry your both going through this I know how stressful it is worrying supplements might make things worse. My husbands first results can back low count and poor morphology. He took well man conception tablets on the advice from the consultant and his morphology improved slightly on the second test. Up from 2 to 4.5 which is now considered normal. I don’t know if it was the tablets or him not drinking and eating better. Have you been referred to a urologist? We were and they found a varicocele that we are now awaiting surgery for although there is no certainty it will work so they have referred us for ivf also. Consultants have recommended well man conception to him or proxeed but that is expensive so we have stuck to well man. Wish you all the best.
Thanks for the reply. I think it’s best I get back in contact with the specialist and see what supplements they can advise.
It’s funny you mention varicocele as I came across this during some research for causes of low fertility and seem to fit some of the symptoms of it. When I mentioned it to the consultant today he asked do I have any discomfort in the testes and when I replied no he just said to get referred to a urologist and he went onto say that there’s no proof that having varicocele treated can make and improvements so I was kind of in two minds to follow it up.
I don’t know if your husband has discussed any symptoms with you and I don’t mean to be too intrusive or graphic but I’m intrigued to see if we share any on the same symptoms.
To me, it feels like the ‘tubes’ going into my left testicle are inflamed and can feel like there’s a lot more going on in the left one than the right if that makes sense. I have also noticed that when I shower (and when I used to bath) that I come across 1 or 2 small lumps that become harder to the touch and I imagine it’s the change of temperature that causes them to feel harder. Again, only on the left side and not the right side. I’m aware this could be anything and it’s best to get it checked but I don’t know whether this could all be linked to my low fertility.
It’s really frustrating that they don’t do more to source the problem. I was told in not so many words that most causes of low fertility are unexplained which is probably why they don’t do more to find out why.
Not graphic at all, I now think my mastermind subject would be sperm and fertility not Harry Potter. He had a feeling on the left one like ‘worms’ the urologist saw it during a standing exam no ultrasound needed he said that’s when they would do surgery as it’s large. It has been interesting that similar to you our consultant said surgery is not a treatment however his urologist said it should work. My husbands results are ‘boarderline’ and he’s classed as ‘mild’ low sperm count. But we’ve been trying for two years now and all of my results have come back okay. My husbands opinion was he will give It a shot if it doesn’t work we were prepared but you never know. No harm in getting an urologists opinion and might be some peace of mind.
Hi CJM. I would always recommend that you discuss any vitamins/supplements with your specialist before taking them. Why not join this and have a chat with other men for their views?? Diane
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My hubby had the same issue with motility and morphology being poor. He was taking Wellman before our first IVF consultation, made zero difference to these factors. Our consultant recommended taking Proxeed for 3 months prior to our first cycle (sperm is made on a 3 month cycle so takes that long to have any effect) and things improved a lot. Still wasn’t normal but it was a lot better than it had been!
He was travelling a lot during before our second cycle and wasn’t taking it properly and that cycle it was all back to being poor again.
We then switched to Impryl when it came out as our consultant said it would give the same results and it’s a tablet rather than the fiddly sachets that Proxeed is. Results went back to being better again.
Just checked the numbers from our first round, 9% progressive motility when on Wellman beforehand and then 35% when on Proxeed, I think this was for about 4-5 months until we started in the end x
Thanks very much for the replies and recommendations, I will look into them and see if my consultant can approve any of them which I can’t see why not. You mentioned that his progressive motility improved but did anything else improve? Other than volume, I was low on everything including count/motility/progressive motility so I’m intrigued to see if these supplements can improve any of them. Thanks
No problem! The only other one I have the comparison on is morphology (normal sperm) which went from 2% to 5%. His volume and concentration stayed around the same I think.
My partner used menevit, gave up drinking alcohol and caffeine and ate healthy. he has azoospermia and was told by our specialist not to bother first round, needless to say we shouldn't have listened our first round of ICSI was really bad. But 2nd round with all those changes his sperm in the 2nd TESA was 100% better, double the sample and 3 embryos! 2 of which are asleep in their beds and the last one still in the freezer. Wish you all the best and hope you find the right supplement for him.
Hey so my partner had similar issues with his sperm analysis. He also had a varicocele. He also had a larger BMI. I'm not sure where you are based but we were referred from our clinic in London to Jonathan Ramsay also in London. He's a urologist and recommended my hubby lose weight. He also ordered a DNA fragmentation which is more detailed than sperm analysis. I run a weight loss programme in my pharmacy called Lipotrim...men can lose one and a half stone a month and women 1 stone. It's available in many pharmacies and GPS...it's total meal replacement. Hubby did really well and lost 2.5 stone...in 2 months...which greatly improved his quality. Hubby was also recommended supplements pregnacare men's and proxeed is also good but expensive. He also took ubiquinol 200mg a day and pregnacare men. Other recommendations were if quality did not improve to go into the testicles directly for withdrawing sperm as better quality. Luckily he was able to do normal way. Via our clinic we did IMSI which looks at sperm morphology in more detail before injecting into an egg. Our quality greatly improved...mine improved by taking time off work going to the gym with a Weekly PT, yoga three times a week, acupuncture weekly, eating better and being less stressed. I also read it starts with the egg by Rebecca Fett and took lots of supplements from this book. Selenium vits ace and zinc, pregnacare women, ubiquinol 200mg am and pm, and 5000units vit d. We had been trying since 2012 married 2009. Finally 22 weeks pregnant on Thurs...fingers crossed...Don't lose hope....Good luck...
Jonathan Ramsay is great. My husband has varicocele as well, and also a tendency to take really long, very hot baths a few times a week since he was a teenager. He cut down on them and only had "cool" (what I would call normal temperature) baths when we were TTC. I love my husband, but it really pisses me off that I had to go through all the needles and prodding and hormones and he couldn't stop taking fricking baths. I fking hate his flipping baths now. Okay breathe, Alice.
Hi, I’m just re-reading messages from this thread as there’s been a development in my circumstances and I’m contemplating visiting Jonathan Ramsey and wondered if you could answer a few questions for me....Firstly, how much are the costs of the consultation, tests to be performed and follow up appointments? I just want to know how much it will roughly set me back for the full works. Secondly and more importantly, how much did it help going to see this urologist? Did you find the cause of the problem and did you see any significant improvement in semen quality? All
We were recommended Proxeed by one doctor but the IVF clinic didn't recommend anything for either of us. We had icsi and on on of the attempts they didn't think there was any usable sperm, but then they took a closer look and found there was. They seemed to think that so long as they got a few they could make it work. It didn't result in a pregnancy but it did result in 2 blastocysts.
The proxeed didn't seem to have any impact on any of the sperm numbers or motility, but we did get pregnant when he was taking it. He's a lazy sod and constantly telling him to take supplements and the reaction that got proved too much for me, so when trying for a second he didn't take any proxeed and we didn't get pregnant. But I was older, which was probably the problem.
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