Experiences with ICSI and severe low sperm count

[Celet2]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum but finding the posts really helpful so thanks for all your support and company!

I am due to start IVF with ICSI soon, should have our first appointment in 3-4 weeks. My husband has a severely low sperm count <2 million/ml with all other parameters very low as well. No specific cause has been found, he's fit and well otherwise so it has just labelled as 'idiopathic'. All genetics tests have been normal. I am guessing there's a high chance we might need a sperm donor although this hasn't been discussed yet. I was just wondering if anyone else has had ICSI with a similar count and managed to get eggs fertilised? Just trying to mentally prepare ourselves for this aspect of our journey.

Thanks so much

[HedgehogMad]

Hi lovely, so sorry you are going through this. We had similar count and shocking motility <1%, same for morphology. Got 7 eggs fertilised and 6 blastocysts so there is definitely hope. The good thing is with ICSI they only need a handful of sperm, one to fertilise each egg so it can bypass the issue of numbers. Make sure your partner is eating healthy, taking vitamins and minimising alcohol. My partner did this and his sperm count doubled and motility 65% (normal) by the day of egg collection (ours was also unexplained male factor). This forum is super helpful and you are definitely not alone on this journey. Good luck with your cycle! ♥️

[Celet2 in reply to HedgehogMad]

Thanks so much for your reply. It's reassuring to hear that you managed to get lots of eggs fertilised. It's been hard to get our heads round that it's all just unexplained. He has adopted a healthy lifestyle/taking supplements /no alcohol and walking but it hasn't made a difference unfortunately! Anyway fingers crossed. thanks so much and best of luck to you with everything too!!❤️

[Rollercoastersmiles]

hey. I want to reassure you as well. My husband had very severe low sperm count. His sperm count was 0.16million/ml and total sperm count at 0.88 million (just looked these up again). They couldn’t even measure morphology due to the small numbers. Like you, I expected the worst, but we managed to get 15 mature eggs on collection of which 10 fertilised and we got 3 blastocysts. Currently have my perfect 4 week old little boy asleep on my chest and 2 more blasts in the freezer! Try to keep positive, it just takes 1 sperm and if you think, 2 million/ml is a huge amount of sperm. I think on average, an ejaculation is 5ml so that’s be 10 million sperm in total! That’s loads, plenty for some eggs to get fertilised during ICSI!! Good luck on your ‘journey’! Got all my fingers crossed for you! 🤞🏽♥️

[Celet2 in reply to Rollercoastersmiles]

Thanks so much for your reply and congratulations on your little boy!! That's lovely news.Yeah the other parameters were just "too low to count" as well so it's just the very low count that we have a number on.

Good to hear that it's possible with such low numbers. We were imagining the worst like that they might all be terrible quality too and not be able to fertilise an egg! Guess we won't know until we get to that stage but good to know it is technically possible with similar counts.

Thanks again❤️

[Jumpppy]

Same here, well under 1m and all other parameters poor. We have 2 successful pregnancies and cooking a 3rd (and I was over 36 for all retrievals). We would have been ecstatic for something close to 2m. 3m is considered minimum for natural conception, so you need ICSI, but you are a lot closer to "OK" than many ICSI patients 😀

[Celet2 in reply to Jumpppy]

Thanks so much for your reply and congratulations!!We've just been told less than 2 million on 3 samples as that's the minimum the lab could calculate so I don't know the exact amount just that it's less than that.

We'll keep our fingers crossed, thanks again ❤️

[Jumpppy in reply to Celet2]

Good luck! (That is weird as we've received results as low as 0.3m - maybe when it's low they don't care how low it is unless there are none (we also got a meaningless "movement but few to count" result before))

[Celet2 in reply to Jumpppy]

Thanks. Yeah that's weird, maybe it just depends on the lab and how they report results. I'm sure they'll give us more info at the clinic!

[Minniemouse88]

A bit more reassurance here. My husband had zero sperm count with no know cause. We're 5 days post sperm-retrieval and egg collection (simultaneously!) And have today found out we have 5 blastocysts, which has completely shocked me - my expectations were very low for our first round. Not all top quality but nevertheless. I wish you all the best on your journey xx

[Celet2 in reply to Minniemouse88]

Thanks so much for your message and reassurance and that's really brilliant news your end!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you ❤️

[Katy153]

Hey, same here - partner has very low sperm count although I can’t remember for the life of me what it was now! Be reassured and positive, it is still definitely possible ❤️

We had ICSI and 8 eggs collected. 7 mature, 6 fertilised and 5 blasts. Currently almost 13 weeks in my first pregnancy and 4 others chilling in the freezer.

I have everything crossed for you! 🙏🏼🤞🏼 x

[Celet2 in reply to Katy153]

Thanks so much for messaging and sending positivity it's such a hard balance between trying to be hopeful and excited but also realistic and preparing yourself for the ivf process to be potentially be long with some ups and downs!!Congratulations on your pregnancy that's such great news!!and lovely to know you have 4 others in the freezer! Best of luck going forwards ❤️

[Nabsal]

what is update dear