Help! with SA results!

Hi Ladies,
I could really use some help right now. My DH and I got the SA results back and they're not too good
Can anyone give me any insight into what this could mean for us? Do you think they will recommend IUI, IVF, try to somehow get his #s up (don't know if that's even possible), some other protocol, etc.? Any experience with this would be SOO appreciative? We are upset

Message edited 2/28/2012 5:36:59 PM.

Re: Help! with SA results!

I don't really have any insight for you, but wanted to send you some ! DH and I just got the same bad news last week, and are in the same boat as you. I posted this same question, and didn't get much of a response on this board, but many ladies over on the TTC board said with our numbers, we'd probably have to go through IVF.

I would call your RE and set up an appt to discuss the results, and have him explain everything to you clearly. Then, ask what their professional opinion is for the next step.

Wishing the best for you guys

Re: Help! with SA results!

Also, I'll bump the thread over on the TTC board for a vitamin regimen a fellow poster's husband did that helped boost his count.

Re: Help! with SA results!

First off, I'm sorry you got bad results from the SA I would make an appointment with a urologist ASAP, but I would not see Dr. Mellinger. I know we are not the only ones that have had a bad experience with him, so I would do a search on here and find other reccs. I'll try to find my old post and bump it for you.

What was his count? His motility doesn't really sound far off, but his morphology is low. He could have a varicocele (varicose vein in his testicles) which could be the cause of low morph. The extra blood flow in the testicles from a varicocele heats everything up, and causes the sperm to morph. As far as I know, there's no correlation between abnormal shaped sperm and chromosomal or DNA defects in babies. My DH has 0% morph and we have one healthy DS and I'm 12 weeks pregnant with #2

As far as getting his numbers up....my DH started out with his count at 400,000, his motility was low (I'm thinking 12%) and morphology 0%. He did acupuncture with a Chinese medical doctor (dr. Li) and also took Chinese herbs for 3 months (insurance covered everything but the herbs) because it takes 3 months for the sperm to regenerate. His count went up to 12 million, motility 20% and morphology 1%. We can't seem to get his morphology up because he has a bilateral varicocele (one in each testicle) and we didn't opt for the surgery. We went straight to IVF because we didn't want to waste any more time. Also, DH's body temp runs higher than normal, which could be a contributing factor. The surgery can help in a lot of cases, but sometimes it doesn't. We are going to set up an appointment with another urologist though to look into it before we start trying for the third DC.

I hope you find some answers!

Re: Help! with SA results!

I bumped the thread for you....the doctor i think we will make the appointment with is Dr. Sarah Gihrardi. Good luck!

Re: Help! with SA results!

Thank you both for your reply & for the two bumped threads I'm going to look at both. We are currently scheduled to see a urologist at stony brook who specializes in infertility. So I guess we'll go from there -- thank you again. MrsM hopefully we'll be reporting positive things from here on out and OrganicMama its nice hearing the success story.. it makes me hopeful!

Re: Help! with SA results!

Posted by OrganicMama

First off, I'm sorry you got bad results from the SA I would make an appointment with a urologist ASAP, but I would not see Dr. Mellinger. I know we are not the only ones that have had a bad experience with him, so I would do a search on here and find other reccs. I'll try to find my old post and bump it for you.

What was his count? His motility doesn't really sound far off, but his morphology is low. He could have a varicocele (varicose vein in his testicles) which could be the cause of low morph. The extra blood flow in the testicles from a varicocele heats everything up, and causes the sperm to morph. As far as I know, there's no correlation between abnormal shaped sperm and chromosomal or DNA defects in babies. My DH has 0% morph and we have one healthy DS and I'm 12 weeks pregnant with #2

As far as getting his numbers up....my DH started out with his count at 400,000, his motility was low (I'm thinking 12%) and morphology 0%. He did acupuncture with a Chinese medical doctor (dr. Li) and also took Chinese herbs for 3 months (insurance covered everything but the herbs) because it takes 3 months for the sperm to regenerate. His count went up to 12 million, motility 20% and morphology 1%. We can't seem to get his morphology up because he has a bilateral varicocele (one in each testicle) and we didn't opt for the surgery. We went straight to IVF because we didn't want to waste any more time. Also, DH's body temp runs higher than normal, which could be a contributing factor. The surgery can help in a lot of cases, but sometimes it doesn't. We are going to set up an appointment with another urologist though to look into it before we start trying for the third DC.

I hope you find some answers!

Re: Help! with SA results!

I Agree!! My DH had 0% morphology and some other borderline low numbers. Dr. Mellinger did a basic SA and told DH that there was nothing he could do and we should go straight to IVF. DH wanted a second opinion and saw Dr. Gilbert. He was wonderful and did a more exstensive SA and sonogram. Found out DH had bilateral varicocele. Dr. Gilbert said our best option would be IVF but bc of our age and previous pregnancy (which was a loss) we still have a chance naturally. My DH opted for the surgery since the varicolcele was also causing him some discomfort. Within the next month we got pregnant on our own. However, the dr. does not believe this was a result of the surgery bc of the short time frame. DH's morphology is still low. It's was at 3% 6 months post surgery. From my experience and research, it seems that male IF issues are usually easier to work with. If you are not comfortable with whatone dr. says, go for different opinions! DH went to 3 different dr.'s before he found one he liked. You're not alone, I remember the feeling when we got that call.


Thank you so much! This was comforting and I'm glad to hear of the different options