Really depressed about SA results...

Janarae18 Posted: 03-12-2010 11:03 AM

So I called again this morning to get the actual numbers, and STILL didn't get all the numbers from these people at the office, but what I did get was that motility was 17 %, and morphology was 2 % and she said that wasn't bad because 4 % was normal.  Now either I heard wrong or she was way off (this was a nurse and not the doctor) because on webmd it says 70 % is considered normal......... so I am really confused about that....  and she also acted like 17 % wasn't that bad and that maybe the doc would just tell us to do timed intercourse... ok wtcrap we are already doing this.  I just feel really depressed about all of this because 17 % just seems really bad considering that 50 % is considered normal on WebMd.....  so I am anxious to see what the doctor says .  Oh and the other thing I asked the nurse if she thought they would schedule another SA to make sure it was accurate and she said probably not.  And I am thinking what? Isn't it normal to do another test to make sure the first one was accurate.  I swear I hate this place and it is supposed to be the best place around western pa.   So anyway does anyone know what the best course of action would be with 17 % motility?  Any advice or stories?  Thanks

reddesi replied on 03-12-2010 11:35 AM

Hi Janarae,

There are two different types of criteria which can be used to test morphology.  The first one is Who (i think thats the name) and that is a bit looser on the criteria to distinguish if sperm is shaped correctly.  The second one which is more widely used now and is called Kruger.  I'm fairly certain your SA results are based on the Kruger.  My lab says anything over 6% is normal.  My DH has 4% morphology but I still got pregnant in my first IUI attempt.  They say morphology is highly controversial and even not perfectly shaped sperms can indeed penetrate the egg.

As for the motility, I think 17% is low.  I'm not sure why they think its not a problem.  Your DH can try vitamin E to help that (400 mg 2 times a day).  That's what DH's urologist asked him to take. 

Are you open to doing IUI?  I wish I had done my IUI a lot earlier instead waiting 2 years on timed intercourse.  Maybe you can discuss that option with your doctor.  Also, are you going to a RE or just an ob-gyn?  RE may have more insight on next steps for you.

Good luck!

Janarae18 replied on 03-12-2010 2:40 PM

Thanks for explaining the morphology to me. I was really confused, I didn't know there were different methods for determining that.  We are def. open to IUI I am just not sure how I feel about the IUI because I've heard it has pretty low success rates?  And again I really have no idea what the actual doctor will say to us (we are going to see a RE) because I was only on the phone with the nurse.  The RE seems a little distant though, although I have heard from others who went there that she gets better on the second appt. so I am hoping for that lol...   I totally agree with you that I don't want to wait for the whole naturally timed intercourse you know, because thats what we've been doing for the past year.  We did get pregnant once but it ended in mc and I don't really want to wait a long time for that to happen again, I am just really afraid of that.  Oh well. I am just really impatient for my actual meeting with the RE after I finish up some of my testing. Oh btw my dh is taking vitamin e, c, lcarnitine acetate, selenium, mens 1 a day. saw palmetto (which I read is ok for your fertility , in that book getting pregnant )   oh and zinc . I think thats it.... so he has been taking all the vitamins.  thats why its so frustrating to me.  He just started taking maca. We both did .  Do you think he needs a second analysis?

Janarae18 replied on 03-12-2010 2:46 PM

Sorry for you loss btw,  my d and c was Dec. 18th  

Parsnipity replied on 03-12-2010 3:05 PM

Yeah, he definitely needs a second analysis.  Also, try to get them to give you both the count in millions/mL and the total volume in mL.  Those are different things (volume is a fluid measurement and number is obviously the number of sperm in the fluid)-- and both are important. 

reddesi replied on 03-12-2010 5:01 PM

sorry about your loss too :(.  as for the SA - definitely do another one.  especially since DH is taking vitamins...hopefully you will see some improvement. 

however, if the motility is still 17% or even a bit higher you may want to do IUI very soon.  this is not a very elaborate procedure so your Dr. should have no issues doing that for you.  i really regret not doing it sooner.  especially because its such an easy procedure.  maybe you can talk to your RE about scheduling that soon?

Janarae18 replied on 03-12-2010 5:37 PM

Yeah, when she goes over our results I am hoping she will put that out there as an option . So we'll see.

Janarae18 replied on 03-12-2010 6:58 PM

btw what are your thoughts on the whole cup of coffee before bd'ing? my dh drinks maybe a cup if that per day at this point but I had heard some people on here and saw some things online that said the cup before bd'ing could boost motility but I'm wondering if it would really help enough to make a real difference

reddesi replied on 03-12-2010 7:06 PM

one of the ovusoft members i know...her DH has low motility.  he took coffee an hour before BD and she got pg.  i think it definitely could work.  no harm in trying!

SCunningham replied on 03-13-2010 8:35 PM

Honestly my dh only sustained for a day (didn't tell me at the time he turned in the sample) and his sperm count was pretty low and everything else was low too. We thought about doing a repeat but our RE suggested IUI so we decided to go for it and use the sperm for that instead of another count...to waste...it worked on IUI on 2nd time.

Janarae18 replied on 03-14-2010 9:21 PM

Wow thats good. congrats.  I am hoping our RE suggests IUI but I don't know because the nurse said something dumb about timed intercourse, so hopefully the RE will understand that that is what we are already doing .  I'll post again after we meet with her in the beginning of April.