[Anastasia]

Hey all, I posted on the IUI board, because that is what I thought I would be doing this month, but our strict morph test blew that idea out of the water. Essentially I am trying to figure out if there are any reasons why my DH's morphology was so bad (1%). He does smoke and has sworn to me that he is quitting. I did some research though and perhaps he has an un-dx'ed vericocele. The somewhat odd thing is that he has really high counts, they have been anywhere from 92 mil to 500 mil with consistently 63% motility. Anyone had this where it was a vericocele or something else?

[a103war]

Your husband should probably try to see a urologist. They can tell if he has a varicocele through a physical examination and probably an ultrasound. Obviously, the smoking could be a cause of the low morphology.

[runrbaby]

My husband was told last spring that he had a varicocele, but not to worry about surgery until after a bad SA. Well, last week he had LOW numbers and 99% abnormal....needless to say we have an appt. to get the varicocele checked out.

[carina]

I am wondering why the morphology rate of 1% is such a problem since DH has so many swimmers. My DH last SA was 35M with 4% morphology that gave us 1.4M for our IUI. Our RE requires 1M for IUI. So if your DH's low counts are 92M that gives you 920,000 once all cleaned up for IUI. I know that's not the required 1M, but on a good day he should have enough easily?

In the mean time your DH needs to be seen by a urologist.

Good Luck

Me - age, 28. No known fertility issues. Passed HSG, Histeroscopy, Sono's, Ovulate, etc...

Hubby - age, 34. avg count, slightly low morphology @ 4% while 'normal' is 5%. The numbers have varied greatly throughout the years. 6M, then 67M, then 47M, now 35M, while the breakdown %'s remained the same. I almost wonder if that 6M was wrong because no others have been so low.

Oct. 2001 - TTC

Apr 2003 - Infertilty Consultation.

May 2003 - 1st IVF cycle , but resulted in an ectopic , 2, 2 day embies transferred, no leftovers

Sept 2004 - 2nd IVF cycle ! - 2, 5 day blasts transferred - 3, 6 day blastocyst leftover for freezing

June 2005 - Baby Girl Born ... 2 hour
unmedicated labor. The universe paid back for all those proj shots that day. Though it was painful it was fast & furious. Best night of my life!

Sept 2007 FET - all 3 blasts thawed - 2, 6 days blasts transferred -

Oct 2007 - 1st IUI (unmedicated) aprox 10/15

[Anastasia]

Thanks all,

Carina, I agree, it would seem that it 1% would be enough, but apparently, if there is only one sperm that appears normal in 100, chances are it may have other problems, like motility or even not having the ability to penetrate. At least that is what I have read and my RE's point of view.

My DH did have an exam and it doesn't appear that there is a Varicocele, so I am thinking it is something else. Also, my RE said that sometimes there is no reason, it just is the way that it is. Meanwhile my DH has quit smoking cold turkey, 3 WEEKS

[carina]

Congrats on DH quiting smoking. Mine was supposed to quit a couple of weeks ago, but I think what he has mostly done is quit smoking at home/in front of me & DD. Which is better then nothing.

Good luck with the IVF/ICSI. Its good stuff & in that case it only takes 1!

[Anastasia]

Thanks Carina,

I agree cutting back on smoking is definitely better than nothing.

[out4abit]

My husband got his semen results today via my OBGYN office.

Sperm Density - 101 Million / ml
Motility - 47% (count = 47 Million / ml)
Morphology (Krueger) = 2%

The Dr. did not comment on his morphology results and said everything looked fine. We did some research tonight and 2% doesn't seem fine.

Any feedback? We have been TTC for 8 mos and this is the first step in our analysis.

Thank you in advance!

[Shells]

My DH was a long-time smoker who quit 4 years ago. He was really sick last year, and our RE is not sure if his super-low counts are due to the meds he was taking, since he didn't have an SA prior to the illness. We've been trying vitamins and supplements to increase his motility (currently at 0%), and the morph (9%). His next SA is next week, and we are hopeful to see a difference.

Our RE shared the same comments about "low motility/morphology can indicate poor sperm health and therefore it may not be able to fertilize an egg, even with ICSI". Not what we wanted to hear. However, there are lots of women here who were in this same position as us, and have conceived, so I am keeping my chin up!

Hang in there!
-s

[Alycianjayden32]

Ok what is morphology? My husband has a low sperm count 17 million I believe out of 20 million 10% rapid progression and 15% combined. This is like a foreign language to us. We have our first consult next week to discuss IVF. I have kids but we have none. I had my tubes tied 2 yrs ago. Big Mistake.... Please help if you can. Thanks

[Anastasia]

Alicia,

I am not sure what the break down is for rapid progression and combined. Generally speaking for non-IVF cycles (IUI or natural) they want to see 50% motility and greater than 4% morphology (strict criteria) with counts ranging depending on the Motility and Morph. However, if you are doing IVF, don't worry about it, if they do ICSI it won't be a problem necessarily. They don't need perfect sperm to fertilize.

Shells, I am not sure why your doctor said that the sperm wouldn't fertilize if there was not good morph/motility. Perhaps that could mean that there are chromosomal issues, but my understanding is that this is pretty rare. The fact of the matter is, if you needed to have a perfect SA for ICSI, ICSI wouldn't be needed.

Good luck to you all.

[Shells]

Anastasia- After really cruising these boards, it seems like it wouldn't matter with ISCI, and I have read, and read and read to see if there was some research that connected low morph with chromosomal issues, and couldn't find it. My guess is that she wanted to put it out there that ISCI doesn't always mean a "cure all" for low morph/motility, so to prepare me in the event it doesn't work. She also talked with us about that miscarriages and chemical pregnancies are often indicative that the embryo wasn't viable, etc. etc. I can only assume that when you're an RE in a fertility clinic, you may say these things to give clients a way to prepare/cope with loss and disappointment which must happen often. I understand that, but I would just prefer the facts, and I will deal with the rest, you know?

Any way, we have our follow up appointment on 11/15 to review DH's last SA, and I am hopeful to just move onto the next step, whatever that may be. With his low motility and morph, I think that IUI will more than likely be out of the question, and we are hoping for a January IVF... Looks like you're planning around Feb? Good luck until then, and wishing you good thoughts!
-s

[Anastasia]

Shells, Good luck with your appointment with the RE. If your DH still has 0% motility and only 5.5 M, it does seem like IVF is going to be the best option. It is hard though, especially if you are paying our of pocket, to come to terms with it. It has taken my DH a lot of time to be ok with the idea of IVF. He wanted to wait to see what happens with his Morph over the next couple of months since he quit smoking and is taking supplements. I think that he is getting used to the idea and each month that I don't get pg, despite every possible sign of O'ing, he realized that this may be our only hope.

Also, you RE may be preparing you for the IVF to not work and that is an unfortunate reality, that sometimes, no matter what you do, it doesn't work. All we can do is try though.

Good luck to you.

[Shells]

Thanks! Since we'd been trying since 2004, we both kind of knew that something was up, so we've been prepping ourselves for this. As soon as we had the first SA, we really talked a lot about it. His sister and her DH concieved his niece throught IVF, so I think he's more comfortable with the procedure... I am not sure anything anyone can do will prepare for the cost factor of it all, but I am hopeful.

Our appointment is on the 15th, so I hope to update my signature and have a good plan after that. Thanks for the kind words, and will update you soon!
-s

[kscatt]

Hi Anastasia-do you have any idea as to what made your husband's morphology rise so much? That's great - Congratulations.