[vancouverwoman]

HI,
I just wanted to know if anyone is dealing with low morphology? my DH has very low morphology and not sure if we will ever get pregnant naturally. I am also scared that IVF might not work and we might have miscarriages because of his low sperm quality. Anyone going through the same? Please give me your imput. I realy apprecaite it.

thanks

[ces03k]

I'm not sure if we do yet, because we just got diagnosed with a stage 3 vericocele. But the way the doc explained it, my hubbies sperm are apparently not the cutest things. He said a normal sperm is a circle with a short tail that eventually grows into a long tail. Apparently what we're dealing with are sperm that are potentially shaped like cheerios after you give them to a toddler. Anyway, we're getting an ultrasound done tomorrow on his boys, and then they'll decide if they want to do a SA. (which I think is rediculous by the way. I don't see why we wouldn't just go ahead with the SA)

Anyway, I'm also curious about low morphology and getting pregnant naturally. Also, what if you get pregnant with some of the crazy sperm? Does it increase the risk of miscarriage?

[jenedens6102]

We dealt/are dealing with low morphology. It came back on his first semen analysis as 1/100 being normal. That's 1% and not great odds. But they started us out with IUIs and after three failed told us IVF with ICSI was the way to go. All three of our embryos didn't make it to transfer and thus we were left with nothing. Oh and I should mention that by the time we got around to our IVF he had improved to 8% morphology. Then 5 months later we did conceive on our own, we miscarried due to ectopic (not anything to do with his sperm quality) and then conceived again three months later. We used something called Fertility Blend from GNC that I found online. It was the only thing in my researching that showed it helped improve sperm morphology. We didn't have another SA to prove that this is what did it for us but we have a son who is all the proof we need that we can and did do this on our own! Best wishes!

[elaine123]

We are dealing with morphology issues. We've had 5 failed IUI's and will be starting IVF soon.

My Re said male factor is taken out of the equation with IVF w/ ICSI b/c they take the good sperm and actually fertilize the egg with it. So it lowers the chances of the bad sperm fertilizing. Basically IVF w/ ICSI gives you the same chances of conceiving as those with healthy sperm morphology.

[karystos]

Male factor is NOT taken out of the equation with ICSI. I have had 2 failed ICSI/IVF with this last one being a chem preg.

My RE told me I had "perfect" eggs.
He also told me that my DHs sperm quality is low...low morphology 3%. He told me that is why my embryos never make it to day 5 nor have they ever reached 8 cells.

There is NOTHING he said they can do for DHs sperm.
DHs numbers have decreased so much since last year (10% morph) and NO ONE can tell me why!

So here I am with perfect eggs, limited time left (39), and no children. Donor sperm is out for us.

[ces03k]

jenedens-

Thanks for the tip on the FErtility Blend. I'd read about it online, but I kinda wondered if it was a hoax. I spoke with DH's nurse from his urologists office yesterday, and she confirmed that he had a stage 3 varicocele and that he probably has low morphology.

As delicate as I tried to be about bringing up getting a SA and getting him healthy, he felt like I was blaming him. I know he doesn't want to go ahead with the surgery right now, and I can completely understand that. But I'm scared about getting pregnant again until I know his morphology is okay. I miscarried twins in April because of a "genetic mutation" and the nurse said that all common sense points to his low morphology as the cause.

Anyway, I think he'll be more comfortable going the Fertility Blend route since it's just a silly pill he has to take instead of an invasive surgery. Then if that doesn't work after a while we can talk about the next step.

Thanks again!

[jenedens6102]

My Dh didn't have a variocele so I can't speak on that note. As for the conception with a poor grade sperm. I was told by my RE that the poorly morphed sperm couldn't produce any problems with the child. In his explaination he said that most abnormalities are head and/or tail and thus they can't penetrate the hard surface of an egg for conception. I never thought more about it. As for IVF/ICSI, I had that as well. Of my 9 eggs only 3 fertilized and they all were lost at 72 hours and I never made it to transfer. I really thought that all hope was lost and I had some of the darkest moments in my life during those years but I can say that there is hope, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I'm living proof of this. Everyday I kiss my son as I rock him to sleep and give God all the glory, honor and praise for working a miracle in my life. And ladies, I trust that He can and will do the same for you. Don't give up!

[RayAnn]

yes we r also dealing w/ low morphology. that seems 2 b 1 of the main reasons we aren't conceiving. dh's morphology ranges from 1%-3% plus he has slighty elevated white blood cells. i have done 4 cycles of clomid now 2 make me super fertile n hopes that it would make up 4 him. i'm in the 2ww as of now...hopin n prayin this last round worked we were told by our doc that we should skip right over the IUI's n go straight 2 the IVF. she said that her patients w/ low morphology that skipped right over the IUI saved an average of about $20,000 when it was all said n done. i have my dh on a regimen of fertilaid, zinc, vitamin e & a multi-vitamin. selenium n vitamin c are also supposed 2 help. it's usually takes about 3mths of faithfully taking the vitamins 2 c a change n the sperm. GOOD LUCK!!

[amberjoy]

We are in somewhat of a similar situation. My husband has 1% normal sperm morph and we've been trying for 2 years. We finally started the testing this past June and realized what we were dealing with. I started DH on vitamins, too. In addition to the ones others have listed above, I also read that Glutathione is known to help with this issue, too. It is antioxidants. We also started doing a shot of concentrated power juice (goji berry, elderberry, acai) as antioxidants are supposed to help. We haven't had another SA yet that would have had time to reflect these changes. We are currently in the middle of a cycle for IUI with the insemination coming in about a week. They will obviously test him when he gives his sample for the procedure. I'll let you know if there were any improvements.

Another thing, though. We were told by our UR and RE that we shouldn't have a hard time getting pregnant because of his low morph. There are different types of grading scales for morph and we were tested (as I'm guessing all of you were, too) on the strict scale (Krueger). Normal sperm morph on this scale is only 15%, with the average man producing only 6-7%. And, they also show on this scale the different shapes of the sperm. It turns out that my husband has basically two types of shapes, and both of these are only slightly misshapen. In fact, they told us that when people do IVF these same misshapen sperm that my husband has can actually be used for IVF/ICSI. It is because they are so slightly deformed that they do not get washed away in the sperm washing process. And he assured us that we would have normal babies even with slightly abnormal sperm. However, nobody thought IVF was necessary...RE just thought maybe we should help the little guys out in their travels with an IUI to start. He seems very confident that we will get a BFP. We are young, so I am hoping and praying that our first IUI will work, but I am also realizing that the first is kind of experimental to see how I respond to the meds, etc.

Anyway, I will be praying for all of you.

[krisb]

I am so glad I ran across this thread. My DH has low morphology, too. I'm not sure of the numbers because after 8 IUI's, they all start to run together. We were told at our last visit that the doc is only willing to do one more IUI and then we have to consider IVF. We cannot afford IVF and I'm not willing to put our family in a bigger financial bind and try to finance it.
I spoke to the hubby about taking the fertility blend and he said he is def willing to do this. So, I'm going to GNC as soon as I can get there (live in Louisiana and kindof dealing with hurricane Ike right now).
The doc is making me rest for at least one month because the clomid was kind enough to have left me with some cysts on my left ovary. So, I figure I will actually rest for two more months and let hubby take those pills. I'm so glad I ran across this because I had pretty much lost ALL hope, but now maybe I have gotten a little of it back.
Thanks for the info jenedens6102.

[Lawstt10]

Originally Posted by vancouverwoman

HI,
I just wanted to know if anyone is dealing with low morphology? my DH has very low morphology and not sure if we will ever get pregnant naturally. I am also scared that IVF might not work and we might have miscarriages because of his low sperm quality. Anyone going through the same? Please give me your imput. I realy apprecaite it.

thanks

Yes, I am going through the same thing! My husband has 1% normal morphology and 20% motility although his count is normal at 50 million. We have been to a Urologist and they seem to think that we need IVF with ICIS. I dont know if you have a female factor as well but I have been diagnosed with PCOS and have been placed on Clomid to get me ovulate. I have placed my husband on all sorts of vitamins ive heard of that may help. Try to stay positive, all the stress doesnt help ttc! Baby dust!!