[Tracey23]

Hi - My name is Jeff and I am Tracey's husband. I didn't think I would ever post on here as I don't really like to talk about my problems, but after seeing my wife go through this last cycle and get excited because she was getting pregnancy symptoms and then have it all fall apart when it didn't work and watch how devasted she is, I wanted to know if any of you have any ideas on what I can do to improve my sperm count. I was told that my count is 6 million, I have good morphology and motility but the dr couldn't give me a reason why it would be low, and to tell you the truth I found being at the drs embarrassing and I just wanted to get out of there. My wife doesn't know that I am on here right now she is in bed with really bad cramps and I don't really want here to know that I am on here but I feel guilty about not doing the things that she asks of me especially when I see her injecting herself to try to make things work. I don't smoke or do drugs, I do like to drink but she wants me to quit that as well and then she is always wanting me to try vitamins and different foods, I have to admit that I tend to ignore what she wantes me to do and now I feel guilty and I was just wondering if any of you guys had some advice on where I should begin and ways to make it up to by wife.

Jeff ( Tracey's Husband )

[Poppycorn95]

Hi Jeff, I'm so sorry Tracey's IUI didn't work. Infertility is a horrible emotional roller coaster.

Here are two websites that gave some good information on increasing sperm count. Good luck... Oh and you aren't alone. My husband is very uncomfortable talking about his issues. (He had testicular cancer and shoots blanks) Thanks for doing this for Tracey, just by posting for suggestions you'll make her feel like you're really trying. (Even though you were to begin with - it's a female thing...)

Ways To Increase Sperm Count

10 Ways You Can Increase Your Sperm Count

If you do a search for "Increasing sperm count" on Google you'd be surprised how many articles show up.

[wwells5]

Hello Jeff,

Let me say I'm impressed that you got on here to express yourself. Very brave......something my dh would never do, though did give me some insight into how he is thinking through all of this. Unfortunately, you won't be able to hide that you were here! We ladies work our way around this sight, so as not to miss a beat!

My husband also has a low count and low motility. I have been riding his you know what since we discovered we had issues with male factor infertility about 4 years ago. We have tried to get pregnant for the last 16 years, so needless to say when we had a diagnosis it was frustrating to hear there was no "cure". By the time we actually got around to to figuring out the problem, my age had become a factor too.

I cleaned up my act.......started eating better, took all the appropriate vitamins/supplements, gave up caffeine and alcohol. I expected him to do the same, but it was harder for him to do. He did agree to take fertility some supplements we got from the health food store that are supposed to help increase counts. It didn't go over too well........he started having problems with diahrea from taking these things so he gave up. He tried carnitine, argintine, zinc, flax seed, among other things. He went on to try Fertility Blend for men, and then something called Fertile Max, all with the same outcome. Needless to say I was a bit exasperated and felt that he just wasn't giving his system a chance to get used to taking the supplements before giving up. He went on to see my accupunturist, but refused to continue and take the prescribed herbs. Like your wife and you, I can't make my husband change his lifestyle or force him take all of this crap I'm placing all my hope in.

I'm sorry that you are struggling with feeling guilty. After a long winded response, I only really came on here to say that regardless of what we do, and research I've done, raising counts is something that seems nearly impossible. If you find something that works, let me know!!! It is such a frustrating experience for both partners. Beating yourself up for it isn't the answer. I sure wish I knew what the answer is though! In the end I can only hope that one good swimmer will find it's way. Luckily with IVF and ICSI it is possible. Unfortunately it is such a huge expense! If your wilfe is like me and any of the other women on here, and IVF is not an option at the moment, bare with her and her antics! We are desperate to have children of our own and willing to try anything! Even if it means torturing our husbands to step out of their comfort zone and try new things!

Best of luck to you in this journey!

Wendy

[jmcrane]

Jeff, I am too also sorry for the last IUI result. I wish I had some advice for u. My husband had low/no sperm count. He too was also embarassed about going to the doctors. He was hard to get to sit down and talk to anyone. I will keep you both in my prayers.

[futuremom2b]

Jeff,
First of all let me start by saying I agree with the others you are brave for coming on the forum. I think it's great! My husband had low sperm count as well, and our attitude is: Obtain as much information possible from the best possible source. (this applies to any situation)

For us, and dealing with infertility our information came from our RE. We had to do ICSI for the low sperm count and IVF for my endo. (blocked tubes), and here we are today!
Don't be scared to ask questions (as many as you need), both here or to the professionals, because if you don't ask you can't start moving forward and then you can't help your wife becasue you just end up in circles!
It can be a REALLY hard cycle on the marriage! As you can also see my DH and I adopted before we did IVF, so you have other options as well!

The best thing you can do for your wife is some research and talk to the dr. about your particular situation and options... Education is the best way to begin to move forward!
Prayers to you and your wife, Tracy is a lucky woman, don't give up moving foward!

When my husband gets home, I'm going to ask him to respond as well, as I noticed that no guys have responded yet, and men do better listening to other men! Even if us women have good things to say!

[Tracey23]

Thanks for the reply I can see now why my wife spends so much time on here. I too have tried all kinds of herbs and I ended up with bowel problems and as a construction worker I can't have that so that's why I stopped, lucily my wifes OB said that I only need to take a good multi-vitamin so that has helped me feel better at least though my wife keeps telling me I'm not doing enough. I guess that's why I came on here, I don't want to have to go to any more drs, I can't afford to take too much time off work, esp as this is expensivie and my wife wants to go home to Australia this year as well. I just needed to hear if anyone had luck with herbs and stuff, I guess I'm willing to deal with some bowel problems if that means there's a chance that it will help me, if my wife can inject herself twice a day I should be able to do this. But as far as anything else I just don't know, right now I guess I will look at the 2 web sites and see if I can get any information from there, but other than that hopefully someone on here will discover something one day and that will make things easier. Once again thanks for the help, and by the way, my wife did discover that I was on here, she asked me about it, I guess you really do cover everything on here don't you not just the area that you need help with.

Jeff

[jt1214]

Jeff you are a very brave man, most men keep these types of issues bottled up.

I see that you have done IUI's only based on signature. Have you thought about IVF w/ICSI. This is what worked for me and DH. DH has extremely low count (less than 200k), motility and morphology.

I did 6 IUI's some with clomid, and others with injectables.

DH did not change anything about his diet nor did he want to take vitamins.

Luckily, IVF worked for me the 1st time around. If this is not an option I would recommend preseed to help with counts.

Hope this helps and good luck with you next cycle, I commend you for your efforts.

[futuremom2b]

Jeff,

I'm JS, futuremom2b's DH. As both my wife and I have fertility issues (blocked tubes and low motility) I have felt your pain and had several immediate responses to your posts. You may not like some of what I've written, but I am coming from a place of empathy and hope for you and your situation. Time is of the essence for overcoming fertilitiy issues, and one of the worst things to do is nothing if you really want to have bio-children

1. Fertility issues are nothing to be embarassed about, either for you or your wife. That being said, they are ESPECIALLY nothing to be embarassed about around healthcare professionals. Trust me, they've seen folks with way way worse fertility issues than you (like me), and no-one (with the exception of yourself) is going to question your manhood because you have a low count.

2. If you are embarassed (or worried about folks questioning your manhood), then show you're a man and do what your wife is asking you to. Better yet, go above and beyond what she is asking for (do research yourself on ways you can help, or whatever). Your challenge is to do what is uncomfortable for you. Being a good man and DH is not easy in these situations, but what better time will there be to show who you really are?

3. There MAY be NOTHING you can do about your low count. Good diets, low alcohol, etc. have been shown to have some effect, but they also might not do anything. You have other options, however, but you have to get over your embarassment with healthcare professionals to move forward with your other options (ICSI +IVF, etc.).

The best advice I can give you, not meaning to sound too harsh, is to put your feelings of embarassment on the backburner and do what it takes. If you can't do this, then perhaps you should really think about what you are willing to do and not do to have bio-children and move on.

I hope I don't sound too harsh in this post. I do feel for you and wish you the best.

-JS

[Tracey23]

Hi Guys - I just thought I'd check into what my DH has been up to on here, I get really bad cramps with af and normally I have to start taking advil 2 days before I'm due so that they are managable, but as we didn't know whether this cycle took or not, I was unable to do that, hence I ended up in bed for most of the day. Once I found out that he'd been here it made me curious as even though he is extremely supportive of me doing whatever I need to, I never imagined that he would come on here, I had just learnt to accept that he is willing to participate only so far (which if any of you have read Jeri posts about her small role in the conception of her children you will understand why I was laughing, because that's exactly how I feel about my DH's contribution most of the time). I am grateful that he has come on here and that all of you have tried to help him, we talkeed about it last night and we decided that right after christmas we are moving on to IVF if we are not pg by then. What he never mentioned to you was that his infertility is probably caused from his work locations. Let me explain, even though he is a contractor and we have our own business, he does a lot of work in Hydro Transformer Stations with voltages of 500 000, and before that he dealt with chemical lab packs and transporting contaminated products as a bulk. We have been pregnant before in 2001, so it was possible once, but the dr's are saying that either his previous job or his current one could be affecting his sperm count and they want us to do a genetic analysis of his sperm, which will have to get done before we go to IVF. We are going to sit out this cycle but I want to give the IUI at least one more attempt and I will increase my gonal-f to see if that helps, as my last one the results were not that promising, still only 1 follie was dominant. Once again thanks for all the help you have given him, Andrea you DH's comments really hit home for him and made him come to me last night to talk please thank him for me, I guess it takes a man telling you to smarten up before you're willing to do anything about it.

[jencat215]

Tracey- you truly have a wonderful DH. We don't have male factor issues so I can't really advise, but we were told to keep up the counts that there are certain things that DH should/should not do. You probably know all this, but I will share anyway. First, NO HOT TUBS!!! I even convinced DH to cool down his showers, and you know what? He did (although he got way too concerned and made them too cold!!!). Also, wearing boxer shorts rather than briefs...DH likes to run/bike/etc so he had cut down those activities quite a bit and only wears briefs for a short time at the gym. It is important to keep the 'swimmers' cool, so he even has changed his sitting habits to make sure of maximum airflow. OH, biking can cause too much irritation so he stopped that. It was definitely hard for him to make these changes, but both of us want the best chance possible to have our own child.

I wish both of you the best. Worst case senerio, like others have said, is the IVF with ICSI. But I will be for you both.

[futuremom2b]

Tracey!
Glad to hear DH Helped! We're always here if needed! I sent you a private message as well!

Prayers to you both on your cycles and thank goodness for ICSI!!!!

[nedege24]

your DH is the best all the best to you both

[rdchevygirl]

my husband also had a low sperm count. his was 12 million the first time and 10.4 million the next. his urologist put him on clomid and we just had our appointment friday and his sperm count is 20.1 million which is normal. also his motility and morphology was good , nothing was wrong with that but it too improved. we know what u are going through. my husband was very upset when we found out his count was low. he felt humiliated but everything is working out. maybe u should ask about the clomid. some people it works on and some it doesnt but its worth a shot. it worked for us! good luck!

[tennisgurl]

Hi...I agree with the IVF / ISCI route my husband has the same problems and we were successful the first try with IVF/ISCI.......his count was low as well but as my RE says you dont need millions with ISCI you inject ONE!!!! LOLOLOL

Good Luck!!!!

[mrsjanowski]

Hi Jeff.... my husband had low sperm counts as well and he started taking these herbal vitamins. You can find them online, they're called FertilAid. Within a month we started to see his little guys increasing in numbers and the nurse even commented to us on our last IUI that they were swimming extremely progressively. A month and a half later, our 4th IUI worked. You should give it a try!