Third sperm count, and I’m averaging about 5 million per cc 20 is “acceptable”), with newly normal motility of about 50%. The motility is encouraging, as previously this was quite low as well. My personal hypothesis is that my hard core running habit (every day, wearing spandex) is at fault, but my doctor disagrees. I’m still only two months from kicking that habit, so the improvement would not be visible for at least another month if I am correct. I am a very healthy male who eats right, doesn’t smoke and doesn’t drink much, though I do have quite a bit of chemical exposure at work.
My hormones are (relatively) normal, and the wife checks out fine.
So, we’re starting with clomid and intrauterine injections next month. I was just coming in here to find out if anyone has been through this before, and has any success or failure stories to share.
Other than the fact that my insurance is covering me going into a little room and looking at porn, this has been pretty miserable.
I went through the Army, so I had to obtain the sample at home and then haul ass to drop it off at the pathology lab within 20 mins of collection. That was fun. I was hoping for a speeding ticket. The conversation could go like this:
[Cop] Do you know you were doing 77 in a 55 zone?
[ME] Yes, but I have live sperm in this cup and I caught a couple red lights on the way.
[Cop] You can put that away, sir, I just need your liscence and registration.
[ME] Sure, will you hold this…
Seriously, both my wife and I failed the tests. We cannot have children on our own. I wish you the best. If it doesn’t work out, there is adoption or foster care. I really hope it does work for the best for you.
I didn’t ask either, but the room was really only big enough for one. Funny though. Leafing through the magazines: Playboy, Penthouse, Swank, Golf Digest. I’m guessing that last one either snuck in there or someone has a weird fetish.
My husband had a varicocele. I believe that’s a tangled mass of veins on his scrotum. He went through surgery, brave man. Five months later we were pregnant on our own. Today we have a healthy four year old daughter.
Male infertility is often one of the easiest fertility problems to fix as long as you can get at least some sperm. They can do a procedure called ICSI which involves direct injection of a single sperm into a single egg.
Much to my misfortune, I could impregnate the crack of dawn by a mere dream of a Pez dispensor with the head of a “woman-figure” hovering within 12 feet of my “hjurrum”.
A male friend was told that with his sperm count, it was impossible for him to father a child. While he stared at the doctor, at a loss for words, his wife* told the doctor “you are NOT telling me that in the street!”
Doctor: “uh, what?”
Wife: “we already have a daughter! Are you calling me a whore?”
The daughter had been mentioned when the doc took down their medical history, but you know how it is, taking medical histories down is one of those activities during which people switch their brains off.
They used IVF to try for number 2 (out of pocket, social security would have covered it if and only if there hadn’t already been a number 1). After two very bad prototypes, they decided to give up on the bio side unless it just happens, but I understand they’re giving adoption a thought.
A is a “mere” 6’2", but built like a three-door closet. He’s always been big, so he’s spent his whole life avoiding anything that might look like agression. Being 5’0" if she’s that tall, N doesn’t have such mental brakes.
I have no variocele. I’m idiopathic (we have no idea why you have a problem). I’m still leaning toward my running program being the culprit. I have no idea why my doctor is so insistent that hot tubs are awful, but my running couldn’t possibly be the problem. My undercarriage gets just as hot when I run as any hot tub!
I guess I’m lucky because the sperm I am producing seems to be in good shape, and the numbers seem to be within the range of workable. So, we’ll see.
I’d rather not do ICSI. There’s something about a human selecting which sperm goes in that seems strange. I can’t put my finger on it.
How does that work? the doctor is making no statements about the giys sperm count at the time of their kids conception, he is saying that the guy currently has a sperm count that would not be condusive to fathering a child.
My husband shot blanks until he had a vasectomy to block the chronic infections from traveling. Nearly 5 years of boinking like bunnies and I never caught. His count, morphology, and motility were way worse than yours though. The tech said the only ones that appeared normal were not moving, and there was not many of them.
FWIW, the vasectomy helped and the chronic infections began to respond to antibiotic treatments.
Apparently I am very fertile though, as it did not take much trying with someone else for me to catch. My second child is due in May! Hubby is very happy.
I have an office mate who went through the infertility treatment stuff (I never pried enough to find out if it was him, her, or both) and they ended up adopting 3 kids in 3 years and are very happy.
When my wife and I were going through fertility treatments I had to provide a sample for a baseline to ensure that I was OK. My first sample registered as at the low end of the “normal” range. The doc said that I should try One-a-day Vitamins for Men. A few weeks later I gave them a new sample. The nurse said that I set a new record for sperm count!
I only had to give one sample in the office. It felt a little strange because everyone knew what I was going in there to do. I took my time and actually read an article so it wouldn’t look like I was “quick on the trigger”. I didn’t see any golf magazines in there but there was a muscle car magazine and a Playgirl.
From then on I produced samples at home. I’d do the deed, put the container into a plain brown paper bag, and drive it to the lab. The doctor said that my wife could “help” but I had to finish on my own so everything would make it into the container. After several years of filling plastic containers, I was afraid that I’d develop a Tupperware fetish
IANAD, but I have heard the boys like to be a little cooler than the rest of the body. I don’t know how often and how long you soak in the jacuzzi, but you might want to stick with showers until the swimmers get their edge back.
Yeah, I don’t use a jacuzzi at all. My doctor, who believes that jacuzzis are the worst thing in the world for fertility, for some reason doesn’t believe that my running could have the same effect. I’m not sure why.
I had a vericocele, surgeon tried to fix, but no better counts after a few weeks. I have some, just not enough. We aren’t going to try any other options, wife and I decided they are too unnatural, degrading and/or expensive. We were never 100% behind children anyway, I was just in for a physical and my Dr said there was something in my nut sack. Went to specialist and got diagnosed. Figured we’d try to fix it because we’d like to still be able to have the choice. Joke’s on us, since I didn’t get much improvement.
I have that surgery scheduled. (Bilateraly! Joy!) Was lucky to have a diagnosis almost a year in advance of when we are planning to start trying.
I know it’s a minor procedure, but I regret looking at photos of it online. I would have preferred to imagine that they left the boys in their usual place while they were tying things off, instead of… :eek:
At least you guys know what it is. This damn idiopathic thing is what’s driving me crazy. Everything checks out okay. I’m the healthiest guy in the world. I shouldn’t be having this problem!
