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Please help! don't understand!

Hi all,me & my oh are trying for baby no 2 have been for over 18 months,we are now going down the road of tests my bloods are ok my oh has just had sperm results back & the only thing that came back with a problem is the form?? dr said it should be 20% but his is coming back at 9% what does this mean? Is there anything we can do to change this? is this my dream of having baby no2 gone please if anyone can help weather good or bad news can sitting crying my eyes out i know i'm so lucky to have lo but always wanted 2 esp now as lo is desperate to have a little brother or sis thanks xo

Replies

  • Hi cloclo

    Sorry to hear you are having to go through this but glad you are starting investigations. Form basically means the shape and size of your oh sperms. We all know what a "normal" sperm cell should look like, but not all of them look like this. I think it is most unusual, if not impossible, for a man to have 100% normal forms. However, in order to make natural conception possible a certain % have to be considered "normal".

    In my experience it depends on the individual PCT what % they like to see. Yours obviously says 20%, mine looks for 15% and I have heard that some consider just 10% normal to be sufficient.

    At 9% I wouldn't say there is a complete impossibility of conceiving naturally. My hubby has 8% which we were initially devastated by (and may still have to go the IVF route) but people can conceive with much lower, it's not impossible.

    Really your oh needs to do three samples in order for the hospital to obtain a true average. In the meantime, there are some steps you can take towards improving sperm quality, including:

    Cut down on caffeine
    No smoking
    Cut down on alcohol
    No hot baths
    Put oh on vitamin supplements (lots of the girls on here can recommend good ones)
    Keep mobile phone out of pocket
    OH not to use laptop on lap
    Exercise
    Drink lots of water

    I've written this all in a bit of a rush as on my lunch break at work, but hope it points you in the right direction a bit. x
  • Thank you so much for your advice & has made me a lot calmer & there might be some light at the end of the tunnel,Thank you xo
  • Hiya cloclo, sorry to hear your oh had a bad sperm result. Sounds like angelfish is very knowledgeable about the form aspect so I can't really add anything to that info....but just wanted to say my hubbie has had very poor sperm results and we are trying some of the things angelfish mentioned to imrpove them. If you look at my other topics, my thread on agglutination has a list of vitamins on it. I have posted a few others about s/a so they may be worth a read through too.

    Also, just to say that they should do at least another one or two sperm tests as it could just have been a one-off bad result.

    Angelfish is form the same as morphology? If so, then I agree that 9% is really not that bad. Am fairly sure orangepants was told that if morphology is the only issue then there is still a reasonably good chance of conceiving naturally.

    Good luck hon xx
  • Thanks so much to the both of you! oh is now on strict orders not to have laptop on lap or mobile phone in pocket going shopping tomorrow for boxers & vitamins thanks so much for advice xoxo
  • Tinybabydancer, yes I always understood form to be another term for morphology. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but that was the basis on which I wrote my response.

    cloclo, you should probably ask for oh to have another couple of tests done and then sit down with your doc to discuss the results fully. Make sure oh obeys your orders and you may well see an improvement in the next result! x
  • I know a fair bit about this subject too (sadly seem to have had a bit of expereince in nearly all areas now!)

    Anyway, yep i agree with Angel fish, 15 is the norm, but think of it this way, a person with a low count may have 10 mil sperm, so 15% of 10 mil... if your hubby has good count, say 30 or 40 mil you have 8% of that number, so overall still good chance, esp if mot is good so what you have got is swimming in right direction.

    Id try not to worry too much about that, also SA can change quickly, there are several threads running on here about this subject, have a look though, im sure you'll fins one that helps.

    Good Luck x
  • Dear all thanks so much for your advice been to asda to get boxers not sure he's going to like them but tough! he's obeying the rules so far hasn't had laptop on lap & keeping his mobile phone away from his willy todger also been to get some more zinc,cockles (he likes them) & folic acid all his other bits of test were fine just the form have to go back to drs in sep for another sperm test then take it from there so everythings crossed its ok,thanks once again for your replys your stopped my tears & made it all a bit clearer your worth your weight in gold! xoxo
  • Sugarpuff you are more than welcome to gatecrash if you bring news like that with you! Gives us all some hope, thank you! x
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