low Morphology analysis and treatment?

Mrs A · 06-20-2009, 09:52 AM

my husband has low morphology analysis, 96% of his sperm has head difects.
We just began seeing RE and my RE told me he is fine with that...

For real? i mean, i love my RE and i believe him. But is there anything we can do meanwhile? my hubby cut back on beers (he love ales) and got on multivitamins.

my Dx is unclear. except the fact i have a tipped uterus all seemd fine. I have a fibroid in outside of Uterus but RE said it is not worth removing or worrying about, unless it grew lot bigger (it's 28mm)

If anyone could share your thoughts or story, it would help. I am going nuts here.

linden · 06-21-2009, 09:01 AM

My DH also has poor morphology...only 2% are normal. We tried 2 vericocele surgeries, herbal treatments, and a cocktail of vitamins to try to improve it. None were successful. However, we have conceived via IVF w/ ICSI. By using ICSI, the embryologist was able to select only "normal" sperm to manually fertilize my eggs. Seems like ICSI is the most effective treatment for morpholoogy issues. Good luck to you!

Mrs A · 06-24-2009, 07:43 PM

linden, thank you. My RE recommends us IUI with injectable. RE didnt' even ask my DH to visit urologist and said 4% is okay for IUI. hummm.
thank you for your input.

tenseintexas · 06-28-2009, 07:57 AM

Mrs A- my DH had a few sperm samples...one had 0% morphology and the next one had 1% morphology ( strict krueger scale)...he also had low numbers though--about 6 million..He went to urologist- no variocele or anything wrong with there. I am very surprised your RE did not tell your DH to go see one.,,that was one of the first things we did. We did one IUI ( BFN) and then had another sperm count ..when the sperm were still low and bad morph, our doctor told us we had about a 5% chance of success with IUI...so we moved on to IVF and had success

I would think your husband would need to go see a urologist. If he has a variocele, then there are things that can be done to fix that!

Wonderful luck with whatever you choose! Let me know if you have any questions

iMama · 06-29-2009, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs A

my husband has low morphology analysis, 96% of his sperm has head difects.
We just began seeing RE and my RE told me he is fine with that...
If anyone could share your thoughts or story, it would help. I am going nuts here.

Mrs A, May I suggest that you obtain a second opinion? If you're concerned about the cost, please keep in mind that some clinics offer a free consult - Sher/SIRM was doing this a few months ago and may still be offering this.

I've noticed that some RE's always offer IUI's as a first line of treatment, regardless of the DX. Both my research and my doctor's opinion both tell me that IUI's are only appropriate when the DX calls for it.

Another tip, can you speak with the sperm analysis person yourself? The one we had was so knowledgable.

When I was interviewing RE's, before we had our semen analysis results, I asked every RE at what level of sperm challenge do they reccommend IUI? and At what level do they reccommed IVF? I asked this to see if they were the type of doctor to tell you IUI for everything.

I can't recall my DH's exact numbers, but he had 2 million that were in good and motile. Not enough for IUI to be strongly reccomended, but definitely enough for IVF with ICSI. Since we have secondary IF, I wonder sometimes if we shouldn't just do IUI, but as hard as it is to save the money, I really don't want to spend money and have no results due to failed IUI's. But I feel fairly confident that 2 rounds of IVF will give us the best shot.

good luck Mrs A,

Mrs A · 06-30-2009, 07:09 PM

i ended up calling my RE and the clinical nurse, and other clinic's nurse.
It all make sesne now.

Overall, all of them agree that my DH "could" go to a urologist and try to see what can be done. However, any surgery does not grantee the increase of sperm morphology. (his morphology is 4%, most of sperm were head defected).
My RE is a big believer that these should be "our" choice. However, he did share his professional opinion that urology visit won't hurt but he doesn't see a bit success rate in that route in his 20 years + experice. He'd rather have my DH to cut off caffeine, beer and maintain more healthier lifestyle. As my DH has fathered a child in past, RE is hopeful that IUI might work for us.

Two other clinical nurse said same, and that's what i got out of reading posting from this site. BTW i love my nurse, she goes "just like we cannot chose when to become pregnant, some guys' sperms were just born that way. At least your DH has some to go with the treatment!)

He is taking a multi-vitamins, cutting down on beer (he is a beer snob guy) and trying to lose a couple pounds. I still recommend him to visit a urologist but it may take a while as he quietly scares the visit (lol).

Anyway, thank you agian for all of posting. You guys are such a courage to me.

Trying4BabyK#3 · 07-01-2009, 07:25 AM

Hi Mrs. A. We just found out that my DH has morphology issues now. We're going through secondary infertility so this blindsided us. His previous SA (about 6 - 7 years ago) showed stellar levels of everything and we went on to have two healthy DDs. I assumed that my age was the factor now (39) and that's why we haven't gotten pregnant on our own for Baby #3. I've gone through 2 cycles of Follistim/Ovidrel/TI and am currently in the 2WW for a cycle of Follistim/Ovidrel/IUI. The nurse was encouraging about our chances, but I can't believe it when his SA showed 0 (yes, ZERO!!!) normal sperm and only 13% boarderline normal/slightly abnormal sperm in the sample. To me, zero is pretty horrific and 13% of questionable quality is nothing to get excited about either. She is going to discuss it with my RE and see what he recommends, but she was positive that IUI could help with those numbers b/c the washing helps. I can't help but worry that those numbers could also lead to an increased risk of birth defects as well. It may be silly, but I don't see how we could avoid defects when we are working with defective sperm and questionable egg quality thanks to my age! Sorry to ramble but I'm freaking out and I'm seriously questioning whether to continue with this whole process if this cycle doesn't work out. I feel like nature is against us.

Me (39) and DH (45)
DD#1 - 2004
DD#2 - 2006
Off B/C since 2007
TTC with RE's assistance since 3/2009
Cycle 1 - Follistim/Ovidrel/TI - BFN
Cycle 2 - Follistim/Ovidrel/TI - BFN
Cycle 3 - Follistim/Ovidrel/IUI - ???

Mrs A · 07-08-2009, 05:54 AM

Trying4BabyK#3
I am sorry to hear your bad news. I also understand your feeling about defective sperms and eggs. I am 36 and feels like time is slipping away. I have done a couple of B/W done but my DH hasn't. He has only done one SA and he is weiry of going to see the Urologist. My RE wasn't really keen on the idea of that either saying you could do it but hasn't seen many success going through the urologist.
Best of luck for us!

Trying4BabyK#3 · 07-08-2009, 11:09 AM

I have read a lot of postings about some of the men's supplements (Conception XR, etc.) and my husband has volunteered to try them. The biggest problem is that it takes 3 months to fully "refresh" the sperm that is produced, and I just don't feel like we can wait that long for results since we are quickly blowing through my insurance's fertility coverage. AF showed up today, so this cycle is offically blown. Good luck to you! We are going to re-evaluate our plans. Maybe we are meant to be a family of 4 after all.

06-20-2009, 09:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
Mrs A 100-199 post 3 of hearts Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: ohio Posts: 122 Blog Entries: 42	low Morphology analysis and treatment? my husband has low morphology analysis, 96% of his sperm has head difects. We just began seeing RE and my RE told me he is fine with that... For real? i mean, i love my RE and i believe him. But is there anything we can do meanwhile? my hubby cut back on beers (he love ales) and got on multivitamins. my Dx is unclear. except the fact i have a tipped uterus all seemd fine. I have a fibroid in outside of Uterus but RE said it is not worth removing or worrying about, unless it grew lot bigger (it's 28mm) If anyone could share your thoughts or story, it would help. I am going nuts here.

06-28-2009, 07:57 AM	#4 (permalink)
tenseintexas 900-999 post jack of hearts Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 913	Mrs A- my DH had a few sperm samples...one had 0% morphology and the next one had 1% morphology ( strict krueger scale)...he also had low numbers though--about 6 million..He went to urologist- no variocele or anything wrong with there. I am very surprised your RE did not tell your DH to go see one.,,that was one of the first things we did. We did one IUI ( BFN) and then had another sperm count ..when the sperm were still low and bad morph, our doctor told us we had about a 5% chance of success with IUI...so we moved on to IVF and had success I would think your husband would need to go see a urologist. If he has a variocele, then there are things that can be done to fix that! Wonderful luck with whatever you choose! Let me know if you have any questions __________________ me (32) dh (33) TTC since 2008 IUI #1 March 09 BFN IUI #2 April IUI- cancelled IVF #1 06/09/09- egg retrieval 6 eggs, 5 mature, 3 fertilized 06/12/09-3dt of 2 embies 06 /26/06- Beta #1 639 6/29/09 Beta #2 2897 1st U/S EDD of Baby GIRL 03/02/09

06-30-2009, 07:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
Mrs A 100-199 post 3 of hearts Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: ohio Posts: 122 Blog Entries: 42	Thank you for all of your reply i ended up calling my RE and the clinical nurse, and other clinic's nurse. It all make sesne now. Overall, all of them agree that my DH "could" go to a urologist and try to see what can be done. However, any surgery does not grantee the increase of sperm morphology. (his morphology is 4%, most of sperm were head defected). My RE is a big believer that these should be "our" choice. However, he did share his professional opinion that urology visit won't hurt but he doesn't see a bit success rate in that route in his 20 years + experice. He'd rather have my DH to cut off caffeine, beer and maintain more healthier lifestyle. As my DH has fathered a child in past, RE is hopeful that IUI might work for us. Two other clinical nurse said same, and that's what i got out of reading posting from this site. BTW i love my nurse, she goes "just like we cannot chose when to become pregnant, some guys' sperms were just born that way. At least your DH has some to go with the treatment!) He is taking a multi-vitamins, cutting down on beer (he is a beer snob guy) and trying to lose a couple pounds. I still recommend him to visit a urologist but it may take a while as he quietly scares the visit (lol). Anyway, thank you agian for all of posting. You guys are such a courage to me.

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06-21-2009, 09:01 AM	#2 (permalink)
linden 800-899 post 10 of hearts Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Summit, NJ Posts: 804	My DH also has poor morphology...only 2% are normal. We tried 2 vericocele surgeries, herbal treatments, and a cocktail of vitamins to try to improve it. None were successful. However, we have conceived via IVF w/ ICSI. By using ICSI, the embryologist was able to select only "normal" sperm to manually fertilize my eggs. Seems like ICSI is the most effective treatment for morpholoogy issues. Good luck to you!

06-24-2009, 07:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
Mrs A 100-199 post 3 of hearts Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: ohio Posts: 122 Blog Entries: 42	linden, thank you. My RE recommends us IUI with injectable. RE didnt' even ask my DH to visit urologist and said 4% is okay for IUI. hummm. thank you for your input.

07-01-2009, 07:25 AM	#7 (permalink)
Trying4BabyK#3 0-99 post 2 of hearts Join Date: May 2009 Location: Midwest Posts: 96	Hi Mrs. A. We just found out that my DH has morphology issues now. We're going through secondary infertility so this blindsided us. His previous SA (about 6 - 7 years ago) showed stellar levels of everything and we went on to have two healthy DDs. I assumed that my age was the factor now (39) and that's why we haven't gotten pregnant on our own for Baby #3. I've gone through 2 cycles of Follistim/Ovidrel/TI and am currently in the 2WW for a cycle of Follistim/Ovidrel/IUI. The nurse was encouraging about our chances, but I can't believe it when his SA showed 0 (yes, ZERO!!!) normal sperm and only 13% boarderline normal/slightly abnormal sperm in the sample. To me, zero is pretty horrific and 13% of questionable quality is nothing to get excited about either. She is going to discuss it with my RE and see what he recommends, but she was positive that IUI could help with those numbers b/c the washing helps. I can't help but worry that those numbers could also lead to an increased risk of birth defects as well. It may be silly, but I don't see how we could avoid defects when we are working with defective sperm and questionable egg quality thanks to my age! Sorry to ramble but I'm freaking out and I'm seriously questioning whether to continue with this whole process if this cycle doesn't work out. I feel like nature is against us. Me (39) and DH (45) DD#1 - 2004 DD#2 - 2006 Off B/C since 2007 TTC with RE's assistance since 3/2009 Cycle 1 - Follistim/Ovidrel/TI - BFN Cycle 2 - Follistim/Ovidrel/TI - BFN Cycle 3 - Follistim/Ovidrel/IUI - ???

07-08-2009, 05:54 AM	#8 (permalink)
Mrs A 100-199 post 3 of hearts Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: ohio Posts: 122 Blog Entries: 42	Trying4BabyK#3 I am sorry to hear your bad news. I also understand your feeling about defective sperms and eggs. I am 36 and feels like time is slipping away. I have done a couple of B/W done but my DH hasn't. He has only done one SA and he is weiry of going to see the Urologist. My RE wasn't really keen on the idea of that either saying you could do it but hasn't seen many success going through the urologist. Best of luck for us!

07-08-2009, 11:09 AM	#9 (permalink)
Trying4BabyK#3 0-99 post 2 of hearts Join Date: May 2009 Location: Midwest Posts: 96	I have read a lot of postings about some of the men's supplements (Conception XR, etc.) and my husband has volunteered to try them. The biggest problem is that it takes 3 months to fully "refresh" the sperm that is produced, and I just don't feel like we can wait that long for results since we are quickly blowing through my insurance's fertility coverage. AF showed up today, so this cycle is offically blown. Good luck to you! We are going to re-evaluate our plans. Maybe we are meant to be a family of 4 after all.