Many of you were here when I posted back in September about DH's lousy s/a. Well, we had 2 s/a done then, about 1 week apart. We mostly had a motility problem - the first s/a we had 46 million/ml, but only .9 ml and 10% motility - that left us with about 8 million motile sperm (not good). Our 2nd s/a was a little better, but not by much - we had a count of 21 million/ml, 3.5 ml, and 22% motility. They did a trial wash to see if we could do IUI, and although we had 16 million motile pre-wash, we only had 2 million post-wash (not really enough for IUI). RE said he'd let us do 1 IUI with the low numbers, but said we should move on to IVF w/ ICSI immediately.

So, in an effort to try and improve DH's numbers while we were waiting on me having fibroid surgery, DH quit cycling (he used to bike everywhere for transportation), and he started taking vitamins: One-A-Day Men's Health, 1000 mg Vitamin C, 1000 mg L-Carnitine, 400 IU Vitamin E, and maca root.

So, today we went for our IUI. The RE was only going to allow us this one IUI unless things improved (we needed over 5 million to even consider doing this again). DH's count for the IUI showed MAJOR improvement!! Volume was 2.3 ml, count was 76 million/ml, motility was 31%, total motile was 54 million, and post-wash count was 5.3 million. This is only after 2 months - so we expect it will keep improving over the next months! We will likely do 1 or 2 more IUIs if this fails before moving on to IVF.

We are also thinking of adding L-Arginine and Pycnogenol to the mix . . . L-Arginine is supposed to help with morph & motility, and Pycno is supposed to help with morph (which can affect motility and post-wash counts). Even if we don't get pg this cy, we are so excited that we even have a realistic shot, and we are hopeful for the future! Just thought I'd share for those of you in the same boat.

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Wow! That's fantasic. How did iui go? Did they also suggest bding at home too? With the numbers so high you guys have ALOT more options....GL and Congrats!

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I think we will bd tonight - not sure if it is already too late. I wish we had bd'd the night of trigger, but RE was worried about our count being too low. Next cy, we'll bd night of trigger and then have the IUI.

His count went up, but his motility is still really low. Even post wash, the movement is only rated a 1+, and 4 is desired. So, I'm not sure that his swimmers are swimming all that well . . . I hope it is good enough to catch an egg! We have a follow-up evaluation/consult on the 19th, so we'll have a chance to talk to the dr about what it all means. With the improvements, though, we may actually have a chance with IUI . . . so it is certainly something!

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Congrats on the count improving! DH and I will have to try that!! I've seen those ads for fertility blend just wondering if anyone has tried that. I think after this baby that we will simply try on our own. I don't know if I can handle to emotional stress of more IVF, plus the cost!!!

Good luck!

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We tried fertility blend for DH and it didn't help his swimmers at all

but.. we did use 3 other pills combined together and his count and motility went up. Unforunately it was a doc in Mexico that ordered them for us (yeah sounds scandalous lol but it worked) They made DH constipated and made him get lumps on his breasts, under his nipples.. So, we quit.. His numbers went up tremendously!!!!! Then when he stopped taking them everything went down again.. I don't remember the names.. I have to get out my papers and look someday...

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WOW that is great! So, when are you going to proceed with the IUI? I am about to start my DH on maca too but I will mix in some of the other vitamins you mentioned. I have to wait anyway so might as well try something while I wait.

Keep us posted!

We did one IUI in December (after only 2 months of the vitamins). I'm on hold this cy because of cysts, but we'll do IUI #2 next month. DH is on quite a cocktail (and we added a few things):

One-A-Day Men's Health
1000 mg Vitamin C
1000 mg L-Carnitine
1000 mg L-Arginine
400 IU Vitamin E
CoQ10
100 mg pycnogenol
Maca Root

We're really hoping the forward progression will improve next cy.

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That is quite a cocktail! I will try and get my DH to try it although he is already taking some other medicine that his Endocrinologist put him on.