At one of my appointments in October 2011, my doctor first mentioned that we might want my husband tested just to make sure there were no issues and we could rule him out. Well, November came and my doctor ordered Jeremy to have his first semen analysis done. His first analysis was done on November 23rd and I got a copy to fax to my doctor. Just looking at the results myself, and some googling, I knew it didn't look too good. I received a call from my doctor's nurse saying that we needed to see a urologist. We made an appointment for the first week of December.
We left our first appointment so deflated and confused. My husband's sperm concentration was 4.6 million per millimeter where as it should be greater than 20 million per millimeter. There are four categories for sperm movement. In the top category (rapid progression motility/A) he had 0% where you need greater than 25%. He also had 0% in the slow progression motility category(B). He had 45.7% in the non-progression motility category(C) meaning that the sperm moves its tail but does not progress or swim forward. In the final category (immotility/D) he had 54.3% that did not moved at all. The doctor asked us if he had previously had a vasectomy or had it reversed. Well, that answer was no. He also asked if he had had any trauma to that area of his body and that answer was a no as well. The doctor also mentioned that he might have antibodies that attack his sperm and treat them as a foreign matter. He said that he would not make any conclusions from just one analysis but if results from future testing stayed the same then we would only be able to conceive through In Vitro Fertilization with Intrasytoplasmic Sperm Injection (IVF with ICSI) or we would need to consider adoption. Of course we asked if there was anything we could do to help improve the results. He said that some doctors place their patients on Chlomid but that there was weak research and he did not like to place his patients on Chlomid. We didn't receive much advice to help in that area. He ordered another analysis for the following week andd the diagnosis of Oliospermia was written on his receipt.
December 9th was his next analysis and blood work was done to test his FSH, LH, Testosterone, and PCT levels. I could not wait to open that envelope to see if there was any difference. We felt slight relief when his concentration doubled to 8M/mil. He also had 11.3% in the category A and 5% in category B for motility. It may not have been a vast improvement but at least we had sperm that were actually swimming! He also did not have any major red flags come back on his blood work. His next appointment was a little more hopeful and we were told to try on our own following my doctor's instruction for six months but he would need another sperm analysis done in 3 months since it takes about that long to produce new sperm. He did say that we needed to stick to the ovulation calender and we would only need to try every other day during the fertile time in order for him to replenish his sperm.
In the meantime, we kept trying and had started Interuterine Insemination (IUI). During my spring break, we had a third analysis. The results provided us another dip in the roller coaster we had been riding. His concentration had fallen back to 4.9M/ml and he only had 6.1% in motility categories A and B. Also during this time, his doctor scheduled him for a testicular sonogram in order to check for a Varicocele, but it did not show anything of concern.
Currently, he needs another appointment with his urologist, but I have decided to self treat him for a couple more months before we go back. Two weeks ago, I was talking with a co-worker and she said that she and her husband had similar trouble conceiving their first child and her husband was placed on multiple medications from the doctor and it took a long time but she finally conceived. Well, now pregnant with her second child, she told me the what her husband had researched and found ever the counter supplements and he took them almost 6 months before they conceived their second child. She said it might not work for us but it was worth a shot. So I called GNC to see if they had the vitamins in stock, and when Jeremiah woke up that afternoon, I had it already in a medicine dispenser for him to take. He is taking fertility blend for men, vitamin d, a multivitamin, l-arginine, l-carnitine, and other vitamins he just normally takes. Fertility Blend for Men states that it takes 3 months to see results so after he has been on it a few months, I may make his appointment and get another analysis to see if it has helped in anyway.
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