I would speak with your urologist...your DH could have some sort of blockage that could potentially be fixed.

Would you consider doing IVF?

We would do IVF if neccessary but would most likely only be able to afford one time.

my husband had a low sperm count and low motility. His urologist put him on a vit with zinc vit e and selenium. His sperm count increased from 15.7 million to 75 million and we got pregnant on the first IUI...

Now are those numbers from a SA or after the sperm is washed? My hubs has low sperm count and poor morphology. He had a varicocele and had that operated on, but it did not help. RE has him on a bunch of stuff including zinc, L carnitine, and vit b. His first IUI he had 9 mil washed and the second one, 16 Mil. Unfortunately for us, 2 BFNs. We have moved onto IVF as I am 38 and I don't want to wait any longer.
Does your DH have a varicocele or a blockage? Of course your DH should do the usual - no hot baths, wear loose clothes, don't drink or smoke and eat well. Good luck!

Yea-after the sperm is washed, it's significantly lower so something like 15 million is great..

Either way, I'm surprised if your RE said he had a low SC that you'd still go ahead with the IUI..

I recently read somewhere that a high/low sperm count plays one of the largest roles in determining the success rate of IUI.

That's interestinig about the zinc vitamin..good advice!

My DH has a low count. I think 15 million, but with the swim-up, he only had 15 total. We were told IVF was the only way, so thats what we went straight to. The doctor told me the IUI wouldn't work b/c he didn't have enough. Baby blessings!

We are dealing with low counts and motility. Our old RE did 4 IUI's only the last one with any medication. All 4 were BFN's. My DH went to urologist to see what we could do. He had a varicocele removed. It did help with the increase in sperm.. but not the motility. And the count wasn't fantastic.. but it was better than the 2 to 7 or so million that we had been getting. Our new RE wants to do 2 more IUI's but w/ clomid and hcg shot. He said he wouldn't do a non-medicated cycle with us. I would talk to your RE about it and see what they can do and have DH talk to a urologist. We wanted to do, and will do, anything to increase and help our chances to have a baby. I wish you tons of luck!

Hi-don't want to presume, but I would find another RE. My DH has low count too only 1 mil. My RE said to do IUI they like to see at LEAST 20mil. My OB told me almost a year ago with DH counts just as low, that it was "normal." Some DRs are complete idiots. ANyway as soon as RE saw how low, he immediately referred him to the urologist. In fact the 2nd part of the IUI was cancelled b/c it was so low. When it comes to sperm counts I truly believe only a urologist is qualified to read test results and diagnois & treat. Good luck!

I think that an appountment with a urologist might be helpful in trying to figure out what is wrong, however, in our case it seems that he is just telling nothing can be done to treat it. However, there does seem to be some things that can be fixed.

I would suggest your husband see a urologist. Mine went a few months ago and they did a complete exam, tested his sperm and did a ultrasound to see if there was any blockage. Fortunately all his tests cam back normal but during the process they told him there was medication he could take or injections he could have if his results came back with low sperm counts.

Oh, another thing, when I get really obsessive about infertility I try to read the abstracts of medical journals on the topic (if I can understand what the heck they are talking about). A number of them said that there should be a cut off of 5 mil washed spermies for IUI as statistically less than that resulted in such few pregnancies. A few of the articles also found that to give you a chance of reasonable success, a count over 10 mil washed was needed. Counts over 20 mil washed were most successful, but it did not matter if the count was over 40 mil. We had the added problem of abnormal forms, so I don't think we ever really had too much of a chance.

Did someone say medication about low sperm?!?! Please share! help!

Well, they went ahead with my IUI on Wednesday and my DH's SC was only 3 million. I can only assume that is post-washing. It is strange cause he went to the urologist before for a SA and there is no blockage and his count was higher.

any successful IUI with 3 million sperm count? my husband has 2 million sperm count before washing. it increased to 10 million after medication and we are due for another IUI next month

My hubby had low count, progession, motility and morphology. Found out he had varicocele. Did repair and we had some improvement. Most improvement was from vitamin regime I put him on. Google vitimins for male infertilty nd you will find alot of info. L-aginine is a big one. He was taking alot of stuff and remember it takes about 75 days to produce sperm so get it in his system ASAP. We still ended up with ivf- Good luck. Hubby's count went from 13 - 17 mil to 43 mil. Vitamins work ladies.