[KMH]

Hey, girls! My name is Melissa, and I co-host the TTCMA board. I hope you don't mind me dropping in and asking a quick question about sperm motility. Google wanted to sell me a bunch of stuff, but I didn't really find what I needed.

We got a repeat SA done this last week, and the results were pretty good. The only possible area of concern would be motility...it was a tad lower than normal. What affects sperm motility? Is there something we can do to help it? DH doesn't smoke or drink, and he's a pretty healthy guy overall.

We are hoping for a February IUI, and I want as many healthy little swimmers as possible...so thanks for any help!

[richmond_girl]

Hey Melissa

Vitamins can help with count, motility and morphology. Here is a recommended "cocktail" from Cornell (leading research institute for MFI)

Vitamin C: 500 mg/day
Vitamin E: 200 IUs/day
Selenium: 200 mcgs/day
Multivitamin that contains no more than 20 mg of zinc and no more than 200 IUs of Vitamin E.
Folic Acid 800mcg
Co Q10 200mg/day

You can get these at any drugstore, and for decently cheap. If you want to do the vitamins though, you need to start right away since they take 72-90 days to take effect (that's how long it takes new sperm to generate). The sperm you'll be using for your Feb cycle started developing back in November.

Other than that, I think good diet and exercise are critical. Other things on the "can't hurt" list - no briefs, hottubs, saunas, creatine, smoking, alcohol etc. Sounds like your hubby is already in good shape for the most part. Keep in mind samples can fluctuate greatly even week to week, so it's possibly your DH doesn't have to do anything and his numbers will be even better next time, just from random chance!

Good luck!!

[Hoosier Kitty]

my DH takes 1,000 of vit e and c for his low sperm since Oct.

[KMH]

Thanks, girls! I'm heading to GNC tomorrow to pick up the vitamins, and hopefully we can get those little guys to swim