If DH's sperm count is already low.....

So I'm wondering about my DH's sperm count. He is 41 and an occassional smoker. THose two factors alone would lead me to believe its possibly lower than 'normal'. I also have him on Licorice Root and we've been doing shallow release after a 10 day abstain at 3 days before O using sylk and rePhresh.

So what would you think? Should I drop some of my sperm-count-lowering things?

1.Should we DTD closer to O? (which I'm a bit scared of given we conceived our boys right on O!)

2. Should we drop the sylk? (I kinda need a little something to make the ride smoother if I'm not allowed the big-O!)

3. Less abstain - DTD more often? (again, when we conceived our boys we DTD every 2nd day!)

4. Should I drop the Licorice Root? Or is that testosterone-lowering?

Argh....I can't think straight!!!! Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks,
Sass.

Hi Sassy

I would definitely look to drop/change something in your position.

1. I would go closer to O for sure - if you're nervous about O day itself, how would it work out for you to have your attempt the day of your first +OPK. Would that give you around a day? I would even consider having 2 or 3 attempts - beginning 3 days before O and ending at your first +OPK (regardless of whether you FR or abstain prior to that).

2. If I was DTD closer to O I'd feel happy to still do the Rephresh 3 days before O and use the Sylk.

3. DTD every other day doesn't even compare to frequent release - every 2 days is great for optimum sperm count whereas every day for 7-10 days isn't! What does your DH think? Is he up for Frequent Release or does he prefer the abstain?

4. The licorice root lowers testosterone but I think the connection is that guys with lower testosterone may have lower sperm count so it all comes back to that. You might choose to drop the licorice root if you decide to change to frequent release.

HTH - I'm sure others will have even more ideas!

How many months have you been trying again?? If I rem. right, you had a bad couple weeks on diet but are back on track now - so that could go either way, you might want to give it another month on a hard sway if you don't feel great about your diet this month.

On the other hand, I see you are in Aus. which means you are at the girl "peak" time of conceptions so maybe you want to pull out all the stops and try to conceive this month.

MPO, I totally think you need to drop some stuff. Even if his count is normal, you are already doing A LOT and it's prob. just too much for any swimmers to overcome.

1)3 DBO is to my mind, prob. too long. AT 41 his sperm may not live as long and then with everything else, it's too much to overcome. I think you can still feel very good about a 2 or even 1 day cutoff, without resorting to BD on O if that's scary to you.

2)I would not drop the sylk just yet. I'd rather see you drop the long cutoff and abstain before you drop the Sylk. You don't need to lose everything all at once, you can save the Sylk for another month (altho, if you really do decide to try to TTC this month because it's your girl peak, then you might want to skip it.)

3) As you prob. already know, I don't like abstain for any guys over 35 because of the increased risk of birth defects, plus I think it's just too hard for their sperm to bounce back from it. Have you read the "compressed frequent release" thread?? http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...-or-abstaining

4)I would consider dropping the licorice root. It will keep working to a lesser extent for a month or two till it's out of his system and he needs periodic breaks from it anyway.

5)If nothing else I would prob. drop the shallow release and consider doing 2 attempts in your window, so either O-3 and O-2, O-3 and O-1 or O-2 and O-1 will all help you avoid O.

Yeah Atomic - my middle name is 'impatient' lol! I've been on the diet for 3 months, had a chem, then didn't try (just practiced with Ph etc) then this was our first 'real' shot.....who am I to think it would happen straight away lol! And I was so convinced I was pg last month that yes, I got slack on the diet. But I've already (in 2 days) dropped 0.5kgs (1 pound) so I think I'll be ok on the diet and losing weight to ttc this month.

But yes - it is peak girl time here and I know that I've got this month and probably next month while things are optimal (seasonally speaking) which is making me think I give it my all for the next 2 weeks to give it our best shot.

I'm happy to do a 2 or 1 day cut off - I think I'll probably go 1 day, and still use RePhresh and Sylk.

Thanks for that link too - that's changed my view. I think I'll get DH to release the night before our attempt (or maybe DTD), release the morning of our attempt, then DTD that night. And that might mean he can drop the Licorice Root (which he only takes from AF -O anyway).

And I'll drop the shallow release.

Thanks again, girls....let me know if there's anything else you think I could 'change up'!

Hey, I wrote this up partially in response to this thread, I hope it's somewhat helpful to you.

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...-pink-and-blue