Ah the good ole sperm analysis….. my favourite topic….
If you ever want to make a man squirm then talk about sending him for a sperm analysis….. that will break the toughest of men…. You want to torture a man… get him to go to an IVF clinic and provide a sample….. Ha! Ha!
But seriously….. this is such an important area of fertility and believe it or not unexplained infertility….
Over the last 15 years, at least once a month…. Yes seriously once a month…. Unexplained infertility turns out to be male factor that was not diagnosis…. And this is quite a serious mis diagnosis for each of these cases…. For most of these times the women, not the men gave themselves such a hard time about their inability to conceive when actually it was the men…..
Two sometimes three years of trying, no pregnant…. Fsh checked, Progesterone checked, AMH checked, Internal scan after internal scan….. we are sorry its unexplained and then they side to check the man…. And the response is… they are a little bit slow….. he is borderline… but sure it only takes one… and now he is off the hook…. In his mind… it now only take one….
As I mention to my own patients…. In 15 years Ive never had a male doctor tell another man he was infertile, or he’s the problem.. seriously 15 years. Whats that all about. Are us men that precious…..
Its now 50% of all cases I see where there is an ABSOLUTE issue with the sperm….
To create like require quality of ingredients… quality of egg, – quality of sperm….. poor egg or poor sperm will lead to problems in getting pregnant…..
So what do you need to look out for….
There are three basis parameters with a mans sperm count….
- Count
- Motility
- Morphology
Now when you get the results its going to look like a mathematical equation for the theory of relativity…. Seriously why make it so difficult to understand….. we are men…. If I was designing a report it would have three colours on it….
- Green
- Amber
- Red
Very simple, very stupid… but very effective….
So when you get your results they are based on, and this is really important…..
MINIMUM STANDARDS……
Yes, minimum standards….. so the minimum standards are a pass….. he’s not a rockstar…. Is a pass….
So if he just about reaches these numbers……. He could be an issue….
So with count… a pass is 15 million….. a ‘D’ in his exams.
35 million is a ‘C’ in his exams……. 60 million a ‘B’ and anything over 80 million an ‘A’
So look at this… the difference between 15 million and 85 million is massive……. And to put it into perspective….
With 85 million you have a 22-25% chance of getting pregnant per month…..
With 15 million you have a 6-8% Chance per month….. remember this statement… ’Sure it only take ONE sperm’ So that means there is a 92% chance per month you will not get pregnant…..
So if you have unexplained infertility and your partner has not been checked…. Or was told sure it only takes one…. Get him checked and rechecked….. its important to remember that these number can be improved…. But that’s another blog for the future….
Chat soon
Gordon