Keeping the River Flowing

Tips to Improve Male Infertility

At a recent human reproduction and embryology conference in Europe (http://www.eshre.com), some interesting findings on Male Factor Infertility were uncovered.

One of the studies titled "Keep the River Flowing" was an exploratory study investigating the effect of daily ejaculation for 7 days and sperm DNA damage. Anyway, the study uncovered that 3 days of abstinence followed by 7 days consecutive days of ejaculation, resulted in reduced sperm DNA fragmentation (down from 33% to 21.8%), increased motility and improved morphology.

It was concluded that sex / ejaculation for 7 days leading up to and including ovulation during a normal female reproductive cycle may then increase chances of conception. The implication being that if the same thing was applied leading up to a sperm collection for IVF/IUI/ICSI then the chances of conception may also be improved. There is the usual caveat that more studies are needed to look at this furthr but I don't need any convincing. We've tried many things - might as well give this a go and keep the river flowing as well. My poor husband is going to be exhausted (he works full time and studies part-time)!

Day 11 Countdown

IVF, Acupuncture and Male Fertility

I spoke to our Chinese herbalist today. She has been a great source of support to both me and my husband. My husband sees her to help his sperm. His sperm count and motility have improved quite dramatically. However, his sperm morphology and the antibodies in his sperm are still a problem.

I have also been seeing her and have had acupuncture on a regular basis but this is the first time during treatment that I haven't had it. There were a number of reasons for this.

The first was that I have developed an aversion to needles. I am so sick of needles, blood tests and injections that I just couldn't face seeing any more. Whilst acupuncture does not hurt, I just couldn't do it.

The second reason was that my transfer happened on Wednesday. Having acupuncture would mean that I would have to commute for a couple of hours after work in peak hour traffic three times in that week for treatment. I decided, probably selfishly, that my time was better spent relaxing at home rather than stressing out in traffic. Maybe I am trying to make myself feel better about not going, but it sure feels like all her good work is undone when I get back into the car and stress out in the traffic.

On a positive note, my lovely IVF nurse has arranged for me to have my pregnancy blood test on Friday which will be Day 14. So with a bit of luck or misfortune, I will get to find out if I am pregnant... or not.

Normally, the clinic asks you to have a blood test on Day 16 but that happens to fall on a Sunday but the clinic is closed on Sundays. I also think my nurse is feeling sorry for me and does not want to keep me in suspense. Mind you, my period is as regular as they come so I don't think I will waiting the whole weekend to have an answer any way.