Male Infertility is increasing in incidence and the male partner is becoming more responsible for causing infertility. Over last 3 decades sperm counts have fallen significantly and this is due to lifestyle changes, obesity, smoking, poor diet, pollutants and stress.
How can you improve the results of your treatment?
Lifestyle changes:
1. Diet: A diet rich in antioxidants like carotene, CoQ, lycopene, Vit E & C, It has been found that antioxidants prevent DNA damage in sperms. Diet which is specific to sperm health should be given
- Vitamin C: Lemon, Orange.
- Vitamin E: found in nuts, oils, and spinach
- Folic acid: Green leafy vegetables.
- Selenium: tuna, nuts, and chicken.
- Lycopene: found in tomatoes, bell peppers and watermelon.
- Zinc: chicken, meat.
2. Quit smoking: Smoking is known to cause DNA damage and hamper sperm production
3. Loose weight and do exercise: Overweight men have a 2-3 times more chance of a lower sperm count.
4. Avoid hot baths and tight under wears, keeping laptops on their lap – anything which makes the temperature of testis higher as this hampers sperm production
5. Painter Varnishers, metal workers, miners, farmers – for the chemicals they use which can be toxic to the sperm
6. Drugs: Avoid drugs like cocaine and marijuana as they lower sperm count.
7. Alcohol: Excessive alcohol also affects fertility.
8. Get genetic tests done – If Sperm counts are very low – Karyotyping and Y chromosome microdeletion must be done.
Treat General Health Conditions:
Any chronic ill health like diabetes , hypertension Kidney disease can impact fertility and must be treated
Stop Medication causing infertility:
Some medication for high blood pressure, depression chemotherapy cause lowering of sperm count. Testosterone used for body building drastically lowers sperm counts and it may take months and years to come back. These medications must be stopped
Consult a good Urologist:
It is important that an accurate diagnosis of problem is made. Only then can treatment be successful. One should firstly be able to differentiate between treatable and non treatable causes. In case of treatable cause where exactly is the problem. It could be that the brain hormone which helps in sperm production is defective, or there is a defect at the level of testis. Or there is a simple blockage of semen outflow. All requires an accurate diagnosis as treatment for each is totally different. Hence it becomes important to consult an urologist.
Go to the best IVF Centre:
In case IVF is needed an experienced doctor and embryologist are needed to carry out any assisted reproduction technique like intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) Here the best sperm is chosen and injected in the egg and expertise is required. For choosing the best sperm there are various techniques like IMSI, PICSI, Mac and microfluidics. Good IVF laboratories will also have advanced semen testing like DNA damage tests
Choosing a the best fertility doctor:
Decision making on what procedure is needed requires an experienced fertility specialist. A wrong procedure will not give a success IUI can be done only if motile sperm count is 5 million otherwise IVF or ICSI should be planned. If sperms less than one million ICSI must be done. Many doctors try to do it below this count but success rates are poor. Cases must be individualized and decision on what is required taken – IUI, IVF, ICSI.
There are many infertility problems raising for men now a days because of lifestyle they are now. Many problems are raising as men’s are leading stressful life. Apart from food there is a need of exercise also. This blog is very important for men infertility problems. Thanks for sharing blog like this.