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What do you recommend we do as a couple to help us to get
pregnant naturally (in the case of unexplained infertility or where there is
a low sperm count, but its not impossible to conceive naturally) e.g diet,
exercise, supplements etc?
See answer below on improving sperm quantity and
quality.
What can I do to help improve my sperm quantity and quality?
This is difficult to
give specific advice on. When a man is asked to collect a semen sample for
laboratory investigations, he is asked to abstain from ejaculation for at
least 2-3 days before collecting the sample for investigation. However, this
time of "sexual abstinence" is for standardization in the laboratory
setting.
What really matters concerning sperm quantity and
quality, is that there are sufficient numbers of motile sperm available when
your partner is having an ovulation. Sexual intercourse around the expected
time for ovulation should be good for the quality, even if there are shorter
periods of "sexual abstinence"! But don't the let schedules or doctors
dictate the sex life! Other general advice is of course to live as healthily
as possible - avoid excessive alcohol and quit smoking (and certainly
"recreational drugs", too).
Is it true that there is a general decline in male
fertility. if so why is this?
This has been under debate among fertility
scientist for more than a decade. However, it is not male fertility that has
been measured to decrease but sperm concentration in ejaculates from
different groups of men and this does not necessarily mean that the
fertility has decreased in the whole population. The main cause for a
decrease in sperm concentration has been suggested to be the environmental
pollution, not the least increasing amounts of chemical compounds mimicking
female sex hormones. However, critics have pointed to that many other
factors, which have nothing to do with decreased fertility (changed
laboratory techniques, varying social circumstances, unrepresentative
recruitment of men for the investigations), may have influenced the
"alarming" results.
Why are there so many chemical pregnancies that don't result
in a clinical pregnancy?
We know that many embryos - also after natural
conception - do not survive to make a clinical pregnancy. All embryos start
very early to produce the pregnancy hormone that the extremely sensitive
pregnancy tests can pick up so early as 7-10 days after fertilization - that
is a week before a women would have noticed the absence of a menstrual
bleeding.
A poor embryo may die within the first two weeks
after fertilization, and then the woman will experience a normal menstrual
bleeding - she wouldn't know that there had been an embryo if she hadn't
taken a pregnancy test! And a poor embryo surviving some more days would
cause a slight delay in the menstrual bleeding, and be diagnosed a
"irregular period" if no pregnancy test has been taken. So, an early
pregnancy
test showing a chemical pregnancy is a proof that an embryo
has started to grow. If there is a menstrual bleeding - on time or delayed -
accompanied by a negative pregnancy test it means that this embryo was not
fit to continue to grow - a quite common situation in mankind!
What happens if the treatment fails?
If your treatment does not result in a successful
pregnancy the doctor will see you again. At these consultations the doctor
will review all aspects of your treatment and discuss your next step. This
could range from stopping the treatment, to continuing with the same
treatment or switching to an alternative.
What are the reasons why embryos don't implant?
There may be several reasons. For example, even if
the embryo transferred after IVF or ICSI looks healthy it may not be fit to
survive more than a few days later. Other possible reasons is that the
surface of womb (uterus) is not prepared to let the embryo implant.
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