is sperm damage reversible?

Hello,
We have started seeing a FS to seek fertility treatment and my partner recently recieved the news that his SA was abnormal. We are waiting to go back to see the dr to see what this actually means but the the FS has suggested more tests will be needed.

I feel myself I know the cause of these results and have been nagging for a long time for him to change his lifestyle. You see my partner love love loves his beer and has for many years slipped into the very blokey culture of a few well deserved beers every single day after a hard days work, and he has the big belly to boot. Not to give an impression that he is an alcoholic which he is not but DP has been in denial for a long time about the effects his beer has had on his body but after these results, has now stopped all together in the last couple of weeks.

Im wondering if infact the poor results are from the years of drinking beer and if the effects of damage to sperm after many years of this lifestyle can be reversed?
And what other tests should he be prepared for when we go back?

Hi Dextersmum,

I hate to tell your DP but the beer definitely is not a good thing. Giving up entirely is probably not realistic (although many men do) but cutting it down to around three standard drinks a week would be better.

Also, try menevit and/or zinc.
Dont let his boys get overheated (no hot baths/spas, etc)
Boxers are meant to be better than briefs (not tight ones)
Weight loss and improvement in general fitness would help

From memory, it takes about three months of lifestyle changes for there to be an improvement in sperm.

Keep in mind though, there may be genetic factors which lifestyle changes wont improve. You really need to ask your FS.

Good luck!!

Definitely fixable! Ditto to everything N2L said, and we're about to start on Royal Jelly as well, apparently it's somewhat of a wonder drug for fertility. Something else I found on my travels the other day was a 30 day Fertility Cleanse, one for men and one for women. It'll be great for giving his body a kickstart on to it's new healthy journey, and it'll be good for you too :) Just google it, it's in the US. Hope that helps!

I completely agree with what the N2L and Keike have said!!

My DH had a SA done last Feb and we received some not so great results... abnormality of over 93% (from memory) and volume wasn't great either.

Instead of Menevit (which I found to be too expensive), he was taking zinc, folate and fish oil. He also cut the beer right down and was eating healthier. He exercises almost daily by riding his bike but he made sure he got changed out of his riding gear as soon as he got to work.

He had to do another SA before we commenced IVF in Feb this year and there was a HUGE improvement. His volume had increased to over 20 million and abnormality was under 87%.

Talk to your FS again and see what they have to say, but if it's just lifestyle factors than it's definitely fixable hun.

:goodluck:

I think the answer is maybe. It depends. But alcohol is not great for sperm, no. Sperm are replaced every 3 months or so, so depending on what is causing hte problem it can indeed be fixable.

Thank you wonderful ladies,
Am feeling a little more confident that we will be able to get some healthy swimmers in the future, but such a worry as he has lived this lifestyle since he was 18 and is now 35.

N2L I am unsure what the exact results are but he did start on the menovit about a week ago and fingers crossed he isnt having any beer, he is away in his truck atm ( probably another factor the truckdriving). so i hope he isnt mixing too much with the other guys down there at the pub. But he told me he wont as much as he can, He is a bit of a larrikin and the guys expect him to drink with them and given that we havent told anyone what we are trying to achieve, I am not sure how he will explain the non drinking :D

Ive been nagging for a long time about the beer as we have been TTC for 4 years. i was always suspicious it was him with a problem as I have already had 3 babies but almost had myself convinced it was me with the problem due to age. But now after having to do his test and the prospect of other testing, I think he is finally understanding the seriousness of it all and making a commitment to quit the drinking. He could defintely stand to lose a few kilos which i am sure cutting out the beer will help.

So royal Jelly is good ? I will have to get some for him, are they useful for women too considering I am a bit older (38)? Might be good for my googies?
Has anyone heard if coQ10 is helpful?

Keike I will look up the fertility cleanse book, I went to our local library today to see what I could find but living in a small town there wasnt a great deal of books on the topic.

What about the other tests? As we live 5 hours away from the specialist and I emailed and asked about making appointments for the other tests while we visited Sydney, his reply was that he needed to speak with us about the tests as they are expensive, any ideas what they could be?

Hey dextersmum,

Same issues for us, DH used to drink a few beers every night, and i always thought this had an impact on his swimmers. This year he gave up, first time ever, and three months later we had a natural BFP, so i definitely think there is a connection. I also put him on menevit, but after i had already bought it (!!) FS told me that a multivitamin basically has the same contents for a fraction of the price.

Good luck!

Get him on a good quality probiotic (inner health plus isn't great, there are better ones out there). The yeast in the beer in particular could certainly effect sperm count, and it should help to rebalance his gut health.

I know this is for male fertility issues so if I am blatantly out of line I apologize. But since the discussion of beer on sperm is being discussed, what about affects of beer on eggs?

Hi Dextersmum,

The other tests would probably be more investigation of the genentic/chromosomal issues that can lead to sperm issues. Our FS ordered blood tests for DH checking for chromosomal abnormalities and also to see if he was a carrier of cystic fibrosis as I think this has been linked to poor sperm. These were about $300 (very roughly - it was over 3 years ago).

Hope this helps.

I can't say my husband has tried EVERYTHING to improve his sperm quality but we definitely have tried and its stayed exactly the same!!! He was on menivet, we tried a powder drink called sperm max from the health food shop. Dh very rarely drinks (maybe 4 beers a month if that!). He Does not do any form of drugs and does not smoke. And he isn't the skinniest but he isn't over weight. My husbands sperm has remained at 0% motility. low sperm count and lots of abnormal sperm for 4 years so I am sceptical abut it improving. Good luck with your journey :)