February 15, 2009
My husband and I have had 3 pregnancies together, and have two children - 6 and 4. We decided 18 months ago to try for baby number 3. Our last conception was 4 years ago - and happened unexpectedly with little effort, and under extreme stress. After having no success this time, I was given the female blood tests by my Doctor, and my fertility came back as excellent, - I am 35. Yesterday we took the plunge, and my husband did the Fertell home test, which checks the concentration of a man's motile sperm. It was negative - he is 54.
We are shocked and devastated! I recognise a man's fertility can decline with age, but we are puzzled. Would the decline be so rapid and catastrophic? Given that just 4 years ago (when he was 50) we were conceiving with little effort, is it possible that his age alone has had this huge effect on his fertility? He is more stressed at work as of the last 2-3 yrs, and has been taking diphenhydramine (nytol) every few weeks for insomnia - is it more likely that this could be the cause?
Your thoughts on this would be most appreciated. My husband doesn't smoke or drink (never has), eats extremely healthily, and is of normal weight. He has a good libido, and we have intercourse every few days throughout the month. We realise we now need to have further testing, but for now we would welcome any glimmer of hope (or not) to help us understand this devastating news.
Many thanks.
We are shocked and devastated! I recognise a man's fertility can decline with age, but we are puzzled. Would the decline be so rapid and catastrophic? Given that just 4 years ago (when he was 50) we were conceiving with little effort, is it possible that his age alone has had this huge effect on his fertility? He is more stressed at work as of the last 2-3 yrs, and has been taking diphenhydramine (nytol) every few weeks for insomnia - is it more likely that this could be the cause?
Your thoughts on this would be most appreciated. My husband doesn't smoke or drink (never has), eats extremely healthily, and is of normal weight. He has a good libido, and we have intercourse every few days throughout the month. We realise we now need to have further testing, but for now we would welcome any glimmer of hope (or not) to help us understand this devastating news.
Many thanks.
February 15, 2009
Agree with Angelfish, best to do a semen analysis at a laboratory (preferably ordered by your Urologist or general doc) and yearly testing. Agree that given this history, there is more likely than not sperm present