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Men and Infertility

© Jaime Ervi

There are so many causes and reasons for infertility that it can get very overwhelming. I just went to my first appointment with a reproductive endochrinologist and I was amazed. I didn't realize that there was so much involved, that so much could go wrong, and that the doctors actually know so little. It is still a very new science and there is still so much they do not know. WAIT! Before you panic though thinking there is no help, remember they are learning more everyday. They are constantly making advances and coming up with new treatments. I thought for the next couple of weeks I would explore in my articles some of the more common causes of infertility. I hope to discuss the male and female factor, endomitriosis and what to do if you have unexplained infertility. They do have ways to treat unexplained infertility. I am going to begin though with the male factor.

Male infertility is often overlooked and seldom mention among people who have never dealt with infertility. Most people will assume that if you can't conceive than OBVIOUSLY the woman must be doing something wrong. Naturally it must be her. This a common misconception and very wrong.Male infertility is found to be the cause of 10 to 30 percent of fertility problems . Even more, 15 to 30 percent of fertility problems are caused by a combination of problems with BOTH partners. These statistics combined mean that 50 percent of fertility problems are caused solely or partially by male fertility problems. This tells us that both partners play an equally important role in fertility. It is not solely a woman's problem.

There are many causes for male infertility. Many more than I could possibly cover or understand. I am going discuss the four most common causes and what can be done to correct or at least aid in improving them. The four main causes are: 1. sperm production disorders 2. anatomical obstructions 3. other problems such as immunological disorders 4. unexplained

Once infertility is determined an ob/gyn or reproductive endocrinologist will run many tests on both the man and the woman. The main test run on men after a physical examination is a semen analysis. This important test can tell the doctor many key things about a man and whether he is suffering from infertility. A good doctor will do, on the average, three semen analysis's. The reason for this being that many things can affect the test from stress to exercise. It takes three poor results to diagnose male infertility, but only one good test to diagnose that everything is ok.

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