You may have used an ovulation predictor kit and identified your most fertile days to get pregnant. You may have done various check-ups to look for any fertility problems, but if all the tests are negative and you are still facing difficulties in getting pregnant, then it could be that your partner is having fertility issues.
Causes of Infertility in Men
Men too face fertility problems that can be diagnosed and treated. You may consider doing a fertility test for men to detect if there is any problem that is hindering your wife from getting pregnant. Lifestyle factors affect a man’s fertility and the health of his sperms. A few factors that tend to affect male fertility are as follows:
- Heavy smoking
- Heavily on drugs
- Excess drinking
- Use of steroids
- Wearing tight underwear that can get the testes hot
- Stress that reduces libido
- Exposure to toxins such as radioactive metals, lead, and other heavy metals
Men may also face fertility issues because of some medical problems. It could be because of:Blockages – A blockage in the ejaculatory duct prevents the sperm from getting into the ejaculate fluid. This affects only a small number of men. The epididymis stores and carries the sperms from the testes, and the vas deferens carries the sperms from the epididymis and readies it for ejaculation. If the man has a blockade, then the sperm is prevented from getting into the wife’s egg. The problem could be caused because of an injury, infection, or vasectomy.
Varicoceles – These are enlarged veins formed in the scrotum, and it increases the temperature in the testes which leads to lower sperm production. Sperm count and quality – If you have poor sperm mobility or sperm count, or if your sperms are abnormally shaped, then your sperms may not be able to fertilise your wife’s egg and get her pregnant. You may opt for intrauterine insemination (IUI) in such cases.
Sperm allergies – Sperm allergy is another cause of male infertility. This happens when your body develops some antibodies that tend to kill your own sperms. Sperm allergy happens commonly after an infection, accident, vasectomy, or testicular torsion. Doctors may prescribe some steroid drugs for treatment.
Problem in ejaculating – In this case, you may either not be able to ejaculate at all or have a condition known as retrograde ejaculation, where the sperm is retained or flushed into the bladder. Diabetes, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, or physiological problems may lead to problems in ejaculating. The doctors may prescribe some drugs that help to close the tube that lead to the bladder. There are drugs that also treat physiological blockages.
Unexplained problems – You may be having some unexplained fertility problems which the doctor is unable to pinpoint. Environmental toxins have been blamed for them, and the doctor may advise some fertility drugs to treat the issue.
Combined fertility problems Couples may also have combined fertility problems where both the man and the woman have issues that prevent the woman from getting pregnant. The symptoms and the treatment for these vary for each couple.