Category Archives: Menopause

Male Infertility

Leave a reply

According to the National Institutes of Health, male infertility is involved in approximately 40% of the more than 2 million infertile married couples in the United States. One-half of these men experience irreversible infertility and cannot father children, and a small number of these cases are caused by a treatable medical condition.

In men, hormone disorders, illness, reproductive anatomy trauma and obstruction, and sexual dysfunction can temporarily or permanently affect sperm and prevent conception. Some disorders become more difficult to treat the longer they persist without treatment.

Sperm development (spermatogenesis) takes place in the ducts (seminiferous tubules) of the testes. Cell division produces mature sperm cells (spermatozoa) that contain one-half of a man’s genetic code. Each spermatogenesis cycle consists of six stages and takes about 16 days to complete. Approximately five cycles are needed to produce one mature sperm. Energy-generating organelles (mitochondria) inside each sperm power its tail (flagellum) so that it can swim to the female egg once inside the vagina.

It is difficult for any person to admit that they have a fertility problem. However, because of the old fashioned idea that women are typically the cause of infertility issues, many men find it especially hard to admit that they might be the one with the problem. When going for fertility testing, it is important for the male partner to undergo a semen analysis in order to assess how well his sperm work. This simple test can provide fertility specialists with a great deal of insight into a man’s fertility.

In almost half the cases of subfertility, there is a male contribution to the problem. The initial investigation requires a sample of semen for analysis. This is usually produced at home after abstaining from ejaculation for 2 to 3 days. A shorter time than this will reduce the total number and longer abstinence can lead to a falsely high number of poorly motile (slow swimming) sperms. The sample needs to be delivered to the laboratory within one hour for analysis. The following are considered a normal result:

Volume: 2-5mls
Concentration: more than 20 million per ml
Motility: more than 50% progressively motile
Form: more than 30% normal appearance
White blood cells: less than 1 million per ml

We clinics suggest two samples should be received for analysis, particularly if there are any abnormalities with the first test. It takes around 74 days to make sperm, so if 2 samples are checked in a shorter time than this, it is likely that they are from the same population. This might be important if, for example, a man had a viral infection, or a poor result followed a period of particularly heavy alcohol intake. In this case, it would be better to delay the second sample for 3 months.

There are several other specialised tests for semen analysis, but these are not routinely recommended, as their ability to predict infertility and direct the correct treatment has not been proven. One particular test is the anti-sperm antibody test.

Why Use Birth Control Pills?

Leave a reply

Aside from prevention of pregnancy, the use of birth control pills also has a number of other health benefits. In your decision to take control pills, be sure that you will discuss the benefits as well as risks concerning the medication you are about to take with a physician or any authorized health care professional. Birth control pills has known side effects just like other medications and may have drug to drug interaction with other medication you are taking, which is why you need to take precaution. Another thing to keep in mind is to choose the best and appropriate birth control pill based on your health history.

Major Benefits of Birth Control Pills

• The main benefit and reason why a woman would take control pills is to prevent conception as a means of reversible birth control. Oral contraceptives are highly effective granted that the user will take it religiously and will not miss a single pill.

The correct usage of the medication will affect the effectiveness of the pill.
• Some women take oral contraceptives not as a way of preventing pregnancy but to improve their menstrual cycle, which is achieved in the following manner.
• Reduction of bleeding
• Improve regularity and consistency of menstrual patterns
• Ease up pelvic pain during menstruation
• Ease up mood-related problems during menstruation
• There have been so many studies conducted that birth control pills prevents development of cancer especially ovarian and uterine as well as the claim for protection from colorectal cancer.
• Protection from cancer
• Improvement of acne-related problems

Risks from using Birth Control Pills

• There are studies that have shown that utilization of pills do not show any increase in the incidence of heart attacks but they do increase the risk of blood clotting.
• Studies have shown that there is a significant increase in the incidence of ischemic stroke when using oral contraceptives. This is purported in the earlier products that contained elevated doses of estrogen. However, in the newly prepared products where the estrogen levels have been lowered, the risk of ischemic stroke was relatively low.
• Women who are using oral contraceptives have the tendency to have migraines and headaches.
• Venous thromboembolism is a rare condition where clotting occurs in the blood causing some symptoms like swelling, pain and varicose veins and may result to blood flow occlusion. This may be variable with the type of progestin used in the preparation of the contraceptive pills.
• Worsening of already severe diabetes. Estrogen content of most birth control pills has been purported to increase blood glucose levels.
• Escalation of gallbladder disease. Secondary to the estrogen content, oversaturation of cholesterol will result to gallstones.
• No reduction of sexually transmitted diseases