Cycling and fertility in men

[madvics]

Also struggling here... went to do sperm count. That was overall low (but still high enough to get pregnant + some morphed sperm), but not infertile.

.

Was told to quit smoking & ease back on the dop. So I lost 13kg's, don't smoke anymore & fitness is lekker. I am now on herbal "Fertiboost" homeopathic pills for about 7months now, was told to we might see some results after 8months. I also thought it might be cycling related, but I am not doing that much time in the saddle.

 

We keep trying, nothing yet - but I must say my wife and I had rough year, stress wise. All the friends are having kids (adding more stress I guess?) so we are at an all time low (adding more stress).

 

Everyone around us say "Just give it time", "It will come when you least expect it", "Will happen when you are less stressed" but, that is easy to say when you are standing on the other side + I am sick of those comments.

 

Been trying for 2 years now

 

Hopefully one day....

I feel for you my man. My wife and I were in a similiar situation as you.

I stopped smoking cut back on drinking , took a whole lot of pills,everyone around you has kids and you not getting younger.

 

we tried everything.

 

End of last year we went to see a specialist in sandton.He told us there is nothing you can take to help or make you fall pregnant,yes stopping to smoke can improve your sperm quality but thats about it.

 

He suggested IVF cost us about R50000.00 and requires you to give your wife alot of injections and stuff,long story short my wife is now six months pregnant with a boy. And we have no regrets

[Beer4Recovery]

I feel for you my man. My wife and I were in a similiar situation as you.

I stopped smoking cut back on drinking , took a whole lot of pills,everyone around you has kids and you not getting younger.

 

we tried everything.

 

End of last year we went to see a specialist in sandton.He told us there is nothing you can take to help or make you fall pregnant,yes stopping to smoke can improve your sperm quality but thats about it.

 

He suggested IVF cost us about R50000.00 and requires you to give your wife alot of injections and stuff,long story short my wife is now six months pregnant with a boy. And we have no regrets

 

That was an option...but not anymore. My wife did some research and don't want to be injected with I don't know whatever...

So we are hoping & trying to do it the most natural way we can. Ag, I don't know anymore....

 

Glad for you though

Edited August 24, 2012 by FuelEX

[madvics]

That was an option...but not anymore. My wife did some research and don't want to be injected with I don't know whatever...

So we are hoping & trying to do it the most natural way we can. Ag, I don't know anymore....

 

Glad for you though

It was our last resort,we have been trying to fall pregnant for about eight years,and eventually we decided to do this route. If your wife ever wants to talk to someone who has been through it all. let me know.My wife will gladly chat.

Its only the couples that have gone through this that will understand what it feels like.

[rattlesnake]

Also struggling here... went to do sperm count. That was overall low (but still high enough to get pregnant + some morphed sperm), but not infertile. . Was told to quit smoking & ease back on the dop. So I lost 13kg's, don't smoke anymore & fitness is lekker. I am now on herbal "Fertiboost" homeopathic pills for about 7months now, was told to we might see some results after 8months. I also thought it might be cycling related, but I am not doing that much time in the saddle. We keep trying, nothing yet - but I must say my wife and I had rough year, stress wise. All the friends are having kids (adding more stress I guess?) so we are at an all time low (adding more stress). Everyone around us say "Just give it time", "It will come when you least expect it", "Will happen when you are less stressed" but, that is easy to say when you are standing on the other side + I am sick of those comments. Been trying for 2 years now Hopefully one day....

 

Sorry to hear man.

I have read smoking, drinking etc has a big impact, as does stress.

Luckily I dont smoke and Im not a big drinker, so I'm hoping that its not a long process for us; my wife wont be able to go the IVF route either due to a pre existing blood clotting condition.

 

I just see how many people battle these days, but I think it has more to do with life's other pollutants then cycling.

[madvics]

Sorry to hear man.

I have read smoking, drinking etc has a big impact, as does stress.

Luckily I dont smoke and Im not a big drinker, so I'm hoping that its not a long process for us; my wife wont be able to go the IVF route either due to a pre existing blood clotting condition.

 

I just see how many people battle these days, but I think it has more to do with life's other pollutants then cycling.

Totally agree. Its the **** that we eat,everything has chemicals and stuff, stress is a huge impact.

When we did the IVF I was shocked to see how many couples are struggling

[Azonic]

I didn't cut back at all, and I ride quite a bit. Perfect baby girl is almost a year old. Wife told me all kinds of bangmaak stories like you'll get swimmers with broken tails etc. Rubbish. Unless you get numb nuts on the saddle I don't see any problems.

[Azonic]

And the best way to try for a baby, is not to try. If you stress it you are killing your chances. Just have fun and it'll happen.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Stress is by far the biggest factor, tbh. Stuffs your entire body and mind up...

[Flippa]

And the best way to try for a baby, is not to try. If you stress it you are killing your chances. Just have fun and it'll happen.

 

I'll vouch for that. First time round, wife got pregnant within a month of stopping contraception. Unfortunately, was a blighted ovum, so no viable foetus. After the doc gave the go ahead to try again, wife got pregnant on the second or third try. My personal opinion is that the reason that it happened so quickly the second time round is that we refused to focus on the goal, but rather on the journey.

 

I always joke that the cycling helped me get my wife pregnant twice in 6 months.

[RRS]

I find it quite amusing that this thread is under Tech Q&A .

 

Our story:

 

The missus and I decided last year (July) to start trying. We weren't successful for the first 4 months, so we both went for testing (November). Turned out that I had extremely low sperm count (so low that the doc said it was extremely unlikely that we could ever fall pregnant, and that we should consider fertility treatment). At the time, I was doing 5 - 10 hours a week on my bike, was otherwise perfectly healthy and believed I ate extremely healthily (was at perfect racing weight, felt good, etc). Wifey (and others, including a well-known dietician as well as the doc) suggested that I stop cycling for a while to see if that made any difference (although the doc said that the count was so low that the best I could hope for was an increase in sperm count so as to allow for IVF).

 

Needless to say, refused to take up the suggestion to stop cycling. Said that I woud do another test in January. Did a lot of reading and research (nutrition, lifestyle, etc), got a proper bike fitment (my saddle was actually 2 cm too high, otherwise all OK) and actually increased my time on the bike to 10 - 15 hours a week.

 

Cut out soya (pronutro, lots of protein shakes, soya mince, tofu, soya milk) completely from my diet. Turns out that soya (especially non-organic) is really bad for sperm count (stimulates the production of oestrogen), ate more organic, whole foods, fatty fish (sardines, trout), oysters, cut down on the carbs. Stopped wearing jocks. Started taking Staminogro. Cut down on the amount of practicing to fall pregnant to around twice a week (as opposed to almost every day). Went on a long holiday to the Midlands, where I spent a lot of time on my bike.

 

Wifey was concerned that all the extra cycling would make me completely impotent.

 

Got back to JHB in January and went for another test. Results: perfectly normal (even the doc said that he had never ever seen a turnaround like mine). We fell pregnant shortly thereafter.

 

I think the extra cycling (i.e. extra 5 - 10 hours a week) actually helped

[madvics]

Murphys law: check out the add ontop of the page

[TNT1]

My question is, how many of you hubbers, that take their cycling a little more seriously (i.e. 10 hrs - 15 hrs a week) have actually had a problem. I.e. you were told to back it off for a while in order to have kids?

 

Or asked differently, how many of said more serious cyclists had no problems and carried on riding as normal?

 

PS - I do have wider, cut away saddles on all my bikes (spez ones)

 

Bullsh1t.

 

None of the pro tour riders use stupid saddles with holes in them.

 

Lance Armstrong. One ball, all the drugs, a million more miles than you'll ever dream of doing on a bicycle, and 5 kids.

 

Should be the end of the story.

Edited August 24, 2012 by TNT1

[rattlesnake]

I find it quite amusing that this thread is under Tech Q&A .

 

 

 

I think the extra cycling (i.e. extra 5 - 10 hours a week) actually helped

 

Lol, well as a newbie to the whole process and the amount of research my Mrs put in front of me, technical seemed like an understatement!

 

Anyways thanks for the great advice and congrats on the little one!