In my research to discover the possible causes of miscarriage, I started studying medication. I was not on my any meds, but my husband was. His meds were for depression and were making conceiving a bit difficult, causing what is called "delayed ejaculation." This meant that more frequently than not, he was unable to ejaculate during sex. We could make love for an hour or more, but he could not climax. I thought this was the extent of the trouble with Prozac and its' impact on fertility. But the more I learned about this class of drugs called "SSRI's" (Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors that includes Prozac, Paxil, Paroxetine, Zoloft, Fluoxetine, Celexa, etc.), the more concerned I became.
Most of us know that meds can impact a woman's fertility and ability to have a healthy pregnancy, but how many studies have been done on men and the impact on sperm? Sadly, not many. But early studies have shown quite convincingly that SSRI's impact a man's sperm in a very negative way. The majority of men on SSRI's in one study showed that their sperms' DNA actually became increasingly fragmented with usage. Men with healthy sperm showed a major increase in damaged sperm in just 4 weeks after taking these meds. Here's one summary of the studies:
What is the result of fragmentation in the DNA of sperm? Well, not only does it impact the motility and morphology of the sperm (making it harder to concieve in the first place), but it can also cause more problems once the sperm fertilizes the egg: there is an increase in miscarriages and other problems with the embryo/fetus when an egg is fertilized by damaged sperm. Yikes.
When getting pregnant, you want the best egg and best sperm possible to get together, so anything that reduces their quality can make things more difficult and cause problems. I started to wonder if his SSRI usage might have contributed to our miscarriage. Still, I thought, I'm not getting any younger and it certainly couldn't "hurt" to try again since he had no intentions of getting off of Prozac any time soon. He was in the middle of a major career shift and we couldn't be tinkering with his meds. Wouldn't the best sperm make it to the egg anyway? (Well...maybe, that depends on a lot of things.)
So, we decided to start trying again. But a hint of worry lingered in the back of my mind.
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