SPERM ANTIBODIES AND ANTIBODIES TO SPERM
Oh Dear, you have had a post coital test done and the good doctor is telling you that your fellow’s nice live sperm mostly turned up their little tails when they entered your vagina. Well that explains the unexplained fertility and now your doctor is explaining about IUI and IVF and you’re not really taking any of it in. All you can hear is IVF... IVF ... IVF and your mind is screaming OH no!
Or maybe your guy has had a sperm test done and now you are both sitting in the office being told he has hardly any live sperm. Now she is talking about sperm donors... OH NO.
Even if 30% of his sperm are alive and swimming IFV will be suggested to you.
FERTILITY AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
OK so you know you DON’T want to do IVF. This just isn’t want you want - so let’s back up a little bit and start at the beginning. You thought your immune system was about colds and cancer. What has it got to do with fertility? Let’s start at the start. Your immune system is made up from a number of different blood cells and tissues that help to defend you against invading cells and bad bacteria. Its prime function is to differentiate between your body's own cells and those cells that aren't meant to be inside you. When it finds an invader, it attacks. Without your immune system, you couldn't fight off things like the flu, or other nasties.
Although you may not realize it, your immune system is part of how your fertility works (or sometimes doesn’t work) In order to prepare for ovulation and conception the woman’s body needs to use certain cells from the immune system. For instance, inflammatory cells are needed to help the lining of the uterus prepare a bed for the new embryo. Without a working immune system, normal reproduction will be affected, even prevented altogether.
In most people, the immune system works properly nearly all of the time. Sometimes however, the system can break down, leaving a person vulnerable to illness, infection, or various auto-immune conditions – that is a body attacking its own body cells, such as its own sperm cells.
Or your own body may decide almonds are a threat, or tulip pollen or your partner’s sperm. It works like this: in n the first case he is producing sperm antibodies to his own sperm. In the second case she is producing antibodies to his sperm.
A man’s immune system fighting his own sperm cells seems crazy, but it happens more often than most couples realise. A reversed vasectomy or other “boy” procedures in the past can sometimes trigger this.
The other kind of sperm antibody shows up when a post-coital test shows how many sperm are still alive in the woman’s reproductive system after sex. If a woman has developed antibodies to the man’s sperm there will not be many still alive after intercourse. Most likely too few for conception to take place. About 5% of women with unexplained infertility have these antibodies in their blood stream. As a result, sperm are killed before they have chance to fertilize the egg. If the woman has these sperm antibodies in her mucus, then the sperm will be in trouble and most will turn up their tiny toes quite quickly.
If the male partner could be the problem, then sperm testing is the best way to analyse for anti sperm antibodies. Different tests can be used and having more than one done at the same time is the most accurate way of knowing if you are allergic to your own sperm and killing them off almost as fast as you make them.
All kinds of environmental toxins can contribute to this now explained infertility. It doesn’t really matter much to a natural medicine practitioner if the man is allergic to his sperm or the woman is. Either way we won’t throw up our hands and send you to the nearest fertility clinic.
Natural fertility treatment for sperm antibodies consists of abstinence from the triggers that are misadjusting the immune system. So if you don’t like the sound of IUI or IVF or donor sperm then it is time to make an appointment to visit me or geographically that isn’t practicable; your local natural medical practitioner- naturopath or herbalist.
If you come to me I will sort out the puzzle either by testing or elimination, and recommend the dietary and lifestyle adjustments and nutritional and herbal support the partner with the immune problem will need to undertake to restore the health of his or her immune system.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO TEACH THE IMMUNE SYSTEM TO BEHAVE?
1. Remove the allergic triggers for 5-6 months or very occasionally longer. It will depend on how severe the allergic response is.
2. A detox period (not a fast) of 2 to 4 weeks is the beginning of your journey to the new baby.
3. Then we need to alkalise your diet in order to heal the inflammation and the mucosal surfaces.
4. It is also necessary to add the right supplements and herbs to your diet in order to heal the inflammation in the body.
5. Next we need to treat the immune system with: good quality and sufficient protein, a clean and fresh unprocessed diet, nutritional supplements, probiotics and herbs.
6. Depending on your response to avoiding toxins and changing your diet; supplements will vary. I may use vitamin C, zinc, selenium, vitamins E and A, essential fatty acids, vitamin D, Co Q10 and herbs such as Panax Ginseng, Echinacea, Astragalus, Withania, Saw palmetto, Sarsaparilla, Red Clover, Cleavers or Tribulus.
Even if you are not the one producing anti-bodies that are preventing conception, adhering to a similar diet and lifestyle as your partner will greatly improve your chances of a healthy pregnancy and healthy child. What are you waiting for?
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