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Fertility Drugs for Men
Below:
• The drugs and how they work
• Is it for you?
• Length of treatment
• Success rate
• Side effects
Just as women need the right balance of hormones to ovulate regularly, men need certain hormones to produce healthy sperm. Surprisingly, the same substances control these reproductive functions in both men and women -- so the same fertility drugs that stimulate ovulation stimulate sperm production. The catch is that the drugs don't perform nearly as well for men (success rates are about a third of those for women), and the FDA hasn't yet approved them for use in men, though a specialist can prescribe them. Very few studies have been done on the effects of fertility drugs on men, and those few agree on just one thing: The drugs can help only men with specific hormonal imbalances.
The drugs and how they work
The two most popular fertility drugs for women, clomiphene and human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) used with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), are also used to treat men with primary hypogonadotropic hypogonadism -- a hormone deficiency in the pituitary gland or hypothalamus that prevents the testicles from receiving the signal to make sperm.
Clomiphene (taken daily as a pill) prompts the pituitary gland to make luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, which tell the testicles to produce testosterone and possibly more sperm. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin ( Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) ) (injected two to three times a week, sometimes with hMG) prompts the testes to produce testosterone and sperm directly.
Is it for you?
Your doctor may prescribe fertility drugs if you have a hormonal imbalance (originating in the pituitary gland or hypothalamus) linked to a low sperm count; sometimes a doctor will also prescribe them for poor sperm quality and motility (its ability to move).
Length of treatment
For men, a cycle of clomiphene consists of taking one pill a day for three to six months, and a cycle of hCG means having two to three injections a week for six months. (If your body doesn't respond to hCG, your doctor may suggest that you also take hMG.)
Taking fertility drugs for longer periods doesn't improve your chance of success, so if you take one for more than three months and your partner doesn't get pregnant, your doctor may increase the dosage, switch you to another medication, or, most likely, suggest another kind of treatment. However, as long as your hormone levels stay normal, you can safely take clomiphene in low doses for six months to a year.
Success rate
Although success is far from guaranteed, fertility drugs can help jump-start your sperm production, boosting your count to 20 million or more (anything under 20 million is considered low). If the medication works, you won't have to think about undergoing a testicle biopsy to see what else might be wrong with your sperm.
Some studies cite an estimated 20 to 25 percent pregnancy rate for couples when the man has used fertility drugs. That's low compared to the rates for women on fertility drugs, which is 20 to 60 percent. But even the latter number loses some of its punch when you consider that it's about the same rate couples battling a low sperm count or poor sperm quality can expect for a spontaneous pregnancy with no treatment at all.
Side effects
In men, both clomiphene and hMG can cause temporary blurred vision, breast enlargement and tenderness, and weight gain. In rare cases, clomiphene can cause liver damage.
