About 15% of all couples who want to get pregnant need help because both or one party is infertile. That is, the woman has not become pregnant after a year of trying or that one has lost three or more pregnancies before the embryos were viable.
The National Board of Health recommends that you contact your doctor / gynecologist if you are infertile. And that you already do it after 6 months of trying, if the woman is over 35 years old. Read more here: Which kind of assistance can I get if I don't get pregnant? – Gravidtid So, the general practitioner is the first step towards get a referral to public fertility treatment
Examination by the doctor
When you as a man or couple contact your doctor, the doctor will, prior to further referral to public fertility treatment, typically examine the man for chlamydia. The doctor will also do some blood tests on the man who will examine him for HIV / hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Finally, the doctor will also need a semen examination from the man.
Sperm examination
Often, the man will be referred to a public fertilityclinic, where he will have to submit a sperm sample to be used to assess sperm quality. Prior to this examination, the man will receive a cup to collect the semen and a time and place will be agreed for the semen to be delivered. The semen must normally be handed in no later than 1.5 hours after ejaculation, and the man should preferably not have had ejaculation for 3-7 days before collecting the sample. The answer to the test will typically come from the doctor who ordered the semen sample.
What is examined in the semen?
Once the man has handed in his semen sample, the semen is examined for the following
- Semen volume
- Sperm consistency and semen appearance
- Number of sperm cells with a non-forward movement and the number of sperm cells that are completely immobile
- Sperm cell concentration
- Total number of sperm
- Percentage of live sperm
- Penetration capacity of sperm
- Maturation of sperm, assessed based on sperm morphology
Multiple semen samples
Often two semen samples must be given. This means that you must do a new sperm sample a few months after the first one. Men continuously produce sperm, and maturation of the sperm takes about 74 days. Number two semen sample may be necessary - especially if the first semen sample did not show a result within the normal range. The new semen analysis can thereby help to rule out temporary negative effects such as fever, which can temporarily reduce sperm quality.
Result and further course of action
After one or more sperm samples, a response will form which, together with the blood samples, gives a picture of the man's fertility. The answer will - in connection with the examination of the woman's fertility - mean that the fertility clinic to which one is referred can offer the most suitable treatment. This means, for example, that if the man's sperm quality is very poor, then one may start directly with test tube treatment instead of insemination or offer treatment using donor sperm.
Waiting time
There can be a big difference in the waiting time for the public fertility clinics. There is no treatment guarantee when it comes to fertility treatment, which means that you will have to wait until the public fertility clinic has time without the opportunity to get a faster time at a private clinic (unless you pay for it). However, free choice of hospital in Denmark exists, and it can therefore be advantageous to examine waiting time, patient satisfaction and satisfaction with the staff here, if you would like to be examined as soon as possible after you have received a referral from your doctor: https://www.esundhed.dk/Emner/Patienter-og-sygehuse/MitSygehusvalg under " søg efter behandling " you write "fertilitets behandling ", then the possibilities come up.
Some statistics
Statistics from the public fertility clinics indicate that about 1/3 of the couples who come into fertility treatment need help because of the man's fertility. The second third is due to the fertility of the woman, while the last third is due to the fertility of both parties.
If you as a man initially want to examine your sperm quality in the comfort of your own home, you can try one of our sperm quality test for home use: SwimCount Sædkvalitetstest – Gravidtid
Source: Sundhed.dk, Sjællands Universitetshospital, Rigshospitalet, Herlev Hospital, Nordsjællands Hospital. Borger.dk