Case Study - dodgy sperm - dodgy gym ‘roids.

Written By Vicki Nott

This is such a common scenario for me - I see a couple who’ve been trying for a baby for a year, the woman has been investigated to the max, but nothing for her partner. Our team arranged a sperm test (and routine bloods) prior to the appointment - and voila! Hardly any sperm - a sperm count of 1 million per millilitre (that’s really low). I took a detailed history - lo and behold, he took some dodgy anabolic steroids he got off a guy in the gym. The good news is that in 3 months his sperm had recovered up to 7.8 M/ml, and after another 3m it’s now into the low end of the normal range, with 16 M/ml, and I’m quite hopeful they will conceive naturally.

But! What’s really important is:

  • no matter what ‘regimen’ of steroids you take, this could happen to you

  • taking an additional hormone (hCG) will not always protect you from this problem

  • some men will NOT recover their sperm and will have permanent low sperm and low testosterone

I’m not judgmental, we all have our weaknesses (mine are wine, cheese and chocolate), but if you’re considering taking anabolic steroids to improve muscle bulk or aid recovery, I suggest getting a checkup first. If you have a naturally lower sperm count you might consider sperm freezing first (or not taking steroids at all), and further checks.

Vicki Nott
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How do we manage identification of eggs, sperm and embryos and prevent mix-ups?