That Thing You Do – Sppare.me kit for semen analysis

You’re trying to get pregnant. Maybe it’s been a few months, maybe a year, and unfortunately you haven’t been successful. What now?

At this time there are a multitude of options for testing male and female fertility. Male fertility testing involves analyzing a semen sample, which is generally easier to do than any type of female fertility test. Therefore testing male fertility by conducting a semen analysis is a great starting point for couples that are having trouble conceiving. In almost 50% of the couples, the male, or more precisely, the quality of his sperm is either a contributing or the sole cause for not being able to get pregnant.

These days there are many options for you to test your semen, some of which can be done long before even meeting with a doctor, getting a referral, or visiting a fertility clinic. Before getting into the sperm analysis that is conducted in our lab, we’d be remiss not to mention some of the other male fertility tests in the market today. There are a variety of at-home fertility tests; some can be ordered online and some can be purchased in-store. Certain products test for sperm count, yielding results in around 10 minutes. These tests are designed to detect protein that is found in your sperm, to inform you whether your sperm count is low or moderate. It’s true that many of these at-home sperm tests are shown to produce accurate results in sperm count, however, sperm count alone does not indicate fertility and is a small part of a much bigger picture.

There are additional at-home sperm-testing kits that examine sperm count and motility. These tests do provide more information than those that test for sperm count alone, yet still do not provide the full picture on the quality of your sperm. For instance, home sperm-testing kits cannot evaluate sperm ‘morphology’, a crucial factor in assessing sperm, not tested by home sperm-testing kits. In addition, sperm count and motility, tested alone, are subject to change and can be different for the same person across multiple samples. Lifestyle changes, for instance, may result in an increase or decrease in sperm count and motility. Men with high sperm count and motility sometimes are still unable to naturally father children, while men with low sperm count and motility have been able to father children organically. According to the Mayo Clinic, relying on home sperm-testing can actually defer receiving appropriate fertility evaluation and treatment. The only way to get a precise representation of sperm fertility is by analyzing sperm in a lab with experienced and verified testing methods.

There are many factors that affect fertility, some of high importance and some less. Yet, when taken altogether, these parameters provide the most accurate information on fertility. Once you’ve mailed back your Sppare.me sperm freezing kit, our lab performs a sperm analysis testing all these parameters, the four main ones being volume, count, motility, and morphology. Additional parameters being tested include appearance, viscosity, and agglutination. To read more about the various sperm parameters, please read our previous post here. By checking all the different sperm parameters, we can definitely indicate whether your sperm is normal or whether additional investigation is required. You can feel comfortable knowing that the results you’re receiving are comprehensive, significant and reliable. This is our added value.

You should keep in mind that while your sperm is on its way to the lab, it is being kept safe by our overnight protection media. Delivery of sperm does impact motility and count, yet we see many samples with normal motility and count results post shipment. Once your sperm is tested, our lab will provide you with your results. If results aren’t normal, we encourage you to follow up with your doctor, however, if your sperm parameters results are normal, you can be confident that your dream of having a family is alive and kicking, or swimming in this case.

Resources
Mayo Clinic: Is there a home sperm test that can tell me whether I’m fertile or not?, Article
Spermcheck [dot] com, Article
Menfertility [dot] org: How Good Is A Home-Based Male Fertility Test?, Article
Dailymail [dot] co [dot] uk: …Saving men the embarrassment of a fertility clinic…, Article
Digitaltrends [dot] com: Yo sperm test, Article
Scientificamerican [dot] com: New Sperm Tests May Offer Better Understanding of Male Infertility, Article
Huffingtonpost [dot] co [dot] uk: 10 Things You Need To Know Before You Test Your Sperm Count, Article
Healthline [dot] com: Semen Analysis, Article

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