Medications and Male Infertility
Prescribed medications are designed to help you recover from an illness and ease the symptoms of various disorders and disease. While most people realize that medications can have side effects, sometimes those medication side effects can be more than you bargained for.
There are a variety of prescription medication that can lead to male infertility, often temporary but sometimes permanent. Arthritis medication, depression drugs, high blood pressure medication, drugs for digestive problems as well as antibiotics and cancer drugs are just a few of the medications that can lead to interferences with sperm production, sexual function and ejaculation. Here is a look at some of the common medications and drugs that can cause a man to experience fertility problems.
Calcium Channel Blockers
Calcium channel blockers are typically prescribed for people with hypertension to control high blood pressure. They work by changing the way calcium moves into cells in the heart and blood vessels, thereby causing the blood vessels to relax. This in turn increases the amount of blood and oxygen supplied to heart helping to minimize the amount of work the heart needs to do.
It is thought that calcium channel blockers interfere with the fertilization process. Specifically, they seem to prevent sperm from being able to penetrate an egg. However, switching to another type of hypertension medication is usually sufficient to restore fertility. There are other types of hypertension medications that can be prescribed that are not calcium channel blockers and therefore do not affect your fertility.
Cimetidine
Used as an ulcer medication as well as in people with reflux disease, cimetidine helps to reduce the amount of acid produced in the stomach. It is used in both men and women. For both men and women, regular use of the drug has been found to increase prolactin levels, which can result in female infertility as well as male fertility problems.
In men, this increase in prolactin can cause a decrease in LH and testosterone levels resulting in a lowered sperm count, decreased libido and decreased sexual functioning, all of which can contribute to male infertility. If you are using cimetidine medications to help deal with an ulcer or reflux disease, talk with your doctor about switching to an alternative medication which will not interfere with your fertility.
Antibiotics
Antibiotics are often prescribed to deal with a variety of bacterial infections and problems. Often, they are only taken for a temporary amount of time and any effects they have on your fertility usually go away after discontinuing the medication. Other antibiotics may be prescribed to help deal with an ongoing problem, like acne, and therefore their use and effects may be prolonged. Some antibiotics that are known or suspected to interfere with male fertility include:
- Nitrofurantoins: These are often used to treat urinary tract infections. They can lower a man’s sperm count by disrupting the sperm production process.
- Aminoglycosides: This type of antibiotic is generally only used for serious bacterial infections, like TB, and are administered under medical supervision. Aminoglycosides can negatively impact sperm production while neomycin (part of this antibiotic family) has been shown to reduce both sperm count and motility. However, other types of aminoglycosides have not been shown to have the same effects on sperm.
- Minocycline: This antibiotic is often used as an acne medication but can also be used to treat pneumonia, respiratory tract infections, and skin, genital or urinary infections. It is part of the tetracycline family of antibiotics. Although its effects on human sperm are not known, this antibiotic has been found to be toxic to cow sperm and it is believed to be just as toxic in humans.
- Macrolides: In addition to being used to treat chlamydia and Legionnaires disease, macrolides are similar to penicillin and can be used in place of it in people with a penicillin allergy. Macrolides research has mainly focused on animals, where it has been found that the antibiotic can decrease sperm motility as well as kill off sperm. It is believed that the antibiotic produces similar results in humans.
- Sulfasalazine: Mainly used to help bowel inflammation, diarrhea, rectal bleeding and abdominal pain in those with ulcerative colitis, this antibiotic is considered to be an anti-inflammatory drug and therefore is also used to help people with rheumatoid arthritis. Use of sulfasalazine has been shown to decrease male fertility by reducing a man’s sperm count as well as affecting his sperm’s motility and morphology. Fertility should return to normal once the drug is discontinued, though.
Chemotherapy
Men who have been diagnosed with cancer find that their fertility is affected when they undergo chemotherapy as well as radiation therapy. Often, the drugs used in chemotherapy result in a decrease in sperm count and motility. These effects can be temporary or permanent. It is strongly recommended that men undergoing chemotherapy discuss with their doctor before starting treatment their desire to have children in the future and what steps can be taken to preserve their fertility. In some cases, sperm banking may be recommended.
Herbs
Herbs are a very potent type of drug that can be very helpful in treating a number of ailments. However, they are also not a regulated medication and are often not prescribed. If you use herbal supplements, it is best to take advice from a trained naturopath who can advise you on which herbs should be avoided when you are trying to conceive.
Male Infertility
