Infertility, Not Just A Woman's Problem?

[Illumination70]

I'm not sure if this topic belongs here, but I recently heard infertility isn't just a "woman's problem".
My question is has anyone else heard about men struggling with the inability to reproduce?
I'm asking because I was watching a health show on cable tv where the host spoke with a doctor who said "infertility is a disease, it can happen to anybody".

 

[MrBrau1]

what?

dudes can shoot blanks.

 

[phillyfan26]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erectile_dysfunction

 

[yolland]

^ That's really more of a sexual function problem than a fertility problem per se.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_infertility

Male infertility is involved in a sexually paired couple's inability to conceive in a significant number of cases, with estimates ranging from 40-50%.

 

[snowbunny00774]

do you mean struggling emotionally with the fact they are having fertility problems or have you really not heard of guys being infertile or having fertility problems...I'm not being a smart ass I'm just looking for clarity.

 

[UberBeaver]

Well sometimes men find women that cannot bear children, or bear only female children, so we need to send them to the guillotine - like Louis XVI had to do. I guess that can be a male problem.

 

[Vincent Vega]

It's a growing problem, especially since in our drinking water there are more and more hormons and chemicals that can't be filtered, for example due to plastic bags or other wrapping thrown into the nature, get into our bodies through what we drink and eat. The body can't digest those and they are one of the main reasons why the quality of sperm decreases more and more. Many men nowadays don't produce enough sperm, or not enough healthy sperm, to effectively reproduce.

 

[BluRmGrl]

Let me try to give an answer here that isn't influenced by my own personal struggles and opinions... ahem:
What the fuck?? Sorry, that didn't go very well, did it?

It's simple math, really. It takes two humans of varying genders to reproduce another human in the old fashioned way. Vis a vis, there are two chances that one of the participants could have a reproductive issue, ergo infertility can be a factor for either participant.


:leavesroomtogofindherHappyPlace:

 

[Illumination70]

I'm sorry BluRmGrl
((HUGS))

 

[Carek1230]

In my own infertility struggle it was my (now Ex) husband who was clinically diagnosed as infertile. Shooting blanks IS male infertility. Sure it takes only *one* sperm, but there has to be THAT only one sperm and not only that, it has to be a happy healthy mobile sperm or nothing happens. It's a struggle whether male or female infertility is diagnosed, it is becoming more and more common and that is a plague!

 

[BVS]

I'm so confused...

 

[A_Wanderer]

We are social animals, we need to have low fertility off the bat. If a child is going to survive to breed grandchildren then having two parents is better than one, strictly speaking a couple that has to have sex quite a few times have probably assessed the quality of eachother as mates better than a one shot pregnancy, the former more likely to be hanging around more than the later. There are other bits like incidences of preeclampsia and the mothers exposure to the fathers sperm before becoming pregnant as well as sex feeling so good that we do it for fun.

Infertility is a problem, either we have an unintelligent designer or we have evolved a range of mechanisms to compensate for being intelligent social animals - plus things can always go wrong for innumerable reasons (don't smoke!).

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Hmm, alrighty then.