Preseed.com Blog

We were very pleased to see a nice mention of Pre~Seed in First Magazine on page 103, in the July 21, 2008 edition.  The “Handy Info” section discusses the Cleveland Clinic study published in Fertility & Sterility earlier this year, where Pre~Seed was the only vaginal dryness relief product (lubricants etc…) tested that didn’t decrease the sperm’s ability to swim.

This is a great resource magazine, I spent an hour getting great ideas browsing through it after a friend showed me our product mention!

Dr. E

We are pleased to now offer complimentary Pre~Seed samples for those of you who are new to our product, or if you have friends & family you would like to try Pre~Seed.  You can use this page to order a sample http://preseed.com/TheCompany/Order.htm .  Samples take about 6 weeks to get to you, are limited to one per household, and the offer is good only inside the USA.  Let your chatroom know!  We know our User’s love Pre~Seed, which is why we carry our “Love it or it’s Free Guarantee”.  Help us spread the word

Happy 4th!

Dr. E 

I was very honored and pleased to learn that Pre~Seed gets its own highlighted mention in Dr. Robert Greene’s new book “Perfect Hormone Balance For Fertility: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Pregnant”.  You can find Pre~Seed in the Fertility Fact box on page 122, as a vaginal dryness product that won’t reduce fertility. 

Dr. Greene is the medical director of the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine in California.  They use Pre~Seed and Pre’ in their clinic for all their procedures, including ultrasound, as well as handing out samples to patients for them to try at home. 

Dr. Greene’s book is very well written and understandable.  It deals with an area that many people and even physicians do not understand, namely the role of hormones in fertility and what one can do to maintain a healthy balance.  Hormone balance can be a challenge to maintain in our society but it is still critical for conceiving, for having a joyful sex life, and for being happy to be alive!

I am always impressed when I read physician’s writings that help patients understand their bodies and journey in a clear and interesting way. This book will help you understand how to optimize conception; what to rule out if it is taking a while, and what all the options are if you need to seek further help.

I highly recommend Dr. Greene’s book and we are grateful for his mention of Pre~Seed! Check it out!

Dr. E

Sorry for the lack of posts, but May and June were a wreck at our house.  Some of you know, but for everyone else…  After my severe ankle fracture and dislocation in Jan, I developed a bone plate infection and had to have my THIRD major surgery on May 6th.  The bone hadn’t healed yet so it was risky to take the plate out, and I had to bear no weight for about a month.  Then on May 9th my DH - who had been taking care of the 5 kids, the farm, the house and of course keeping the Pre~Seed rolling out– came off his horse and hit a tree, fracturing his pelvis in 4 places.  So he has been on crutches and pretty helpless the last month also.  It was a crazy time

Finally  though, I can walk without any cast or crutches, and my nerve damage and pain is slowly getting better.  DH can now get around with a cane, and life is returning to some kind of normal.

Thanks for your patience as we healed.  I am back to blogging!

Dr. E   

There is a great mention of Pre~Seed in Men’s Health Best Life this month!  We were very excited. and it is good to see the increased awareness about the sperm damage from other products.  You can see a nice write up on page 40, discussing the Cleveland Clinic study published in February, showing Pre~Seed as the only vaginal dryness product tested that did not harm sperm.

This is a great “guy’s” magazine, lots of interesting little bits of news!  DH enjoyed flipping through it last night.

Take Care-

 Dr. E

We just got this wonderful email in at info@ingfertility.com .  Wow!!!  I sent it to one of my closest friends who is a physician and who only ovulates a few times a year.  Her husband also has a low sperm count.  I wanted to remind her to not give up trying natural intercourse even if you are getting ready for assisted reproduction. As an aside, this friend told me that she ovulated this month taking the FertilAid vitamins I had sent her (no relationship to our business).  Another doc for vitamins me thinks!

 Here is A.M’s wonderful story….

     05/12/2008 Preseed is a miracle worker. We have been TTC for almost 3 years now and were told based on my husband’s motility and sperm count that we had a 1% chance of getting pregnant on our own and IVF with ICSI was our only option. I was suppose to begin the birth control pills and hormone stimulation June 1st. As a last hope, I ordered Preseed after reading all of the testimonials. We have tried everything you can think of to make this happen. After one month of using the Preseed I found out today that I am pregnant. I did not think this would ever happen for us on our own. We feel so blessed and owe it to our faith and Preseed. I would recommend this product to anyone that has given up hope and think the odds are against them. God willing this will be a healthy happy pregnancy. I know next time we try to get pregnant I will be placing my order of Preseed again first thing! ~ A.M.

Should men with poor semen quality, or any TTC man, take vitamin supplements, in particular vitamins designed to “support” fertility?  The rationale behind this is that most men with low fertility have very low levels of antioxidants in there semen.  Antioxidants (like Vitamins C & E, as well as others) protect cells from damage.  Sperm from men with low antioxidants in their semen can have a breakdown of the DNA, or genetic material in the sperm, and it may be a reason for some infertility.  So taking vitamins, especially those blended to support antioxidants in semen should be a straightforward approach.  

However, the study outcomes in this area are confusing.  This has led some doctors to recommending people to not take vitamins.  This is throwing the baby out with the bath water—for sure!  To summarize, fertility studies can be hard to do because there are so many reasons for couples to not conceive.  It is kind of like asking “what is the best cure for cancer?”, without knowing what kind, how long etc… you simply can not answer this.  In addition, antioxidants are tricky, more is not better.  You can OVER supplement and this can CAUSE sperm damage.

In spite of the difficulties in getting a study that says – “ a man with this kind of sperm defect needs to take this kind of vitamin”, in general, TTC people should take a supplement.  This is because nutrients have declined in many plant crops over the last 50 years (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041203100522.htm), this is likely even more true for trace minerals that are critical for normal reproduction that weren’t measured 50 years ago (Zinc…).  As a former veterinarian, I always thought it was interesting that we feed our animals less processed grains than we eat (corn, soybean etc…), but all the feeds add trace minerals and vitamins, to optimize the animals function, including reproduction.

Taking a vitamin blended for TTC folks, is a good place to start getting some of the nutrients associated with improved sperm count, without going over board and causing damage.  There are several products out there (FertilAid for Men, Fertility Blend etc…).  However, I did want to share with you all a study that our Company did on sperm quality in men after taking FertilAid, versus a placebo.  The study was done under contract with the manufacturer, Fairhaven Health, but our company retained the rights to disclose the data no matter the outcomes, meaning we had no incentive to find a favorable outcome.  

This 90-day, double blind, placebo-controlled study found that FertilAid for Men supported an increase in the total number of normal motile sperm, in the ejaculate.  Most of the men that had increased sperm counts while taking FertilAid for Men, showed improvements of 20% or more in the number of healthy sperm.  Previous clinical studies have suggested a relationship between the “total normal-motile sperm count” in an ejaculate and the fertility of the man.  Specifically, the greater the number of normally shaped sperm that are able to swim (motile),  the higher the incidence of pregnancy among trying-to-conceive couples. 

There aren’t many simple things to do to help men with poor sperm quality.  Taking a vitamin/antioxidant supplement for at least 90 days, to see if sperm counts and function can be improved… Why not!!!   We have put a manufacturer’s mail-in rebate for FertilAid in our Pre~Seed cartons to help remind people to take their vitamins   Let me know how they work for you.

You can learn more about this product at Fairhaven Health (http://www.fairhavenhealth.com), a leading manufacturer of fertility products for both women and men. 

Take Care-

Dr. E

A physical exam by a fertility urologist or male specialist is an important part of evaluating the man for fertility issues.  A general physical exam needs to be done to make sure there are no underlying issues that might impact his health and sexual function.  This includes making sure his blood pressure is normal and he doesn’t have diabetes. In addition, a careful exam of his “parts” (genitalia) should be done. 

The physician should evaluate: the penis, including where the urethra opens; the size, shape and consistency of the testicles, the vasa (or cords) and the epididymides;  if a varicocele is present; any signs of hormone disruptions; and a digital rectal exam for the prostate and internal organs.   Remember TWO semen analyses one month a part are required for adequate review of the man’s semen.  This is because many men are nervous with their first sample, and the quality can be quite poor even with normal men The clinic that does the semen analysis should adhere to World Health Organization guidelines for the analysis 

If they don’t use these standards, it suggests they may not be very experienced at male factor  work ups and you may not be given good information.  Abstinence should be 2 days, longer than this can be counterproductive. Semen can be collected by masturbation or during intercourse using a special semen collection condom. Pre~Seed or Pre’ can be used to lubricate the collection process.  Remember here, the better the experience feels for the man, the more sperm he can produce.  So do every thing you can to make collection enjoyable.  For many men, this means not doing it at the clinic. 

As long as you can get the sample to the clinic so they can begin examination in less than one hour, and you can protect it from temperature extremes, there is nothing wrong with collecting the sample at home, or even in a local hotel, near the clinic. If it is very hot or cold out, and/or you have travel, which traffic and life’s delays push that 1 hour time frame, then go ahead and make the best of the clinic’s “men’s room”.   If you are transporting samples, wrap them in a good sized towel to protect them from temperature changes during transit.  The laboratory should have a quality control program with standards set by CLIA.  Again it is good to ask if they use WHO guidelines and if they conform to CLIA standards. 

A semen analysis provides information.  It can not tell you (in general) if a man is fertile or not. Men can have a normal semen analysis and still not be fertile.  But most of the time, a semen sample that doesn’t meet the reference range suggests a male factor fertility issue and indicate a need for further evaluation. 

Failing to meet the reference range doesn’t mean this man is “sterile” or will never cause a conception (unless he is not making any sperm). It can mean that his chances of fathering a child are, in general, less than a man with results in the reference range.   Semen analysis Reference Values are:

1. Ejaculate volume
   1.5 to 5 ml
2. pH
   > 7.2
3. Sperm concentration
   > 20 million/ml
4. Total sperm number
   > 40 million/ejaculate
5. Percent Motile
   > 50%
6. Forward Progression
   > 2 (0-4 scale)
7. Normal Morphology
   >30% WHO 1992  or >14% Kruger/Tygerberg Strict Criteria WHO 1999
8. Sperm agglutination
   < 2 (Scale 0-3)
9. Viscosity
   <3 (Scale 0-4)   
    

Inseminating sperm directly into the uterus (intrauterine insemination or IUI) is often used in male factor infertility, either with or without giving medication to stimulate the ovaries.  There have been a couple of papers this year of interest to me on this topic.  Many couples don’t fully realize how low the per cycle pregnancy rate with IUI can be, especially in conditions as noted below, or in clinics that aren’t very experienced in dealing with male factor patients (read more of my FAQs to learn about this).

Specifically, Badawy et al., 2008 showed declining pregnancy rates following IUI with  male factor if: the female partner was over 35 yrs old; the number of motile sperm inseminated was less than 5 million ( a 5.5%, pregnancy rate versus 24% if there were more than 5 million motile sperm); or if normal sperm morphology  (WHO guidelines) was under 30%.    Another recent study (Dovey et al., 2008) with over 4,000 couples found pregnancies from women under 35 years of age at 11.5% per cycle.  Women 35-37 had a pregnancy rate of 9% , which declined down to 1.8% in women over 42.  

This is why we recommend if you are 35 or older, do not wait for one year without conceiving to get assistance!

Many people do not believe that a doctor’s intervention is the right thing to do in conceiving, or perhaps they just can’t afford it.  It is interesting to note that although the percentage of women having a baby tends to be higher following intra-uterine insemination,  it has not been able to be proven to be more effective in clinical studies versus well timed natural intercourse (Cochrane Database Syst Rev., 2007 ).  This is likely due to the lack of well designed studies, rather than an ineffectiveness of IUI (done by experienced clinicians), BUT it does suggest that good old, natural love making at least every other day throughout your ovulation time, can be effective even after a long time of trying!  So even if you can’t or won’t do IUI, keep timing your ovulation and keep love making  “that time” as enjoyable as you can! Sometimes miracles do happen

Dr. E

PS: I will continue my male work-up series later this month!
 

I appreciate when all of our users write to us, but occasionally we receive a story that is unique.  Having suffered from chronic pain during intercourse when I was younger, I know what it can do to your self esteem and your lfe as a whole.  I am really honored to have helped this family!  Dr. E

“I just wanted to tell every couple out there about how amazing Pre~Seed intimate moisturizer really is. After giving birth to my first child, I was diagnosed with PID, and sex since then has been somewhat painful and not enjoyable. After years of trial and error, my husband and I had given up on finding a personal lubricant that made sex worth having. Even the most expensive lubricants were sticky, wore off to quickly and we always had to stop to reapply, and even had a scent that wasn’t complimentary to my personal body chemistry. For the past year we had been trying to conceive again and finally came across a sperm friendly personal moisturizer named Pre~Seed, so we decided to give it a try. Not only did it exceed my expectations, I will continue to use this long after I’m done conceiving. No more sticky hands, reapplying, and most of all… No more painful sex. Pre~Seed is so natural feeling, I can’t tell the difference between the natural me and the enhanced me! I thank you so much for creating this… my husband thanks you even more!”

 The N Family Chisholm, MN