[Closed] Coffee & fertility

As far as I'm aware, moderate caffeine intake has not be found to have any significant influence on semen quality. You can't rule it out entirely, but it's not an obvious effect such as smoking.

Life isn't worth living if you have to drink green tea, TBH.

EDIT: A more obvious potential culprit of poor semen quality may be the reason we're all on this forum...(not arguing, cycling). But even the evidence for that is not exactly bombproof.

There is no clear causal link. I've sat through enough IVF conference presentations to know!

I could keep a small coffee shop open on my intake alone and I'm still potent.

We were "unexplained" for years and did a lot of reading about what we could do to improve our chances. Other than being generally healthy (active, not overweight, things in moderation, etc.) I don't think there's much you can really do. It's either going to happen or you're going to need a bit of help.

If you're worried or it's been a while, get tested and go see the doctor (it can be a very long process) though you need to have been at it for a year before they'll consider you as having a problem.

I smash the coffee and "we" never had a problem getting pregnant.

I'd put stress as the biggest cause of failing to conceive if you're both healthy. Seen a few friends struggle as they'd decided "now is the time" then stress over why it ain't happening after the first go, they then gradually wind it up until it's all they think about, it happened when they chilled out a bit and stopped treating it like a production process. Funnily enough one couple has just announced they're expecting a second without even trying/

Years ago I used to drink gallons of strong coffee, I was know by mates as "coffeee king". I was going through some pretty heady times with work and I was also riding semi pro on the road. My G/F and I decided to try for Kids and we continued that for 2.5 years before we gave it up as a failed attempt to concieve. I'm not sure to this day why we didn't concieve, I doubt coffee had a major part to play in Gods Decision, more susspect I was trying too damn hard to keep my lifestyle as was and needed some sort of mild addiction to keep me going.
I used to drink very strong espresso type coffee, you know those small pots Bibetto do, well I had the large one and would finish that off in one hit then drink about 4/5 a day and continued that for about 4 years.
One day, after our last attempt at concieving, I stopped coffee completely and went through a phase of craving and withdrawl symptums, sounds mental now to suggest this I went through an addiction withdrawl but that was confirmed by my Doctor at the time and I fully believed him, it was terrible.
I then proceeded to steer clear of coffee and drank white tea for 5 years afterwards and whilst I'd like to say we eventually did produce a child, we didn't. It was Gods way of saying, Nahhh Sonny, Kiddos aren't for you...

Dunno if I've missed out on Kids, just thought I'd put that out there.
😐

Seriously though, I don't know what you're situation is but unless you have a lot of time on your side, if you think you have a problem get some tests done. It took us over five painful furstrating years to work out what the problem was and now we have a toddler and another on the way. During that time people telling us that if we "just chilled out a bit then it would happen" does not help 🙄 ... and which by the way would never have worked.

If your Mrs has decided that coffee is the problem you might as well just give it up now.

The answers I wanted to hear, Thanks

*Brews coffee

Stress is something both the wife and I are aware of,
it's early days and we're not worried,
Guess we'd rather eliminate any obvious barriers now rather than later.

I guess the longer it takes the more money I can spend on the my bikes 😉

I smash the coffee and "we" never had a problem getting pregnant.

Bloody hell, both of you.

*puts coffee down

And what Martin said, if all we can drink is green tea. I wouldn't want to bring new life into such a world.

I guess the longer it takes the more money I can spend on the my bikes

Hmm you probably don't know how much fertility treatment costs 🙁

Edit: Just to add that I hope it all does work out ok and that you don't get to find out!

Double edit: ... a quick mental calculation... our two will have cost us over £35k.

Talking of addiction,

the one thing that has made me ponder is my hedonistic youth,

I took all sorts of pills and powders without really knowing what was in them!

I could be fully infertile!

Oh well, I had a good time...I think?

About 2.5 grand a cycle I think, less if you've done the egg harvesting bit already and just want fertilised eggs put back.

So not much less than a decent bike.

Hmmm....bling bike or kid?

You can always hit the jackpot with IVF and end up with a two for the price of one offer, like we did.

... another thing is that it's really not worth dwelling on why you might be in this situation. You'll find thousands who've done exactly the same things and have no problems. Just bad luck most of the time I reckon. It turned out our problem was with mrs blobby and she did go through a phase of feeling guilty that it was her problem though I always thought of it as our problem.

Anyway sounds like early days for you so hopefully this is all premature and you'll get some good news soon.

Now go have a coffee and relax 😉

Edit...

About 2.5 grand a cycle I think, less if you've done the egg harvesting bit already and just want fertilised eggs put back.

Depends on the clinic and the specific treatment and drugs you need but in my experience double that and you'll be closer. Then there's tests and potentially a lot of other drugs. And it's more likely to fail than succeed!

We spent £40k + on IVF, gave up in the end and adopted, think what I could have done with the money ......

But it was something we had to do and luckily we had the money.

But it was something we had to do and luckily we had the money.

Must have been a tough decision to call it a day.

Do either of you drink soy milk, by the way? Might be a small effect there. We didn't get pregnant until she stopped drinking soy milk. Almost certainly a coincidence, but maybe not.

Another view for the pot... if you really want to try for children why not commit to it and do everything you can to help?

Improving what you eat and giving up coffee and alcohol for a few months and even *god forbid* staying off the bike for the same amount of time is a small price to pay for knowing you have done all you can to help with the concieving thing.

FWIW - We tried for a couple of years and eventually got refered. I had lazy swimmers and my wife has PCOS. She ended up on metformin and I decided to do all I could to improve my swimmers. Fertilisation for child no1 coincided with the end of the 50+th day of me not riding and our improved eating plan etc. Child no2 was concieved 9 months after the birth of no1 and didn't require the same effort, but I would have gone through the same if required.

we lived on freshly ground coffee, red wine and cigarettes and had no problems conceiving our beautiful daughter, my advice, relax, enjoy yourselves and each other. Oh, and don't try too hard.

Try taking loads of class A's, getting blind drunk and having a one night stand. Worked for me. 😥

we lived on freshly ground coffee, red wine and cigarettes and had no problems conceiving our beautiful daughter, my advice, relax, enjoy yourselves and each other. Oh, and don't try too hard.

You will hear this a lot from people who don't have a problem conceiving 🙄 Well meaning but quite frustrating!

neilsonwheels

turns out these moments are not so bad in the long run....

it is a bit of a shock to teh system at the time tho granted....

EDIT. Nothing.

A very worthwhile ninja edit there crispy 🙂

we lived on freshly ground coffee, red wine and cigarettes and had no problems conceiving our beautiful daughter, my advice, relax, enjoy yourselves and each other. Oh, and don't try too hard.

Yes that's fine for people who don't have fertility problems... 🙄

we lived on freshly ground coffee, red wine and cigarettes and had no problems conceiving our beautiful daughter, my advice, relax, enjoy yourselves and each other. Oh, and don't try too hard.

Try taking loads of class A's, getting blind drunk and having a one night stand. Worked for me.

What lovely, thoughtful and helpful words

Yeah, those sorts of comments would drive mrs blobby to tears when we were going through it all 🙁 Well meaning but so unhelpful.

Reading the above about class As and drinking, I believe relaxing has a lot to do with it. There are several cases of couples trying and then adopting, before then becoming pregnant. My guess is that the pressure is off.

Molgrips' comment is perfectly OK when aimed at the OP, who, as far as I can tell, is just looking for general lifestyle advice before he gives it a bash, so to speak. He's not aware of any fertility issues, and TBH, he and his partner need to be unsuccessful for at least 12 months before hitting the panic button on that one.

If the thread was specifically about someone who had been trying for ages with no luck, well, then, yes, it might be a tad insensitive.

Loads of people live utterly dissolute lives and have no bother conceiving. That's the routine unfairness of life generally, and fertility in particular.

I was lucky in the sense that I knew I had nothing to bring to the party from the off, so IVF was the only option.

Loads of people live utterly dissolute lives and have no bother conceiving. That's the routine unfairness of life generally, and fertility in particular.

So so true. I have no idea of the OP's and his partner's ages, but often we're leaving it till our mid to late thirties to have children. Evolution is going to take a while for women to catch up. Despite many blokes thinking they have some kind of golden bullet in their testes, it'll most likely be the woman's body that decides whether a pregnancy goes ahead.

About 2.5 grand a cycle

bloody hell, you could buy a bike for that

Reading the above about class As and drinking, I believe relaxing has a lot to do with it. There are several cases of couples trying and then adopting, before then becoming pregnant. My guess is that the pressure is off.

Often hear these stories but they are by far in the minority... though it's fair to say that an awful lot of fertility issues remain "undiagnosed" and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that it may just happen after many years of trying unsuccessfully. Unlikely though. And I doubt "relaxing" has much to do with it.

Some friends of ours are going through it at the moment. Turns out she went through an early menopause in her twenties and never realised. No amount of relaxing is going to work for them but some of their friends do still suggest it!

Anyway, OP, if it's early days, good luck.

... oh and don't stress about the coffee 😉

I have no idea of the OP's and his partner's ages, but often we're leaving it till our mid to late thirties to have children. Evolution is going to take a while for women to catch up.

The notion that a woman's fertility drops off a cliff in her mid thirties is a myth, because it is based on 300 year old statistics.

A more recent study says that "Among women aged 27-34, the study showed that 86% will have conceived within a year of trying. So the 82% figure for women aged 35 to 39 is only a little lower."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24128176

To increase your chances for procreation you need to do the deed as much as possible. starting 5 days before her ovulation (12-14 days after the first day of her blob) shag every other day without fail and keep this up until very near the start of her next blob. If there is sperm waiting for the egg the likelyhood of having a girl increases. Have Fun!! 😀

Have Fun!!

Not wanting to sound like the harbinger of doom... but even this stops being fun after a while when you have fertility problems 🙁

Though unless you've been trying a year with no luck then you don't really have a problem 🙂 So get on with it.

Ransos - the issue in a woman's thirties isn't the boundaries of natural fertility. It's the success rate for fertility treatments, which do begin to diminish sharply from the mid-30s onwards, although techniques are improving.

So, if you start trying in your early/mid 30s, give it a year, by the time you've realised there's an issue, got help, diagnose a problem, started IVF, the chances of success may have fallen significantly.

I think the IVF stats are now pretty good up till late 30's, been a while since I've looked though. And tests and treatments are improving all the time. What worked for us for example has only been available the past few years and only at a couple of clinics.

2010 stat (success rate per cycle, not birth rate)

32.2% for women aged under 35
27.7% for women aged between 35–37
20.8% for women aged between 38–39
13.6% for women aged between 40–42
5.0% for women aged between 43–44
1.9% for women aged 45 and over

Better than it was when my two were born, that's for sure, it used to drop off a cliff at 36. Most important factor seems to be the clinic.

Before you go and speak to any docs about fertility find out exactly what you PCT rules are on NHS funded IVF. It is a bit of a post code lottery and very few have fully implemented the NICE guidelines.

Some will not fund if the women is over 35 or you have not been trying for more than 2 years (and various other rules like being fat or smoking)

Worth having this info in your back pocket before it being a rather unpleasant surprise.

And I think the cost per cycle is closer to £4.5k but I suppose it will depend where you go.

Lots more things to rule out before you get to IVF though. As someone in a similar situation I know how stressful it is, so good luck.

Yeah, those sorts of comments would drive mrs blobby to tears when we were going through it all Well meaning but so unhelpful.

Anyway, don't stress about coffee, I was told no more than two cups a day and to keep caffeine down (chocolate etc) in general during IVF and 3/4 cups a day in general or you'll never sleep :). If it makes you or in particular your other half feel better then cut it out. Along with soya which is ever increasingly turning out to be food of the devil when it comes to fertility for women in particular

Jekklys advice isn't quite right unless you know your Mrs has a 28 day cycle. You ovulate 14 days (assuming no luteal phase issues) before your next cycle. I have long cycles and ovulate generally ovulate sometime after day 21 so concentrating on doing is 5 days before the lead up to day 14 would be a bit useless. If shes not regular get sticks.

There's too much information out there now for women to just kick back and enjoy trying for more than a few months. Try for 12 months, if nothing happens go to the docs and have a spunk test. If your mid 30s upwards go after 6 months. Good luck, our first year of trying was pretty good fun 🙂 Just a shame that four years on it still hasn't produced anything.

Bizarrely it was injecting mrs blobby with a bag full of soya (amongst other drugs) that worked for us!

Ransos - the issue in a woman's thirties isn't the boundaries of natural fertility. It's the success rate for fertility treatments, which do begin to diminish sharply from the mid-30s onwards, although techniques are improving.

Yup, but the myth of sharply reducing natural fertility is still being peddled...

All I'm saying is that for a couple (say in their mid 30s) struggling to conceive, they shouldn't think it's because they left it too late.

Pfft, I got pumped full of purified old lady p**s. Joyful, didn't work either. Actually, the old lady p**s worked, it was the rest of it went tits up