*THE* HRT / Fertility Thread

[Kroms_laugh]

This thread will serve as a beckon for questions concerning the fertility of patients on HRT. There are too many contradicting posts concerning this, and that is why this thread needed to be created. Contributions to this thread should stay on topic.

I will post these questions to begin with (feel free to post others that are on topic);

1) Can an HRT patient become sterile from testosterone replacement (with or without hCG)?

2) "I've heard of HRT patients who've become pregnant after years of therapy. Can this happen? Will this affect my child's health in anyway?"

3) "I have secondary hypogonadism. Can I go with an hCG only protocol until I have children, then go with TRT when fertility is no longer an issue?"

4) "I've been on HRT for a few years, and my partner and I are wanting to get pregnant. If I come off of the testosterone and take a SERM (like Clomid), will we be able to get pregnant?"

5) "I'd like to freeze my sperm for future use. How much should I expect to pay to collect it, freeze it, and then artificially inseminate my partner when the time comes?"

 

[jboldman]

THis is a classice study wherin a steroid user overcomes his sterility and has children using human chorionic gonadotropin and human menopausal gonadotropin

jb
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Fertil Steril. 2003 Jun;79 Suppl 3:1659-61. Related Articles, Links


Comment in:
Fertil Steril. 2004 Jan;81(1):226.

Successful treatment of anabolic steroid-induced azoospermia with human chorionic gonadotropin and human menopausal gonadotropin.

Menon DK.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. drmenon2000@yahoo.co.uk

OBJECTIVE: To document for the first time the successful treatment using human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and human menopausal gonadotropins (hMG) of anabolic steroid-induced azoospermia that was persistent despite 1 year of cessation from steroid use. DESIGN: Clinical case report. SETTINGS: Tertiary referral center for infertility. PATIENT(S): A married couple with primary subfertility secondary to azoospermia and male hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. The husband was a bodybuilder who admitted to have used the anabolic steroids testosterone cypionate, methandrostenolone, oxandrolone, testosterone propionate, oxymetholone, nandrolone decanoate, and methenolone enanthate. INTERVENTION(S): Twice-weekly injections of 10,000 IU of hCG (Profasi; Serono) and daily injections of 75 IU of hMG (Humegon; Organon) for 3 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Semen analyses, pregnancy. RESULT(S): Semen analyses returned to normal after 3 months of treatment. The couple conceived spontaneously 7 months later. CONCLUSION(S): Steroid-induced azoospermia that is persistent after cessation of steroid use can be treated successfully with hCG and hMG.

 

[greatgro]

2) "I've heard of HRT patients who've become pregnant after years of therapy. Can this happen? Will this affect my child's health in anyway?"

Wait a minute....No one mentioned that a side effect of HRT is that I could become pregnant! I may have to stop! Pregnancy is my wife's job, not mine!

Sorry I know these are serious questions (and good ones!) but I just couldn't help it!

 

[Matt Muscle]

Comment in:
Fertil Steril. 2004 Jan;81(1):226.

Successful treatment of anabolic steroid-induced azoospermia with human chorionic gonadotropin and human menopausal gonadotropin.

Menon DK.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. drmenon2000@yahoo.co.uk

OBJECTIVE: To document for the first time the successful treatment using human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and human menopausal gonadotropins (hMG) of anabolic steroid-induced azoospermia that was persistent despite 1 year of cessation from steroid use. DESIGN: Clinical case report. SETTINGS: Tertiary referral center for infertility. PATIENT(S): A married couple with primary subfertility secondary to azoospermia and male hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. The husband was a bodybuilder who admitted to have used the anabolic steroids testosterone cypionate, methandrostenolone, oxandrolone, testosterone propionate, oxymetholone, nandrolone decanoate, and methenolone enanthate. INTERVENTION(S): Twice-weekly injections of 10,000 IU of hCG (Profasi; Serono) and daily injections of 75 IU of hMG (Humegon; Organon) for 3 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Semen analyses, pregnancy. RESULT(S): Semen analyses returned to normal after 3 months of treatment. The couple conceived spontaneously 7 months later. CONCLUSION(S): Steroid-induced azoospermia that is persistent after cessation of steroid use can be treated successfully with hCG and hMG.

Twice weekly injections of 10,000 IU of hCG for 3 months...... ouch! Those poor little leydig cells.

 

[jboldman]

yes they are high but read the fine print, the couple conceived 7 months after cessation treatment, there was obviously NO lasting negative effects from thos doses. I think everyone is a little gun shy about hcg doses around here.

jb

 

[SWALE]

No, this study draws absolutely no conclusions whatsoever, with respect to long-term effects, outside of the fact pregnancy was achieved LONG AFTER cessation of therapy (and who is to say it would not have happened anyway?).

I do not consider not wanting to take HCG above dosages which no longer produce more testosterone, but do dramatically elevate estrogens and progresterones, as well as significant Leydig cell downregulation, being "gun shy". There no longer is any doubt whatsoever that small doses of HCG is the way to go.

 

[jboldman]

I stand corrected, all we can assume from this study is that after these high doses there were no identified negative effects up to 7 months after cessation of treatment and that during treatment sperm production normalized and remained intact enough to allow impregnation 7 months after cessation of treatment.

jb

 

[Kroms_laugh]

Is no one going to address those questions in the original post?