CF- Intimacy and Reproductive Health

[julie]

Luke, out of curiosity, have you had a semen analysis done? The likelyhood is that if you do have a decreased volume (I can't infer whether or not that's what you stated in your question) you actually have no sperm in your ejaculate-or any other men with CF for that matter. It is of course, not the sole way to determine semen value and a semen analysis is always the best, cheapest and 99% covered by insurance. Men with CF who have congenital bilateral absense of the vas deferens (CBAVD) still ejaculate (my husband for example-not to get too personal, but just to illustrate it accurately). What they are ejactulating if they have CBAVD is fructose and other bodily fluids that but don't include semen (if they have CBAVD).

Not sure if that was your question, but when Mark was filling out the questions I saw that one too....

 

[luke]

I have not have an analysis done yet. I will, we just haven't turned our "focus" there. Honestly, even though I am sure that my sperm count isn't adequate I don't want to "know it" officially. To clarify, my question was specifically regarding the volume of ejaculate.



luke

 

[julie]

I see....

 

[anonymous]

Yes, Luke, decreased volume is common in CF males -- something like .5 ml compared to the normal 2 ml or more, or so I was told after I sheepishly handed in my cup (a drop, basically) at the BU fertility clinic. I'm glad you brought this up. Admittedly, nobody has ever complained to me about it. I've even been assured it "has its advantages," for whatever that's worth. Still, this sticky issue (groans please!) has always sliced into my already-fragile male ego. Irrational, I know. And I never had my hopes set on being a porn star anyway. Even so, I can only bring myself to sign this,

Mr. Clean

PS: I didn't fill out Dr. Lisa's survey (too far over the hill, I assumed), but I wonder if this small-volume phenomenon might be relevant to her project. It seems like one of those discreet issues they never bring up in clinic.

 

[julie]

From a female married to a male with CF, it's nothing you should be embarassed about. I know that isn't going to make a difference on how you feel about it-but from a woman, the volume is the least of our concerns <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[miesl]

I have to side with Julie on this... volume of fluid not an issue.

 

[candigirl]

DoctorLisa... I took the survey as well.. I am a 28 year old female with cf. Hope it helps you out. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[anonymous]

Thanks for that, Julie and Miesl. I do believe you. Funny how baseless our insecurities often are, eh? Maybe sexual ones especially, since they're so little discussed, at least among men. For instance, walking around with half a lung makes me feel <i>less defective</i> than the faulty plumbing does. And that makes no sense at all!

I do know there's a whole tangle of contradictions when it comes to illness and maleness. Almost all of it is subjective and logically false, but the experience of it is very real. Maybe, Julie, you address this issue somewhere on your site -- for some reason, I can't get it to work on my computer. And maybe this should be an independent thread. At any rate, it's all too deep for me to sort out on an average Monday, and it's less than nothing compared with the recent bad news on this board, but I appreciate your assurances.

Mssr. Clean

 

[julie]

No problem, believe me, on all occasions-less is much better!

I was updating my site all day yesterday, maybe that is why. Let me put the web address again to insure that I wrote it correctly...

www.cysticfibrosismaleinfertility.com (try copying and pasting???)