Planned Parenthood / male fertility?

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Three questions, and thanks to everyone who commented on my last frantic post.

I made an appointment to go to PP and the soonest they could get me in was two weeks from now. I forgot to ask while on the phone and can't call again until Monday, so I figured you ladies could probably answer this. I have insurance, so would a visit to PP be like a normal copay according to my insurance or what? I don't usually carry cash and I'm short on funds in the first place, so I'd like to know before I go there.


Second! I know this is kind of the opposite of vagina talk, but along the same lines. An earlier post about fertility reminded me of this. My boyfriend is convinced he's shooting blanks because he's never had a scare with a girl before and he didn't use any kind of protection with girls... Basically ever. Not until we started dating (yes he's gotten tested, before anyone asks). I'm not sure I quite agree that he's STERILE, but you never know. Maybe he has a really low sperm count or something. I really don't know anything about it.

So. Aside from just a sperm count, how exactly could he go in to finding out about that?
Second question is how do I convince the guy to go get that checked out in the first place? He's not from the states (Latin American) and has kind of an attitude about Americans going to the doctor too much. Also he's only 20, so I feel silly even thinking about this and I'm thinking any doctor we asked would feel the same. Unless we were trying to conceive, which we sure as hell aren't anytime soon. But what can I say? I'm really curious now.

Thanks VPers :D

Comments

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend is convinced he's shooting blanks because he's never had a scare with a girl before and he didn't use any kind of protection with girls... Basically ever.

Did he at use withdrawal? Is he sure that none of his partners were taking oral contraceptives, or using FAM, and didn't tell him? Might a coincidental number of his partners had a condition like PCOS that can impair their fertility? Were most of his partners short-term, or occasional sex, or were there lengthy periods of regular sex with a partner?

At any rate, though it's always possible your partner may have a low sperm count, lack of a pregnancy scare doesn't necessarily mean he's shooting blanks. If there has truly been no contraception used ever, then he may have a low sperm count... or he may just be lucky.

Look at it this way: 15% of women won't conceive over the course of a full year of regular sex with no contraception, so there is some reasonable statistical probability that one could have regular sex with repeated partners and never see a pregnancy scare.

Add to that the fact that as many as 50% of conceptions are miscarried so early in the pregnancy that most women don't think it's anything other than a normal period, and I wouldn't take lack of babies as any reliable indicator of lack of fertility.

As far as I know, other than obtaining a sperm count directly from a medical professional there's no real way to verify that.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Did he at use withdrawal? Is he sure that none of his partners were taking oral contraceptives, or using FAM, and didn't tell him? Might a coincidental number of his partners had a condition like PCOS that can impair their fertility? Were most of his partners short-term, or occasional sex, or were there lengthy periods of regular sex with a partner?

No withdrawal, the girlfriends he had weren't on anything or watching their cycles. And... Pretty good mix of hook-ups and girlfriends, but either way, lots of sex often.

No, I definitely don't think he's sterile or anything. I think he's extremely lucky, really, haha. But I'm really curious that maybe he has a low sperm count or something random like that. He put the idea in my head, now I wanna know if he's right, haha.

Oh, I meant like, things you could have checked out by a doctor, not like... Home tests, or something. I don't even know how one would test such a thing without seeing a doctor...

[dayglow.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go with the idea that he's just been lucky. One girl I knew was sleeping with a guy who was '100% definitely sterile'. Two unplanned kids later.... (you'd think they woulda figured it out after the first one, eh?)

As far as testing sperm count, I think your options are either to see a doctor, or screw a lot sans protection and see if you get pregnant. Since the latter is a pretty unwise choice, the best idea would be to see a doctor. :P

And honestly, if you're not worrying about convceiving, I don't understand why it's a big deal. It's a good idea to be using contraceptives in any case (even if I was with a guy who said he'd had a vasectomy, either I'd be keeping up on my own HBC or he'd be showing me proof of said vasectomy - I don't take chances). So really, I don't think it's something worth going to the doctor over at this point in your lives, just to cure some curiosity.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Oh there's no way in hell I'm going to go "Oh you think you're sterile? Well I'll stop taking HBC now, it's safe!" That's just silly XD

I meant when seeing a doctor, is there anything else they can do aside from checking sperm count, not... I don't know, how I can check at home or something.

Eh, it's not a big deal, I just wanna knoooow X3 I know it's stupid, I can't help it. I'm really curious. And it's kind of like that other lady that posted about fertility said before-- you never know!

Oh, and I'd stay on my HBC even if he got a vasectomy even if I was in the room when it happened. I would feel irrationally unprotected and paranoid, heh. I'm pretty paranoid about pregnancy. Maybe that's why I wanna know?

[archangelbeth]

They'd check not just the number of sperm, but the number of viable sperm -- look to see if he had wigglies that were deformed in some way that made them not swim properly, etc.

If he wears tight underwear -- briefs instead of boxers -- that keep his testicles up near his body, he may be reducing his sperm count. The testicles dangle for a reason; too much heat impairs the little wigglies, or even kills them. (There's allegedly a tribe somewhere who boil their testicles periodically as a method of male birth control. Eep!) Also, using laptops has been linked to lowered fertility.

On the other hand, my spouse wears tight undies and it didn't take us an inappropriate amount of time to get our kid; it's not a guarantee.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've heard that one before... Er, the briefs thing, not the boiling testicles thing... Wouldn't that just burn your skin off? Um, anyway...

Great, now that's in my head.

[recuntulous.livejournal.com]

It's a technique that some people (not many) use today! There's a section about it in one of my Women's Health books (isn't that interesting) with specific directions. You don't have to actually boil your testicles, simply submerging them in water that's something like 115 degrees F, every day for two weeks (I think, this is based on my memory, I'm in Spain and didn't bring textbooks with me) is enough to render him infertile for several months, but they say you should also go and have an analysis done, to be sure. The textbook also said that, surprisingly, that insanely hot water doesn't feel so bad on the testicles, according to one man. I always like bringing that up in conversations with men about how much I hate hormonal birth control for women. It somhow adds new perspective. :)

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

I gotta tell my boyfriend about this XD Fascinating. Makes you wonder how they found out that worked.

[marionravenwood.livejournal.com]

There is a fairly new home fertility test for both men and women: it's called Fertell (http://www.fertell.com/). The male part of it measures "mobile sperm count per millimeter."

There's also Babystart Malie Infertility Test (http://www.drugstore.com/qxp83998_333181_sespider/baby_start/male_infertility_test.htm), which just measures sperm count, not mobility.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Aha! Thanks :3

[sandtigeress.livejournal.com]

The whole "I think I'm sterile because I've never gotten a girl pregnant and never used protection" line makes me headdesk, to be honest.

My ex, Richard, used that as an excuse for having unprotected sex and often. He finally got his latest girlfriend pregnant, and he's not even ready for it. He just doesn't have the mental or emotional maturity to handle a kid. He just turned 21. I want to smack him upside the head and tell him I told him so, but I refrain.

It's good you guys are using protection, but if that's curious if he's sterile, he would need to go to a doctor. There's nothing anyone else can confirm or deny about that.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, it's silly. And like I said, there's no way in hell either of us are going to stop using protection just because he might have a low sperm count, that would be ridiculous. He's not trying to use it as an excuse to not use anything-- I'd smack him if he tried that BS.

[rachelish.livejournal.com]

My Planned Parenthood (in Florida) does not accept insurance at all. I know they all have different policies though, so to know for sure you'll probably have to call them on Monday.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Hum. I guess I do need to call... Thanks!

[pinkpartyhatgi.livejournal.com]

The planned parenthood I go to in Seattle, WA takes insurance, and even though I have the Take Charge program, they will bill the insurance first and then Take Charge. They just found out I have insurance on my last visit *ugh* so now they charge me a copay. I think it might depend on which PP you're seeing though, so I would definitely call them and ask them. :)

I have no idea about the sperm count thing. Just my luck, when my SO and I try and conceive, one of us is going to be shooting blanks. lol.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Aw darn. It's so hard to get someone on the phone at the PP near me because their hours are so wonky, it took me a week to get an appointment. Guess I'll need to call between two classes or something.

Thanks! And I hope neither of you are, haha. Just MY luck would turn out my guy actually has an abnormally high sperm count or some crap.

[recuntulous.livejournal.com]

I think that at planned parenthood you'll probably have to pay your regular copay.

also,
(i have no idea if this is true or not and it will need more research)
(and he may be even less comfortable doing this than going to the doctor, but)
I feel like I heard before that if you try to donate sperm to a sperm bank, they'll tell you if you don't have any viable sperm, becaues your semen is no good to them. I guess they probably wouldn't do really rigorous tests to see if there was absolutely no viable sperm and would just reject him if he had a low number, but you could look into that. it might even be a way of getting paid to find out instead of paying a doctor.
once again, i don't know if this really would work, but it's an idea.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Haha... Okay, that's a really good idea. But there's no way in hell I could get him to do that, and I don't want there to be little him-babies somewhere that he doesn't know about, hahaha...

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

i think if you were to try to donate sperm, the first thing they'd do is send you for a semen analysis, so it'd be easier to just go to a medical provider and ask them to order one rather than going to a sperm bank to get them to order one under somewhat-false pretenses.

[recuntulous.livejournal.com]

Yes, you ladies both have excellent points. I was just trying to think creatively here.

[swiggett.livejournal.com]

As to the insurance, I believe that is a branch by branch issue. There are three branches where I live, and the one I have been using does not take insurance. I think that the one downtown might, I also think that one is more of a sliding scale. Sorry I can't be of more help, other than to say, "call 'em up on Monday and ask!"
Although, even if they don't, in my experience, PP is reasonably priced, and the cost of the pap [and HBC if relavent] is less expensive then not detecting some health issue, or an unplanned pregnancy.

[reijigin.livejournal.com]

Ah darn. I guess it's time to play phone tag again. Thanks!