herbal treatment for Asthenozoospermia

When the sperm have mobility problems, the diagnosis is asthenozoospermia or asthenospermia. This is an alteration in semen that is colloquially known as slow or lazy sperm. The experts at the Center for Phytotherapy (Mes Plantes) provide you with a natural treatment to permanently cure asthenospermia. Click on the image below to discover this natural treatment.

Definition and diagnosis

To analyze semen, a spermogram is used to observe the movement of sperm. During a sperm analysis, a drop of semen is placed in a counting cell and the movements of around 100 sperm are observed under a microscope.

The percentage of spermatozoa is determined:

• With progressive mobility
• They move fast or slow
• Non-progressive mobility
• They present a movement but stay put
• Motionless

They absolutely do not move
The diagnosis of asthenozoospermia is made when there is a high amount of immobile sperm or slow, non-progressive sperm in the semen sample.

Analysis of sperm motility

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the benchmarks that mark normal sperm motility or motility are as follows:

Values ​​equal to or greater than 40% motile sperm (progressive and non-progressive)
Values ​​greater than 32% of sperm with progressive mobility, i.e. able to move and cover a certain distance
Values ​​below these references are considered abnormal and are the cause of asthenozoospermia or asthenospermia.

Repeat the spermogram

It is crucial to repeat the semen analysis before making a definitive diagnosis of asthenozoospermia in a patient. Diagnosing asthenozoospermia or any other diagnosis of sperm with a single sperm test is a mistake, since it may be due to an external or environmental factor, or a temporary circumstance of the patient.

This is why it is essential to repeat the spermogram to confirm the diagnosis. In addition, the time between semen analyzes should be reasonable in order to ensure that the influencing external factor has disappeared.

Degrees of asthenospermia: severe and moderate
Depending on the exact percentage of immobile sperm observed in the analyzed semen sample, this is referred to as more or less severe asthenospermia. In general, there are two degrees of severity:

Severe or marked
This is the case when the percentage of sperm with little or no mobility is very high. Although there is no definite value, we can speak of severe asthenospermia when the percentage of immobile sperm is close to or greater than 75-80%.

It is important to stress that it is not only the total motility, it is also the type of mobility that is taken into account because if few sperm have progressive and rapid mobility, we will also speak of severe asthenozoospermia.

Moderate or mild
This degree means that the percentage of sperm that are immobile or with poor mobility is between 60 and 75%. As in the previous case, the type of movement is fundamental, because if they move little but the movement is rectilinear and allows progression, the asthenospermia will be mild.

Thus, the degree of severity of asthenospermia is not completely defined by the percentage of motile sperm. It will take into account the shape and speed of the movement, as well as the quantity of immobile sperm.

Causes

There are no precisely defined causes to explain asthenozoospermia. However, we know that different factors can affect the mobility of sperm:

• Presence of sperm antibodies
• Excessive use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other drugs
• Age (a significant decrease in mobility was observed from 45 years old)
• Fever
• Exposure to toxic agents such as fertilizers, chemical solvents, etc.
• Infections that affect semen
• Bad nutrition
• Prolonged exposure to heat
• Testicular problems
• Oncological treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy
• Varicocele

The presence of other changes in sperm such as teratozoospermia or oligospermia can lead to asthenozoospermia. Ultimately, all of them are related to poor sperm quality. Teratozoospermia relates to the shape or morphology of sperm and oligospermia relates to the low concentration of sperm in semen.

Treatment

To treat slow sperm, two solutions are possible to improve their mobility, which may even suggest a solution for mild asthenospermia:

Natural treatment

it is recommended that you lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid the consumption of toxic substances that can affect the general quality of semen, including sperm mobility. In mild asthenospermia, this can make a big difference.
Medical treatment
some medicines to improve seminal quality can help reduce problems with sperm mobility. However, they will only be effective for mild cases of male infertility.
Severe asthenozoospermia is difficult to treat.

Consequences for fertility

Asthenozoospermia is a cause of infertility because, in order to achieve a natural pregnancy, sperm have to travel a long and difficult path from the vagina where they are deposited after ejaculation to the fallopian tubes where the ovum is located. waiting to be fertilized.

In the female reproductive system, sperm encounter several obstacles and only the fittest and fastest will be able to overcome them and reach the goal first.

This is why the gradual movement and speed of the sperm is so important to getting pregnant naturally.

When the sperm do not move or do so inappropriately (without progression), natural fertilization becomes very difficult. It is in such cases that medically assisted procreation is required.

Asthenospermia and chances of pregnancy
When a man has asthenozoospermia responsible for the infertility of the couple, ART techniques should be used.

The treatment indicated in this case is in vitro fertilization (IVF). Artificial insemination is not recommended because of the poor mobility of sperm.

IVF can be conventional or ICSI (intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection):

In the most serious cases, ICSI is required. It is not necessary for the sperm to move, because it is the embryologist himself who introduces it inside the egg.
If asthenozoospermia is moderate, conventional IVF, which is simpler and more physiological than ICSI, may be sufficient for the sperm to fertilize the egg on its own.
If neither of these two techniques works, it will be necessary to resort to a sperm donation. Sperm donation is the way to achieve fertilization when semen quality is poor.