Is anyone's oh taking citalopram ??

[jodie34]

Hi ,just wondering if anyone's oh are taking citalopram , my oh take sit and is on a 20mg tablet once a day he does need to take it as when he doesn't his depression gets bad but the tablets keep it well at bay .......... But I've just read on dr google that it can cause male infertility ..... Just what I wanted to read ..... NOT !!

 

[MillersMissus]

I was in citalopram (40mg) before ttc but came off with the help of my gp as can cause respiratory issues for the foetus. He needs to seek advice from his gp hun x

 

[jodie34]

I'm going to speak to our go this week if it's the case I will be fuming our gp knows we are Ttc and have been for 8 years and he put him on them I just hope if it's true there won't be any lasting damage xx

 

[Becky1]

My hubby takes it and I read that too. He had tests at gp and everything came out back fine and then we conceived ds (now 20mths). We're now ttc no.2 and he's still on it and now on a higher dose. I'm hoping that he's still ok (this is cycle 4). What I read said it wasn't lasting damage to sperm. xxx

 

[MrsTLC]

My DH takes it,combined with 23 other different medications, and he's 32 years older than me and still firing on all cylinders, so I don't think its a common issue

 

[jodie34]

Thank you so much for your replies I feel a lot calmer now , although in a weird kinda way if that was the issue then ok but not knowing what the problem is drives me mad ... I mean we have 2 children but ds took years and now 8 years later still. Tryin with no help bcos we already have naturally conceived 2 children and I had 2 failed pregnancies before them arghhhh I'm feeling very frustrated today xx

 

[Mar_15]

Hi there, sorry to reply to an old thread but I think this may be an issue for my OH.

We've been trying for over 2 years and OH has been on citalopram for a year and a half. We just found out that OHs sperm motility is really low - I think 16% (normal+fast).

I found one study where men on SSRIs had very low sperm counts or motility and after 1 month off the drugs these were at normal levels. The hypothesis was that the SSRIs must affect the sperm AFTER production - if they affected sperm production itself levels would take at least 3 months to normalise.

Anyway, I couldn't find any more info on this - the original study was only with 2 men and they have done a study with a bigger sample size yet.

I think my OH will come off citalopram ASAP so fingers crossed that will change something for us.

Jodie, are you guys still trying and has your OH had a sperm analysis done?

 

[snowbee]

Hi there, sorry to reply to an old thread but I think this may be an issue for my OH.

We've been trying for over 2 years and OH has been on citalopram for a year and a half. We just found out that OHs sperm motility is really low - I think 16% (normal+fast).

I found one study where men on SSRIs had very low sperm counts or motility and after 1 month off the drugs these were at normal levels. The hypothesis was that the SSRIs must affect the sperm AFTER production - if they affected sperm production itself levels would take at least 3 months to normalise.

Anyway, I couldn't find any more info on this - the original study was only with 2 men and they have done a study with a bigger sample size yet.

I think my OH will come off citalopram ASAP so fingers crossed that will change something for us.

Jodie, are you guys still trying and has your OH had a sperm analysis done?

Hiya, my husband is also on citalopram. Our GP said it was safe to take and to ttc with. We have been ttc a long time but the issues are mine, not his. His SA were all fine. We have conceived twice but mc both times (again my issues, not his).

You might like to read this, it may give you some ideas you haven't yet tried. https://sites.google.com/site/misca...oost-fertility/how-to-increase-male-fertility

 

[scn]

My husband is on an SSRI and has been for around 8 years. He's never had a SA done but I've been pregnant 6 times in 3 and half years xx

 

[Mar_15]

Thanks guys. I found some further studies so I'm still not convinced it doesn't have an effect. I suppose like with all meds it affects different people differently though. For example: http://www.nature.com/ijir/journal/v23/n6/full/ijir201135a.html

A study of 25 men who had no fertility issues prior to being treated with escitalopram...

At the twelfth week of escitalopram treatment, mean sperm concentration decreased from 68±27.1 million per ml to 26.4±16.1 million per ml (P<0.01), mean motility decreased from 58.2%±5.2 to 23.4%±7.5 (P<0.01) and mean normal shaped spermatozoa decreased from 19.2%±4.8 to 7.3%±3.3.3 (P<0.01). Oligospermia (<20 million spermatozoa per ml), asthenospermia (<50% progressive motile spermatozoa) and teratospermia (<14% normal forms) were detected in 14 (56%), 13 (52%) and 25 (100%) patients, respectively.​

Not that this would be worth risking OH's mental health for of course. He is coming off the meds anyway for other reasons. But I think we both really hope this will improve things.

 

[Mar_15]

Hi there,

Sorry to reopen such an old thread but I really wanted to report back on this.

My OH came off his meds (Citalopram - 40mg daily) completely during March this year and went back for another sperm analysis at the end of May. We went for an appointment with the consultant today and the first thing he said was "Have you made any big lifestyle changes since the first analysis? Or were you ill when the first one was done?"

The difference in OHs analysis was enormous. The consultant says he now has totally normal results. with OHs permission, here are the figures (%):

----------------------February-------May
-------------Fast-------5.56--------34.40
-------------Slow------2.78--------32.38
Non-progressive-----16.67---------4.04
--------Immobile ----75.00--------29.18

What's more, concentration has gone from 22.7 mill/ml to 59.19 mill/ml.

To clarify, OH had not been ill in the months leading to the first analysis, his lifestyle, diet etc. haven't changed and he hasn't started taking any supplements or anything.

Now, obviously this could be a coincidence, it is not exactly a scientific study. It is just one anecdote to add to a couple of others floating around the internet.

Also, I don't want to encourage anyone to come off anti-depressants that they might need. That is down to each person's personal choice - in my OH's case he decided the medication really wasn't necessary for him or helping him any more and he chose to come off it.

But I want people to have this information in case other couples find themselves in the same position we were in.

Good luck everyone!