Did you drink the months leading upto ivf?

[Maybe2020]

I’m starting to stress about my oh drinking. He’s cut down a hell of a lot to what he used to drink but he still enjoys a few beers once a week.
We are going away in October and worried because I now we will probably both be drinking while away.
I don’t drink much tbh but I have a few here and there when I fancy it.
We have male factor infertility and I’m getting anxious everytime my oh has a drink and I sort of feel angry about it. Like he’s not understanding the effect it has.
An I being daft? Should I just relax and is it ok to have few a week ? Will it likely affect the ivf outcome? I’m worried it will affect his sperm too much and the icsi won’t work!

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

Hi OP how soon are you planning IVF? And presumably your doing ICSI?

My OP drinks more on the weekend - could be 2/3 bottles between Friday and Sunday - we go for a second round of ivf next month and our deal was I would buy the wine (previously refused to!) BUT it was reduced to 1 bottle per week and he religiously took his preconception vitamins ......so far he has stuck to that

I personally don't really drink much but it's more important to have zero alcohol in the 2 weeks after transfer I would say than the "odd" drink before

[Maybe2020]

We have one round on the nhs and been told it should be about the end of October/November time we start our cycle of icsi.
I don’t really drink that much anyway and we are both on vitamins/supplements but we are going to have drinks when we go away was just worried about it affecting sperm quality/ egg quality.
Then again i sometimes think it’s either going to work or it isn’t and I can’t blame myself for having a couple of drinks nor dh. X

[RyvitaBrevis]

Unless he has practically no sperm at all, a couple drinks on holiday is not going to make a difference! Try not to worry xx

[Maybe2020]

His last sa was 0.7 :( so not exactly 0
But still worrying it will affect quality, he’s also freezing some back up before the ivf x

[Laurapb88]

My hubby had a few drinks the weekend before egg collection and we have Male factor if I'm honest I was fuming with him but I'm 7 days past transfer and got a bfp this afternoon so I wouldn't worry to much they select the best sperm xx

[twinkledag]

I totally get what you're saying and have had many discussions with my OH about drinking.

He's cut right down, def within his units for the week but it still pisses me off as I'm not a massive drinker.

I try and remember that this affects him and worries him too and his 3 beers on a Friday help him to unwind. He's healthy apart from those three drinks which are nothing in the grand scheme of things.

[Eggcellent29]

Personally, I asked DH to give it up. Hell, I was doing pretty much all the hard work; least he could do was not get pissed for a few weeks!!

But I suppose there are three outcomes

1. Drink as normal and it doesn’t work. You really regret those drinks, regardless of how much of an impact they really had as you will never know
   
   
2. Don’t drink at all and it works. Happy days
   
   
3. Don’t drink at all and it doesn’t work. Missed out on some drinks, but can sleep easy knowing you both gave it your best shot

[Eggcellent29]

I should have said, drink as normal and it does work!

But from what we were told, drinking does have a negative impact on outcomes

[Ginandtonic31]

Both me and OH drank. I stopped as I started stimming but he continued on a Friday night to have a few drinks. I don't think it makes much difference unless drinking loads.

[twinkledag]

Our first round of IVF, the doc told DH to give up drinking. We had an unsuccessful fresh transfer and got our DS from the FET.

Had 3 cycles since with no success, DH didn't give up drinking.

[Viletta]

I'm in the same boat, our count is 0.4
Cutting down for 3 months prior second IVF did improve our fertilization rate and I expect dna fragmentation was improved too. DH also swamped smoking to vaping with no nicotine, ate organic and had a ton of supplements. As soon as we were on FET he started drinking and smoking again. He will need to stop again soon so we can prepare for the next cycle. It's not easy for people who enjoy drinking to give up during stressful times and it's not helping to you to stress out about it. Our nutritionist said as long as he doesn't get hammered 3 months prior IVF and drinks not more than 1-2 days a week it should be fine. She also suggested switching to more expensive pure booze, beer is no good for you. She and our Andrologist Dr Ramsey are big believers in the harm of nano plastic for male fertility. Beer and some wine is brewed in plastic barrels and are full of nano plastic. They suggested alcohol that comes from wood barrels : cider, whiskey, some wine. I'd suggest have a chat with him, perhaps use a nutritionist (ours is Mel Brown). Then just trust he's doing his bit and try to relax. Good luck!

[Maybe2020]

Thankyou everyone for your replies, I think it’s the stress of it all aswell playing a part in my oh not completely stopping. He has cut down a lot compared to how much he used to drink though.
He normally has about 2-4 beers at the weekend but this week we went away so we both enjoyed a lot more.
We will be from now cutting down completely until the holiday we have booked. I’ve slready told dh we won’t be going over the top. We will enjoy it and have a drink but not drink to excess of where we have a hangover if that makes sense?
If this cycle fails ( which Is more than likely) we will be cutting alcohol completely for the next try.

[Ginandtonic31]

@Maybe2020 I drank for two rounds. The first I got 4 eggs but I never for a minute thought t was drink so carried on before the second round and got 27 eggs! So I don't think it made much difference to us. But appreciate it might to some and might make others feel better.