TTC with male on Citalopram/ SSRI / Anti depressant

[Katandbabe]

Whilst we have been trying to conceive our 2nd LO, I started to look at if my husbands medication could be effecting our chances, despite the side effects listing nothing correlating to fertility in men. I couldn’t find anyone in a similar situation so I wanted to make sure I shared our experience in case anyone here is TTC with no luck but hasn’t pieced this together yet either!

We conceived DS in 2019 on the first month of TTC, my husband wasn’t on medication and I guess we got lucky for it to happen so fast. Fast forward to 2023, we had wanted another LO for a while and as we got chatting I did mention I thought we should look into any possible side effects of his medication. After finding buried articles from all over the place, I had confirmation that in multiple studies SSRI’s commonly diminish sperm count, motility and mobility and although I personally found the research conclusive, the NHS and drug companies don’t have to put a warning because it’s not been tested in broad enough studies to prove the drug kills sperm. I just want to confirm in our case, that was absolutely what had happened! My husband had no effective sperm.

It takes 3 months for sperm to fully mature so hubby came off medication in March (we were TTC feb-July) and we have just found out we are pregnant in August. The medication would have been clean from his body from July, and we conceived the next month. I feel like that is proof enough for me that SSRI’s kill sperm.

I guess what I wanted to share is if you’re struggling to conceive, and you are at a loss as to why, absolutely do you own research on yours or partners medication, even if it doesn’t mention fertility in any of the leaflets- discuss your medication with your doctor. Luckily my husband was in a position to come off his medication but had he not, our GP did mention there in one SSRI available in UK which doesn’t affect sperm count that she could prescribe, she didn’t provide the name of it but I wish you all luck and hope this is helpful even to 1 person.

We got our BFP today at 10 DPO.

We got pregnant when DH was on antidepressants.

Congratulations on your BFP 🎉 And thank you for the informative post. DP has been on Citalopram for a while and reduced his to a small dose in Feb. We’ve not had any luck yet but this is good to be aware of.

Congrats and I think there must be plenty of others that did conceive like you but if it has affected sperm count or quality I imagine it could take longer than needed to convince, but you have to do what is best for you.

Thank you! I’m so glad this has reached you then. I felt so awful asking this of my husband, I didn’t say come of them I just said enquire about another option, and before I knew it he said he’d discussed it with doc and was weaning off them. He is totally open to going back on them now we are pregnant but is just going to see how he goes. Good luck!