How to do a spermogram at home?

Download the instructions for the spermogram for male thermal contraception

In these two contrasting situations, some men may feel uncomfortable with the sample. While most laboratories require the sample to be taken on site, it is possible to take the sample at home or to do the analysis on your own.

We will see that the spermogram does not have to be a barrier for a person who wants to contract. There are different solutions, whose advantages and limitations we will see.

Which laboratory should I bring my spermogram to?

Normally, all analysis laboratories are capable of analyzing a spermogram for thermal contraception, although most of the time they are performed as part of PMA, here is a map of recommended laboratories for CMT (Male Thermal Contraception): https: //umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/laboratoires-spermogrammes-andro-switch_329996#6/51.000/2.000

Disadvantages of taking a sample to the laboratory

The reasons why some men are reluctant to have their semen collected in a laboratory are easily understood. It's not just a matter of dropping a little urine into a jar, or letting a blood test be taken. 

Taking a sperm sample in an unfamiliar, medicalized location is a real mood killer. Some men literally feel blocked. To be able to deposit an ejaculate in a graduated plastic jar, you have to get yourself in condition, get an erection, maintain it and carry out the masturbation until you ejaculate. It is important to avoid stress and pressure.

Taking pornographic magazines, putting a small pornographic film on your smartphone, systematically asking your partner to accompany you or fantasizing about nurses, these are the only masturbation techniques that can be considered if you want to do a spermogram in a laboratory.

Spermogram: taking the sample at home

If some laboratories tell you that it is not possible to take a sample at home, insist or change laboratories. A good laboratory should tell you what to do and give you all the directions.

Laboratories prefer to have the examination done at home, as they can more easily control 3 important points:

 

• • The temperature of the sample which must remain at least 20°C

• • The correct performance of the sampling under hygienic conditions, limiting the risk of loss of all or part of the sample

• • The time needed for the analysis should not exceed one hour, because sperm is a living material and it will alter rapidly with time.

To take the sample, you need a sterile plastic jar, which you can get from the analysis laboratory or from a pharmacy. You can ask your doctor to indicate this on your prescription, or you can buy it for a few cents in a pharmacy.

Whether you are collecting semen alone or accompanied by someone else, it is imperative that you wash your hands and sex thoroughly before extracting the semen, to avoid contaminating the jar.

To be accompanied, in a contraceptive project or on the contrary to conceive a child, therefore a project which is conceived in two, is not ashamed or unwelcome, quite the contrary. However, you cannot demand the participation of your partner.

The main difficulty is to keep the sample ideally at 37°C until the laboratory and within one hour maximum. Do not put it in the refrigerator under any circumstances! Keep it warm in your underwear, under your armpits, between your thighs in the car, in your wife's cleavage or more seriously, in a water bath in a larger pot...

In practice, storage at a room temperature of 20°C is sufficient. The main constraint is time: for the analysis to be accurate, the sperm must be analyzed as quickly as possible, with a maximum delay of one hour between ejaculation and analysis.

In all cases, it is advisable to return the sample to the laboratory within 30 minutes.

Guide for the realization of the home-made spermogram

If you wish, it is possible to perform this test yourself. Indeed, sperm counting can be performed with basic equipment and awareness of laboratory practices, especially for thermal contraception, which is essentially a sperm count.

Keep in mind that a spermogram at home will never replace the follow-up and the examination done in a laboratory. It will only have an informative value, within the framework of a better knowledge of oneself and of DIY.

The local groups ofARDECOM local groups plan to be able to carry out this development. Feel free to contact them to find out how to do a spermogram at home.

Click on the link to access the Sperm@home guide to taking your own spermogram.

Do a spermogram with your cell phone?

Researchers have developed a system to perform semen analysis from a simple smartphone. This interesting technology would simplify the analysis of sperm. Many projects to perform infertility testing or post-vasectomy monitoring are developed in the world, but it is the University of Harvard Medicine in Boston that seems to have the most solid project in every respect, which you can read the presentation following the publication in Science Translational Medicine : FERTILEX.

This application has been successfully developed for monitoring vasectomies that require regular spermograms. The threshold of effectiveness of a vasectomy is a concentration lower than 100 000 spermatozoa/ml. This means that its application for vasectomy will also be used for thermal monitoring whose threshold is 1 million/ml.

A second alternative is available here. It is used for post-vasectomy follow-up and has been validated by the FDA in the USA. Its main advantage is that it gives an indication of the sperm count. It does not replace a laboratory sperm count, is fairly expensive and not very easy to use. It's an avenue worth exploring, but for the moment there's no substitute for a laboratory sperm count.

Having a spermogram should be a pleasant or neutral moment

This examination is not easy for a man to go through. It evokes very delicate subjects such as modesty, the ability to be fertile, and therefore an idea of virility. Some men are ill-prepared for this examination or act under pressure, to relieve or satisfy their wives without really having taken the time to make the choice to undergo a spermogram.

It is therefore a question of contraceptive consent, of involvement in the process, whether it is to induce or to overcome infertility... Having a spermogram is an important step in a voluntary process.

It is true that it is sometimes difficult for women to understand a lack of involvement from their men. It is true that it is sometimes difficult for women to understand the lack of involvement of their men, while they did not feel accompanied in medical procedures around contraception or pregnancy, which sometimes seemed more difficult to them. Sexual equity is a long road of patience, learning, discussions... humor and tenderness are powerful allies to de-dramatize and relativize this medical examination.

Labrit Maxime 10-12-2018