Ureaplasma

[Deleted User]

Can someone help explain it a little better for me?

It is my understanding that it is a somewhat common infection that both men and women can have. It primarily lays dormant and does not have any real effect on anything except fertility. It can cause infertility and miscarriages. It is found in a culture done on the sperm and cervix and both partners take antibiotics and then are fine.

 I have read and know personally of people who were TTC for a very long time before being diagnosed. Once they took the antibiotics they were pregnant the next month.

Is all of this true? Why does no one talk about it, and why are women not tested for it right away?

TIA

kellyrn9956

I had it. Me and H were treated and subsequently tested negative, and five months later I got my first and only BFP. Is it related? Who knows. But it's just like any other fertility test. There is no reason to test for it until it is proven that the couple has not been able to conceive. And the literature on it is very spotty. It MAY be a factor in infertility, but is very often not the only source.

[Deleted User]

kellyrn9956:

I had it. Me and H were treated and subsequently tested negative, and five months later I got my first and only BFP. Is it related? Who knows. But it's just like any other fertility test. There is no reason to test for it until it is proven that the couple has not been able to conceive. And the literature on it is very spotty. It MAY be a factor in infertility, but is very often not the only source.

I get that, but for such a simple test and simple fix wouldn?t it make sense to get it out of the way?

UrbanLe1

Jessii266:

kellyrn9956:

I had it. Me and H were treated and subsequently tested negative, and five months later I got my first and only BFP. Is it related? Who knows. But it's just like any other fertility test. There is no reason to test for it until it is proven that the couple has not been able to conceive. And the literature on it is very spotty. It MAY be a factor in infertility, but is very often not the only source.

I get that, but for such a simple test and simple fix wouldn?t it make sense to get it out of the way?

Oh wow, that's a good question.  And I really, really, really wish it were a simple answer!

The problem is that it's not a simple diagnosis or a simple test.  This is an organism that lives in something like 70% of sexually-active adults--each subset of the microbe has different percentages, but that's a close estimate.  That's an INSANE amount of people.  Whether or not it's going to affect you has a multitude of other factors in play, mostly including what other infections you might have.

DH has always told me this about medicine:  "When you hear hoofbeats, don't assume it's a zebra."  Most of the time, it's going to be a horse--meaning that ureaplasma is not the answer, and that it's not interfering with your fertility in any meaningful way.  In order to get the answer, you have to go through all of those other possibilities first.  Once they're exhausted, then you look at the zebras.

So, you can't just test and treat everyone for ureaplasma.  It would be an expensive outlay on the cost of both doctors and patients (not to mention insurance).  Not to mention that you might be exposing yourself to antibiotics that you might not actually need.

Here's more info on ureaplasma if you're interested (this is a really good clinical overview):  https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/231470-overview 

[Deleted User]

UrbanLe1:

The problem is that it's not a simple diagnosis or a simple test.  This is an organism that lives in something like 70% of sexually-active adults--each subset of the microbe has different percentages, but that's a close estimate.  That's an INSANE amount of people.  Whether or not it's going to affect you has a multitude of other factors in play, mostly including what other infections you might have.

DH has always told me this about medicine:  "When you hear hoofbeats, don't assume it's a zebra."  Most of the time, it's going to be a horse--meaning that ureaplasma is not the answer, and that it's not interfering with your fertility in any meaningful way.  In order to get the answer, you have to go through all of those other possibilities first.  Once they're exhausted, then you look at the zebras.

So, you can't just test and treat everyone for ureaplasma.  It would be an expensive outlay on the cost of both doctors and patients (not to mention insurance).  Not to mention that you might be exposing yourself to antibiotics that you might not actually need.

Here's more info on ureaplasma if you're interested (this is a really good clinical overview):  https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/231470-overview 

Thank you.

[Deleted User]

So the ?stories? I have heard about people who were diagnosed, got on antibiotics, then conceived are all a fluke, or coincidental?

Shayliz

Jessii266:

So the ?stories? I have heard about people who were diagnosed, got on antibiotics, then conceived are all a fluke, or coincidental?

Is it during their first year TTC?

UrbanLe1

Jessii266:

So the ?stories? I have heard about people who were diagnosed, got on antibiotics, then conceived are all a fluke, or coincidental?

I would have to know the background (to ask DH, because I don't know enough to answer about specific cases).  The differential diagnosis for every patient is different.  My guess is that some of those stories are coincidence, and some are related to the antibiotic treatment--without knowing more, it's hard to say. 

[Deleted User]

Yea it was after a year.

maggie2324

MH had white blood cells in his semen indicating an infection. He had a mildly low count, moderately low motility, and severely low morphology. He tried one round of an antibiotic, but still had the WBCs. He was prescribed a different antibiotic and did 3 rounds of both of them. He still had the WBCs.

So he had a semen culture done. It was clean. So.... It's not any infection. Ureaplasma isn't a common problem for IFers. It may be more common in those with unexplained IF though. Unexplained are only like 10% of IFers.