Does your DH/partner take vitamins?

Wishilivedinflorida · April 2016

DH has a horrible diet. He eats minimal breakfast, usually skips lunch, and then will have a regular dinner and a later night snack (that is usually unhealthy). He has committed to eating a more balanced and structured diet but also is interested in starting some supplements in the light of us having two losses. Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a male vitamin regimen (I know there's a ton of recommendations for fertility purposes) that gets you the best bang for the buck. I know this probably had little to no bearing on us having losses but we are just looking to live healthier lifestyles and do everything in our power to set ourselves up for the best chance of success.

mylittleversailles · April 2016

My husband takes folic acid and zinc. Folic acid is supposed to just as important for men TTC as women. We do live a very healthy and active lifestyle, but he has extensive allergies and probably eats too much sugar. I don't think most people need to supplement zinc, but he's vegetarian and (tree nut) contaminants on pumpkin seeds are a problem, so we figured why not.

Good luck!

edit: stared at a word so long it looked foreign

LaurenDarling · April 2016

My DH takes a once a day men's multivitamin from vitamin shoppe. I really had to force it on him, but now he takes it regularly without hesitation.

dpjennifer · April 2016

My husband usually takes a multi-vitamin once a day. Although it's probably more like 4-5x per week.

BornReady · April 2016

My husband takes a multivitamin and COQ10. He eats a very clean diet, so disciplined, but both were recommended by our RE (though he had been taking since we began TTC in 2012).

MWoodside · April 2016

My DH is vegan so it's especially important for him to take vitamins/supplements b/c he cannot get certain things from food alone. He takes the Dr Fuhrman Men's Daily formula +D3 and a DHA/EPA supplement.

fivetimesnoluck · April 2016

On the recommendation of our RE, DH takes zinc 2x week (and his advice for that was to get it from a Cold-eze lozenge) and a multi-vitamin.

I give him his multi-vitamin daily with one of my own doses (I take pills 3x day) and I have to 'remind' him about the Cold-eze regularly. It's actually a point of frustration. (He can't remember to do something twice a week? I have made all kinds of accommodations, sacrifices, and changes... but he feels put out by having to take something that tastes bad twice a week? Puh-leeze.) /end rant.

BornReady · April 2016

@fivetimesnoluck I am with you with having to remind DH. I literally give him his vitamins in his hand to take them, seriously buddy? He used to fight me on it, but now that we know his sperm is the issue, he's been much more compliant!

Wishilivedinflorida · April 2016

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the info. I should clarify that we are not super unhealthy per se, it's not like we are hitting up McDonald's for meals, but our diets are just not very diverse. We have our go-to meats, veggies, carbs and really don't steer away from them. Husband is very picky.

@fivetimesnoluck I literally laughed out loud at your post because that's how I probably will have to be with my husband. I have found it helpful to gently remind him of all the physical crap I've been through...taking a bad tasting vitamin will be nothing in comparison.

MooFish2364 · April 2016

He's supposed to...
Every Sunday I get out our vitamins for the week and put them in those little pill sorters. I give him zinc, folic acid, c, d, and b12. He usually remembers to take them about twice a week. So he gets in trouble every Sunday when I realize how many days he's missed! He eats pretty healthy and is fairly active but I really want him taking folic acid since it is really important for men too.

ThePax89 · April 2016

Nope. He doesn't take vitamins. And he thinks strawberries are vegetables...

MrsDramaK · April 2016

So DH takes a One a Day Men's for just all around healthier living, he takes CoQ10 because it improves sperm motility (we haven't done a SA, so we don't know that motility is a problem, but it couldn't hurt), Fish Oil because DHA improves sperm quality, and Folic Acid cause it lowers the risk of chromosomal abnormalities in the sperm.

He wouldn't take them without nudging, so ever week I put them all in a weekly pill dispenser and then I can check if they are empty and he's been taking them.

SnobunnieMel · April 2016

Hubs takes a daily vitamin with folic acid and also fish oils. He is getting back into working out more and we are both going back into strict paleo like we did a few years ago both for overall health and it's basically the PCOS diet

BrightenMySky · April 2016

My DH takes a multivitamin--we got the gummies from Costco and he has no trouble remembering now, but when it was a big pill, I was having to remind him a lot. He also takes CoQ10 when he remembers.

@fivetimesnoluck totally agree about how much we're each doing. I am now encouraging my husband to go to acupuncture, which he is open to. I know that none of these things are guaranteed ways to get a take home baby, but we have so little control over the process, these little things that give the illusion of helping make me feel better. And he gets that now.

catiecatp · April 2016

An interesting discussion - I may see if DH is open to taking a multivitamin - we'll start small. But I 100% know that I'll be the one reminding him to take it... If I'd thought of it Friday I would have gotten a good one from the naturopath.

fivetimesnoluck · April 2016

DH's diet consists of sugar, sodium and caffeine. His SA didn't reveal any issues so it is hard to convince him that his diet may affect our outcomes, but I have been working on incremental improvements. I tell him even if we never end up with a baby, I still want him to live a long and healthy life with me. They just don't get it - if they were the ones who had to be poked, prodded and medicated, I am sure it would be different.

roxgibbons · April 2016

My DH takes a men's multivitamin and a vitamin called fertility blend recommended by our RE to help his motility as motility was borderline. He also takes a B-6 and fish oils. I take Co-Q10 and have read that he should take it too so I will start him on it.

I'm working on getting him to eat more healthy and exercise. He's been under a lot of stress and pressure at work so it's been challenging. I'm starting a whole 30 on Sunday (strict paleo for 30 days, kind of a reset) and I'm hoping he will join me. I just want to give us the best chance possible.

lilyaster · April 2016

Yes, he takes something called Fertility Blend. He wasn't thrilled about it but he got used to it. I don't know if it will help anything - we seem to get pregnant easily just not staying pregnant - but I don't think it can hurt. Next we need to both start exercising more and cutting back on our ice cream consumption!

JDMRS · April 2016

I'm sort of terrible. I went to my post-D&E alone and did some googling about miscarriages
and male reproductive health. I told DH that my doc said he has to cut back on the booze, improve his diet and take supplements even though my doc said nothing at all about that. DH is a smoker and it has caused it's fair share of marital and pre-martial discord. Vitamin C at a higher dose was recommended for fathers to be who smoke.
Like a few people here, we got pregnant super-fast (2nd Month of trying) but our muffin stopped growing. Hopefully this time...

fivetimesnoluck · April 2016

Brilliant, @JDMRS! I think that's awesome.

I quit smoking (finally!) last July. I had no trouble quitting when we were initially TTC, but picked it up again after the succession of losses. DH and I made a deal that we would quit together.... guess who is still smoking? Ugh. In February, I reminded him of our deal and that he has not held up his end of the bargain. After that, he cut back significantly, but he hasn't stopped completely. It has caused some resentment, because like the having to remind him to take his vitamins... why do I have to work so hard to "force" you to make the incremental changes when I have flipped my whole world upside down in hopes of accomplishing our goal. So frustrating.

JDMRS · April 2016

@fivetimesnoluck Good for you for quitting! Quitting is so so so difficult. DH said he was going to quit when he turned 30- he'll be 35 in July with no signs of stopping but like I am learning with a MMC and TTC again- so much is out of my control. But I agree- we are expected to turn our lives upside down and make huge life changes to get pregnant, and hopefully stay pregnant while fathers to be can keep up the bad habits with no repercussions. How can that not breed resentment?

I'm a former smoker and I will be celebrating my 10 year anniversary in December. I swear it gets easier but every once in awhile, I get an insane craving for a cigarette out of no where.

yolandamunoz · May 2016

OMG so men have to take folic acid too? I had no idea!!!

Some friends of mine had recommended to give Maca (a natural root) to the H, I have purchased, not yet tried though....

mylittleversailles · May 2016

@yolandamunoz Both DH and I are taking maca. The one we take also has Korean ginseng in it. I don't know that it's doing anything, but I do have a pep in my step lately. Possibly that's the weather, though! I wish there were solid studies on these kinds of things.

Wishilivedinflorida · May 2016

I have to update that DH has been faithfully taking a multivitamin now since I bought one for him. And he's eating lunch now *most* days. I knew he was a good guy....

I'm sure getting scolded by our family doc helped out too.

yolandamunoz · May 2016

Hey @reneeannemm good to know! Tell me how do you eat it? Powder into Juices? meals?

mylittleversailles · May 2016

@yolandamunoz I take it in a capsule, but my friend used to put it in her oatmeal. I think you could blend it into a smoothie, too.

MrsDramaK · May 2016

@yolandamunoz Men don't "have" to take folic acid the way women have to, but it's definitely beneficial. Folic acid helps the body produce DNAs (essential in creating mini humans) and red blood cells. There's at least one study that says men who take over 700 mcg of folic acid a day reduce their risk of sperm abnormalities 20-30%, which increases your chances at getting pregnant, but also lowers the risk of chromosomal abnormalities (which can lead to miscarriage).

DH started taking 800 mcg a day after the MC.

yolandamunoz · May 2016

Oh wow! I will let him know and hopefully he is willing to take them!

NamelessAria · May 2016

@reneeannemm I've never really heard of taking maca and/or ginseng for fertility. Would you mind explaining what they're supposed to do? I recently started DH and I on CoQ10, vitamin E and DH is taking a multivitamin now. I'm always open to adding more things that are backed by evidence. If there is something else we could be taking to improve our chances I'd definitely like to know.

Edit: formatting.

mylittleversailles · May 2016

@NamelessAria I have complicated feelings about supplements. I don't see a naturopath - I do believe some plants work as medicines, but I think there's too much charlatanism in the practice right now for me to try to wade through it. So, here's what I've sussed out from all of that.

I don't think there is any of the promising research with maca root like there might be for acupuncture, but these things are hard to find solid studies regarding anyway. Maca is supposed to be an adaptogen - when consumed it should help your body balance its hormones. I wanted to take it because I lost my libido after my loss entirely and it is supposed to help get your motor running. My first cycle after loss was totally wonky (to the surprise of no one), so I thought I'd try it out. I was already in the TWW when we bought it, so DH started it first. He thought he felt a little more energy. I think I do, too, but we both accept that could be absolutely anything. The ginseng is a traditional Chinese fertility medicine, which I don't put much stock into, but it's in the bottle we bought and no one seemed to be concerned about that. This is only my second cycle taking it (third after loss) but I ovulated super early on the first one and am gearing up to again, as far as I can tell. It shortened the length to closer to what it used to be (I had my period start every single time on the full moon for YEARS) Again, that could just be post loss weirdness. I'm only taking it for two months before taking a month off, and DH has already stopped.

I'm a really cautious person and ordinarily I wouldn't take what seems to be such a shot in the dark, but when I started my prenatal (iirc you mentioned it's the one you take, Rainbow Light) I noticed that my periods became less painful and lighter. Searching for answers, after about a year, I looked at all the ingredients on the label and started researching them. It seems red raspberry leaf is supposed to do just that, so I took a leap here, too. TTC has made me a little desperate for patterns where there might not be any, but no ill effects so I'm willing to press forward.

/end essay

Hope that's helpful but it's probably just a hazy, sinusitis-fueled mess.

NamelessAria · May 2016

@reneeannemm Thank you for the in-depth answer. I appreciate it.

Yeah I take the same Rainbow Light prenatal.

If the maca and ginseng seem to be working for you and DH then why not? I know my husband was having some libido problems and performance anxiety so he started taking panax ginseng and it seems to have worked really well for him. It could be a coincidence but he hasn't noticed any side effects and seems happy with the results. I didn't realize that there were potential benefits for women also. Since we already have it in the house I may try it out and see how I feel about it. I may also have to test out maca. Ya know, for science.

I'm glad that things are better for you and your DH whether it's the maca/ginseng or whatever else.

catiecatp · May 2016

I'm on a ton of supplements - well fewer than I have been in the past - all under the guidance of a naturopath that I trust. She's got a BSc from a reputable university here in Alberta plus her naturopathic training. I've been to 3 different naturopaths - the first was what I consider a charlatan, the second was ok but recommended a LOT of supplements (and expensive tests not covered by insurance) and this third seems to be a Goldilocks fit for me. I've been seeing her for awhile now and she's fixed issues that traditional medicine couldn't which earned a lot of my trust. But at the end of the day, there isn't a lot of research on a lot of these supplements.

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