Which Dr. for an SA?

[becominkindacruncy]

Hello! We have been trying for 13 cycles with absolutely no success I am ovulating so we are beginning to wonder if it is DH's swimmers. Can we call he\is family practice doc to request an SA? If not who would we call to go about getting one?

Thank you very much!

[anne1140]

Yes, his general practitioner or your gynecologist can do it. HOWEVER, the absolute best place to do a semen analysis is a urologist or reproductive endocrinologist. Their staff just have a lot more experience with it.

My DH went to my gynecologist for his first SA. The gyn said that everything was A-OK. Turns out, it wasn't. DH is the one with the problem, and we found that out when we went to the RE instead, and had a repeat SA. The RE explained that the hospital lab doesn't have as much experience with this sort of thing, and thus, isn't as accurate. The urologist has confirmed DH's issues.

Good luck!

[Snapdragon]

For us, my gynocolgist just gave us a script or whatever and dh had his at the local hospital.

[becominkindacruncy]

Thank you! I am in the process of getting insurance through work. I believe that this will be considered a pre-existing condition since we have been trying for over a year. Can DH see an RE without me seeing one? They will see males and females?

Thank you again!

[Snapdragon]

I don't know the answer to the last question. But I do know that the first step is to just get a basic s/a which doesn't have to be with a specialist. If there is a problem, then you move to a specialist to figure it out. We had problems with dh's s/a, and then went to specialists. But the local hospital can do a very inexpensive s/a and tell you all the basics. I think it cost him about $60.

[dakotablue]

I don't know if it would be considered pre existing or not, you don't have a diagnosis, so I can't see how...I mean using that logic everything would be. Also you could fudge to trying for 6 months, which isn't considered IF yet.

My RE ordered tests for us both. I think a family practitioner could as well, but I'd ask about where they send their labs, in our case it would have been the same place.

[5terre]

The female is always the patient at the RE, since it is you who would be getting all the procedures, even if you are a fertile myrtle. I learned that after putting DH as the patient and me as the partner on all our paperwork. Which made me upset and felt like medicine is sexist, but it makes sense.

I would go to your GYN/OB/midwife. They will want to run a few tests on you (possibly FHS, estradiol, an HSG) and they can order the basic SA. Once they screen a few things, they would be able to refer you to an RE if necessary. It's funny to me that they tend to do so much testing on women before even considering the SA. The SA should be right up there at the beginning with all her tests.