Ask the Doctor: Why am I unable to make my wife pregnant?

Dr, I am now 39 years old and married to my second wife who has not had any children just like the first one. I secretly went to see a medic last year and he claimed that I had low sperm count that was why I could not make my wives pregnant. I know  this is not true because six years ago, before I married, I made a girl pregnant. I also have two secret women who have three children  that are mine. Omega

Dear Omega

It may be true that you could have made your former girlfriend pregnant because then you were both younger and therefore more fertile.

Or you may have made her pregnant but later you developed a sickness which is now responsible for your low sperm count.

You may have developed, a hormonal problem related to lifestyle changes, obesity, use of narcotic drugs and alcohol, an infection in the testes, which may have affected the tubes that bring out semen, or even enlarged testicular veins (varicoceles) which all may lead to low sperm counts now yet before you were normal.

A normal sperm number ranges from 15 million to more than 200 million sperms per millilitre or cc of semen.

A sperm count of less than 15 million sperm per millilitre of semen (oligospermia) is considered a low sperm count, which unfortunately may make it difficult to cause pregnancy especially in women who are older than 30 years whose own fertility because of increased age is not all that great.

May be your girlfriends are younger than your wives and therefore are more fertile! All the same do DNA paternity tests on your purported children to make sure you are the father.

Why isn't my husband affected by the itch?

Dr, I usually get vaginal itching and tests show that  it  is candida. Unfortunately, my husband does not want treatment and keeps saying he is alright. Shanita

Dear Shanita

Infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea, or trichomoniasis, are naturally found in the vagina without causing disease. Vaginal yeast overgrowth, allergic reactions from clothing like knickers washed with detergents or put in JIK, condoms, semen, changes in hormone levels due to the transition to menopause, diseases like diabetes, pubic lice and skin disorders, such as psoriasis may lead to vaginal itching.

Though the causes of vaginal itching are many, often times candida germs which live in the vaginal canal without causing disease are wrongly blamed when sometimes they are not the cause of itching.

That said Vulvovaginal candidiasis is a very common condition and many women may have had at least an episode or more in their lives especially depending on the presence of promoting factors.

This infection if it keeps happening (recurrent) requires proper evaluation of its associated promoters so that along with, treatment the promoters are addressed to stem the infection once and for all.

Treating candida often without proper diagnosis may lead to the germ getting resistant to the drugs and fail to go away. 

Also, the diagnosis should include the factors that promote candida growth including overuse of antibiotics, use of saliva in the vaginal canal, contraceptive use, compromised immune system (HIV), and diabetes. Also stress, poor diet, lack of sleep, other illness, pregnancy, use of steroids including prednisone also have to be looked at as some of the promoters of recurrent candida infections.

Usually when the infection takes long to go or recurs, the germs can be grown and then subjected to various drugs (culture and sensitivity) with the one killing the germs most being employed to treat the condition.

Candida vaginal infection is not a sexually transmitted disease and will not be improved by treating the sexual partner against the disease.