Latest / The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee / Half The Equation: Rethinking Male Fertility Deep discussion with Raul Pastrana

Transcript

Half The Equation: Rethinking Male Fertility Deep discussion with Raul Pastrana · The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Home of Fertility, a space for real conversation and expert insights about fertility, healing, and creating family.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Liz Watson.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm Helen Z.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: We are two mums who've walked this path and are passionate about supporting you on your journey, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about it all.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Fertility treatment, holistic support, relationships, mindset, and the emotional highs and lows.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the missing piece lies in someone else's story, in the quiet wisdom of the body, or in a breakthrough that's finally made for you.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: We are so glad you are here.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let's dive in.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: And today I have an amazing, wonderful, I think all of my one, all of my people that I interview are amazing.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: But today I have Raul.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Raul, how are you today?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_05: Hi, Lise.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: I'm very good.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: How are you?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: I am also super good.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's very exciting to meet new people, their passion for fertility and health.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, what I love hearing is it's not just about fertility, but it's male fertility.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: And having run the Expo last year, this became a massive area that is underlooked, you know, and needs to be, I suppose, brought up into awareness and create understanding for everybody.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_05: I am a naturopath that practice in the fertility realm helping couples achieving high chances of success with IBF or with natural conception.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_05: And what I was seeing in practice through the last few years that I have been working is that when a couple come to see me, usually it's the female that has done extensive work.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe she has done a few scans, she has tried to freeze her eggs.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_05: And then when I ask about, okay, let me see uh the semen results.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_05: In many cases, there was no test, there was no semen done.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_05: In other cases, there was uh an incomplete semen analysis.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_05: And in many cases, the male, the male partner has been told, your semen is fine, there is nothing that you need to do.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_05: And in fact, the semen is in very low standards, like the quality of that semen is quite questionable.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so we need to like rethink the conversation and bring male fertility uh to the light and understand that it's 50% of the equation, so that way the weight of the fertility responsibility journey that the couple go through is equal and it's not the female carrying all the responsibility.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you know, music to my ears, and that's true.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's a team sport, isn't it?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: And absolutely, there is about bringing light to it.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, first off, I'm just gonna read your bio so people understand just this amazing man that you are.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: So um, Raul is a degree qualified practitioner for LGBTQIA, and he's friendly naturopath specializing in fertility, IVF support, and also reproductive health.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: He is passionate about helping individuals and couples optimize preconception, all the preconception health and improve fertility outcomes through personalized and evidenced-based care.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: His areas of expertise include male fertility, menopause, gut health, uh, weight management.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Raul integrates nutrition, herbal medicine, lifestyle strategies with a strong focus on sleep.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: So important sleep, isn't it?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Stress management, exercise, and sustainable behavior change.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love this.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: With the background as a personal trainer, oh, really, Raoul, how exciting.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you understand how to turn health goals into real-world action and support clients that achieve that long-lasting result.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: And what I love about you, Roel, that superpower is the ability to deeply understand your patient's unique needs and to tailor that care to support their individual path to optimal fertility and also have that you know healthy live birth, blending clinical insight, compassion, and practicality.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, helping people feel seen, supported, and guided towards real, meaningful results.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love it.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I forgot to uh silence my phone, naughty me.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we're all what's let's let's have a look.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: What you said, you know, sometimes you've got people they come into your clinic and um, you know, they've had a sperm test, or sometimes not, and there's like, no, it's normal range, you know, nothing to see here, but it can be really misleading.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, what what really is a healthy sperm actually look like?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because I I get this in my clinic space, you know, oh no, my husband's fine, he's had his check, it's all fine.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I'm realizing that that's not always the case.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_05: Well, to understand all this, we need to uh have a think about what uh how are those reference ranges for a sperm, uh, how they they were created.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_05: So in the year 2010, the World Health Organization did a study in 5,000 men, and these 5,000 men had um participated in a live birth, right?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_05: So they had couples, and those couples had a live birth.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_05: Now they analyzed the sperm for those 5,000 men and they categorized it in percentile, so fifth percentile, 10 percentile, 15 percentile until 95 percentile.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_05: And they said if the if they were all able to create life and have a life birth, we're gonna put the reference ranges for semen in the fifth percentile.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_05: So when any male is doing a semen analysis and is comparing their semen with the reference ranges, is comparing with the lowest uh the lowest score in that in from those 5,000 men.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_05: So that's like saying my sperm is just passing the test.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_05: It's not a very good semen.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_05: Like if your if your results are very close to that number, your sperm is really not optimal.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_05: It's just very, very average.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what what and if if that those are the tests that come, then you know Joe Blog, so that person that's on that journey, you know, we're kind of like swimming in the midst of all that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: So what blood tests or investigations do you think men should run, you know, before or during IVF?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, how what's the best chance that they have?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_05: Well, the first of all is always doing the SEM analysis, like I said, and compare them with the 50th percentile.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_05: So just to give you an example, the fifth percentile says that anything above 15 million of sperm per milliliter is okay.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: But we know that the 50th percentile, which is an accurate representation of actual average, because it's in the middle of the study, is actually 73 million per milliliter.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_05: So we're talking from 15 to 73.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_05: So that's kind of the the range that we're talking about.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_05: It's huge.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_05: So we need to like test, you know, the motility, the morphology, and something very important that many patients don't get tested is DNA fragmentation.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_05: Which basically tell us how intact and how well preserved is the quality of the DNA inside of the head of the sperm of those 23 chromosomes that they will contribute to the 23 pairs of the future of the offspring.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_05: And if that DNA is highly damaged or fragmented, it is very possible that the sperm will um the sperm can still uh fertilize uh the egg.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_05: It can create an embryo, but it can lead to early miscarriage, uh, it can lead to uh pregnancy loss and infertility in general.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, really, yes.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it's interesting that you know that it's a team sport, the male and the female, and how much the sperm, you know, we're all realizing has an impact.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it can it can create a miscarriage.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's just so fascinating.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_05: It is, absolutely.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_05: So it just it just puts into perspective how important it is for uh for couples to take this journey together and from the beginning to do all these tests together.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_05: So you just asked me what are the tests that the that the male needs to do.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_05: The first is the semen analysis, and the second and most obvious one is a really comprehensive blood panel uh where you test for many, many things like your testosterone, your um micronutrients like selenium, zinc, vitamin B12, and other markers of inflammation.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_05: So what this blood test is really asking is okay, my semen, if my semen is not great, why is my semen not great?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_05: What is the problem coming from it?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_05: And then you look at the blood and say, okay, the problem is inflammation, the problem is nutritional deficiency, the problem is coming from your gut.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: And then you address that in order to improve the quality of the semen.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: What was that test called again?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: A blood test?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_05: Just uh Yeah, just a blood test with many parameters there.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_05: Um, like for example, uh plasma selenium, plasma sink, uh full blood count.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_05: Um it's important to test for iron, uh, for markers of inflammation.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_05: I always test my patients for something called homocysteine.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_05: Um so all those markers tell me what tell me what direction do I need to take in order to help my patient best to improve their sperm health.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's interesting.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what I love saying is that you are creating a book.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, you probably just finished your book.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: So with with knowing all of this information, what is it that inspired you to write your book?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's called The Male Factor.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: And what do you hope that you know couples can take away from this?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's called the Male Factor, and the subtitle is Fertility is a share responsibility.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_05: And the reason that I wrote this book is um a year ago I was having this conversation with a friend of mine in the park, and I was just telling her how frustrated it is to see sometimes couples that they've been trying to conceive for over 18 months in some cases.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_05: And when they first present to my clinic, you know, they come with a long history of maybe um two IBF cycles.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_05: Uh they have a couple of embryos already freeze.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they're like thinking they have had a um they have had a few transfers that they haven't been successful, and they are asking themselves why, what's happening, why is our IBF journey failing us?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_05: And then what I tell them always is like, okay, bring to the first consultation all the tests and everything that has been done so far so we can review it together and take it from there.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_05: So the female, um, the female uh side of the equation comes with scans, several blood tests, um, so much information, right?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: And when I ask the male counterpart, can I see your semen results?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_05: Sometimes it's not there, sometimes it's incomplete.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_05: And like we were just speaking before, sometimes he he was told, uh, no, my semen is or my sperma is fine.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: But it it is not really, it is not fine.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I think this is the big issue that it's becoming aware and we're shining a light on just because it said it's fine, it's not actually fine.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so, with that, what what advice would you give to a patient or or man that's just been told that their sperm parameters are maybe poor, borderline, you know, something's not right.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_05: Well, what are you comparing them?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: Again, you don't compare them with the number at the right of the page that you were given, that reference range that is outdated and misleading.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_05: You need to compare them with the 50th percentile.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: So, for example, you want a concentration of a sperm over 73 million per milliliter, like, or around that number.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you want a morphology around 10% at least, if if it's around 15%, even better.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_05: You want a DNA fragmentation that is ideally below 10, if not at least below 15%.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_05: So when you are close to those numbers, which are a bit more um a better representation of good sperm health, you know that you're doing your part.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_05: You know that you're supporting your partner in this journey.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_05: And when both part of the equation, the female and the male, they do their job.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_05: I can tell you that the chances of life birth and the chances of success are much better.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I see that in clinic day by day.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's exciting, isn't it?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: It it really is exciting.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: And and I know we're living in a day and age now where there's so many different parameters that um are causing health issues, you know, uh nutritional issues um in our world.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: So what would you say are you know all of those things that are in the way?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've got stress, we've got sleep, there's work pressure, sometimes, you know, relationship pressure.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: And if we are even on an IVF journey, you know, I know for myself and my husband that caused a lot of stress, you know, for me and relating, you know, how does this impact you know hormones, but as well as sperm health?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because we always hear about more about the female side, but on my mind, I'm interested, you know, with sperm health, how does that really affect it?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_05: It affects so much.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_05: Think about um the testicular environment of males as a very delicate environment that can be disrupted by so many things.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_05: So we need to take a lot of care to protect that environment, right?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_05: So you mentioned hormones.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_05: For example, if you are under high levels of stress at work, you're not sleeping too much, um, you're not eating the right food, all that is going to be reflected into your testicular environment.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_05: So um what we want to test, for example, is okay, let's see what is your total testosterone doing.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_05: Let's see if you are actually producing good levels of testosterone.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_05: And you might ask, but why is testosterone important for sperm health?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it's because testosterone is responsible for the maturation of the sperm.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_05: So without enough levels and good levels of testosterone, um, the sperm can leave the male reproductive tract immature and incapable of fertilizing the egg.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_05: So testing testosterone can tell us a lot about the male health.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_05: It can tell us where how is that testicular function um going?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_05: It is being affected, and uh what we need to do next.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_05: So that's just one example, but there are many things um that can affect sperm health.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_05: Something that has been quite uh come into practice quite often uh lately, it has been uh actually blood glucose dysregulation.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_05: So um for anyone listening, we all have a blood glucose level in our body that's supposed to be quite steady when we are not eating, right?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: When we are fasting.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_05: Every time that we have a meal, that blood glucose uh spikes, and that's a normal biological process.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_05: If everything is working well, that blood glucose will go back to baseline after a few hours.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_05: The problem that I'm seeing in my patients and many of the people that I've treated in the last few years is that this glycemia, that glucose going up and down and up and down, and that inability of the body of regulating that glucose control.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and that has a lot of negative effect or testicular function on sperm health because this glycemia or blood glucose dyscontrol or dysregulation is highly inflammatory and affect and affects the sperm health.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: So it just shows how much stress then then, yeah.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm just thinking of some of my clients actually with high stress and they run their own businesses and they've been told, oh no, my sperm's fine, you know, I said it's really good.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so actually, yeah, that's quite interesting.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_05: I've it has been uh something that I always test with my patients.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: And if you ask me, how do you um how do you test for this?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, we always do a fasting glucose, which tells me how is your glucose when you're not eating, a fasting insulin, which is the hormone responsible for regulating blood glucose control.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, and then we test for other things that are like HPA1C and other markers that give me the insight into is your body capable of maintaining blood glucose control?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_05: And if not, there are many strategies that we can apply from a supplement perspective, from a nutritional and diet perspective to help these patients um regain blood glucose control and improve sperm health.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's quite exciting.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's you know, so with sperm health, is it true that with sperm health you can do so many wonderful changes like within sort of three or four months and really sort of do a great turnaround for sperm health?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Is that true?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_05: It is true in in many cases.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_05: I would say most of the cases.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um sperm is a very dynamic process, sperm creation or spermatogenesis, that's how it's called sperm creation.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um and from the moment that a sperm is starting to be synthesized until the moment that it leaves the male reproductive tract and until ejaculation, it goes around 72 to 74 days.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so if in that time you take care of your nutrition, you make sure that you're not drinking too much alcohol, you prioritize your sleep and stop watching so much Netflix, um, that will be reflected on the semen analysis.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_05: And it's about small targeted changes for each person.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_05: What is more important for you?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_05: It's not about applying every change for every individual.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I don't like to overwhelm my patients.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_05: I like to be very specific.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, let's focus on these two or three things.
• 19:19
  unknown: Yeah.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_05: Because based on your blood work and the information that you're giving me, is what is gonna change more your outcomes.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: And that's it, little consistent changes constantly.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a made, you know, sperm I find an an amazing thing.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: In some ways, it's it can be easier to work with than you know, the the women's body, there's so much in there, you know.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's it can be easier with sperm health by you know doing a lot of good things for their body and their mind and their health.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_05: Sometimes um with the blood test, I test test things like, for example, zinc.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and then the sink comes back and is at the level of, for example, 10.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_05: But I know that for sperm health, it's better to be sitting at around 16 or 17.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_05: So then we supplement with a little bit of zinc for a few for a few months, sometimes three months.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and that's helps a lot support the process of spermatogenesis.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so with your work, um, really looking at the male factor, you know, what's missing, you know, and and and it is a team sport.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that male fertility is still very overlooked, you know, when we talk about fertility in conversations and just I suppose a lot of the different summits that are happening and maybe on conferences, um, do you think there needs to be more information on male health, sperm health?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_05: And that's why I wrote the book.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_05: I feel that at the moment I see a very inequal, inequal, uh inequal the the female are doing most of the work when it comes to these problems.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and I and I believe that in many, in most instances, it's because actually males haven't been given the right information.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_05: Males have been told everything is fine, there is nothing you can do.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_05: Or, and this happens a lot, the semen uh results come as poor or you know, poor motility, low numbers, and the couple is thought, okay, let's do IBF, because that's that's the only option that you that you have.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_05: And that is it's partially true, but that's it's it's not the complete truth, because the first thing that we need to do is improve the quality of your of your sperm before we decide whether or not you need IBF.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_05: And if after working on your health, making sure that you're eating what you're supposed to be eating, making sure that you have the right supplements, um you still need IBF, the chances of this very expensive and very invasive treatment to work are much higher.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_05: And you don't want to go.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_05: Through this multiple times, you want this to work as soon as possible.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_05: Because it like you were saying, and you you you told me um just before about your personal story.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_05: You you know firsthand how expensive, how emotionally, uh financially taxing can be for the couple.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think as well what I'm hearing there, so oh yeah, you know, so um, you know, 20 20 years ago, you know, we st I started trying in sort of oh five, oh six, and um after all of the tests, it came out that my husband had anti-sperm antibodies.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so they told us, you know, there's all these things I know now which I did not know then, they told us we have to have IVF.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, that's what we did.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: We went through and did the IXE, but um at no at no point was he told about looking after his diet, um, his body, and all of that.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he ran his own business at the time, was quite highly stressed, but none of that happened.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was all about me, you know, myself and my diet, my which was not a problem.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that was good, but it's so interesting.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, if if we'd known that information, then it could have really changed our journey quite dramatically, you know.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I I just think it's awesome that it's happening now, so that people don't have to have the 10-year journey that we had.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I I honestly, the more I hear about it, if my husband, if they told my husband, if we'd realized it could have actually changed an outcome quite dramatically.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_05: I sometimes you hear uh stories that that they go on for years and years and years, and and when you when you see the whole picture, you're like, this shouldn't have been your story.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_05: And and what I try is just to be as empathetic as I can with my patients and try try to reassure them that uh we're gonna do everything that is in our power.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_05: And to do that, male fertility needs to be be brought to the to the equation.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_05: And in many cases, we do the tests, and uh, don't get me wrong, it's not it's not always um the male counterpart, the only one that has to do the job.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_05: In many cases, the the infertility, the fertility barrier lies within the female uh partner, and we have to work in factors like endometrial microbiome, um, gut health, uh, equality, uh, endometrial receptivity um in order to help.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I think the most important message that I want anyone listening is both partners need to get tested at the same time.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_05: Don't wait for the female to say, oh, everything is normal in the female, then I'm gonna test the male.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_05: That's that's not fair and that's not okay.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a team sport, isn't it?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's a team effort.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: We're all coming together.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, uh, you know, it's been really exciting speaking to you today, Raul, um, about male fertility.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's exciting that both areas are being highlighted because I feel with more information, it allows for easier understanding of our bodies, of what we have to do, and creating a much, uh what's the right word?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: I suppose healthier way forward.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because then it's not like you say, it's not just on the female, and it is a lot of pressure and and feeling less than.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think that was the biggest thing for me, just always feeling I, you know, I was broken, you know.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think it's nice that it it can be a more of a married, you know, married sort of path now.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_05: I think if you have to go through a struggle, uh, because it's a struggle sometimes of this journey, and and there's gonna be moments that you're gonna feel really good about it and some moments that you're gonna feel really down.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_05: But if your your partner, if you look to the other side and you see that your partner is also doing the work, he he he or she might also be struggling at some point, but you're there to help each other.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_05: Um the journey just becomes so different.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_05: And uh at the end of it, you can be better as a couple as well.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, however, I mean we all, you know, the the the road to parenthood is so different now these days, and it's you know, it's beautiful, like you say, you know, well, the the rainbow community too, you know, we're all we're all being able to um it's the conversations are more open and um being able to work more together.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's that's really freaking awesome.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: So um as we finish off, what would be your top tips, you know, whether it's one or a couple, you know, that we can finish the conversation with that is like some take-home tools for everyone listening and watching.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_05: Well, if you if if if people want very easy, easy easy actions that they can do at home, I'll give them two things.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, the first thing is to start taking a multi multi uh multivitamin NATO for men.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_05: There are many brands out there, just find one that suits your needs and start having it because you're gonna be covering a lot of nutritional deficiencies.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_05: So that's something that I give most of my patients.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_05: And then I also give them a good omega-3, um, because omega-3s are very important for um for sperm health for many reasons.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so both of them um is both of them, like the multivitamin and the omega-3, is something that most of my patients leave the consultation with.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um and and that would be number one.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_05: The second thing uh that I will say is make sure that your your balls uh are not uh heating up constantly.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_05: And that's because um the temperature at which you keep your testes throughout the day will affect testicular function and spermatogenesis or sperm synthesis.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_05: So uh there are many things that you can do to cool down that environment, like having the right underwear, like cotton underwear, but also applying small amounts of cold, like 10 minutes of cold to the area a couple of times per day, has been shown in the research to have a highly positive impact on sperm health.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_05: So doing those small things um can really, in in three months' time, like we were speaking before, can really shift those numbers and start giving you um um the positive feedback that you need.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: And and this is again something I wish I'd known before about keeping keeping um your our nether regions much more cooler because that just really helps on all levels.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, with the event last year, meeting a lady called Sarah Javison who does Cool Beans Underwear, you guys need to connect.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's um yeah, it's really exciting, this new information.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Raoul, thank you so much for this really informed and deep conversation, um, supporting men and women, because the women are, you know, we're loving our men as well.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, to have the best options and chances possible to create the most fertile environment in our bodies.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the best outcome possible.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_05: It's been my pleasure.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: I hope that everyone got something that they can take home and start doing, whether it is like some information, uh a nice tip that they can start doing at home, because we all need to be putting our our work in this in this journey.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: Now do remind us where can we find you?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: How do we contact you?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: And do you work, is it do we do you just see people in Melbourne or do you see people online?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: So do share that, please.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_05: So I work in a clinic called RH Reproductive Health, and the website is just rhreproductivehealth.com.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, and we are a group of naturopaths that work primarily on the fertility uh realm, but we also see patients for menopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, etc.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and we work online only, it's an online clinic only.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_05: And we see patients in Australia, but I have patients from UK, I have currently a patient from Brazil.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_05: So uh we we really see patients worldwide.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_05: So if anyone is listening from other parts of the world, uh you can contact us.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, awesome! I love that.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, excellent.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: And is there anything else that you would like to add before we finish our conversation?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_05: If you don't know where to start, just get the book.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_05: That's why I wrote it.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_05: The book is like a manual for anyone that feels a little bit low, loose, uh, sorry, lost in this journey.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so the book is called the Male Factor that we spoke at the beginning.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_05: It can be purchased through the website at hreproductivehealth.com slash bookstore.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and we are running a 30% off until the 15th of February for anyone that is interesting.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_05: So interested in it.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_05: So um yeah, I hope that you all have a look.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: And please make sure you send me that link.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'll put those in the show notes too.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: So that's all there too.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Raul, deepest thanks and gratitude also for bringing this conversation to light and sharing this.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's very important as we come into 2026.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Let's um let's support our men in all of the different areas that we can.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: And uh thank you so much for this conversation today.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_04: Pleasure.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_04: Let's make 2026 the year of the the sperm the sperm year.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I mean it's a year of of great fertility and growth.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I'm I'm with you on that.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, my lovely.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_05: Pleasure.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for having me.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you so much for coming.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us at the Homer Fertility.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: We hope today's episode brought you clarity, comfort, and connection.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: If this podcast resonated, please share it, leave a review or subscribe.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: This helps us support more people that are on this path.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like to connect or share your story, find us on Instagram and Facebook at Australian Fertility Summit.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Remember the missing piece that might be waiting in a story, your body's wisdom, or something new just made for you.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: Take care and we'll see you next time.