# Does sperm become less effective if held in too long?



## arpeters

My doctor told me to not have sex all month until I get a positive opk (yeah right) and everyone else says to do it for the 5 days before OV and the day after. _Is it true that sperm will die or become less effective if held in too long? _My husband and I have not BD in over a week. (medical reasons). We were going to start BDing tonight, but _should we wait until we are closer to OV or should we "clean his pipes out"_ :blush: lol I trust all of you more than my Dr because most of you have been at this for a long time. Thank you.


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## jules22

I've never heard of a doctor telling someone not to have sex until you get a positive OPK. My husband do it about every other day or every two days. Its good to keep stuff going in my opinion. I don't think sperm die in the pipes either but then again, I'm no doctor!... We try not to have sex every day, just every other day until we get a positive then do it every day.


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## arpeters

I did think my doctor sounded a bit crazy when he said this to me because it goes against everything us here at BnB believe in. lol. Thank you.


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## croydongirl

I heard that sperm morphology can decrease after 4 days without release! We always try and do the horizontal tango a couple of days before the 5 day fertile period starts.


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## CedarWood

I have heard the same that sperm are not as good quality if held in too long - not sure the number of days though. Men who 'release' more frequently have fresher sperm. Of course too much - 2/3x a day is not good either! I think the general rule of thumb is everyday around Ov and every other day around Ov if the man has a low count. It it good to have sperm waiting in the wings when the egg comes:thumbup:


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## starlight1

i read that if you have sex everynight the sperm count can lower but is you hold it it will build up more so if you hold it before you ov there is more sperms so more change of pregnancy. a month sounds a long time tho good luck xx


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## Beaney192

I watched a prog that said that a man should have sex at leat every 3 days to keep his sperm in tip top condition :) xxx


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## magicvw

IMO every other day is great, every day or every 3 days is ok too. Never heard of anyone saying no sex till a positive opk. May be he meant that you don't *need* to do it until then? xx


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## hollyw79

There is no scientific proof that holding sperm in will make it build up. That to me is garbage sorry to say. It is VERY healthy for a man to ejaculate at least once no longer than like 4-5 days. My doctor said it was healthier to do it daily. You clean out all of the abnormal and dead sperm. 

I want to speak to the low sperm count issue too... bc that is something that is one of my own issues~ we went and had a SA back in November and ended up having an IUI. At the time of the SA~ my DH had 19 million. We started having sex more frequently and this past month we had it DAILY for 9 days straight hoping to cover our bases. We BD'd @ 3 in the afternoon and went in the for the IUI the next morning (less than 24 hours) and my DH's sperm count was 37 million POST WASH! Which means- before they did the wash- it was probably closer to 80 million... now granted- we DID make some lifestyle changes such as daily vitamins (multi, zinc, folic acid, omega 3) and cut out drinking- but I tell you what- I think having sex more regularly also helped improve it. 

I think you are LESS likely to conceive if you're not staying active enough. 

Check out this link too~ lots of great info! :

https://www.fertilinet.com/male.htm


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## arpeters

Wow. That makes sense. We should definitly start now then because I am 5 days from OV. We probably should have started a couple of days ago. Thank you everyone for your help.


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## hollyw79

I think you are starting @ the perfect time! :) I think sperm can live up to 5 days.. so you're timing it just right! I would aim for daily- every other day minimum- until 2 days AFTER you ovulate!!! Best of luck!!


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## arpeters

Thank you. Good luck to you too!! Let me know if you get your :bfp: :dust::dust::dust:


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