Male alcoholism and smoking linked to repeated chemical pregnancy?

[squirrel.]

Hi ladies,

Sorry for such an obscure question, but this has been torturing me these past few months and I can't seem to find any info online.

We have been trying for our third and final baby for 17 months now and in that time have suffered 5 early losses (4 of them in the past 5 cycles and one last year). We had an IUI last cycle, which gave me the longest time from getting that first BFP to the bleeding starting (around 5+6). Most of them are very early, I'll get a few days positive tests and then AF will arrive. The one last year lasted 5 days past AF, but they are generally very early. Today I am experiencing this for the fifth time: I'd had two days of positives and yet today the tests are getting lighter again. AF is due tomorrow and I know this is yet another pregnancy doomed to fail within a few days of implantation.

What I don't get is why! We have two children, both of who we conceived within two months with no issues. I had never experienced a loss before, so I don't know why this has suddenly started.

The only thing I can think of is that my husband's lifestyle has changed. He is a musician and is what I would call a functioning alcoholic. He doesn't drink during the day or behave badly or differently to his usual self, but as he is often out at festivals, gigs, band practice (with a bunch of heavy drinkers) or touring, he drinks almost every night (and not just a little - he can drink, and does drink, a lot!). He accepts he has a problem and to make matters worse, he also smokes a mild/moderate amount (though this has always been the case). I'm just so scared that he's treated his body so badly that now his sperm may be damaged.

It feels like pointing the finger. I mean the problem could easily be with me. All our testing came back normal/good, even his first semen analysis (though this was done after a 'dry January'). The day of our IUI, his sperm count was very low.

I am going to be referred to a recurrent miscarriage clinic and my husband is going to pay for a DNA fragmentation test, but in the mean time, does anyone know of any information, word of mouth from a doctor, or anything, that links alcoholism to recurrent miscarriage? I know it affects fertility, but I haven't found anything on miscarriages.

I feel like I need to try and understand what's going wrong here, because genuinely, I just don't get it. We never had any problems before, but this time has dragged us from one heartache to the next and I just don't know what to do anymore.

Thank you so much for any words of wisdom or advice you may have.

 

[Amygdala]

I'm so sorry this keeps happening to you. I totally get the need to understand "why" and I also did endless google searches for reasons after each of my losses. As I understand it, alcohol intake and smoking can both reduce sperm quality. For a lot of people, that means infertility. But then there's also this theory that some women are very fertile, more so than they should be, and fall pregnant with embryos that are genetically not able to survive (I think this is the case for me, as falling pregnant was never a problem, just stating pregnant). In combination, it could be that your husband has more genetically damaged sperm now but because you're very fertile, you still fall pregnant with embryos that can't result in healthy babies. The fact that you've always fallen pregnant so quickly fits with that theory.
Is your husband open to change? I don't think it takes more than a few months for sperm to recover. Could he even take a break from touring and go for complete detox? Or, if he can stick to more local gigs, "just" commit to coming home rather than putting himself in a situation where he's likely to drink and smoke more than he should? Would be good for his health anyway but I think for ttc, all it would take is a break, not a commitment to stop forever.