34 M. I’ve been on mounjaro for a year – weight loss has been great and I’m just reaching goal weight. Feel great on it and would happily continue using it for the forseeable future.
However, my partner and I are planning on doing ivf next year around April. I know women need to be off medication for it as they grow the baby but I am getting mixed messages re men. **My own fertility clinic said that I can continue using it and its not a problem.** However, I am slightly skeptical given the lack of research and so wanted to check what others in a similiar position (ozempic/mounjaro/zepbound/wegovy) did. Either those who did IVF or those who tried naturally.
Only interested in the man taking the medicine (not females, who i know have to stop).
I mean the most qualified person to answer this question is your doctor.
If the meds are controlling your blood sugar and allowing you to lose weight, then it may be beneficial to stay on them even if they theoretically could change fertility (and the only evidence we have rn is that they improve fertility in women).
Which is why anecdotal evidence isn’t super useful. Because you aren’t other people. You have a unique constellation of health factors that make your decision making matrix completely different to everyone else
There is a lack of long term research, so I do get the concern. How long would you possibly be off it? Being a man I feel like it shouldn’t be long and if so then why not. Although are you on it for weight loss or as a diabetic med?
For weight loss – am close to target weight now but stopping it for 3 months makes me worried i’ll gain it back (!)
You just need to decide what you really want. You can hold it together for 3 months I’m sure. You can go back on it too.
I would also suggest that you will need to make diet changes to ever have a hope of keeping weight off long term. There’s so much good info on the internet these days regarding Quentin’s and diet. So many recipes. Think of this as a trial run so you know what to expect if you decide to stop using it.
With regards to the lack of trial data….. there may be insignificant data on this in particular, but there is data on how chemicals of various classes effect fertility and whether they can cross to the child. Trust the doctors on this. They’re really the only ones that can answer the question.
If it was me, I would stop just because I operate on a better safe than sorry policy. You might gain the weight back (which would probably be good to know for the future) but you should be able to start again afterwards and then lose it once more. You’re looking to start something that will be 18+ years, so in the grand scheme of things 3 months is not much
If your sperm is clean it’s clean, women need to stop it as their body needs all the nutrients it can get and GLP1s stop the absorption and desire for those, they are genetically altering your dna
Thank you – did you mean they aren’t genetically altering dna, or are?
As a woman (and mom) who has been on this med over a year, I wouldn’t take chances due to lack of long term data. I would come off of it for 60-90 days prior to Ivf if I were in your position. I chose to forego several foods and/or drugs while attempting to conceive and during my pregnancies out of an abundance of caution in the absence of hard and/or long term data. It’s only a short period out of your life that has the potential to either prevent conception or potentially negatively impact the life of your child throughout their lifetime.
Wishing you and your partner the very best as you start your family!!
Square…
I can’t find any long term study’s and given the short timeframe on the market it will be a while if ever..🙀. You of course want healthy kids, so what do you do? Best guess is go get tested and see if you have above average damaged sperm. Keep the test results and then as you get closer to try IVF and get retested and check again for damaged sperm.
Next decide if you want off the glp1 just because and if so that for 30-180 days(you have to figure out what works for you two. Keep looking for study’s and check research again.
https://www.gaurology.com/from-blood-sugar-to-baby-plans-glp-1-ras-male-fertility/#:~:text=In%20a%20clinical%20study%20of,functionality%20after%20stopping%20the%20medication.
I looked this up(Google your friend can help but if it is AI assisted research, look deeper and dig in & fact check).
Good luck and may you only have fat happy & health children!
Thank you very much! Appreciate the response
There’s no research.
What I’d say though is that IF you have a child with an issue, you turn yourself inside out looking for reasons or something to blame. For that reason alone I’d say come off it. Any problem and you’ll beat yourself up for eternity.
Depends on why you’re on it. If it’s helping control diabetes, severe obesity, or blood pressure, those conditions themselves can worsen sperm quality and pregnancy outcomes.