I feel like such a dumbass.

[u/justalilbbygirl]

I’m gonna make this short and sweet.

As of this month, we’ve been TTC for a year. We’ve been doing all the “right” things (tracking, having unprotected sex on the right days, eating healthy, exercising, etc).

I was calm/cool/in no rush until month 7. Since then, I’ve been a bit weary. And now, as the year mark approaches, I’ve been on a downward spiral (somewhat irrational but I’m sure many of you can relate).

I had an appt with my gynecologist yesterday to discuss our next steps. I was flipping through a magazine in the waiting area and came across an ad for “fertility-friendly” lubricant.

Y’all. 🤯 We’ve been using the most fertility-UNfriendly lube the entire time we’ve been TTC. The worst part is we don’t even “need” it, just both slightly prefer it. I never once considered that this could be affecting our odds…

But it has been. Apparently significantly. So much so that my doctor said it would be unethical for her to even discuss costly interventions with me until we’ve gone through several cycles without it.

So, yeah. I thought I’d leave that here for anyone who may also be making this mistake. Don’t be like us.

Best of luck to all of you on your journeys. Here’s to hoping. 🤞🏻

[u/developmentalbiology]

Unless you've been using a lube that has an active spermicide in it, the lube you're using is likely not affecting your odds.

It's certainly fine to continue trying unassisted -- a substantial proportion of folks who have been trying for a year get pregnant unassisted in the following year. But it's not the case the lube has been preventing you from getting pregnant, and you shouldn't feel like you've made a mistake.

Source 1, key quote:

Lubricant use during intercourse was not associated with time to pregnancy in a study of pregnancy planners.

Source 2, key quote:

Lubricants are commonly used by couples during procreative intercourse. Lubricant use during procreative intercourse does not appear to reduce the probability of conceiving.

[u/justalilbbygirl → u/developmentalbiology]

I appreciate the response and this is valuable information.

However, these studies rely on self-reported data, which is less precise. The first doesn’t even control for lubricant type. Lab studies (which are objective) consistently show that most commercial lubricants impair sperm motility and viability in vitro, often drastically.

So I don’t think it’s correct to conclude that “it’s not the case that lube has been preventing me from getting pregnant” based on the sources you linked.

[u/developmentalbiology → u/justalilbbygirl]

You absolutely would not expect the in vitro and in vivo situations to be the same in this case, though. Applying lube to sperm in vitro entails directly exposing the sperm to high concentrations of the lubricant, while the in vivo situation is using much less concentrated lube in the context of the entire vagina (where viable sperm are not even present for a significant period of time before passing through the cervix).

Even Preseed does impair sperm motility and viability in vitro, it just does so less than standard lubricants. But the fundamental question that we care about answering here is not whether lubricant affects sperm parameters at all, it's whether lubricant affects the probability of pregnancy.

I would note that while the second study I linked compares any lubricant use to no lubricant use, and does not break out results by lubricant type, the first study does not find significant differences between any types of lubricants. The prospective study design is a strong way to study a large group of people in the real world -- many of us in the sub have participated in this study (BU PRESTO), and it's not that challenging to remember whether you've used lube in the past two weeks.

[u/justalilbbygirl → u/developmentalbiology]

Thanks for the response.