Heavy chewing tobacco use the cause of wife's miscarriage?

[username12]

Hi,

My wife and I recently found out we were expecting our first child. At around 6 weeks into the pregnancy, she had bleeding/spotting which eventually developed to cramps and heavy clot bleeding. At the end of last week we went to the ER and determined she had a spontaneous miscarriage. After a follow up visit to her OB/GYN, they said she had passed the entire pregnancy and everything looked healthy with my wife, and that it was just a random event where something went wrong with development of the baby and the body rejected the pregnancy.

My question: Due to work stress, I fell back into using smokeless tobacco heavily (one can a day) and had been using it heavily at the time of conception. I had been a moderate smokeless tobacco user for a while, a light/moderate smoker a long time ago but quit, and drink alcohol socially now. I am wondering if this could have been the cause of the miscarriage by causing sperm abnormalities? Is this possible? Or does tobacco only affect the ability to conceive? I have officially quit using all forms of tobacco and will never use them ever again.

I also have a varicocele and the OB told us that would only impact the ability to conceive not cause a miscarriage after conception? Is that true as well?

Lastly, the OB told us to wait two menstrual cycles before trying to conceive again. I have read that it takes 3 months to, for lack of a better term, "cycle through existing sperm and generate new/healthy sperm". I want to make sure that any abnormalities caused by chewing tobacco are gone before trying to conceive again. If we start trying again in roughly 60 days that leaves 30 days where there could be unhealthy sperm.

Let me know if you can answer the above questions. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Dr. Wisot]

Any tobacco use can affect the DNA in sperm by causing more fragmentation of the DNA. No one knows is this can result in a miscarriage. A chromsomal abnormality is a much more likely cause and that would not be affected by tobacco.

But it's great that you stopped.

Generally we suggest waiting one cycle to try again but in your case you are correct that it could take three months to generate new sperm and probably worth waiting to wash out any possible effect from the tobacco. It might also help to start vitamins and antioxidants as suggested on our Lifestyle & Fertility page with a link to lifechoices.

Arthur L. Wisot, M. D.
Reproductive Partners Medical Group
Redondo Beach, California

[username12]

Thanks Dr. Wisot. I appreciate the quick response. I think just understanding that it was most likely a random chromosomal abnormality rather than something I did, helps me process the loss. I am currently taking a multivitamin and will look into antioxidants as well. Thanks again.