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Vasectomy - the biggest mistake of my life.
6/17/2010,
MillerTen
ABSTRACT:
I had a vasectomy in 1999 after the birth of our third child. Although the procedure went smoothly, I soon began to experience chronic pain and also reduced volume of ejaculate and reduced sensation during sex and orgasm. I had a vasectomy reversal in 2001 to reduce the pain.
SYMPTOMS:
Pain in epididymis region; feeling of reduced and thinner ejaculate; reduced sensation during sex and orgasm.
TREATMENTS/MEDICATIONS:
Advil, Lyrica, Nortriptyline, Tramadol, psychotherapy and ultimately vasectomy reversal.
OUTCOME/CURRENT CONDITION:
I still have residual pain and am bothered by shortened vas/higher testicle position and scars in lower inguinal region. Reversal greatly reduced the pain, however, and restored ejaculate volume/texture and sensation during sex/orgasm.
I started thinking about having a vasectomy in late 1998 or early 1999. The initial impetus was a conversation I had with a neighbor of mine who was a urologist. He said that a colleague of his performed "no scalpel" vasectomies and that it was very non-invasive. It sounded kind of cool to me. I now wish I had never had that conversation or even met that person. After that, however, it seemed like a lot of people I knew had had a vasectomy. A friend at work mentioned it, and then a friend from my neighborhood mentioned it as well. My brother in law had had one, and a few other friends from around town. They all said they were very pleased with both the procedure and the result. I asked one friend if sex felt any different after his vasectomy and he said "no."
So, after talking to my wife about it, I went to see the urologist that my neighbor had mentioned. He seemed very experienced and professional, and I had a few meetings with him before making my decision. He said that vasectomy generally increased testosterone levels in men, and that there was no noticeable decrease in ejaculate because sperm was only 3% of overall ejaculate. He said there was no connection between vasectomy and prostate cancer. He also said that 5% of men experienced long term pain after vasectomy. I asked him what I would do if I experienced pain and he said "I'll reverse it!" meaning that he would reverse my vasectomy and any pain I had would go away. I didn't really have a response to that so I said I would go ahead.
Emotionally and intuitively, I had my reservations. Why, I thought, would I walk into a hospital in perfect health and ask someone to operate on me? Why would I take part of me that was working perfectly and have surgery that would make it not work? These thoughts and others went through my head. I also wondered what there was that I didn't know, and thought about the fact that the only way to be sure I wouldn't have any complications would be to not have the vasectomy.
I think in the end my pride overcame all of these reservations. I had talked to my wife and my friends about doing it and didn't want to look like I was backing out. I wanted to think of myself as someone who was taking responsibility for birth control and not leaving it all up to the woman. I was even kind of curious to see what the procedure was like. It's amazing how stupid I was. In the end, these types of considerations prevailed over my better judgment and I went ahead with the procedure.
The procedure itself was performed in a hospital and was pain free. I did notice, however, the doctor cauterizing a lot of my vas out, and I remember being surprised and concerned about this. I found out later that my urologist liked to create a gap in the vas, to prevent the vas ends from reattaching - something that he never mentioned to me before the vasectomy. Had I known, I would have asked him not to do that, given the earlier conversation we had had about possible reversal.
Sex felt different to me immediately. Although there was no pain at first, I could feel the sperm being ejected up the vas and then hitting the closed vas end and stopping. The volume of ejaculate felt greatly reduced, and the texture was thinner, more watery, than before. I also felt "disconnected" to my prostate area, which lessened sensation during sex and orgasm. After a month or two, I started to experience both dull and sharp aching in my testicles, which heightened a day or two after ejaculation. I went back to see the urologist who had performed the vasectomy, and he recommended Advil and warm baths. I followed his advice, and the pain nevertheless got gradually worse. On vacation the following summer, I was taking about six Advils a day.
I went back to the urologist again, and we agreed that he would perform a vasectomy reversal. The first time we scheduled it, I cancelled because I had reservations about the surgery. It was about a year and a half, therefore, before I rescheduled and actually went through with the procedure. He said it was successful and he had no doubt the reversal would remain patent and the vas tubes would not close up, which was good news.
After a few days, I noticed that my testicles, particularly the right testicle, was higher than it used to be and the vas was much shorter than it used to be. When I asked the urologist about this, he said that it was because he had "had" to remove a few centimeters of the vas when he did the vasectomy and had had to remove a little more when he did the reversal. He said he also had had to extend the reversal incisions up into my lower inguinal region, to get at the upper portion of the shortened vas ends.
My reversal greatly improved my condition and lessened - but did not eliminate - the pain. I still have residual pain, but at much lower levels, primarily on the right side, in the testicle and vas tube. I also have some new symptoms from the reversal, which include the higher testicles and pulling sensations due to the shortened vas tubes, and itching and pain sensations that extend up into my lower abdomen. The shortness of the vas tubes interferes with some sports activities, such as knee bends, skiing, bicycling, etc., and actually bothers me more than the residual pain. Fortunately, normal ejaculate volume and sexual sensation returned following the reversal.
I've taken various medications to try to get the residual pain to go away, but have ended up mostly off the medications, preferring to live with the residual pain instead. I do take Lyrica and Nortryptiline from time to time, sometimes for weeks at a time, and then I go off them again. Every day, however, I think about my vasectomy and my impaired condition, and am reminded that vasectomy was the biggest mistake of my life.
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