PVP Reversal Recovery

[tcwalk...@gmail.com]

I have searched the group and come up with a couple discussions
regarding this but I have a request.

Could someone who has been down the PVP road and ended up with a
reversal please email me directly or post a reply to this for me. (my
email is tcwalker2004 at gmail dot com).

Brief summary: I had fairly severe PVP for six months following the
vasectomy. I had the reversal 17 weeks ago (May 31st).

This is what I would like to hear from a fellow reversal patient.
Frankly, I need some hope. My epididymis is still sore on both sides
and burns. Some days I still feel a great deal of pain. The only
thing that touches the pain is narcotics, which I use very sparingly
because of the limited supply and the risk of using them in general.
NSAIDS won't touch it. My doctor has now referred me to a psychologist
and a pain management clinic. She also has me started on Neurontin. I
don't know if this is helping because I am still being titrated to the
therapeutic dosage over a couple of weeks. We tried an antidepressant
(Cymbalta) a couple months ago but I think that just made me loopy and
more depressed.

At this point I think I'm about to lose it. I go into the bathroom at
night to cry so my wife and 2 year old son won't see and I'm trying to
picture what it would be like still having this pain years from now. I
don't know what to do and I don't know how to keep it together. Every
morning I wake with this intense sense of dread. I think I am just
about to have a nervous breakdown. Yes, I am seeking professional help
and I realize the importance of this.

To any PVP plus reversal patient: Do I just need to deal with it and
be more patient? Should I have felt more pain relief by now? Could it
take a year or more for the reversal to relieve the pain? If the
problem was back pressure / epididymitis (which my doctors felt was
almost certainly the case) why would it take so long to get relief once
the vas is re-opened?

I am going to schedule the sperm count test to see how successful the
reversal was today hopefully. Plus I am making an appointment with the
reversal doc for a follow-up.

Can anyone give me some hope?

TC

[tcwalk...@gmail.com]

I'd like to thank all the men who took the time to email me. I
appreciate the responses and personal experiences. In the final
analysis and given the consensus of the emails, I may have to face the
fact that a reversal may not make me better anytime soon. I may have
to face the fact that I will have this pain for a long time (years or
forever).

I'm living proof, like the men on this site have said in the past, that
a reversal is not a sure-fire solution. And, if the reversal doesn't
fix you then you are a double loser because you lost on your 94% chance
of having a good vasectomy and your 69% to 80% chance of being fixed by
a reversal (sorry, depends on what study you follow but you get my
point).

I'm not giving up hope, but I am resigning to the fact that I am now a
chronic pain patient. I'm going to begin going to the pain clinic and
see what they can do so I can get through the day without narcotics.

Again, I want to thank everyone who has emailed me and particularly one
great guy in Canada who has been conversing with me. You know who you
are an you have been a great help in counseling me on how to go
forward.

I think with this problem I had to go through the five classic stages
of grief and I had to mourn the passing of my former self. I think I
am beginning to enter the phase of acceptance of my situation and this
is somewhat a relief.

Thanks again.

TC