Pain, after the fact.
Mook
As was the case during my LAST post, I have developped a bit of
post-operative pain. I had the procedure done in November and the first
month was living hell to the point where I was ready to throw myself in
front of a bus.
Month #2 couldn't come soon enough and a visit to the Doc didn't do
much to allay my suffering, other than to tell me that this was
"normal" (but not "normal" enough to warn me about BEFORE?) and that
"many men experience pain for a few months afterwards".
Great!
I'm into my FOURTH month now, and although I have been "relatively"
pain free for some time, I have entered another episode of discomfort
which makes me question WHY I ever had this done in the first place!
The pain is always located in the right testicle...(the left never
gives me any problem whatsoever). It is sensitive to the touch - moreso
than usual - and at times it feels so hard, it seems as though it is
ready to explode. The area (epidydimis) is quite tender to the touch
and the entire inner groin seems to be affected.
This can be caused by something as simple as underwear that rides-up
when I sit down, and can last from a day to two weeks. It is never so
severe that I cannot function, but it's annoying enough to be VERY
uncomfortable...and very disheartening.
During my last visit, the doc assured me that any pain I'm experiencing
"shouldn't" last beyond the six month mark, and several other guys at
work (who've had the procedure) seem normal and well-adjusted.
All I want is for the pain to stop, to go away forever...but each
episode leaves me wondering if I'll ever be pain free.
Is there anybody who has experienced the same sort of grief? I'm not
addressing those with SERIOUS chronic issues...I realize that my
"suffering" must seem like small potatoes to those who've endured
worse. It's just that I went into this with both eyes shut and I am
starting to question if this was truly the BEST option for my wife and
I.
I know many couples where the wife had a tubal ligation in DAY-SURGERY
and was back to normal within a few days. It's been four months for me
and I still have to be so careful during sex, lest I strain or twist
something slightly and have to live through another episode for a week!
Opinions? (Other than I am a wuss?)
yabig23
happen and should not be trivialized. Sometimes it can resolve itself
over time but if one side is fine and the other problematic I'd guess
it's something other than your body's ability to recover. Did you have
pain during the procedure? Immediately afterwards? Or did it just kick
in one day? I highly recommend you see a new doctor who has experience
treating these types of things. I know of two - one in Atlanta (who I
have been to personally) and another in Cleveland. Shoot me an email at
ad...@jbcc.com if you'd like their contact info. In the meantime hang in
there.
Kardon
your vas deferens. It doesn't matter what kind of proceedure you are
talking about, when your body is touched, cut, snipped, whatever, there
will be some discomfort while it heals. If a nerve is nicked, or the
healing is slightly inflamed, you are going to feel it. It most likely
won't be horrific, but it will be low level and annoying and it
sometimes can take the body several months to resolve it.
Having had nerve damage before in another area, the feeling can persist
for close to a year until slowly the body resolves the issue,
everything heals or scares up and that's it. You go on.
People on this board that scream for the mountain top and go on and on
for months most likely have a psychological element to the lingering
pain. Sorry guys, but it's true. Pain syndromes are well documented
in medicine. There is no doubt that the person is in pain; it's just
that there is no real psychological basis for it. The person is
concentrating on it, it gets wrapped up into anxiety and everything
else and it goes on and on. Almost uniformely this type of pain can
not be sustained more than a few years. Eventually the person "lets it
go," the episode passes and the person moves on pain free. It's tough
to take but chronic pain syndromes usually never last more than 2
years. Some carry it on, but by then it's almost impossible to show
anything phsiological.
As for the hardened balls feeling. This happens over the course of a
day. Sometimes they are harder than other times. I've noticed them
harder in the morning. When you are totally relaxed and have forgot
about them, they are normal.
Your pain is real, but most likely you've opened a pain syndrome. As
the months go by an inflamed nerve ending will fall off or heal over,
you will forget about it as you move on, and your pain will be gone.
How long? Months, a year, maybe more, but it will pass.
Vasectomy is a half assed procedure that they probably shouldn't do
(and will undoubtedly improve upon in the future), but it's remarkably
well tolarated by a huge number of people. People certainly don't die
from it and they suffer little to no known long term effects. If men
did, the lawyers would be right behind it all.
BTW, I went from urologist to urologist questioning the damage to the
epidymis, to my shock, three of the four I saw had it themselves. One
had it for over 30 years. Here I am complaining about it and they HAVE
it. They just looked at me like I was a crazy - which just pissed me
off. One of the guys did reversals and he just kept shaking his head.
He said, "I deal with problems and cancer all day. Do you think I
would have done it if I thought I'd get that?"
It didn't appease me. I think it's best to leave well enough alone.
So, regarding your pain - it will pass soon enough.
Mook
Even though my wife is supportive and understanding and etc...she can't
identify with it. This isn't something you can "explain" to someone who
doesn't have testicles!
Yabig23, I am in Canada so while I appreciate the offer, it wouldn't do
me much good to get a referral to a doc in Cleveland or Atlanta!
The pain didn't show up until the end of the first week. I had felt
great for the first four or five days, I even felt good enough after
the second day to go walking around at our local mall, trying on some
new hiking shoes, even running up the stairs at home between
commercials. Looking back, I suspect that I may have aggravated
something during that time!
Kardon, not only does the one ball feel "hard" but it takes on a weird
shape as well. It doesn't hurt too much to touch it, in fact cradling
it in my warm palm (OK, I realize that sounds a bit freaky) seems to
ease the pain somewhat. When left alone is when it seems to ache the
most. The pain is always centered on the epididymis and/or near the
inner groin, where the vas passes up into the body cavity. I suspect
that maybe the "clip" is rubbing on some muscle or tissue or creating a
bit of a bottleneck against the spermatic cord and causing the
discomfort. Sometimes the right testicle just seems to protrude from
inside the scrotum, sometimes it decides to travel upwards into the
body cavity!
The left gives no problems whatsoever, and in retrospect, there seemed
to be a bit more of a "job" with the right one than with the left. The
Doc had a student in on the procedure and supervised while she (yes, it
was a woman!) performed it on the right one, he had done the left.
He suggested (during my one month visit) that perhaps I had develloped
a granuloma. It was definitely NOT an imagined pain...it felt as though
someone was squeezing my testicles 24/7 for almost TWO WEEKS!
It was awful...if I could have reversed it myself, I would have!
yabig23
take exception to your claim that the body will always recover from
pain on it's own. Many times it will, sometimes it will not and
requires surgical intervention. In lots of cases post-vasectomy pain
may not be related to nerve damage at all, instead it comes from
congestion in the epis which also may or may not resolve over time. The
issues are rarely black and white and everyone is different.
Mook - I've got a good friend in Canada that lurks on this site who can
give you a good reference. He's currently on vaca but I'm sure he'll
chime in upon his return.
Kardon
results. Having a student do one side is something I would not have
allowed (although a resident brought my son into the world, and she did
a damn good job). It's possible that the student was rough, but with
the other doctor there at least it was at least reviewed. What this
could mean is that it will take longer for it to resolve, but it almost
inevitably will resolve. Nerve damage takes far longer to heal but it
almost always does heal.
As for the ball hardness, your ball will not explode or rupture,
although it could be scared. Fun stuff to think about isn't it. At the
end of the day, however, as long as you don't want to be fertile again
then it's not really a concern beyond the pain and the body will
adjust. Testosterone production, what you care about, stays the same.
People debated this on this board, but numerous studies indicate that
vasectomy may do quite a few things but it doesn't effect testosterone
production. Besides, men with one ball have normal T levels.
Your concern is pain and with time it will lesson and go away. Those
that need another surgical proceedure are few and far between, but who
knows, it could be you.
I have very mixed feelings about the proceedure in general, but I do
with other "surgeries" as well. Whenever you do something like cut
someone open, cut something in half and then tie it off, geez, it's
amazing that even more people don't have lingering issues. But we
could be having the same discussion if you had knee surgery, a hernia,
whatever.
Regarding woment and tubals, they go through the same thing. Most are
fine. Some women have lingering pain from the invasivness of the
proceedure. And there are some that claim that they have "tubal
syndrome." They blame just about every problem under the sun on the
proceedure. They claim their hormones are screwed, etc. Check it on
the net and you'll see. Doctors, of course, deny the whole thing.
This whole thing about surgically altering yourself reminds me of some
scene in a Star Trek movie where Bones goes back into the past, back to
the present day, and he walks into the hospital and sees doctors
getting ready to operate on someone. He is horrified and calls the
doctors barbarians. It's a funny scene. Of course, it's true as well!
In the future, someday, guaranteed they will definitley not do
vasectomies and tubals. Until then, you - and others - get to walk
around with inflamed nerves, etc. Wonderful isn't it?
Kardon
Ferdinand
I had some occasional random pain for the first few months. It usually
went away with a heating pad. Sometimes it was a testicle, sometimes
it was near my pelvic bone. The frequency and intensity diminished
with time. I had a couple problems with pain from prolonged
arousal/sex. This occurred for the first 1-8 months. After about 8
months the problems more or less went away. I'm over two years post
vas and haven't had any pain issues for about 4-6 months. I should
point out that the pain that just seemed to come out of nowhere wasn't
really very bad or intense. Good luck.