PVP, Reversal - Info Request!
John
Ten months ago I had a no scaplel closed end vasectomy that resulted
in a total destruction of my life. I initially was bedridden for 3
months and was unable to work at all during that time. This 20 minute
procedure took 1 1/2 hours because the surgeon stated the vas was
"adhered". Oh how I have learned so much since that fatefull day! But
more importantly, how much I have learned from this newsgroup & the
associated website that I stumbled onto in January of this year.
At that time I made several posts requesting help for the excruciating
pain and was assisted in expanding my knowledge base by extremely kind
persons totally unknown to myself with names like Dave, Trevor,
Tri-Fold, and a cadre of others too numerous to mention at this time.
During the last 10 months of living hell with PVP from a vasectomy I
have taken hundreds, yes hundreds of prescriptions of assorted
antibiotics, non-steroids, steroids, narcotics, anti-depressants,
muscle relaxants, etc. in an attempt to "get better". All failed.
I had sonagrams, x-rays, urine tests, blood tests, & a host of other
tests that now fill multiple binders. All with no help!
I had scores, yes scores of assorted doctors appointments with general
practitioners, urologists, pain management doctors, etc. All with no
help. I had doctors reccomend everything from going to see a
psychiatrist to removing my testicles! The one thing I learned was the
lack of info known by most physicians & surgeons about PVP - Even by
those performing vasectomies on a daily basis. I also learned that I
was accumulating more knowledge in this area than they collectively
knew via my own nightmare & those positive suggestions by the members
of this NG & website.
Also during the past 10 months I had a total of 12 - YES TWELVE -
surgical nerve blocks, many of which were far more painful than the
PVP. Also a trip to an accupuncture specialist in pain management, all
with negative results. Finally, like a friend with PVP on the west
coast of the U.S. I declared myself a "no needle zone"!
I believe I now have an acute awareness of pain management & an
expanded knowledge base in extreme clinical depression & can certainly
understand the actions of others in a much clearer light at this point
in my life.
I can also say I am now an "expert" in dealing with insurance
companies (at least in the United States) when it comes to PVP and
medically necessary vasectomy reversals!
The point of this post is a request for information once again. Eleven
days ago I had the reversal done. In this surgery to correct the PVP
it took 4 1/2 hours. In this corrective surgery I had minimal
swelling, no discoloration, and quite frankly it was 10 times easier
in procedure & initial 10 day recovery than the vasectomy 10 months
ago.
Today I had my first follow up appointment with the urological
micro-surgeon stating that the internal & external healing appears on
track in "normal" healing time lines.
I still have the acute groin & abdominal bi-lateral pain that extends
upward to my hips. I am not sure about the testicular PVP as the
existing incisional pain is clearly masking it if it is still present.
MY QUESTION - For those of you that had the reversal for PVP - How
long post reversal operation did it take you to be relieved of the
PVP?? As stated I am only 11 days post op from the reversal at this
time. My micro-surgeon states that we would not know if the reversal
surgery corrects the PVP for at least 4 to 6 weeks & until we (I) get
everything "flowing" once again. He did additionally state that the
healing process can take up to 6 months.
I sincerely request those that have obtained a reversal for PVP
contact me with your results as to if & how long it took post reversal
for the pain to go away.
Thank you once again to all of those individuals world wide that have
helped me in this unfortunate and very painful year!!!
John
Giraud
Thanks for the update, and please keep posting here on how
things go. I wish you the best in your quest to be pain-free.
Did the doctor give you a theory on the cause of the pain? Was it
backpressure, granulomas, or something else? The newsgroup is a great
place to talk with other guys who have had the snip and share experiences!
Giraud
David
I can't unfortunately tell you from personal experience how long the
recovery will take as it's outside my personal experience, so I'll leave
that to those who have had a reversal to answer.
One thing that may be of use to you here is the website stories forum
(recent addition). In the stories section, some men have agreed to be
contactable via the forum and/or email. You might like to contact them via
the website, as not every story poster is a regular reader of these posts.
Did you have your story posted to the website? It strikes me that your story
would be especially helpful to others, particularly the experience you have
with dealing with the medical profession to get results. The problem with
posts here is that they only persist as long as the server archives them (in
my case that's about 30 days) but stories on the site live forever.
David
www.vasectomy-information.com
"John" <jmic...@mtlebanon.org> wrote in message
news:dc8be978.03090...@posting.google.com...
Greg F
I had a reversal for pvp and the relief from pvp was dramatic and
immediate. Recovery from the surgery itself was short and easy. For a
few weeks I had to be careful about lifting. Sex was a no no for about
two weeks. I should have had the reversal sooner than four years after
my vasectomy (the pvp having started immediately after my vasectomy)as
there was already extensive damage to my right epididymis due to back
pressure that necessitated an epididymectomy six years after the
reversal.
Giraud
> I had a reversal for pvp and the relief from pvp was dramatic and
> immediate. Recovery from the surgery itself was short and easy. For a
> few weeks I had to be careful about lifting. Sex was a no no for about
> two weeks. I should have had the reversal sooner than four years after
> my vasectomy (the pvp having started immediately after my vasectomy)as
> there was already extensive damage to my right epididymis due to back
> pressure that necessitated an epididymectomy six years after the
> reversal.
Greg,
Was the reason for your epididymectomy a return of the pain? Was it the
same or different?
-Giraud
trifold
Hey John, I'm glad you got the reversal, and I hope it has the same
good effects in your case that we have read about here and in the
medical literature. (Unfortunately, I have no personal experience to
relay.)
Did doctors ever suggest to you what might have caused your pvp?
Also, you mention you have learned alot about getting insurance to pay
for medically indicated vasectomy reversals in the US. I think it
would be esp. helpful if you could write this up. It would be a good
addition to the website.
I hope things improve.
Greg F
Giraud,
The epididymectomy was precipitated by the return of pvp.
After the reversal and for most of the time prior to epididymectomy I
had a minimal amount of discomfort, (usually early in the morning
before getting out of bed). However, once I was up and about I had no
discomfort of any sort at all. I couldn't believe my good luck in
being (basically) free of the pain of pvp. I was sure I had pvp beat.
Such was not to be the case....suddenly and without warning (six years
after the reversal)I had incredible and constant levels of pain (right
sided). (Interestingly, the reversal surgeon had told me he had
detected sperm and fluid leakage, and movement, on the left side but
not on the right side. My guess is that the right side was already
clogged up with unabsorded toothpaste like sperm debris). Anyways, the
very touching of the epididymis would send me through the roof.
The pre-epididymectomy pvp pain was similar to the pvp pain I had
before the reversal, and often worse. The pre-reversal pain
fluctutated more and was made worse by physical activity (even
walking). The pain would subside if I reduced phycial activity. The
pre-epidiymectomy pain was there all the time and was often a 10 or
higher on a scale of 1 to 10. At that time, (three years ago) my
doctor thought epididymectomy was the way to go and that is what I
choose.
Steve Law
My reversal was for PVP and low testosterone. Most of the pain was on
the left side. PVP was near constant with bouts of severe pain that
only numbing completely with ice would relieve.
Anyway noticed PVP was better after about 6 months post reversal. As
you know with pain, it is sometimes hard to characterize timeframes
and pain seems to be forgotten over time. I iced as much as possible
after the reversal. But still needed ice occassionally even after the
6 months. I have not iced in years now, so that is indication that
what residual pain I do have is not very noticed.
In other words went from carrying around an ice pack all the time to
no ice pack now. But I would put my healing at the 6mo point, though
there was some immediate relief after the reversal healing and some
needing ice pain after 6mo. But I believe at the 6mo point it was
clear things were better and maybe getting better.
Steve L
Steve and Lisa
>
> I sincerely request those that have obtained a reversal for PVP
> contact me with your results as to if & how long it took post reversal
> for the pain to go away.
>
Hi, John. I feel for you! I hope that time has made things better.
I had a vasectomy in June '99 - a reversal in Jan '02. My pvp was
different from yours - it built up over a couple of months, then was
cyclical - evidently primarily related to granulomas, autoimmune
responses, and pressure. The vasectomy itself wasn't that bad for me
- just noticed that sex wasn't the same, then the pressure built to
pain over a period of weeks and months. The reversal was certainly
more invasive than the vasecomy, and recovery took a period of weeks.
I did find that my pvp symptoms, which had been better before the
reversal because of testerone therapy, were gone after recovery. For
me, the first 'tryout' of the reconnected plumbing was pretty amazing!
Brief periods of discomfort since, but not to the extent as before.
"Hang" in there! (I know - pretty bad...). Don't give up - keep
pushing the medical system to help you!
Steve
John
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you on passing
on your words of wisdom & support regarding my info request. It is
GREATLY appreciated!
Week # 3 of reversal post-op recovery was extremely difficult with
massive levels of testicular & bi-lateral abdominal pain that kept me
pretty much in bed. Although I did not believe that I did very much
activity at the end of week # 2 there is a possibility that I did in
that I regressed in my recovery regarding pain levels.
In the pursuit of effective time management I will answer ALL of your
emails in this one collective email response. I hope it works for all
of you!
Giraud - All of the doctors & surgeons that I spoke to during the last
11 months could provide no definitive answer for the PVP. They pretty
much stated it just happens to some people. Interesting that they do
not tell you that pre-op. They theorized possible nerve damage OR
"back pressure". There were no granulomas found during the reversal.
They did find a small amount of scar tissue on one side & it was
removed during the reversal. They did state this small scar tissue
removal was done as a purely precautionary measure stating that if
they were not dealing with PVP & just doing a reversal they would not
have even bothered with it.
David - I will DEFINITELY be forwarding my entire story to the website
and will make myself available for contact!
Greg - Thank you for your support!!
Trifold - When I post my "complete" story to the website I will
include a specific section with my encounters with the insurance
industry!!
Steve Law - My surgeon did state that I may not see PVP levels
decrease until four to six weeks post-op with the healing & pain level
process possibly taking as long as 6 months. I was actually hoping for
pain reduction significantly sooner!
Steve & Lisa - Thank you for your sincere words of encouragement!
I have been instructed by my reversal micro-surgeon to have no
ejaculations for 4 weeks post-op to allow the "re-connect" to properly
heal. You mentioned that your first "tryout" post-op from your
reversal was pretty amazing. Would you care to elaborate if that is
not being too forward of me in that I have a few questions regarding
this that any of you may want to comment on?
Let's start by making the assumption that "back pressure" can be a
possible cause for PVP. Now introduce the fact that I have had the
reversal surgery & am 3 weeks post-op with instructions for no
ejaculations for 4 weeks to allow the parts to heal. During this time
of no ejaculations would not the "back pressure" still exist
continuing the pain cycle? Would not this back pressure & associated
PVP not be relieved upon ejaculation to some extent at the completion
of the 4 week healing time assuming that the "re-connect" was properly
done?
Your comments & theories would be greatly appreciated & obviously I
may have some of the answers in another week! :>)
Have a great day to all.......
John
Steve Law
On your question on backpressure and waiting for sex:
The vas deferens is very long with most of the length in the lower
abdomen and not in the scrotum. The vas deferens expands to the
ampulla where sperm are stored prior to ejaculation. It takes up to 6
weeks for the sperm to travel from the testis to the ampulla. So, you
have 6 weeks before the entire system is refilled.
Additionally, unlike the closed end vasectomy with no where for the
sperm to go, the sperm will 'leak' from the ampulla into the uretha if
the pressure gets to great.
God's Speed,
Steve L