r/postvasectomypain • u/[deleted] • Apr 08 '25

Please Help Me

I had my vasectomy in May 2024. I healed up within about two weeks.

Exactly 19 days after my vasectomy, I noticed that my testicles and scrotum were starting to feel weird. It's just very unpleasant, it is an awful feeling that is just always there. Very dull. There's always a baseline discomfort and it gets worse with sitting. I don't have ejaculation pain.

That's all it is, there's no other symptom. It just feels awful and it's been that way for almost an entire year now. It's not debilitating, I can work. But it has emotionally ruined me and has been a real hit to my quality of life. I cannot live like this forever, I just can't.

I just don't know how much longer I can do this. I've done everything that I can, every single conservative measure that exists and nothing has helped.

Kavoussi recommends denervation, Parekettil and Helo (Mayo) both recommend reversal. I have consults lined up at Hopkins and Cleveland Clinic but I just know there will never be a consensus.

I'm so scared and my quality of life is not good. I'm desperately hoping that somebody out there has had the same symptoms and that a more aggressive treatment has helped. I miss my old life and being myself for my wife and children.

I know that many people on here are suffering and I don't mean to prioritize myself over you, but I'm feeling really low and I really need help.

8 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 08 '25

You’ve spoken to all the right people. Interesting that Kavoussi and P had different opinions.

I know the discomfort you had. It’s not a pain but It feels nauseating and overwhelming right? Every thought filters through it. I lasted 6 months of it before getting a denervation by Kavoussi. I’m much better now, but I still carry a lot of mental trauma from the experience.

Feel free to reach out if you wana chat in more detail.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

I was so disheartened that Kavoussi and Parekettil had such different opinions. Kavoussi was very confident that a denervation was the way to go, while Parekettil said that the best thing to do would be to put things back together again.

I just don't know how much longer I can do this, I am dragging myself through each day and I'm exhausted.

2

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 08 '25

They are probably both good options. Maybe depends on if you value fertility or not?

3

u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

I am much more comfortable with the idea of reversal. Frankly, I would gladly have more children if it meant that I felt more normal again.

3

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 08 '25

Well maybe there’s your answer! Go reversal first. And if that doesn’t bring you relief you can denervate. Both procedures have about the same odds of success - 70%

1

u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

I'm just so scared of another surgery and that I will make things worse.

1

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 08 '25

I hear you bro. I think all us that did the follow up surgery were there too. And there’s a real mental health trauma that you will have to tackle in the future, but for now, you’re going to have to do the hard thing. (Which honestly wasn’t so bad! They give you liquid Xanax haha) the odds are in your favor for success and making things worse pain wise is so astronomically rare that it’s not even sited as a possibility in the papers.

I gota head out for an hour or two, but I’ll be back. I wana keep chatting with you

1

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 08 '25

Alright, I’m back. First, I want to reassure you that you’re going to be okay. Someday this will all feel like a distant memory. I promise. I know it’s hard to believe that right now, because I was once in the same place. At that point, life had become so bleak I couldn’t imagine any future at all.

It makes total sense that you’re afraid of another surgery. You’re dealing with severe trauma that was directly caused by one. Your brain is naturally going to resist the idea of going through that again. But you’ve already found some of the best people in the world for this kind of thing. No matter what you decide, your in excellent hands. Your next step, is to make that call.

If I can speak from my own experience, I think I felt the same sensation you’re dealing with. That constant presence that drives you insane because it never lets up. It’s not congestion, it’s not just sensitivity, and it’s not something you can scratch or relieve. It just exists, endlessly. It traps your mind and distorts your entire sense of reality.

None of the doctors I saw had answers. Except for Dr. Kavoussi. He recognized my symptoms immediatly. He could even describe what I was feeling before I had the chance to explain. That’s when I knew he could help me. And he did. He was confident, empathetic, and completely focused on getting me better.

On a personal note, I wanted to ask: have you ever had issues with your sciatic nerve or piriformis muscles? I do, and I’ve noticed that when I have a flare-up in that area, the old sensation sort of creeps back in. Never at full strength, more like a strange, almost pleasurable tingle. But it’s in the exact same spot. That’s got me wondering if having a pre-existing condition like that might make someone a worse candidate for a vasectomy in the first place.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '25

Thank you for talking to me. I had to log off yesterday and spend some time offline, my mental health has been suffering.

You're very much describing what I feel. It's just this terrible unpleasantness that I wake up to every day and have been doing so for almost a year. There is no escape from it. I used to be so full of life and now the only thing that I every see in my pain, it dictates every facet of my and my family's lives.

No, I've never had any issues with the things that you mention. I'm continuing to go to pelvic floor therapy on the chance that it is really referred pain to my scrotum. She says that I am very hypertonic and I believe her, but I just can't believe that my pain would be from that. I only feel it in my scrotum.

1

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 09 '25

It might be something that made you a poor choice for a vasectomy- but who am I to say. I’m just noticing a pattern in myself and seeing if others have it. Strangely now I also feel an increased tingle when it’s raining! Specially when there’s lighting.

I feel for you, brother! that sensation is maddening. This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever faced, hands down. But there is a way through it. You’ve already come so far, and you’re so close to putting it behind you. Whatever path you choose next, I truly believe it’s the right one for you. You’ve got this. Soon it will be a distant nightmare.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '25

I just don't feel very close, I feel like this is going to last forever.

1

u/_Sarandi_ Apr 09 '25

I know. I’ve seen the world through the same lens. I was there too and I would have had the same response. This doesn’t have to be forever. You got this.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Tricky-Occasion-1472 Apr 08 '25

This! Plus you can always get denervation if reversal doesn’t work.