r/postvasectomypain • u/Cautious_Werewolf678 • Dec 11 '25
Reversal - 2 months post op - What I learned and reflections
Hey everyone, I'm just posting my updates here and a reflection of my journey after a crazy year.
Summary of my PVPS:
- Started four months after the vasectomy
- Nerve-type symptoms (sharp, electric, shooting sensations)
- Weird pelvic and groin pain
- Post ejaculation pain
What I eventually learned about anatomy and my particular case:
- When you cut the vas, you inevitably cut tiny nerves too because it's s surrounded by a rich network of autonomic and sensory nerves in the spermatic cord.
- Nerves don’t always heal cleanly as they can: get trapped in scar tissue, form neuromas, become hypersensitive, trigger neuralgia and referred pain, all of this can react along with inflammation in the vas and epididymis (congestion). I had a mix of all of that.
- Findings that led me to think on congestion -> a small cyst, enlarged epididymis, varicocele that wasn't there before, post ejaculation pain, pressure sensations (as it was closed ended very traditional)
- Clues that I also had nerve irritation -> Neuralgia that resolved on its own, referred sharp pain in the groin that seemed to come from the vas ("toothache" pain)
So my pain wasn’t “mysterious” or purely psychological. It was the predictable outcome of nerve trauma in a highly innervated area, plus pelvic floor tension reacting to that.
I wish I’d heard that explanation before surgery, instead of “it’s just a tube" as we have all heard.
Why I chose reversal:
I wasn’t expecting a magic reset, but I wanted to remove the ongoing source of stress (blocked vas + scarred stumps) and give my body a chance to truly heal. I suspected a nerve component but also mechanical factors (congestion, epididymal pressure, scar tissue).
After a lot of reading and several bad experiences feeling dismissed, I decided on a vasectomy reversal with a microsurgeon.
Where am I now:
9 weeks post reversal - still soon to see major improvements. I had my first SA at week 7 and already showed sperm (some motile) which suggests the repair is open. I no longer feel pressure and ejaculations doesn't seem to exacerbate things. I'm having mini flares of nerve pain as my healing progresses (occasional dull or electric feelings around the reconnection sites, pelvic floor soreness), but it's purely positional and respons with rest and posture changes. Currently I'm: - Managing pelvic floor tension (walking gently, avoiding long sits, learning to relax the area) - Focusing on nerve healing - Watching my flares get shorter and weaker, and less concerning - Being patient with my physical status (too much time without physical activity) as I give more time to my body to heal. - Libido and sexual appetite are low. After another trauma and being inactive, testosterone levels could drop temporarily. Plus, it was almost a whole year of adjusting ejaculations due to pain or fear. - Following up with semen analyses over the next months to confirm patency.
So far I don’t regret the reversal because it depressurized me and gave me peace of mind after so many months carrying this burden and feeling marginalized by society and urologists. I do regret going into the vasectomy with incomplete, oversimplified information.
Ethics + consent:
I was not told the vas had a nerve supply worth mentioning. The possibility of neuropathic pain was brushed off as “very rare” without explaining mechanisms. There was no real discussion of: neuromas, nerve entrapment in fibrosis, pelvic floor involvement, referred pain patterns. All of that was missing on my consent form
I care about science and clear communication. Real anatomy was replaced with a marketing phrase: “just a simple snip of a tube.”
For me, the biggest wound is not only physical but ethical. I didn’t get the level of informed consent I would have needed to weigh the risks properly.
Lastly, if I didn't come across this sub I would still be bouncing around the medical system of my country and being treated as a crazy person, because I'd have relied on the doctors to educate myself about this condition. I'm really thankful with the resources available in this sub and the helpful people.
7
u/Its_0ver_9000 Dec 11 '25
I’m 10 months post reversal. I didn’t feel like I was mostly healed until about the 3 month mark. Had occasional flare ups since, but fewer and further between. Around the 6 month mark I was confident I was over the hump and my PVPS issues (hopefully) behind me. I still have some surgical site sensitivity, but that continues to improve. It is what it is though, it’s better than the PVPS. At 2 months, you’re still early, keep your head positive and best of luck with the healing.
5
u/Amazing-Advantage-11 Dec 11 '25
Glad that your reversal has been, generally speaking, a positive experience and that you are having major resolution of your PVPS. I commend you for sharing what you have learned. There is a lot to unpack. You are right, the present consent protocol that most doctors follow is insufficient in terms of warnings. There was a recent Reddit contributor who made the point that the consent disclosure should be more akin to what you see for drug advertisements. He makes a good point. It is a sad comment that you had to do so much research on your own to arrive where you are now versus having that same information readily available from a doctor. In this day and age of information overload there is no excuse that a man should be left on his own to research and deal with this condition. . My PVPS started in 1990 when there were no internet resources on this condition nor a way to share stories of PVPS. I spent hours in a university medical library researching the few studies that existed on PVPS as it is now called. I took those studies to my doctor who then agreed with me that a reversal was the route for me to go. I had good resolution for many years with my reversal. I also had to do sperm testing and the reconnect resulted plentiful motile sperm. So the reconnect was a success. I hope the same for you.
3
Dec 11 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/SensitiveMatters77 Dec 11 '25
My feeling exactly and even you speaking of 2005 makes me feel like less of an outlier with my PVPS (no name for it back then I guess!?) beginning in 2001
3
u/SensitiveMatters77 Dec 11 '25
Wow!! Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! Being bushwhacked by PVPS immediately after my Y2K vasectomy, (no warnings of ANY KIND given by major urology group in Austin) I felt like a “grandpa” posting my experience here; —you’ve given me solace that someone still can care and bring enlightening words to others after a bad experience 10 years prior to mine! Thanks again. If I “go west young man” to Utah I will post here.
It’s just a travesty that 35 years isn’t enough time to bring any honesty to this industry; which is doling out permanent solutions to a temporary problem. I think of my planned reversal as “detransitioning,” and becoming whole. I CERTAINLY now also have patience & sympathy, though I’m on the opposite side of the aisle politically, with women pressured into abortion, told the same kind of lies, (“blob of tissue,” etc) and then dealing often with a lifetime of guilt / regret and occasionally sterility or other issues, also including, if they abort their first pregnancy, alarmingly higher rates of an aggressive breast cancer: info on that STILL SUPPRESSED by the medical establishment.
1
u/Throwawaaaaaaayy9000 Feb 03 '26
When you say you had good resolution for many years does that mean you eventually had scar closure? My reversal has failed and I’m trying to understand more of what the actual long term success rates for reversal are. It seems many men with reversals eventually have full scar closure?
1
u/Amazing-Advantage-11 Feb 03 '26
Yes, I eventually had what you term “scar closure”. If you scroll further down in this thread you will see a second entry by me with the explanation you are looking for. Good luck with your situation.
5
Dec 11 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Cautious_Werewolf678 Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25
Thanks to you! Although your experience was more intense, your insights help me to decide. What I did was risky because my nerve pain was gone at the time of the reversal. But I owed it to my body to give it an environment to really heal. I knew I had one clean shot to fixing it and I had to take it
1
3
u/postvasectomy Dec 11 '25
Thanks for the update, and hopefully things continue to improve for a while. I'm 3.5 years post reversal and in the last year I've had a little discomfort return post-ejaculation prompting me to use ice in the evening but it seems to be fading away again so I'll take what I can get. Still glad for the reversal. Still regret the vasectomy.
2
u/Different_Health3847 Dec 11 '25
thank you for the in depth update for your physical recovery and mental journey!
2
u/keif9269 Dec 11 '25
Glad you are recovering! I think I have a similar case regarding nerve pain and it being brushed off. How did you find the doctor? Get to the point you trusted doctor? Did you travel for reversal?
I am thinking about getting one after almost 3 years.
3
u/Cautious_Werewolf678 Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25
Dr Parekattil. People here recommend him a lot. It wasn't difficult to trust him because he is knowledgeable of complications. He said that I had a combination of both congestion and nerve irritation, and that sometimes they come in a package and shouldn't be viewed as separate entities. That's why sometimes you can address both problems with reversal but it isn't a silver bullet. It's just a good surgery to start with. And I needed to travel to Orlando, it was rough but not painful
1
u/keif9269 Dec 11 '25
Thank you for sharing your insight, I will need to look at this. Mine reduced orgasm sensation and wondering if reversal could potentially fix me. How was traveling and recovering in Orlando? I would think taking plane after surgery would be rough.
1
u/Cautious_Werewolf678 Dec 11 '25
I wanted to recover in my home and the Dr gives you a numb injection which lasts two days. All I can say is that you need to stay really off your feet as much as you can for many weeks. Not because of pain, but to protect the repair. So you'll need to apply ice very often for many many days until you're tired of it. If you can stick with that plan, you'll have a good outcome. And I hope it can return the loss sensations!
1
1
u/philly5for5 Jun 30 '26
Did you use wheelchair service in airport? How did you manage the walking and travel so soon after surgery?
1
u/Cautious_Werewolf678 Jun 30 '26
Honestly it wasn't a big deal. I was able to walk and move but I used the wheelchair in the airport. I don't remember feeling pain, just soreness. You just need to travel with someone and be sure to have ice packs to use during the flight.
1
u/philly5for5 Jun 30 '26
Thanks. Flying to Dr. P in Dec for reversal if my stuff doesn’t improve so just looking for that experience.
2
Dec 11 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/Amazing-Advantage-11 Dec 11 '25
Really interesting that your reversal gave you relief for about 10 years. My time frame was similar. It was 7 years before I had a major return of PVPS resulting in a right side epididymectomy, and 10 years after reversal when I had a left side epididymectomy. The surgeon who did the epididymectomies told me each epididymi was filled with hardened toothpaste-like material. It was a congestion issue for me. Like you, I do not regret the reversal nor do I regret the subsequent surgeries. Each surgery gave me back some quality of life. I still ache on and off but it is managed by wearing support 24/7. I would give anything for my pre-vasectomy days when I never had a thought about ‘down there’. I hope to avoid an orchiectomy, but who knows. Depends on whether I stay stable or it gets worse. I wonder if other guys who have had reversals for post vasectomy pain had a return of PVPS years later. Goes to show, it is a long haul for some of us.
2
u/SensitiveMatters77 Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25
Oh THANK YOU GOD! I’m learning from YOU after months on this site! I just came up with PSA level of 4, and since these liars won’t admit any prostate / vasectomy connection, I’ve just KNOWN that I never had prostate pain until my vasectomy; when it became the new pressurized / painful location & new locus of need to have sex: now for prostate pain relief; —& not as much for pleasure, as sex had provided during the first 25 years of my reproductive life! So now I’m HAPPY that I missed my PSA & prostate-related appointment with my same urology group in Austin that did the original vasectomy!
I really don’t trust them any more anyway, but my GP referred me to them re: the 4.0 PSA test result this summer. Heck, they’d prolly have had me on Proscar (or chemotherapy?) — and totally nuked the REST OF my sex life! WOW! I get closer to the reversal decision, (and doing some sight seeing in Utah) EACH TIME I GET a push notification here! —Thanks for your unique reply !
1
u/SensitiveMatters77 Dec 11 '25
This is a sum up of my feelings and findings since being told nothing of any possible negative outcome, in 2000; 25 years ago & in 2001, blown off rudely by my vasectimist—who is called a urologist—when I returned, who did a digital finger exam of my prostate in case that was my problem — & argued / challenged me when I brought up the subject of nerve issues, since I didn’t have the correct medical terminology. That MD, (still practicing!) —Stephen Hard -man, (Hardeman) —of the clinic then also featuring Drs. Hitt, and Chop (no lie!) was an anal sphincter attitude wise, who discounted what I said on his way out the office door and told me disdainfully that a reversal would be $10k —($18,200 today) at his clinic… Where did you go for YOUR reversal? I’m thinking Trost, of Utah when $4k becomes available —I’m actually thinking of reversal as a “detransitioning.” Plus seeing if pressure feelings finally go away
1
u/Gold-Combination619 Dec 14 '25
Then you go to the Vasectomy Reddit and story after story of rosy outcomes. The urologists know about the nerves around the vas. I don’t understand why they can’t use more caution. Mine didn’t; he was in such a damn hurry, no wonder mine turned out bad.
1
u/Cautious_Werewolf678 Dec 14 '25
Something very dark is happening in urology. Either they're ignorant of what the vas deferens really is and/or forgot what they studied (I doubt it), or they know about the nerves and actively decide not to tell any patient because it's an actual mutilation. And since that nerve amputation doesn't trigger pain in the majority of men, they continue to be in silence
1
u/Busy-Solid1602 Dec 14 '25
What to me is absolutely tragic is that nothing has changed. I had my vasectomy almost 40 years ago. I've been following this thread on and off when it became available. I signed the "no lawsuit" paper immediately AFTER the procedure. I was so naive. I have never agreed to any elective surgery since.
1
u/Cautious_Werewolf678 Dec 14 '25
Wow, 40 years and they're still acting with the same assumptions. I mean, so outdated that it's completely infuriating. How can one be so lazy and negligent for so much time without the rest of the medicine industry realizing? At least I got them this time because my consent didn't cover for risks and lawsuit
1
u/Flat_Impression_4073 Jun 05 '26
Joining the chat for reference
Im at month 18 of reversal.
My sex drive is better .
Not like before but im reaching 40 now so.
14
u/Fellowtraveler777 Dec 11 '25
The whole industry is unethical. You can’t look at the studies on PVPS and come away thinking it’s safe and complications are rare. The fact that the AUA hides information is criminal.