Post Vasectomy Pain Forum

Pelvic Pain 10 weeks after Vasectomy - considering seeing Dr. P

Post Vasectomy Pain
#1

Hello all,

I had a vasectomy 10 weeks ago. My symptoms are listed below. I’d be interested in input from any of you guys that have walked this road. I have ongoing pelvic and testicular pain and am considering going ahead to see Dr. Parekattil or Dr. Marks. Dr. P, is there a way to go about a consult before flying out to Florida for an appointment? I live in Houston, TX.

So, here are my two issues:

Testicular Pain

About a week after the vasectomy, the testicular pain set in, particularly on the left side. To this point, I would describe my current testicular condition as follows:

  • Right side is seemingly quite swollen (much larger than the left), but not that painful.
  • Left side is painful to touch in certain spots and sometimes when moving, but pain is not constant.
  • Entire area is seemingly very loose — hurts to jump, etc.

Pelvic Problems & Pain

This has been the more perplexing problem. About 10 days after the vasectomy, I started getting a sharp pain (this doubles me over) in the far right side of my pelvis that would come only upon strong exertion while standing — (coughing, yelling, loud singing, clearing throat, etc.). At about the 3 or 4 week mark, I started having problems starting to urinate and my pelvis would throb and gurgle at night, waking me up. At different times over these 10 weeks, docs have prescribed 3 different antibiotics, NSAIDs, and flomax for the urinary issues. At the 8 week mark, I saw a hernia specialist and had a CT scan. They found no hernia and the CT showed a narrowing in my ureter which my urologist followed with a scope and dilation of the ureter, hoping that help (which I don’t think accomplished anything but a sore abdomen and making me pee blood). My current pelvic condition is:

  • Still having very sharp pain in the pelvis from time to time while standing and exerting, particularly when clearing throat or singing (I’m a singer, so that’s not helpful)
  • Starting urinating still takes a while and I’m urinating frequently at night.
  • Besides the sharp pain (on the right side), the pelvis feels generally throbby throughout (left, right, & center) and weak most of the time, particularly when standing or laying on my back.

If anyone can comment on these symptoms, I’d be grateful. Any docs, what next steps or consultations would you recommend?

Thanks for your help. It’s been a tough 10 weeks.

#2

Re: Pelvic Pain: Im sorry to hear of your symptoms. It is a shame everytime someone winds up here, but I truly believe this is the place where you will find help. I also suffer from chronic post vasectomy pain and much of it includes pain in the entire pelvis area; hips, butt, groin, testicles. My short version is I had vasectomy in 2011, Reversal in 2012, Dr. P’s neurolysis in 2013 and Im still in pain. So tread very careful before you go under the knife. There is physical therepay available for pelvic pain, but it is no picnic. They have to go internal.
I am currently looking into some noninvasive trigger point therapies, I will keep you posted. Until then, keep reading and asking questions.
I wish you all the best
Solomon

#3

@kevinbowles sorry to hear about your post vasectomy pain. You are still in the acute phase post vasectomy. A good percentage of patients can get relief at 3-6-9 months or even 1 year. I would not recommend any surgical intervention at this point. However, its not too early to talk to us. You are welcome to contact myself or Dr. Parekattil anytime through our website or personal emails.

Jamin Brahmbhatt, MD

#4

Thanks for the advice, @solomon.

And thanks for your reply, @urologicmd. I would love to contact you or Dr. Parekattil. What is the best way to contact you through personal emails? Are they listed somewhere? Or would private messages through this site be a good way to go?

Most of my pelvic pain is higher… I would say right around where my belt goes (and some a little lower, though not much). Is that a common post-vasectomy pain? And is pain like that generally nerve related (or something else)? Is there any chance that the narrowing of the ureter that showed up on the CT scan related to any of my symptoms. I’m afraid that it was just a coincidental finding - likely something I’ve always had, probably having nothing to do with my post vasectomy symptoms.

Thank you all so much for your help and for this site!

#5

Sorry to hear this Kevin. I hope you can navigate your way to better health and Dr. P, Dr. B and Dr. Marks who post here are amazing resources that help and do care.
Good Luck.
J

#6

If you havent already you can always contact us through our website: www.mypur.org
or our emails:
jamin@orlandohealth.com
sijo@orlandohealth.com

Thank you!

#7

Thanks so much, @urologicmd! My wife and I were able to skype with Dr. P last week and are considering a trip to your clinic to try a block. It seems like other treatments are likely too early at this point.

Right now, my biggest concern is this pelvic pain. The testicular pain seems to be understandable… and potential treatments (maybe even solutions) seem to be straightforward. I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the pelvic pain though. I feel it frequently throbbing throughout the day now, almost like a muscle problem - when bending, moving, stretching - and other strange times - when peeing, passing gas, etc. And then, in one particular spot, the pain is still very sharp when exerting (i.e. - coughing, yelling, sneezing, or even when I push to urinate or pass gas).

The path forward with the pelvic pain seems much more ambiguous. I’m doing physical therapy now. Dr. P suggested accupuncture and wants to try and inguinal nerve block. I tried a hot tub yesterday, which only seemed to aggravate things. Are there other conservative methods I should be trying?

#8

Was it a closed ended vasectomy?

#9

hi Kevinb , my name is jonathan:
i had vasectomy reversal six weeks ago and i have exactly the same bad experience you had with testicular pain and pelvic pain . my life is not the same. i have been seeing two urologists and no help. i know that you posted your comment two years ago and i really hope you are doing better now. please let me know what happened with you and if you are better help me to the right direction. try to email me : jonathan1209@live.com or contact me on my wife face book account under the name of Tilly Baker, the profile picture of the facebook is picture of an orange. thank you a lot.

#10

Hey Jonathan. Sorry for the delay in responding. I honestly have to avoid this site for the sake of my sanity at times… as it’s just depressing reading about how many guys this damn vasectomy nightmare continues to affect.

Within the first 2 months, I had seen 3 urologists, in addition to the one who did the original surgery. I understand the panic and anxiety this brings.

How are things going for you now? Any improvement in the past couple weeks? My recommendation would be to find a Doc near you (if possible) that understands PVPS and ask him to make some recommendations. After trying a number of minimal things, I finally did a reversal back in May of this year (about 15 months after the vasectomy). This actually made it worse for a while, but after a few months, things have begun to get incrementally better. Not perfect, for sure. My left testical is still more tender than it was before all this and there is still some minor abdominal pain — but I’ve just come to accept it as the new normal. However, things are now better than they were prior to the reversal. As much as it pained my to drop that much money to reverse a surgery that cost hardly anything to begin with… I think it was worth it.

Feel free to ask any questions. I’d be interested to hear what your pelvic pain is like.

I hope all is well and that you and your wife and walking through this together. I am very blessed to have a wife that loved and cared for me as I wrestled through this crap.

Talk to you soon,
Kevin

#11

How far are you after the reversal? How much relief did you get?

#12

Well, it has now been almost 9 months since my reversal with Dr. Lipshultz here in Houston. The surgery itself carries it’s own pains and discomfort, which seems to last for several months. Once the surgical pain started dying down, my PVPS pain (testicular and abdominal pain) was actually seemingly worse for several months (probably months 3 to 7). Over the last month or two, I am finally to the point where I think things are better than prior to the reversal. I feel like things are trending in the right direction. I have ridden my exercise bike several times over the last couple weeks and it doesn’t seem to be aggravating it, which is huge progress.

It took 7 or 8 months before I could say that the reversal was worth it. Many on here had warned of that, but I found it to be true. Other than the lame outcome of having to use a condom again, I am now glad that I did it. I’m not back to my pre-vasectomy self. There is still some pain – but I’ve resigned to living with some discomfort. It’s definitely better than it was, which is terrific!

#13

@kevinb. Kevin! Hope all is well. I vaguely remember you having abdominal pain, belt buckle area. If im mistaken please disregard. Curios to know if reversal had any affect on this. Seems neuro to me. Thanks.

#14

Hey @Choohooo.

Yes, I did have some sharp pain in the inguinal area after my vasectomy, particularly to the right of the belt buckle area. That faded away after about 3 months of seriously sharp pains every time I coughed, cleared my through, or talked loudly. It was replaced by a dull, achey mid-to-upper abdominal pain that has really never gone away. It’s probably the best it’s been, here 9 months after the reversal… but it still bothers me from time to time.

And although I had been in great shape, even doing a lot of core strength stuff prior to the vas… I have gotten way out of shape and haven’t attempted core exercise in while because it seemed to make it even worse. Hopefully I can get my weight back under control and eventually start trying some other stuff. The abdominal pain pretty much made running or anything jarring like that a no go. I’m hopeful that I can try that sort of stuff (just gotta shed the excess fat first so I don’t kill my knees).

Hope that was helpful.

#15

Yes. Very helpful. I’m 99.9% sure my issue is completely nerve related. As exciting as it sounds to “reverse” my problem, I don’t think reversal is MY answer. I’d been following you early on and have been secretly hoping for an update from you. Glad you are feeling better.

#16

Hey man, I hope you see this but any update as far as pain levels go? Hope all is well by the way