Hi Everyone,
First of all, THANK YOU to all the guys who are posting on this topic as I am new to this site. I’ve been reading a lot of your posts and figured I would share my story in the hopes that I can finally get resolution of pain to my problem (don’t we all) and maybe my story will help someone else out.
Here’s my story thus far. Had a vasectomy back in Jan. 2018. I seemed to heal up just fine. Pain was significant, but I rounded a corner on day 8 after the vas. Pain subsided after another couple of weeks. Had no problems whatsoever until Jan. 2021, although in hindsight, problems may have been brewing for several months before (maybe even a year before). I am going to be as detailed as possible because I think a lot of guys explain their story and forget about how the onset of pain started.
So, about 2+ years after my vasectomy, I started feeling this very mild . . . and I mean very mild pain in my butt bones, as if I rode a bicycle for the first time in a while and my butt bones felt a little bruised. Yet, this was happening even though I had not ridden a bicycle in a while. The pain was so mild that I forgot about it for a long time. Fast forward to Jan. 2021 (several months later) and I all of the sudden started getting a strange stiffness in the inside of my thighs after exercising even though I was pushing myself anymore than I normally do. The pain still wasn’t enough to really concern me and I continued to work out like normal.
After a couple of weeks of this, one day, I did my normal routine on my stationary bike, then did some hip stretches. Then, went to take a shower. While I was bathing myself, that is when I realized the shit had hit the fan as I noticed my left testicle was sensitive to handling and was swollen (and a little red).At this time is when I also started having significant groin pain on both sides. I paid a visit to my urologist who diagnosed me with epididymitis in the left testicle, which is still visibly swollen as of this writing (sort of golf ball sized).
That’s when I started wearing the scrotal supports (compression shorts 24/7), taking NSAIDs and warming and / or icing my cojones. It is now about 5 weeks after the onset of testicular swelling with no improvement whatsoever. When I say 5 weeks, I feel like a newborn baby in this new journey that I am on based on what I have read in many threads so far.
I just ordered some papaya seed powder (organic) as I have heard this has helped some guys along with the omega-3’s. I’ll try this for a few weeks and let you know how it goes. I have seen my urologist a couple more times since my original diagnosis. At first he said heat, ibuprofen and scrotal supports were the way to go and that sometimes the epididymitis “burns itself out” and to give it time. The second time I saw him, I brought up the possibility of an epididymectomy and he said that was an option. However, the more I read about that, the more I want to RUN from that as an option. The third and last time I visited my urologist was a week ago and I mentioned to him that I am experiencing groin pain on both sides. At that point, he said he was going to refer me to a guy who was good at doing vas reversals. As a surgical option, this would be my first choice as I like the idea of being put back together inside of having more parts removed.
I have read several posts so far by many of you regarding your vas reversal experiences and it seems quite obvious that the recovery from that could take years for full pain resolution (if it even happens), which scares the crap out of me. I feel like I’m in the first inning of an extra-inning ball game here . . . a long way to go.
So, my questions for anyone reading my post to start off are:
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What were your initial symptoms? Was it just scrotal pain? Did it include testicular swelling? Did it include groin pain? My groin area on both sides is a bit puffed out clearly visible to the naked eye in addition to the left testicular swelling along the back of the testicle (swollen epididymis).
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Do you think after 3 years of being okay that it is more likely that I have congestive epididymitis vs. nerve pain? If congestive, I would lean towards getting a reversal if the supplements don’t do the trick.
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For those of you who have had success with the herbs, etc. did it make your swelling go away?
Thanks for creating this community and I look forward to any feedback. Tell me your story if possible, in particular, how your symptoms first manifested. Maybe, there is a pattern we’re just not seeing just yet. I’ll keep posting about this for what it’s worth.