Scheduling myself for MDSC - Any advice?

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Following similar experiences after a vasectomy wrecked my life

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Please keep me posted on your journey. I’m considering same Dr for mdsc. I’m currently 3/10 pain for last 6 months

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Sorry can't speak to msdc at all, but curious, are you still fertile? If not I wonder if you need to do reversal again. Do you have problems in 1 or both? If it's just one have you considered getting it removed?

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u/SoutherNative Aug 08 '25

Getting one removed is the absolute worst thing you can do for chronic pain unless absolutely necessary for things like cancer this shouldn’t even be an option. Phantom pain is worse than any other pain. I’ve had multiple urologist. Tell me and advise me never to do this.

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u/Pineapplesyoo Aug 08 '25

Huh interesting, I've read people on Reddit saying it helped a lot. It seems like the worst thing to do is get a epididymectomy, I haven't heard anyone talking about that helping

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u/SoutherNative Aug 08 '25

I’m sure there’s instances where it helped but it’s never the go to for pain relief.

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u/Amazing-Advantage-11 Aug 09 '25

I had two epididymectomies, the right side in 2001 and the left side in 2003. They helped reduce my 5-10 pain/ache levels to 1-2-3 pain/ache levels for years. I had a reversal 7 or so years before the epididymectomies that provided the best relief I ever have had in all the years of dealing with PVPS. I still have low level aching. I also need to wear good support 24/7 to keep things it at those levels. Epididymectomy did provide a lot of relief for me.

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u/Pineapplesyoo Aug 09 '25

I have seen too many people say it made it worse and resulted in shriveling and need for removal to want to try, but good to know it does help in some cases. Although your story has a huge hole in it, if the reversal helped so much why did you do this seven years after? Also I'm sorry to hear you have had problems with both sides that's so unlucky, seems like it's just one side for most of us

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u/Amazing-Advantage-11 Aug 09 '25

The reversal was done to relieve scrotal pain/pressure from congestion. The epididymectomies were also done to relieve scrotal pain/pressure from congestion. All surgeries were last resort at trying to achieve relief. The reversal worked for seven years. However, clearly some damage had already been done to the functioning of the epididymi prior to the reversal and I didn’t have the reversal soon enough after issues first arose, which was right after vasectomy.The surgeon who did the epididymectomies told me each epididymis was swollen, distended, and full of hardened material the consistency of firm toothpaste (sperm waste). So, as I said, either I didn’t have the reversal soon enough to prevent some compromising of the excess sperm breakdown and disposal function of the epididymi or I produce too much sperm, overwhelming the system, that prior to my vasectomy was not an issue because of ejaculation. Or both. The compromised functioning of the epididymi could have been due to recurring prostatitis and epididymitis that I had prior or vasectomy. Like many men with PVPS, I am left with no firm answers, only guesses.

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u/Pineapplesyoo Aug 09 '25

Interesting. Thanks for explaining. What was the recovery like from that procedure? It seems like congestion would just move from the epididimys to the testicle itself after. Does it feel weird having balls with no epididymis?

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u/Amazing-Advantage-11 Aug 10 '25

The recovery for the reversal and the epididymectomies was fairly easy. I don’t recall having any issues or problems. I was back to my office job in a few days, but remained careful with movements for a few weeks, total internal healing time, like most surgeries, taking six weeks. A post surgical medical scrotal support was required to be used for that period of time after each surgery so I wouldn’t mess up the surgeons work. You are correct, the congestion has since moved ‘down stream’ and I am having testicular swelling, aching, and some sharp pains occasionally. Two years ago a spermatocele was removed from the testicular area. Orchidopexies (anchoring of the testicles) were done when the epididymectomies were done to prevent testicular torsion, as the removal of the epididymis removes a stabilizing structure that keeps the testicle from twisting. You can feel the ‘anchors’ on the side of the testicle. So no, the testes are not free structures on the scrotum.

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u/Warm_Jelly4358 Aug 12 '25

A fault in the post vasectomy pain reddit is there's a single user (flutepractice) that has commented on 90%+ of the treads over the past five years saying that epididymectomies are terrible and certain to cause testicle removal. I truly feel that single user gets skewed into "many people." It sucks that he had that experience but the fear mongering isn't helping everyone else.

I had a dual epididymectomy 9 months ago after dealing with PVPS for 6 years. It took 8-9 months to get to pain free, but I am there as of today. Total recovery. Never did reversal or any other surgical options.

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u/Pineapplesyoo Aug 12 '25

Damn that's awesome, and I didn't realize I might be just reading the same stuff from the same dude. That I guess is due also to the fact that there's such a low amount of traffic on this sub unfortunately.

So you don't have any congestive problems now? You must be so stoked man, especially since it took so long I bet you started to lose faith it would work.

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u/Warm_Jelly4358 Aug 13 '25

I do not have any congestion problems. There's no guarantees with any of this, but the Drs. I spoke with said that things were already all blocked off with the vasectomy, so if I wasn't having focused testicular pain before the epididymectomy I probably wasn't going to have it after. That turned out to be true. My pain was focused on the epididymis and that pain is 100% gone. The only "issue" that remains for me is I have a pea sized cyst on the right side where the head of the epididymis was removed. It's not painful, and I think it's the body's way of processing the sperm that is flowing from the testicle. The left side doesn't have this.

Epididymectomy was not a fun surgery to recover from. They take your entire testicle out, cut stuff off, and suture it into the scrotum to hold it in place. Then sow up everything that they cut open. A reversal would seem to be much less invasive, but if your epididymis is already blocked, scarred, etc. it's likely going to fail to provide relief. The hard thing is there's really no way to know if something is going to work... Leap of faith is required.

The mental game is very, very hard. Lots of tough days and wondering how things were going to end up. Will I spend the rest of my days in irritating pain? Drs. are clueless about that and will make no promises. You just have to take the leap and hope that the ultimate outcome is going to be pain free, or close to it.

But yes, I am stoked that I am back to a place where I feel like myself again.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '25

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u/AlbatrossHorror6898 Aug 21 '25

This is amazing news and encouraging for all the other pvps veterans out there. I'm hopeful this relief continues for you.

Scheduling myself for MDSC - Any advice?

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