In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Errol Billinkoff rarely saw a man without kids come into his Winnipeg clinic to get a vasectomy. But since the pandemic began, he says it’s become an almost daily occurrence.
And he’s not alone.
“At first, I thought I was the only one who was noticing this,” Billinkoff, who brought a no-scalpel vasectomy procedure to Winnipeg in the early 1990s, told CBC News in a November interview.
“But I am part of an international chat group where doctors who do vasectomies participate and the topic came up, and it’s like everybody notices it.”
Can anyone here who’s gotten one comment on the vasectomy process? I’ve been pretty nervous seeing a lot of the comments about it. I don’t even do well with a normal blood draw. I feel like I’d need general anesthesia for this.
Fairly fast, fairly simple. I arranged a friend to drive me and I was content the inconvenience fell under what I would ask of a friend. Got a local anaesthetic, the doctor and nurse talked about mundanities the entire time, which was comforting in a way. But I could see “why aren’t you focused right now” being a valid question.
Recovery was pretty speedy, but I knew I was going to be on strong pain killers due to a surgery and timed my procedure for that.
Lasting effects, other than sterility and slight scaring, is that pulling my balls hurts much more than it used to. The ‘suck on the balls’ move in the vids would have me doubled over, they do not want to be tugged any amount, for any reason. For a time I got a periodic sharp pain in my sack that has long since gone.
All in all I’m happy I did it, would do it again. Would probably endure more for the benefits.
As to the article I count in this number. Knew I didn’t want kids before my 18th and starting nagging the gp to establish a pattern. I had life changing injury at 26 due to a dangerous hobby, asked again and was referred then accepted. I don’t want kids because I’m lazy, and I will orphan them young.
Was really nbd. Gave me a local. Felt no pain at the time. Spent the next day in bed with ice on it. A little soreness, cleared up quickly. Way better than a kidneystone, fwiw.
I would hope so considering many people, including women who have given birth, describe kidney stones as the worst pain they’ve ever felt lol.
I needed more medication to numb than he thought–way more. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Otherwise, the process was easy. I had discomfort for longer than he said, but that’s just how my body is. Two years later, I still have some discomfort doing certain things (not common things), but again that’s how my body is. That is how it is for some people, and I am just one of those few unlucky people. I have the ability to sense painful things greater than most and the ability to tolerate that pain more than most. It was still worth it. My wife and I were done having children and now we don’t have to worry about any surprises.
I am squeamish as all hell. Didn’t think I could do it. There’s a consult. They give you a Xanax, I’d recomme r telling them you’re a heavyweight and get a driver, also recommend to pay the extra 100 bucks for the laughing gas.
It’s over fast. There’s minimal pain. I ordered a jock strap and used it to hold ice packs over my underwear. It’s uncomfortable but I just layed up all weekend. Overall what I got out of it is completely worth it.
I’ll answer any questions you have
It was relatively fast and painless. I had someone drive me home, wore athletic protection for a few days, laid off of any sort of rigorous exercise, and its been a really straightforward recovery experience after that. No ragrets.
There was an initial consultation, where the doctor told me that quite a few childless men want to get the procedure reversed later, but you should consider it “not reversible.” Not a problem for me.
On the day I entered a very small room with a reclined chair. The lights were dimmed. The only pain was a brief “pinch” during anesthesia. This was “needleless” anesthesia with some kind of aerosol device, but a needle probably would have been about the same. Needles don’t bother me, so I considered this a gimmick.
It was done a lot faster than I thought. I was chatting with the urologist the entire time. The stitches were in a different part of my scrotum than I imagined they would be (higher up). Initial recovery was fine, but a couple weeks later I did have some post-op pain that was pretty bad. NSAIDS, suprisingly, helped quite a bit. This recurred a few times a year for about five years and then never again. It was not an infection. From what I understand this is a rare side effect, but possible. For a lot of people it’s totally painless, but that was my experience.
Only thing I felt was the shot to numb me before they cut. Some tenderness afterward but all in all I’ve had worse pain stubbing my toe.