vasectomy concerns ...is it as good as pill etc.... - Birth Control Message Board

elsiebear1 · 12-04-2008, 02:42 PM

My husband has recently had a vasectomy ,he's had his 'all clear' letter.and my plan is to come of the pill at xmas (I’ve been on it 18 years) I am getting extremely concerned that were doing the right thing. Everything I’ve read on the net tells endless horrific stories of vasectomy failing, hardly any good stories. Although all of my family and friends have had vasectomy’s, some for over 35 years with no pregnancy’s. Pregnancy for me is an absolute NO .I can’t even think about it. Never for one second do I want children. I am so upset and stressed that it will fail us some where down the line.I feel so powerless giving up the pill and trusting my husbands tubes to not rejoin.But I want to stop the pill at this time in my life. So my questions are ….

1.How safe compared to 18 years of perfect pill taking will the vasectomy be …am I foolish to simply trust it.

2.How long does it take for the tubes to rejoin e.g if a sperm test was clear one week how long from that week would it be before sperm could get through again? 1 month, 3 months a year ?????

3.Is there a yearly test service we could get the seman tested regualy ?

All I want is some reassurance that I being responcible enough ,I don’t want to do this only to be reducing my protection of pregnancy I take this VERY seriously indeed.

Please help in any way you can

janewhite1 · 12-05-2008, 06:57 AM

Almost all pregnancies after vasectomy are the result of people failing to wait until the no-sperm all clear. While men have occasionally been known to heal, it's extremely extremely rare. Sure, people talk about those one-in-ten-thousand cases, but it's precisely because they are so unusual. If you are really paranoid, you could get him checked periodically.

In general, vasectomy is 99.85% effective, and is generally considered both permanent and foolproof, if anything more effective than female hormonal methods, even hormonal methods used perfectly.

I can't absolutely promise you it won't happen, but if it does, buy a lottery ticket to get the kid a trust fund.

timetoreclaim · 12-05-2008, 11:14 PM

The thing is most of the things we will hear on the net are people seeking help or people spreading the word of things gone wrong. We aren't hearing the NUMEROUS stories of success because frankly there's nothing out of the norm there and people are just living.

I am married 20 years. I had a child in 89, 91, and 92 so you can see I was VERY fertile. My hubby had the V done, was given the all clear and we resumed a normal and IMO much better because of no worries of pregnancy sex life. My youngest son is now 16 and it has been awesome. Chances of it failing are slim.

If it makes you feel better go with hubby and talk with the Doc and ask him what the chances exactly are of it failing. Did he take a section of the tube out? How was the procedure done? Ask and see it isn't a simple matter of those tubes just growing back together. The tube is normally cut and both ends sealed.