Varicocele

[livingwith]

Most everything I have read about varicoceles is related to infertility. I am one of the ones that was lucky enough to be fertile but experienced extreme pain. By the afternoon and into the evening I would feel like someone was crushing my left testicle. I am a healthy 35 year old who has had two kids and had never had a single health problem in my life.
Six months ago I started having constant pain in my testicles, which continued to get worse. For about five years I would have occassional ...Read the full article

[KL9]

I hope I can be like you, I recieved my varicocele at the end of July either from a long masturbation session or a injury as my dog stomped on the back of my testicle, probably both things contributed to it

Anyway I know I had a very high testosterone before this based on my facial hair and based on how I felt as far as libido, I literaly woke up the next morning and I had no libido and wondered what the hell was wrong with me, I took a blood test and they said I had a ""Normal" level of 414, but like I said based on how I felt before this I just know my level was around 1,000 or even higher

And also like you I notice my right testicle is getting smaller, only this is something I began to notice in the last month or so

And my pain was really bad at the beginning but since I have been wearing briefs and it is getting better

I am seeing a Varicocele specialist on tuesday and really hoping my testosterone is somehow restored, that is the thing that bothers me more then anything, before this I think I was really coming into my own as far as women goes, and now I feel absoltuely nothing and it is such a nightmare, I dont understand how I can live like this unless I get my old testosterone back

[Jeepin]

Some people think that a varicocele will lower your testosterone while others don't think it does anything to it. After mine developed I had my testosterone checked and it was just a little over 400 like yours and I felt horrible. This is supposedly an acceptable level for some people but it wasn't for me. I never had mine retested after surgery but all of the symptoms of low testosterone went away within a week or so of surgery. It has been nine weeks since my surgery and all is well. My energy level and libido are back to what they were before I started having problems with the varicocele.

Good luck.

[KL9]

How long did you have your varicocele before you decided to have surgery, do you have any other symptoms after the surgery such as pain, or maybe sexual side effects, I have read some things where there might be some side effects like delayed ejaculation or things like that

[shadowguyver]

I have not gotten as far as to speak with a urologist yet. Last night I went to the emergency room complaining of constant pain in my left testicle and they did an ultrasound which found a varicocele and 2 hydroceles. I have a meeting with a urologist on Friday and will find out if surgery is needed. The pain is not unbearable but it is annoying and is now making work hard for me. Also as for infertility I have no idea whether I am or not and I dont seem to have low testosterone levels, I have been losing interest in doing things and have been more tired lately. I will post after I find out if I need surgery.

[Chad]

Thanks for sharing your story. I had the surgery two days ago and am recovering at home. As the doctor said in describing the surgery to me a few weeks ago, there's virtually no pain or discomfort at the surgery site and, having had a general anesthetic, the actual surgery was easy for me. The greatest problems were anxiety just before surgery, waiting for sensation to return to my legs (as the anesthetic wore off), having to shave where I'd rather not shave and having to be hospitalized two nights (since I live in Japan where even minor operations require hospitalization). When I first heard last November of my condition and the possibility of surgery I quickly told the doctor, "NO WAY, I will NOT have surgery" but later, in prayer and conversation with my wife, decided to give it a try, and am glad I did. I realize artificial insemination might still be necessary for us but will be thrilled if this surgery helps lead to natural pregnancy twice.

[Jeepin]

It has been a little over six months since I had my surgery and five months, since I made my original post. Everything continued to heal nicely and I have never felt better. I stil have just a slight bit of numbness on the left side of my incision but it has almost completely gone away. At six months the 3 inch scar is still very visible, so I am constantly reminded that I had the surgery and how bad I felt before hand.

I now always wear tighter underwear because when I wear loose ones, I can fill a slight bit of an ache after standing for a while and I definitely don't want to go back to how I felt before surgery. My son and I were recently wrestling around and he accidentally kicked me in the wrong spot, which sent some intense pain my way since my testicles seem much more sensitive now than before surgery. I have seen that some guys develop a varicocele after a hard hit, so I am hoping this kick doesn't create a problem since that little bit of an ache that I could feel before is felt more now. I am a little worried that I had a couple of bad veins left after surgery that weren't a problem before that start to become a problem after being kicked. After the kick my left testicle hangs just a slight bit lower than before. If for some reason it would turn into something in the future, I would definitely have the surgery again if possible. For me the surgery was nothing compared to how bad I felt.

I had never had anything medically done before this, so I thought I would be extremely anxious before the surgery but I was actually counting down the days and was excited to have it done and never thougth twice about it.

Over all I am basically pain free and all problems associated with low testosterone have gone away. My testicles went back to their normal size and life has been good. Hopefully it stays that way.