Got a Vasectomy?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>So what’s up, guys?
Why are all these women taking birth control medication for years, with the resulting cost and side effects, when you could have just gotten snipped?</p>

<p>My H got snipped & he isn’t particularly self sacrificing.
It didn’t seem to me that big of deal.
But its not just among the male partners of women on CC who aren’t getting snipped, the husbands of my friends who are finished having children, also prefer their wives to handle the birth control.
:-/ </p>

<p>Don’t tell me you think theres some young, hot trophy wife in your future who wants to start a family. :)) </p>

2

<p>It wasn’t that big of a deal to take the bcp either. It had positive side effects, if anything - lighter periods, fewer cravings, better skin … Why hurry off it? I don’t get the sense of having to say “it’s your turn, now, honey” when it was just so not a big deal to take care of it myself. </p>

3

<p>I was using a diaphragm and we were blessed with D3; was a great incentive for my H. Is it men choosing not to do it or women not informing them that it’s safer than the female alternatives. My H would never have investigated options on his own.</p>

4

<p>I agree with PG. No big deal to deal with BC myself.</p>

5

<p>We ladies have a similar surgical option… :slight_smile: I’m with Pizzagirl on this one. The only bad side effect for me personally is the weight gain, but it motivates me to be more proactive and mindful of what I eat and do. </p>

6

<p>I knew I was going to have a C-section with D2, so I decided to have my tubes tied at the same time. </p>

7

<p>It’s not a big deal but many of us were taking bcp for 20+ years and conventional wisdom where I come from was that you should stop taking them after the age of 40.</p>

8

<p>H had agreed to a vasectomy after our planned 2nd child. It’s worked for us but H has had occasional PVPS. And, honestly, sometimes I wished I’d stayed on BC pills because they did a great job of regulating my cycle and controlling bloat. But, with the vasectomy I just never had the urgent need to go back on the pills.</p>

9

<p>I had my tubes tied too and I still continued taking bcp for years. The benefits were numerous - lower risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer, better skin, lighter periods … there was no reason not to. I never even bothered to bring up the topic with H to try to suggest that it was “his turn”; it was taken care of. It wasn’t some awful burden that needed to be shifted in the other direction. </p>

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<p>My ob-gyn told us it was better, health wise, to have my tubes tied than to have H get a vasectomy.</p>

11

<p>

Are there no positives? I consider one great and glorious positive is you can choose not to have a period! Talk about a win!</p>

<p>I never looked so hard into women getting birth control and men not. It’s not such a big deal. :-/ </p>

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<p>If you are already being operated on for something then I can understand having your tubes tied at the same time but having an operation solely to have your tubes tied is major surgery with all the potential issues of general anesthesia and having a vasectomy is done on outpatient basis with a local anesthetic. </p>

13

<p>Oh it wasn’t even remotely “major surgery.” It was outpatient, done in the morning, home a few hours later. Rested at home the day after, perfectly fine the day after that, went skiing a week later. </p>

14

<p>We have 2 daughters and wanted a boy buy I had a vasectomy after my wife had 2 miscarriages and my wife can’t get back to pills because of side effect. I had PVPS (Post Vasectomy Pain Syndrome) for months after my vasectomy. Even now, I still have occasional PVPS. PVPS is no joke. I was on vicodin for months.</p>

15

<p>We stopped trying to have kids after our second kid and have three … and we can’t imagine life without ThirdToGo. … however we didn’t want anymore surprises so I got snipped. Before the procedure the doc held a meeting focusing on the procedure being permanent and double checking various scenarios and that I would still OK being snipped. IMO when a male pill has been developed (or something similar) will be when couples can approach birth control as equals.</p>

16

<p>So I guess taking hormones indefinitely, is just a way to improve on mother nature?
I get it.
Better living through science.
B-)
Except for the cervical cancer risk, et.al.</p>

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<p>^^^Are you judging women who take BCP? Is it the purpose of this thread? Because your H got snipped, are you saying that’s the only way to go?</p>

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<p>My thoughts lie with oldfort, ek. </p>

<p>Birth control is a PERSONAL choice. The woman next to you can choose to not have her period., the woman on the other side of you can choose to not take birth control, the woman across from you can choose to get her tubes tied, just how the woman next to her had her husband get a vasectomy. </p>

<p>To suggest a vasectomy in replacement of birth control, shuts out all the positives from birth control that may have been the reason a woman even started on it! Birth control isn’t just for birth control. </p>

<p>But you’re definitely right, ek. Why take hormones indefinitely when in the end I could just have my tubes tied! Problem solved! ;:wink: </p>

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<p>EK…I don’t think any woman would take BC pills “indefinitely”. </p>

<p>Every form of birth control has some kind of " risk ". See the post above from the dad…and his experience. </p>

<p>The notion that a vasectomy is for every family is about as absurd as thinking that BC pills are for everyone, or a tubal, or abstinence.</p>

20

<p>This thread was to hear from the men.
As I mentioned in my initial post, many men that I know in real life, choose to have their female partner manage the contraception.
I was curious to hear if men on CC had a different take.</p>

<p>There are several young women in my family who have severe health problems related to birth control pills, and so I was also interested to hear if that was unusual.</p>