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Vasectomy & Athletic Performance
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So, I've now got three kids. My wife and I definitely don't want to have any more. So it seems like the easiest and most risk free proposition is for me to get "snipped." I realize there's some recovery involved, so I would probably do it after an Ironman, when I'm off my feet for a while anyway. But I'm a bit concerned with how it might potentially affect overall athletic performance. There doesn't seem to be anything conclusive, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There's some stuff out there indicating a reduction in testosterone levels, but then I read something else saying that's for one method but not another.

Anyway, if there's any links or folks who know of research, I'd be much obliged. Given that I support my family by racing, I don't want to jeopardize that in the name of sterility. Thanks.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I'm racing better than ever since having mine a few years ago, but that could also be because I lost weight and started training more..... :)

I was on my bike in less than a week after, others take longer sometimes.

The procedure itself is no big deal, although kind of strange seeing a puff of smoke rise up from your nutz....

Get the fake note from the Dr to show the wife, stating that you have to have sex 3 times per day for a month to clear the tubes..... ;)
Last edited by: gibson00: Jan 5, 14 14:26
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Make sure you schedule in advance, there is a 2-3 week wait for appointments (at my clinic in CA) and a mandatory 3 or 5 day waiting period from initial consult. I planned to go post ironman and wound up getting it done in pre-oceanside build period.

I was almost 2 weeks off the bike, 7 days running and swimming, I probably could have started biking a few days earlier but when the buoy hit the area on a turn and it hurt I took a few more days.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I had a vascetomy years ago, abou the time I got into tri.

I am a shit triathlete.

I'm not sure there is any correlation. If you had your balls removed, might be a different story. As the vas dephryn (sp) only gets cut, and everything else is left intact, to function as normal, I don't really see how it could affect sporting performance (after the healing takes place of course)

For me, it was mainly a case of 'thinking' about it too much. I psyched myself out of lots of things for a long time, then eventually got over it and now I don't think about it at all.

I think I'd be crap at triathlon regardless of whether I had the snip or not.

TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Vasectomy will not hurt your athletic performance. 4 kids will.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Yep, twins, almost a month in. Was wondering when this question would surface. Hang in there man, haha!
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Took 4 days off from training... on 5th day ran easy. 6th day swim and run (10 mi - with fast intervals)... On the 7th day back on the saddle.

No issue at all, athletic speaking (I'm getting faster as I age at least on the bike)... as for the plumbing the day after the surgery well everything worked fine! ;) There was a small amount of blood, but I guess it's was just normal.

Operation took 10 mins, just drop the pants to the ankles lay down. Was speaking to the nurse and the doctor did it stuff first thing a knew it was over! After the surgery stay laying on the next room watching sports for 15 mins and then I was gone!
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Mdfletcher] [ In reply to ]
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Piece of cake. 40' from the time I entered the lobby to the time I left.

Other than a relatively painless shot of novocaine to the base of the pecker (or somewhere near there), no meds of any kind, pre or post procedure. The worse part of the procedure were the five seconds (literally) it took Nurse Ratchet to shave my balls, sans shaving cream, despite the fact that during my consult the Doc said, "You don't need to shave your scrotum (medical term) because you're relatively hairless."

In order to spare you from a potential ordeal - here's a transcript of what went down:

Nurse walks into the room starts rummaging through surgical implements ...

Me: Good morning.
Nurse: Did you shave your scrotum?
Me: (pause ... ) Uhm. Well. Uh. Not really. Doc said that since I was relatively hairless down there, that I didn't need to shave ... them.
Nurse: Let me see.
Me: (pause ... )(slowly raise the gown to reveal my cold, shriveled nut sack and unit, which was turtled due to the involuntary flight or fight response - flight, to be specific)
Nurse: Pffiiiitt. (proceeds to grab my drastically shrank up unit in the fist of one hand and a razor in the fist of the other - eyes fixed right on the beans)
Me: Wait! What about the shaving cream?! That's sensitive skin. You can't just shave there without some kind of lube.
Nurse: If you want lube, you need to shave your own scrotum.

Five seconds later the few hairs that were there were gone. Do yourself a favor and shine the boys yourself before V-day.

Left the Docs feeling fine physically, but slightly violated due my interaction with Nurse Ratchet, and drove straight to work. Did what Doc said, and sat on my butt for most of the rest of the day (with a bag of frozen peas on my sack), although I was on the deck coaching swimmers and walking - just not as much as usual.

Woke up the next day to a pretty big bruise and slightly swollen cods, but zero pain unless I accidentally hit/squeezed the area, such as being head-butted in the nutz by my daughter (not a malicious thing - she was just at that height), or crossing my legs (due to the lack of testicular pain when they're just hanging there, you forget that squeezing them will hurt). No lifting or straining the day after, either.

I rode my mtb on a rocky trail, four days after surgery because Doc said I could. Again - slight discomfort if I compressed my nads, but nothing, otherwise.

Based on my experience, I'd say you're good-to-go in four days and good-as-new in seven days - provided you take it mellow immediately following the procedure and the day after.

Jimmy
http://www.Riccitello.com
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Prematurely replied to mdfletcher instead of you.

Hate when that happens.

Jimmy
http://www.Riccitello.com
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I don't know about testosterone levels, but one common side effect of a vasectomy is that it can take a long time to urinate, even in ideal conditions. I don't know how much of a problem this would be for competitive Ironman, where you need to do things on the move, but it is worth thinking about as it might be hard to go on the bike.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Vasectomy leads to fewer kids = faster.

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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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You'll be fine and back at again in no time. If you cant find any studies on it, I'm sure theres no reason for concern. Talk to your Dr. Obviously most of us aren't Dr.s but intuitively, why would it impact anything? You'll be in and out in less than 90 minutes, and in 2-3 weeks you wont even remember it happened! Good luck and congratulations on your family! 3 is a great number!!



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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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For me 6 days of recovery, just follow doctor's orders and ice. Does not affect testosterone production. Probably the worst was the hair growing back also wear compression shorts for at least 2 weeks. , IMO.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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A 2008 NYTimes column indicates a slight increase in testosterone following a vasectomy, but doesn't reference a study nor what mechanism could cause an increase. http://www.nytimes.com/...asectomy-expert.html

peaktestosterone.com has a page http://www.peaktestosterone.com/Vasectomy.aspx that references a few studies from the '70s to '90s that found increased testosterone following vasectomy but one study that found no increase.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7500459 is one abstract concluding an increase in testosterone, and an indirect hypotheses of an increased risk of prostate cancer.

edited links
Last edited by: DamonHenry: Jan 5, 14 17:22
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [DamonHenry] [ In reply to ]
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Had mine a few years ago.
volume and distance appear unaffected
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I have had a vasectomy as I have three kids too and wanted no more.
Think I actually got faster but only got into the sport the year my youngest was born. Which was 9 years ago.

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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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You are way to young. There are A lot of other "anti-kid" options. Talk to you and your wife's doctors.

As to your question: we did that to my dog. He got really lazy.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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it's called a vasectomy, not an orchiectomy, for a reason. T-producing cells remain in situ.

>

RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [ShortswimFan] [ In reply to ]
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ShortswimFan wrote:
Had mine a few years ago.
volume and distance appear unaffected

FTW

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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post vasectomy, use proper protection for like a month or whatever time your Dr/nurse will tell you. Chances are your gun will still be properly loaded.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [ShortswimFan] [ In reply to ]
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ShortswimFan wrote:
Had mine a few years ago.
volume and distance appear unaffected

I had one a decade ago, no adverse effects whatsoever in my athletic life.

But my volume and distance took a hit.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [TroyNelson] [ In reply to ]
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You're doing it wrong
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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another baby will screw up training worse.
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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Did not affect my T levels (tested), though I was older than you. Like others, back to activity in less than a week (easy jog with tight/supportive shorts about 4 days later - laid off the bike for about 10 days, but I think I could have gone earlier). Some frozen peas and no pain meds at all.

Not aware of any good studies regarding lowering testosterone levels, but easy enough to check for of course. I did see some of the possible increase in prostrate CA studies, but they are not conclusive and difficult since you need a LONG study and such a common issue in men anyway. My urologist dispelled the "myth" immediately before I even asked.

My funny story was similar to Jimmy's in that I was shaved down there at the time. My urologist's office is in the same bldg as mine, so I just walked down one floor on a Fri to have it done just before 5pm as the last patient. Quickly changed, gown on, COLD, hoping the nurse to prep was NOT attractive ... Older nurse comes in (good I thought) holding a razor, lifts my gown and just stares for what seems like a long time ... I realize she had nothing to "do", so to break the ice, I said, "I'm a porn star" ... I was hoping she hadn't heard that before but she did turn pretty red and chuckled.

Best of luck!

____________________________________
Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD
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Re: Vasectomy & Athletic Performance [Rappstar] [ In reply to ]
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I'd use another method before I got snipped. Nooo thank you....

-Robert

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank
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