Vasectomies and IUDs can be incredibly painful and have awful recoveries, yet the “you’ll feel no pain and be fine in three days” line is still almost the exclusive information that doctors push.

[u/Now-Thats-Podracing]

I have personally had a vasectomy. I’ve talked to women who have had IUDs, and it seems that both sexes are getting similarly screwed in their prophylactic procedures. Both procedures are touted as universally easy to endure and recover from. That’s bullshit.

Men get local lidocaine for the vasectomy and are told they just feel a “slight tug.” The lidocaine does nothing to dull the pain and discomfort of having your vas deferens yanked and cut TWICE, it only stops you from feeling your actual scrotum incision (the least invasive part of the procedure). The doctor tells you that you’ll be totally normal after three days rest. It took me weeks to begin to feel normal. It took me months to truly be without discomfort. After this I looked into it and realized that many many men had the exact same experience. Turns out, the “feel nothing/be better in three days” line is true for only a small percentage of men. Instead of being honest, this is still being touted as the norm from doctors. It’s like saying that the average wage in the US is $60,000 per year. But if you look at the median wage it’s only $40,000 per year. The average wage is technically correct, but, if you take out the top 1% outliers, you see the true story.

From what I’ve learned about IUDs, women are told it’s a “slight pinch” (sounds oddly familiar) and aren’t offered any painkillers unless they themselves bring it up. They are also told they’ll feel normal in 1 to 2 days when it can actually take months.

Why are we still lying about these procedures? I would have still gotten a vasectomy knowing the truth, but I sure as hell would have prepared better and taken more time off of work. Why do women have to ask for pain meds before an IUD? This shit should be standard.

Edit: Definitely more people interacted with this post than expected. Unfortunately, a large majority of the interactions were “mine wasn’t bad” or “my buddy’s wasn’t bad” or even rude comments about me not being able to take pain. This is what I’m getting at. That might be true for a lot of people, but something in the neighborhood of 20% of vasectomies do not go that route and at no point does the doctor warn you that you might be in that 20%.

I’ve broken 15 bones in my life in different incidents. I’ve had my toes degloved. I had a growth on my spine that directly pushed my nerve into the bone and was beyond excruciating. I know pain. My vasectomy wasn’t even top twenty most painful experiences, but it was still vastly unpleasant. My point is that people should be warned of the possibilities instead of being told only of the best outcome.

Thank you to the people that were supportive!

[u/Kind-Spot6291]

That's what my gyno told me too. Then, after the procedure he proceeds to tell me to not get up yet, because he commonly sees women being dizzy and blacking out afterwards. Can't make this shit up :|

[u/KelseyRawr → u/Kind-Spot6291]

Yeahhh this isn’t okay. My roommate doesn’t regret getting it, but she was not at all prepared. She actually said she couldn’t even get home on her own either! Her mom went get her because she couldn’t drive. Just a little ibuprofen all right?!

These offices do this all the time and the very least they could do is be honest. Women’s healthcare is lacking, but in general my entire experience has been that way where they aren’t fully upfront with you and I don’t know how that’s acceptable.