So the “no sex during the potential ovulation period” rule can be abolished?
And I’m very good at remembering my pills. In the past 4 months, I’ve only missed 1 day…
I’m scheduled to have the big V in a few weeks, and a couple of weeks ago I had my pre-V consulation appointment with the urologist, so this is fresh on my mind.
In the video, he showed a graph of “semen quality” versus time after the vasectomy. It trickled ( 
) down from 100% at the left, approaching zero after 15 years or so. Also shown were the worst-case and best-case lines, the worst-case was down to zero after about three or four years. So even if they are completely successful in sewing those little tubes back together, it is likely not to make him fertile again after a few years.
I remember this graph clearly because the video explained very basic things that any guy should know, but then when he was showing the graph, used the term “asymptotically” to describe how it approaches zero after several years. This cracked me up.
If you want, Haley, I could make the UnaBoard put a notice at the top every morning, asking “pepperlandgirl, did you take your pill?”, so you would see it every time you log on. You’ld have to click a link to make it go away, and if you don’t click it for X number of days, it will make a Status bar showing your increasing odds of becoming pregnant…and then we could start a betting pool. 
I asked a similar question a couple of years ago and got some good responses:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41729&highlight=vasectomy
The consensus was that it ain’t too reversible.
LOL, Anthracite, that’s a wonderful idea.
Ahhhh, thanks Sublight for the link. I appreciate it.
People have touched on this already, but I think it’s worth highlighting that, while some medical insurance companies may cover the costs of a sterilization, IIRC most (all?) will look at reversing the procedure as elective surgery and not cover the costs at all.
Spendy.
Pepperlandgirl, it seems that you’re not up on how exactly birth control pills work. Here’s a quick rundown:
When a woman gets pregnant, a certain amount of the hormone progesterone is released throughout the pregnancy to prevent another egg from being released and potentially fertilized. Your birth control pills do the same thing: they provide a small amount of progesterone every day, so it tricks your brain into thinking your body is pregnant. Voila, no ovulation occurs whatsoever.
When you take the green/yellow pills at the end of your pack, those are just dummy pills without any hormones (they’re there only to remind you to take one every day). Because your body loses its hormone rush, nature takes over, and you have your period. You can take the white pills for months and never have a period, or delay it a few days if it would inconvenience you that week, or whatever.
So no, as long as you take the pills every day at the same time, you have nothing to worry about. Most women who get pregnant on the Pill were just been careless and forgot to take them one day.
Talk to your doctor for more specifics if you’re still concerned.
- tsarina, M.D. she ain’t.
Speaking of the pill and periods, I’ve read that the only reason that pill regimens were designed to have a week off was so that women could still have their periods. The thought was that women wouldn’t take to a pill that kept them from having a period (like it’s an essential feature of womanhood), so they came up with a way to not get pregnant and still have a period.
So pepperlandgirl, I think that you could be put on Depo Pravera (spelling?) even though you didn’t usually have a period before the pill.
tsarina, are you sure about this? First, it’s not what the Master says, and secondly, I’m thinking that your body would start doing many unpleasant hormonal things if it believed it were pregnant. I’m not a doctor either, but my girlfriend did work for Planned Parenthood for a while, and she told me the same thing Cecil said.
From Biology: The unity and Diversity of Life, 8th edition by Starr and Taggart (1998):
And from http://www.nau.edu/~fronske/bcp.html :
And this is how I understand it, although I may be missing some key points:
Estrogen peaks just prior to ovulation, at which points it drops to a low, and then rises a little throughout the second part of the cycle, dropping again VERY low during menstruation. Progesterone (of which progestins are derivatives or synthesized versions) rises sharply just after ovulation, and remains high thoughout the next 2 weeks, then drops down again just prior to menstruation.
Some birth control pills contain only estrogen. These maintain a constant level of estrogen, but does not allow the peak needed to trigger ovulation, thus preventing it from doing so. Since the low of estrogen at menstruation is lower than the one for ovulation (and since your body believes its already ovulated), going off the pill causes you to menstruate.
Many pills also contain progestin. These maintain progesin levels at the high that occurs normally post-ovulation, so you body thinks its already ovulated, and therefore doesn’t do it again. It’s not quite like tricking your body into thinking its pregnant, but progesterones do cause you to not ovulate during pregnancy too.
So, both explanations are correct, as long as you are using both types of hormones in the same pill.
Reversals of vasectomies are very, very ineffective. Especially if the doctor cauterizes the cut ends of the vas defrens. Then reversals are almost 100% impossible. Also, after awhile (like has been mentioned already) the body builds up anti-bodies towards sperm. It’s like having home-made spermacide. So, even if the reversal works, the ejaculated sperm won’t.
As for vasectomies that fail, that happens only 1/4000th of a percent. (Read: extremely rare!) And when it happens, it’s almost always because the man had sex too soon after the operation. His ejaculation “pops the stitches” so to speak, and the body starts repairing itself. If the man follows doctors orders (which means not having an orgasm for 5-7 days after the procedure) vasectomies are 100%.
Thank you for explaining how the Pill works. I feel stupid for readily taking something I didn’t quite understand, but hey the OB/GYN said “You should have your period. Here take this.” And I said, “OKAY!”
Now I wonder why I ever missed it?
Thanks pkbites for your answer. sigh I wish he was in 100% agreement with me on this. It would make everything so much easier.
What about the little valves I read about many years ago? Clamped onto the vas deferens, they have little levers to turn the flow on or off. Doesn’t anyone use those? Did the FDA not approve them or what? They don’t work?
Don’t want kids? Then keep your legs crossed, you sex-crazed heathen sinner!
– The Good Reverend Tim, Univeral Life Church
That’s good advise Revtim. My husband’s gonna be pretty disappointed though.