My test results are in & Varicocele surgery sheduled! Advice?

[dioje787]

Hello... Sorry I did not post my results sooner. To refresh, I posted the "Calling all Doctors" thread and was afraid that a run of prednisone had affected my system somehow. Soon after two rounds of it 2 years ago for poison ivy, my nuts started shrinking, my back started aching, and my varicoceles that were small before then ballooned.

I've always had anxiety issues (not horrible, but still present), nightsweats, and now I have a lot of fatigue, moodiness, etc... I quit drinking 5 years ago, but drank beer heavily for many years. Soon, I plan on joining a gym with my wife, and attempting exercise to help my physical and mental state. (I don't have too far to go physically.... I'm not overweight or anything.

I went this week to a urologist, and he accepted my self-diagnosed varicoceles. (It was 12 degrees outside, and my nuts shrank so much he couldn't feel the varicoceles.). But they are usually there, and pretty big. I've noticed a LOT of shrinkage in that area... I used to have a big sack, and now all the "padding" has all but gone away. Maybe this is common with aging? (I'm 39)

So, they called me today, and have scheduled both nuts for MICROSCOPIC varicocelectomies, which I'm very happy about. (Glad I don't live in Canada... I bet the lead times are a lot longer than one week there!)

I couldn't get everything tested, but I was glad my insurance EOB's came today, and everything was covered so I just had the $30 co-pay. (But I'm getting ready to have to spend a lot on the surgery, I'm sure!) ** The doc wanted to test me for Epstein Barr for fatigue... I knew I had mono a couple of times years ago and would test positive. Maybe part of fatigue???

The morning cortisol was pretty high. I had nightsweats pretty bad the night before and didn't sleep very well either... and I usually sleep okay...

ACTH 29 (7-50)
Cortisol am 24.2 (4.0-22.0)
Cortisol pm 10.1 (3.0-17.0)
Epstein Barr (EBNA) >5 (high) (> or = 1.0 positive antibody detected)
Epstein Barr (VCA IGG AB) 4.12 (> or = 1.0 positive antibody detected)
Eptein Barr (VCA IGM AB) .10 No antibody detected
Estriadol 26 ((13-54)
Prolactin 11.1 (2.0-18.0)
T3, Total 104 (60-181)
Testosterone Total 544 (250-1100)
Testosterone Free % 1.33 (1.0-3.10)
Free Testosterone 72.4 (35-155)

I just noticed they forgot to send me the LH and FSH numbers. I don't think they sent free T4 either, unless it is one of the above??? And what is Estrone??? Is that listed above??? I think I need to call them back and get the rest of the results tomorrow!

Anyway... I have surgery on Monday morning. Glad it's microsurgery... I hear there are few complications that way. I can have sex on demand, but I don't really have the desire for it...

Hoping to hear any ideas or suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Megazoid]

Glad to hear you are getting the surgery Doug, i am going back in for an ultrasound because the urologist want's to check why my nut's are still going nut's (changing size and consitency throughout the day, etc).

I have a right side spermatic cord blockage (could be scar tissue, cyst, sperm buildup, etc). So they are going to remove this using sack surgery (micro-scopic also). He think's they might need to tie off the left side vein(s) to normalize blood flow in the whole area too. I am a bit skeptical because my nut's aren't really tiny all the time, some of the time they appear somewhat "normal", the ultrasound should give me a good idea of what's going on because i got this done a few months before the embolization technique and i got them measured accurate. I came out the shower tonight and measured the left one at 1" (roughly) in length but has lost height (maybe half an inch in height). I am going to be running TRT + HCG soon to see how they respond to stimulation and to see if i can get back size.

Your lab's look pretty good with regards to T, E2 and even Free T. Hopefully your LH/FSH are normal (which i have a feeling they will be) and you should benefit from surgery. I am hoping you don't need TRT or HCG. But living with tiny ball's an't no fun.

Do your balls crawl up inside you for most of the day and your sack is like ultra-tight all the time?

 

[dioje787]

The thing is, when he was "feeling me up" he remarked that my left nut is pretty normal in size. So it appears that little damage has been done. I've just got the big bag of veins on each side, and all the extra padding is gone. So my nuts look really small, but I guess they aren't. Understand???

But I see what you are saying... they change all the time. Sometimes really small... sometimes closer to normal. But when they are normal, then they look a lot different because there are the big blue veins on the side that were never there before.

If all my bloodwork is pretty normal except for the cortisol, then why do I have all the fatigue, moodiness, depression, etc...??

 

[Megazoid]

I can explain this somewhat. I can't comment on cortisol (i will wait for phil or someone to comment on this) but i can say that varicocele cause spikes and valleys in T/E2 levels which could be contrinbuting to the shfits in mood, depression, etc. It's more so dysfunction than full failure.

 

[Madball99]

So how did it go ?

 

[dioje787]

Sorry I didn't update. I had the surgery 3 weeks ago today. The first 3 days were AMAZING!! When the bloodflow returned, my nuts and sack increased overnight back to their original size! I'm talking they went from small and up in my stomach to "swing low sweet chariot"... and everything else increased in size too. (At rest). BUT, I was perplexed that the microsurgery took only 20 minutes for BOTH sides, and the procedure should take 45 minutes to an hour. The doctor is very cocky.. he wrote the article on emedicine about the procedure, and he didn't talk to me much before the surgery, and didn't hang around afterwards.

I have my post-op visit with the doc tomorrow.

I called him the next day to tell him how amazed I was, and to ask if there's anything I should be aware of. He just said, "We went in, saw the problem and fixed it." That was it.

So 4 days after surgery, I thought I saw varicoceles again. My right nut was EXTREMELY bruised from when they put it back in, I guess. The whole right side was black and blue. And the shape of my nut changed. 6 days after, my full sack was gone, and I just had 2 balls hanging down real low with no "padding". Within a week, I could see varicoceles again all the time, and my nuts slowly returned up close to my stomach.

Now, they are the same as they were before surgery already. I watched them do over 3 weeks what they slowly did over 2 years time before. But now, I have an added problem. My right nut is extremely sore to the touch. I got an erection the other night and I felt sharp STABBING pains in my right nut, so I was afraid to have sex. It's been 3 weeks. I'm going to try tonight to see what happens. Then I'll tell the doc.

I'll probably request an ultrasound with color doppler at Megazoid's suggestion. And I'm leaning towards not trusting this doctor again, even though he's supposed to be an expert. He should have taken the time to do it RIGHT the first dang time. With microsurgery, varicoceles are not supposed to return! That's why I chose that method!

But next time, maybe I'll try embolization so I don't have to go through surgery and miss so much work again. (And so my right nut isn't damaged any further!)

Thanks.