Here's the post from my Dr. Wilson chat group from someone who described better than I did about antibodies.
Antibodies form after the vasectomy, not after a VR. So there's not anything
one can do about that (except not get a vasectomy). Normally, sperm are in a
'closed' system that prevents blood borne infection from getting into the
testes. The sperm are produced and expelled without getting into the rest of
the body, bloodstream, etc. In a vasectomy, the sperm leak out of the cut
tubes. Because the body sees them as 'foreign', antibodies are developed
against them in 60 to 70% of those who have had a vasectomy. These cells can
attach themselves to the tails preventing movement or attach themselves to the
heads preventing fertilizing the egg. Even if a man has developed antibodies,
these often go away after a VR because the sperm are once again in a closed
system, or the antibodies may still be present in the bloodstream but not affect
the sperm. (Incidentally, a study at Northwestern U indicates some rare forms
of dementia are much more common in men who have had a vasectomy. A lot more
study is needed to confirm that there is a connection and why, but they
speculate that these sperm antibodies may also somehow cross the brain's
'closed' system. Fortunately, this form of denentia is very rare to start with.
Still, it makes one wonder about the wisdom of vasectomy to start with and how
it affects the rest of the body)
Anyway, there may be some others who know a lot more about antibodies. I know
you can have a blood test to see if there are anti-sperm antibodies present in
the bloodstream and there's a test (SSA I think?) that can actually check the
sperm, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you have really good counts but no
sperm
It's hard to know who will develop scarring and who will not. Some drs
recommend high doses of ibuprofen or other inflammatories - even prescribing
prednisone. Other infromation seems to indicate that antiinflammatories should
not be used during the initial weeks of healing but may be helpful later. I
have read on other boards of Dr Marks giving IV antiinflammatories during
surgery, prescribing them immediately (these are in cases of redos), and in some
cases still getting a zero count.
At any rate, you need to ask somebody who knows more than I do. It seems to me
we need a certain amount of swelling - that's our body's way of getting more
blood supply to an injured area to aid in healing. Dr Wilson in one
conversation seemed to indicate that 'scarring over' takes place a year or so
out, not immediately. From what others have written on message boards, that
seems accurate. While some men have good counts for years and years, others
counts go down after a year or two. So I'm not sure what the answer is.
