I have to very strongly disagree with age having anything to do with
sterilization. I am 23 and work in the medical profession myself. It
has taken me 5 years to find a doctor willing to sterilize me. I have
opted for Essure (a flexable spring containing a dacron thread is
inserted via the cervix into the fallopian tubes.the dacron thread
stimulates the body to form tissue around it, occluding the tube
www.essure.com) I am firmly of the opinion that if you are old enough
to decide to have children, you are also old enough to decide NOT to
have them.
While there are potential complications with a tubal ( as with any
procedure that alters the body) they are _potential_ complications and
working in the medical profession for nearly six years, I have yet to
run into anyone at work (or in my personal life for that matter) who
has suffered from anything worse than mild pain and swelling for the
first few days after the surgery.
Most of the complications listed on the dontfixit websight are
downright false. I meen some of the claims on the afformentioned page
are so asinine my lifemate and I accually laughed out loud. I meen
the first thing that sprang to mind was that dontfixit was composed by
an uneducated group of paranoid catholics to scare people their
followers into not getting their tubes tied. I was especially amused
by the claim that vasectomies can lead to increased incidences of
multiple sclerosis.
Vasectomies are safe and effective and complications are rare. In
fact complications are usually caused by patients not following the
doctors instructions for bedrest and ice to keep swelling down to a
minimum.

Further more pregnancy is widley known to be rife with complications
and its far easyer to change your mind about a tubal and have it
reversed than it is to do the same with a child. Yes its true that you
might change your mind 5 years from now and want a child, but its also
true that you could have a child and change your mind about wanting it
5 years later. Pregnancy complications under the best of conditions
happen to be fairly common.
Unfortunalty I dont know anything about the effectiveness of long term
sperm storage. To have a vasectomy reversed I am told is between
$4,000 to $6,000 and has about a %20 failure rate. Due to the fact
that the body still continues to produce sperm, a fertility specialist
could harvest sperm directly from the testicles years after a
vasectomy.
No-scalpel vasectomy is a technique that uses a small clamp with
pointed ends. The clamp is poked into the skin over the scrotum and
then opened, instead of using a scalpel to cut the skin. The benefits
of this procedure include less bleeding, a smaller hole in the skin,
and fewer complications. This procedure is as effective as a
traditional vasectomy.
If you are willing to travel I would suggest a look at RISUG. I
believe it is in phase 3 trials in India. I dont have any first hand
experiance with this, but its interesting none the less. The doctor
who pionered the No-scalpel vasectomy injected his first patient with
SMA summer of 2002. Here are a few links that I found of interest
http://www.uottawa.ca/services/markcom/news/2002/020226-2-e.html
http://malecontraceptives.org/methods/risug.htm
http://www.risug.org/

Like I said, if you are old enough to decide to have a child, you are
old enough to decide NOT to have children.

--- In malecontraceptives@yahoogroups.com, Matt Campbell <mcc99@y...>
wrote:
> Dear Ivy,
>
> I would re-consider strongly the idea of either of you
> sterilizing yourselves right now. Simply put, you're
> both too young to be doing it. Sterlization for
> either of you, esp. if one day you want to have one or
> more kids together, is a bad idea. The track record
> on freezing sperm indefinitely is not good. Your bf
> would have to save a lot of it and it is a very
> expensive proposition to get a dr. to use it to try to
> create a new human from it.
>
> There are numerous complications associated with
> getting a vasectomy (see http://www.dontfixit.org/ )
> that may not appear right away but could be very
> painful and very expensive to treat. Urologists make
> most of their their money off treating complications
> due to vasectomoies-- that is why getting one is real
> cheap and getting a reversal is so much more
> expensive. There are problems with tubal ligations as
> well.
>
> To avoid another unwanted pregnancy, use male or
> female condoms faithfully along with another form of
> contraception such as an IUD and/or spermicidal foams,
> and also withdrawal. Contrary to popular belief,
> withdrawl *can be* as effective as the pill, but must
> be applied consistently. It is best though to use at
> least 2 forms of contraception. If you can only use
> female condoms, use withdrawal too. If these don't
> seem to be working as far as you both applying them
> consitently, you may need to modify your sexual
> behavior with each other to reduce the chances of
> pregnancy.
>
> Good luck! BTW, a BCP for men is expected to be out
> by 2005 after further clinical trials abroad and then
> here in the US. Wait a little while, more options are
> coming...
>
> Matt
>
> > Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 03:14:40 -0000
> > From: "Ivy <wossoyi@y...>" <wossoyi@y...>
> > Subject: any other options
> >
> > We're a couple in our early tweenties. I (the
> > female) am not able to
> > use any form of birth control other than female
> > condoms. Initially
> > this was alright until I became pregnant. I had to
> > have an abortion
> > when I became delusional and suicidal in an
> > emergency ward. I cannot
> > put myself through that again!
> >
> > My boyfriend and I (living together) are planning on
> > going on to
> > sterilization. He's willing to have a
> > sterilisation, but have his
> > sperm saved for future use.
> >
> > My question is this. How effective is sperm saving?
> > How long will it
> > be good for? I plan on children only if my health
> > improves and not
> > for about 15 years if ever. This is our only choice
> > as there are no
> > trials in our city for male methods. We are willing
> > to travel
> > anywhere but the US, but haven't been able to find a
> > site as of yet.
> >
> > Any help would be appreciated.
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > -i
> >
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> http://mailplus.yahoo.com