Nothing to lose your mind over
Before you consider getting a vasectomy, consider this.
Our story begins with a patient who was experiencing symptoms of dementia. He wondered aloud to his doctor whether or not the vasectomy he’d had years prior might have been the cause.
This got the doctor wondering, too. So the good doctor pulled together a research team and surveyed 47 men who had primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare neurological condition that leads to a steady decline in language skills. They also surveyed 57 men who did not suffer from PPA. All of the men ranged in age from 55 to 80.
The research team found that in the group that had PPA, 40 percent of those men had gone through the procedure, compared to 16 percent of those with PPA who had not. Also, their onset began on average four years earlier than that group of 16 percent.
The research team also found that the data they collected also pointed to a possible link between vasectomies and frontotemporal dementia, a form that is marked by behavioral changes. Looking at 30 men, the researchers found that over one-third of them had been through a vasectomy.
A more in-depth study will be done, but for now, take this information into consideration, and ask yourself if you’re willing to risk dementia for a little convenience.
I think mainstream medicine has become a little too knife-happy for comfort. And patients are all too willing to jump for the quick fix, especially when surgery is the answer. That’s hardly the easy way!
