Will castration, Surgical or Chemical, affect ones happiness and joy in life?

[Frida G Cavic (imported)]

That roller coaster effects are expected the first months of the transition. Almost all tg have experienced this emotional lability. It´s part of the process. Women often suffer premestrual syndrome : sadness, irritability etc because is when E levels drops and then menstruation occurs. The more unestable E levels are, the more drastic the roaller coaster effect is. This is seen mostly on self-medication and on bad injectable regimens that may produce unsteady E levels. . However on a good hormonal treatment the body will adapt with the time making the emotions more steady. Another important thing is that If you are also using antiandrogens as androcur or another progestins this definitely can exacerbate the emotional effects.

[Rocket Number Nine (imported)]

While the rollercoaster is certainly exaggerated in the first months while your body adjusts, I feel like even with decent and stable estrogen levels, it still leaves one more emotionally unstable and more influenced by emotions than prior to taking the meds.

While things do stabilize and feel normal again eventually, it's still a different normal. Emotions work a whole lot differently now. I'm more in control of them now and able to handle them better than I did in the first 6 months or so, but they're still stronger and different feeling than before taking estrogen, and they elicit different reactions than before. These changes may be viewed as positive for trans but for the male-identifying people who for whatever reason decided to take estrogen, these emotional effects can be an issue, even long after things have stabilized.

For me it's an acceptable trade-off for the things I actually did want from estrogen, and as far as positive emotions go it does certainly have its benefits. But maybe other males considering estrogen might find it too much of a drawback or alteration of their norm.

[Jared_in_UT (imported)]

Jared this is particularly interesting because you had been on androcur for a while before you were done, right? So this calls into question whether chems are really a good "test drive" of surgery?

It's important to note that I was not on a dose high enough to experience castrate levels of testosterone most of the time. I was generally taking 50 or 100mg per day, while doses for treatment of prostate cancer can be 200-300mg per day. I certainly had more T in my system during most of my time on Androcur than I did at 6 months post surgery.

I felt a lot worse in general while I was taking higher doses of Androcur.

[Rocket Number Nine (imported)]

50mg Androcur daily has me at 13dg/nL as of the last blood test, were you having your testosterone levels tested while you were on Androcur? How long were you on it?

Most people I know outside of this website tend to take 50mg per day maximum. Many do 25mg. Some I know are even down to like 12.5mg every other day, with test-confirmed nuked testosterone levels. I know prostate cancer patients are given more, but perhaps that is because they need a more rapid and dramatic reduction of their testosterone? I don't think 200-300mg per day is necessary to get castration levels of testosterone.

I felt a lot worse in general while I was taking higher doses of Androcur.

What were you feeling, exactly? I've never gone over 50mg/day but I have nothing but good things to say about Androcur, perhaps because of my bad experience with spironolactone.

[RichTOwen (imported)]

I lost my testicles over a decade ago to severe orchialgia, and have been adjusting T levels with my endocrinologist to try and keep everything at a decent level in terms of energy and libido. The good part is that as my wife's libido drops as she hits menopause, we can dial back my T levels to keep us closer to the same desire levels. We've actually discussed switching over to estrogen as her sex drive is pretty much non-existent now and I know I need something to help maintain energy levels and bone health.

[Jorge2008 (imported)]

My mood strongly improved after I got near to chemically castrated levels back in 2013. I had suffered from terrible sexual frustration until that.

[Jared_in_UT (imported)]

50mg Androcur daily has me at 13dg/nL as of the last blood test, were you having your testosterone levels tested while you were on Androcur? How long were you on it?

Most people I know outside of this website tend to take 50mg per day maximum. Many do 25mg. Some I know are even down to like 12.5mg every other day, with test-confirmed nuked testosterone levels. I know prostate cancer patients are given more, but perhaps that is because they need a more rapid and dramatic reduction of their testosterone? I don't think 200-300mg per day is necessary to get castration levels of testosterone.

What were you feeling, exactly? I've never gone over 50mg/day but I have nothing but good things to say about Androcur, perhaps because of my bad experience with spironolactone.

I was on it for most of two years. I took a couple of short breaks due to severe drops in energy, stamina, ambition, and a mental state I'm sure any doctor would happily classify as depression. I never had my testosterone levels checked during my time on Androcur. But I personally felt a dramatic difference in how I felt while on 200mg per day vs 50-100mg.

Pretty much, it became a balancing act of controlling my libido versus not feeling like garbage. I found a pretty happy balance (after a couple of weeks of a higher dose) by varying 50-100mg per day depending how I'd been feeling for the past two weeks or so.

Aside from the hot flashes, I've felt better overall post surgery than I did on Androcur. Oddly, some of the side effects of castration have been more extreme (poor erections, reduced libido) while some have been more mild (moods, lack of energy).