Effectiveness of chemical vs. surgical castration

[CranialDwindle (imported)]

I know that answers to some of these issues can probably be found by browsing other threads, but I hope you'll indulge me: I've been interested in being castrated (for the sake of eliminating my sex drive, or coming as close to that as I can) for many years, and I'm finally ready to actually go through with it. But I don't know whether I'm better off pursuing chemical or surgical castration: surgery seems more appealing in general, since it's permanent and sounds like it has fewer side effects, but I know that some testosterone is secreted by the adrenal glands in addition to the testes--is this small amount enough to make a difference, or is surgery still going to be more effective for libido reduction than a testosterone blocker? I know that some people use chemical castration as sort of a trial run before getting the surgery, but I'm not really interested in doing that if it's only a test: I know this is what I want, and I don't want to unnecessarily add steps to the process and spend more time seeking out doctors.

[ambiguous (imported)]

I think both will block libido to the extent you require.

However I am not the best person to answer this as I couldn't handle the lack of energy and brain fuzz that was starting to set in.

I did a couple of shots of "Depo" a few years back

Some say the effects of surgery are permanent but sure your balls have gone forever but you can correct things with Hormone therapy.

Problem with this is a lifetime of injections (HRT) but at least you are able to take control of things once your doc trusts you to self administer the meds.

No medication may lead to a whole load of health issues osteoporosis being one weight gain another and so on.

Your question for me raises more questions than answers and it would be interesting to hear from folks who have just gone ahead and done the deed.

[sparkey49 (imported)]

I did not do chemical trial as I knew I wanted them gone and I can attest that you do not need to worry about what little T is produced outside of the testicles. I went 2.5 years no T then went on T out of necessity.

[Nidaho Rachel (imported)]

There is some out there that want castration to get rid of the external hardware but still maintain a normal male T level. How do these people do a trial run? Some people are just tired of having somethings hanging between there legs

[Kangan2008 (imported)]

Surgery was my choice. T level after was effectively zero. Initial expense and a recovery period, but now after 8 years - no regrets. I tried replacement for a while recently at my doctors suggestion - not for me! Got angry, started to swear and other bad habits returned. Not to mention having to go have the shot every week... So if you go the chemical route, your expenses will be less over the short term, but you will have to keep getting the shots for a long time if not forever... Surgery = no fuss, no muss.

[anthonyg (imported)]

Both are effective, however, chemical will still leave you with atrophied (shrunken) testicles that no longer produce testosterone. If you can live with atrophied testicles, then chemical is acceptable and actually if they've atrophied, that's one way to have them surgically removed. Most urologists will not remove your testicles just because you want them gone.

[smoothie36 (imported)]

I found the results to be the same. I was chemically castrated, and then surgically. No noticeable change after the surgery. Chemical means buying and taking pills forever. Expensive and may have side effect problems. Surgical costs more up front but then nor more costs or pill taking.

[salvador (imported)]

Muchas gracias por todas vuestras interesantes opiniones, son de gran ayuda!

Yo llevo un año con la castración química aunque por diferentes problemas no lo sigo de manera estable. Mis analíticas son buenas: testosterona casi 0,9 y estrógenos como de mujer.

Sí es cierto que mis testículos molestan, no son de mi agrado, pero con las hormonas han disminuido de tamaño considerablemente, y no tengo líbido. que esto era lo que yo deseaba!

Muchas gracias.

[CranialDwindle (imported)]

Thanks for the responses. For those posters above who said that they had to (or received a doctors' recommendation to) go back on testosterone after surgery--may I ask what the medical reason was for this? I want to know as much as I can about what I'm getting into...

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

In my case the principal reason was to help control blood sugar levels. --FLO--