Some Questions from a Eunuch-To-Be

[erikboy (imported)]

Hello, I've been reading the forums and what not for several months and finally got around to asking some questions I have. First of all, some background. I have Asperger's Syndrome, not too severe, but enough to suck. For those of you who don't know, AS is a an Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is like Autism, but not as bad. In my case, my problems are soley social, i.e. social anxiety, no social skills, lack of empathy etc. The biggest problem for me is the Social anxiety, and am currently on medication for it, however, I have read about the "Eunuch's Calm" on the forums and am wondering if this might help with the anxiety. Also, would the depressionresulting from castration be diminished/eliminated from using anti-sndrogens beforehand, or do I not understand how they work?

I am not sure if castration induced calm could help you to cope with social anxiety. Probably not. First not all eunuchs experience calm. Second, testosterone is acting as emotional blocker, if that is removed you become more emotional, or if you can remember it should remind you these days in your boyhood when you started to cry quite easy.

Depression could appear if you were not 100% sure that you wanted to have a castration. This is a conclusion I have came to by reading so many experiences. Sometimes chemical trial period wouldn't help as you still could reverse the situation. You could feel different if you have no balls anymore.

Yes, it needs a trial and deep thinking. You gotta explore your inner world very deep!

[Kangan (imported)]

I'm going to add my 2-cents worth to what has already been said.

Surgical castration is an irreversible situation. Try Depo first.

The risk of depression is high. I think that discovering that your sex drive is totally gone may have something to do with it. Since this was the result that I wanted, I did not feel depressed afterwards.

You will become more emotional and will cry easily. You will find that things which excited you in the past now are dull or even digusting.

Will your social life improve? I cannot say. I will say that without any abnormal sexual urges, I can be much more relaxed in social situations, as there is no danger of my saying or doing something that might be construed as a sexual advance.

Castration cures sexual harrassment.

[mrt (imported)]

I know a couple of people with this and can't see how making them hypogonadal would do anything positive for them. I also want to ask if anyone has really done any serious research on the "eunuch calm" and if this is for real in a significant number of cases.

People who have been castrated who don't use androgen replacement that feel more at peace post op. Correct? And lets exclude those whose reasons for doing this is because they are mortified over their previously strong sex drives. *I can see why someone who has dangerous sexual urges will be more at peace when the drum beat of male sex drive shuts off.

We might also want to do a survey of how many people couldn't take it and later opted for HRT. I'm not saying this btw to insult those who are hormone free and enjoying the results *I know you are out there! I just question how many there are and often that works. I think it would be a service to those considering this step.

[devi (imported)]

Actually that so called "eunuch calm" probably better describes less "fights at the dance or at the bar" and less "stalking behavior" and also less of that "troublesome posessivenes over a love object" than it does to the fact that you may be end up chewing your finger nails or breaking out into sweat or something like that in some type of social situation and even more so.

[kristoff]

My conclusion, as I wrote in this thread:

http://www.eunuch.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=10173

There is substantial evidence based upon observation of castrated animals (notably equines, ovines, canines, and swine) of a calming effect upon displayed aggressive behavior. There is some anecdotal reportage of similar effects upon male humans, although no valid studies have been noted to substantiate such positions directly. There are a small number of persons who are castrated who profess a significant calming-effect upon their aggressive behavior.

It is suggested that the so-called “eunuch calm” is more a reduction of aggression, libido, and perhaps stress. The eunuch calm may, in fact, simply be the reaction that someone has after reaching a long sought goal (i.e., castration), more on the order a feeling of overall relief (calm). Any substantive conclusions to be drawn regarding human male behavior in this regard would be dependent upon further study.

[nullorchis (imported)]

From my personal point of view, testosterone in males is nature's way of forcing the male to "seek and impregnate and reproduce". It has nothing to do with tenderness, love, sensativity or empathy or control. We humand spend so much time mind-bending sexuality when it is nothing more than nature's curse.

Testosterone is a chemical that transcends our mental intelligence.

I would not call lack of testosterone as "the eunuch calm".

I would call it something more like a fortunate loss.

Libido and sex drive (to me) are not intellectual, not emotional, they are chemically induced by nature to ensure survival of the species. Getting very low testosterone has been the best thing I have experienced.

We humans spend so much time trying to apply logic or mental sanity to sex, which is an exercise in futility.

Get rid of testosterone and you get rid of a chemical that is important to nature, and since you are visiting the EA web site, not important to you either. Libido, sex drive, sexual intercourse, sexual activity are just nature's way of trying to ensure survival of the species. Mentally, we do not need this, and emotionally and physically it becomes a curse.

Since loosing my testosterone (to andropause....and with a little herbal help) I can not comment enough about how great it is to have a lower testosterone level and virtually no sex drive.

For anyone who has normally functioning testicles, but who doesn't want testosterone flooding through their veins, then chemical nullification of the testosterone would certainly be the favored way to go. Although I (and many) would prefer to have surgical removal, this is fraught with danger and expense. Thus, chemical suppression of testosterone is certainly a reasonable option.

[ghostautumn (imported)]

There are a lot of really great posts in this thread. I would tend to agree with the general consensus that castration and the supposed eunuch calm are not a cure all panacea, and will probably not alleviate many of the brutal symptoms of social anxiety and irritability I suffer from. This is my second week as a complete eunuch with no hormone therapy, and so far the first week brought great contentment and peacefulness, but now that I'm back to work I can't say that my irritability or nervous tension have abated much, if at all. Perhaps they will with time, but I'm not expecting a miracle in the area. Needless to say, however, the lack of sexual lust/tension IS a wonderful relief, and so to that extent life has become less burdensome. In my case it's too early to know what the long-term effects will be.