Zoroaster (imported) wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2004 3:38 am I'm kinda living evidence that pain is sufficient in some cases. I was castrated friday night (in a hospital, by a doctor) after having injured mine pretty badly. El doctor was willing to leave my fucked up nuts in, but they hurt and I asked for them to be removed (plus, well, I do hang out here, after all) and he said the pain was enough to justify it in his opinion. He presented the case at a conference and said for the first time in history, about 30 urologists were unanimous in saying yeah, take 'em out.

Now, mine were mostly nonfunctional as well, and fertility is not an issue for me (eek. Kids. no thanks...my dog's all the child I need), so I was able to make a pretty strong argument that there's no reason to leave them in.

(Incidentally, I do plan to post the full story of my awful hospital trip when I'm done writing it up; it's good for a few laughs)

Congrats. I'm sure all of us are looking forward to the write-up.

When I finally sought to have my balls harvested, I was told of a couple of instances where medical practicioners had removed guys' balls for reason of pain (maybe non-functionality as well?), but I couldn't discover the names of the practicioners that'd done it. So when I ran into the vet's ass't that said he'd do it, I was confident that I could get it done with little fuss and bother. There was some risk because my friend wasn't a medical practicioner, but I figured that he'd done a couple of hundred domestic animals was sufficient qualification even though he'd never done a human before. I think I could've eventually found a local practicioner to castrate me, but the notion of not waiting was too appealing. My doc didn't seem too alarmed when I told him. I've since found out that the gay clinic at which my doc practices treats about half a dozen ballless guys. The nurse says they were all done by 'cutters.'

Zoroaster (imported) wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2004 3:38 am I'm kinda living evidence that pain is sufficient in some cases. I was castrated friday night (in a hospital, by a doctor) after having injured mine pretty badly.

. . .

(Incidentally, I do plan to post the full story of my awful hospital trip when I'm done writing it up; it's good for a few laughs)

AH - interesting Christmas Gift from the medical world. . .

. . .

You going to go on HRT? Or you going to do without it?

...

Not so awful if they kept your testicles at the hospital, that's part of what you wanted in life, isn't it?

Too nad doctors don't seem to undrestand the need some of us have to get our balls off. I was lucky to find a nurse who undrestude how in felt and did my casteration > I think she enjoyed it as much as I did

Jeff,

My testicles were almost torn off in a bike accident when I was 14, just as I was in the heat of puberty. Well, the surgeon said he restablished blood flow but they both shrunk up anyway, I lost interest in sports, lost all my muscle and most of my interest in sex.

I had a lot of pain, but my doctor never even took a measure of my testosterone. It wasn't until I was 19 that a doctor took my testosterone level ( it was 54 when it should have been about 600). I've been on testosterone ever since. I've got good muscle development, very little fat, sex drive like a kid, and I feel great.

My doctor is ready to remove my nuts every time I visit him, but I'm really afraid. What if I can't get testosterone someday? At least I'd get a little from my shriveled nuts. They aren't very healthy; they get injured very easily and they take weeks to heal. My doctor says it's going to have to be done sooner or later. I fell down skiing a couple weeks ago and I've had pain for two weeks. I keep thinking that's a cancer risk.

Oh, some of you will like this: my new urologist is a woman (I just changed medical groups). I haven't seen her yet so I don't know what her attitude will be.

Jeff, since you've had a similar experience maybe you could give me some wisdom.

DocT

Thanks Krister, I need to hear that. It would be much worse if I waited and some tissue turned malignant. I guess it's hard to know if testicular tissue is in an early cancerous stage.

On the other hand, I've had so much trouble with doctors who don't understand my situation. It seems like every year I get assigned to a new doctor, and each time they want to take me off testosterone so they can see what my testosterone level falls to. Then when it drops below 80 in a week or two they want me to wait for a couple months to see if my testicles will rebound and start producing normal testosterone levels. After this doesn't work they try HCG, which never works.

The last time they did this I got so depressed I wanted to die, I got shingles in my eye and face, and I lost 50 lbs (muscle, I didn't have much fat). Then the urologist still didn't want to put me back on testosterone because he wasn't sure it would be safe for me? The doctor that was treating me for shingles ended up prescribing testosterone for me. Shortly after that the shingles cleared up and I got healthy again.

I guess if I was a eunuch I wouldn't have to deal with doctors trying to get my testicles to work, huh?

Jeff,

DocT (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 28, 2004 1:06 am My testicles were almost torn off in a bike accident when I was 14, just as I was in the heat of puberty. Well, the surgeon said he restablished blood flow but they both shrunk up anyway, I lost interest in sports, lost all my muscle and most of my interest in sex.

I had a lot of pain, but my doctor never even took a measure of my testosterone. It wasn't until I was 19 that a doctor took my testosterone level ( it was 54 when it should have been about 600). I've been on testosterone ever since. I've got good muscle development, very little fat, sex drive like a kid, and I feel great.

My doctor is ready to remove my nuts every time I visit him, but I'm really afraid. What if I can't get testosterone someday? At least I'd get a little from my shriveled nuts. They aren't very healthy; they get injured very easily and they take weeks to heal. My doctor says it's going to have to be done sooner or later. I fell down skiing a couple weeks ago and I've had pain for two weeks. I keep thinking that's a cancer risk.

Oh, some of you will like this: my new urologist is a woman (I just changed medical groups). I haven't seen her yet so I don't know what her attitude will be.

Jeff, since you've had a similar experience maybe you could give me some wisdom.

DocT

I once had a female urologist, and she was the only urologist that had me lay on examination table in the fetal position, and then massaged my prostate until a drop of semen came out, then she would let the semen drop onto a slide glass, and under a microscope to see if there was an infection. She did this once a year when I had my exam. Now she is married and left the medical profession. Male urologist slide on their glove, with some gel, and their finger goes in and out my rectum faster than a "New York Second", hand me a paper towel, tell me I'm fine and tell me to make my insurance co-payment on my way out the door. I think the female urologist I had years ago was doing the job the way she was trained, and the male urologists' I've had for the past several years don't really have any interest, except for the money.

bull

I don't know much about my female urologist; I haven't visited her yet. Yeah, I hope she's nice, not the uber-urologist. I don't want to wait till I have cancer to have this done, but I don't want it done if it isn't necessary. My last urologist said the only way to be sure was to remove the worst testicle and send it out for pathology. He said he's going to have a talk with my new urologist about this.

See, the thing is that my testicles still make enough testosterone that I don't get hot flashes or osteoporosis and I can get an erection if I get sufficiently aroused. This won't be the case if I let them get cut off.

I'm concerned that if I ever have to be hospitalized for an extended period of time some stupid doctor will come up with a reason to stop giving me testosteone and my health will fail. I don't do well at all without testosterone. As I've said in another post, I get very weak, frail, and suseptible to viruses and infections. Before I started on testosterone I was always having medical problems.

Maybe if I'm castrated, some stupid doctor won't try to come up with a reason to take me off testosterone and I'll be safer than if I had my testicles.

Hiya

Just read this thread. DocT, do you have an endocrinologist as well as a urologist? I don't think that your TRT dosage should be played with like it has been, without your consent. You're aware of the consequences, and the last thing you need is some new endo experimenting with you. Don't they get a copy of your records?

In my case, I had one ball that had pretty much retracted into my abdomen. It had to come out because of the future risks of malignancy. The other one was far more painful, but there was less medical need for it to come out. In the end, I decided that I didn't want to go through the whole process twice. It's not like the situation was ever going to improve.

With hindsight, I'm glad I went through the surgery. It sorted out the pain, stopped me worrying about what might happen. It also had no impact on my overall T levels.

I also moved countries the following year, and the fact of the surgery meant that I had far fewer hoops to go through in getting a decent new endocrinologist, and accessing testosterone. Any new doctor will look at your medical history and _know_ that you should be on T (or an alternative)...

Oh, and my urologist was superb, but I'm glad he didn't try to make me produce semen.

m

DocT (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 28, 2004 1:06 am My testicles were almost torn off in a bike accident when I was 14...

I had a lot of pain....

DocT (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 28, 2004 1:06 am It wasn't until I was 19 that a doctor took my testosterone level ( it was 54 when it should have been about 600). I've been on testosterone ever since. My doctor is ready to remove my nuts every time I visit him, but I'm really afraid. What if I can't get testosterone someday? At least I'd get a little from my shriveled nuts. They aren't very healthy; they get injured very easily and they take weeks to heal. My doctor says it's going to have to be done sooner or later.

Jeff, since you've had a similar experience maybe you could give me some wisdom.

While you don't say how long it's been since you initiated testosterone treatments at age 19, I have to presume your testicles are now incapable of generating testosterone on their own. While my doc was initially shocked when I told him I'd been castrated, his response was also that I'd done no functional harm and that the testicles would never have recovered their ability to generate testosterone if I'd discontinued the treatments.

His initial response was that of a gay man proud of his endowment and orbs. Before proceeding, I had decided that I'd be OK with an empty crotch. I'm nude a lot socially, and what others would think was definitely a concern. The comfort of being ballless has certainly minimized any concerns I might have had about what others might think of my balllessness. As it turns out and with one exception, no one has given me anything but compliments about the empty crotch - if they notice at all. It seems most people don't notice.

I can't see any reasonable arguments except the aesthetic - or that of reproduction - against having the injured nuts harvested.

Morgie, do you produce a normal amount of semen with testosterone replacement? I have a lot of pain if I traumatize them, it persists for a couple weeks. The chord is swollen and painful on the left right now because of a fall I took skiing several weeks ago. I don't want to wait until I get cancer, but I'm really conflicted.

Jeff, I'm 48 years old, but I'm in really great shape, partly because of the testosterone, and partly because I train two hours a day. The last time I went off T my level was 89, I don't know if it would have gone lower. So I make enough to prevent hot flashes, osteoporosis and get a boner if I really want one. Yeah, it's tough for me to mount a good argument against losing at least one of them.