As a person that thinks knowing some of medicine and biology, I have to intervene with the remark that testosterone is a steroid. Steroid metabolism is very extensive in our metabolism. We all need steroids.

Glucocortcoids and mineralocorticoids are very, very essential for normal functioning of a human being. Glucocorticoids take part in the regulation of the sugar in the plasma. Mineralocorticoids take part in the regulation of electrolytes in the body. These hormones fluctuate very rapidly. For example: eating much or less sugar or salt, sweating, exercise,... all demand a rapid regulation.

For this: metabolism of corticoids is rapid. There is no metabolic nor chemic reason for which some corticoids would fluctuate very rapidly and others have a half life of days.

In an older article one can find testosterone is also washed out in matter of hours. The effect of differences in concentration of testosterone thus appears not to be related to the momentary concentration but appears to leap behind.

Urology. 1994 Jun;43(6):834-7.

The time for serum testosterone to reach castrate level after bilateral orchiectomy or oral estrogen in the management of metastatic prostatic cancer.

Lin BJ, Chen KK, Chen MT, Chang LS.

Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.

OBJECTIVE. To understand the time for serum testosterone to reach castrate level after bilateral orchiectomy or oral estrogen in the management of metastatic prostatic cancer.

METHODS. A total of 20 consecutive patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate with bony metastasis were enrolled in this study. Their mean age was 72.8 years old (range, 57 to 82 years). Pretreatment serum testosterone levels were obtained in all men. Thirteen men were treated with bilateral orchiectomy. Immediately after removal of testes, serial blood samplings for serum testosterone levels were drawn every fifteen minutes for the first two hours, then hourly for another sixteen hours. Seven men were treated with oral estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES), 3 mg per day. Serum testosterone levels were checked on a weekly basis for two months, and then biweekly for another two months.

RESULTS. Castration time of bilateral orchiectomy ranges from three to twelve hours (mean, 8.6 hours). The biological half-life of serum testosterone was from thirty to sixty minutes (mean, 45 minutes). Castration time of oral estrogen (DES) was from twenty-one to sixty days (mean, 38.3 days).

CONCLUSIONS. Bilateral orchiectomy and oral estrogen were both effective ways of castration for patients with bony metastatic prostatic cancer. Bilateral orchiectomy provides a more rapid castration and is one hundred seven times faster than oral estrogen in reaching castrate level.

Hope you find this interesting.

Greetings to all,

Vesal !

I am a married eunuch having had a bilateral orchiectomy performed by a Urological Surgeon in 2005. It was performed due to quality of life issues, not cancer related, and complete shutdown of the testes. I have been on (and off) DepoTestosterone injections since 1999. I had to stop taking HRT to have some tests run a couple of years ago and my total T was at 1370 with E2 levels at 101 (over the top). After four weeks my T level dropped to 72 and my E2 level dropped to 1.89. At another time I plotted the drop of my testosterone through weekly lab testing and the following is the results. My trough at the beginning was 600 and the peak after 24 hours was at 925 after injecting .75cc (150mg) of DepoTestosterone Cypionate. After one week the T was at 600. The end of the second week it was 235. The end of the third week it was 75 and the end of the fourth week it was 35 and did not drop lower. Apparently that is the Adrenal production in my body. This varies with individuals. This seems to be fairly consistent with the charts your Urologist refer to for normal dissipation of DepoTestosterone IM injections.

I would expect different results from patches or gels. The drop would probably be much faster. I cannot speak to the drop at the time of castration because I was on HRT at the time and my testes were already producing no T.

I experienced mild hot flashes (dry) when my T levels dropped below approx 175 and persisted until the levels dropped below about 70 then disappeared (a few days). Generally they would only last for a few minutes. I am currently at castrate level and physically feel no different than when at levels above 600-700. I do not understand why because that is not the experience of most eunuchs. Perhaps because I work out at the gym regularly both for strength and aerobic exercise. Although the libido is mostly non-existent, sustained erection is possible with the use of Prostaglandin or Levitra. Orgasms are weak and generally only mildly enjoyable. There is a general lack of sensation both flacid and erect. I have no issues with depression or lack of energy and bone density is very high at this time. If I stay off the HRT it will have to be tested regularly.

For what it is worth, this has been my experience. I am not a medical professional but am under constant care of an Endochronologist and Urologist who are interested in my case.

It should be true that T levels drop rather fast after bilateral orchiectomy, thats what I understood from many articles I've read. I can't give you any direct link now, as I have not much time to find them again.

In normal males T-levels fluctuate during 24h period quite significantly, reaching the maximum during night.

Despite high T level increase libido considerably, T-levels are not related directly to libido. There seem to be more complex mechanism in our brain than we think, which create libido. Which is not studied yet.

Probably that is why castrated males complain that no T-shots could create equal libido they had before castration.

Thus we can not evaluate our actual T-levels after castration by simple symptoms we experience. Like frequency of erections or hot flashes.