Bi-lateral Orchiectomy

[morgie (imported)]

Hi DocT,

Technically, I only produce prostatic fluid. Semen is produced by the testes. Because there's no semen, I make a clear ejaculate.

When I'm on T, the volume seems normal. I think that, without T, the prostate also atrophies and the volume reduces. It seems to recover quickly, though. At least so far.

Before I started on testosterone, my T level was 2.9 nmol/l. Normal for a post-pubertal adult is betweeen 8 and 38 nmol/l at that lab, depending on age. I'm not sure what it is now, post surgery, without T, but the biopsies suggested little or no activity down there.

You might not get cancer, either. It's not certain, is it?

I can understand a psychological argument against surgery, too. For me, I weighed this up against longer term health issues, and having the possibility of surgery hang over me until it was done with.

m

[JeffEunuch (imported)]

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.

I know exactly where you're coming from with respect to testosterone supplementation and health. I'm 61 y.o. and have been receiving testosterone treatments for ~6 years. While I also work at being fit, I have never been healthier. I don't know if the T treatment is the reason, but I feel it contributes immensely. One close friend who knows astrology much better than I do credits my health to my Scorpio earth sign. Who knows?

I in effect gambled on your last observation that the medical profession would be less likely to take me off testosterone if I was ballless. As I mentioned above, my own doc's response to my telling him some time following castration

was that I could have all the testosterone I wanted.

And he also offered that my natural ability to produce testosterone was fairly marginal.

I also had the motivation of pain and continued infections and the knowledge that my testicular health would likely never improve. I had twice been unable to continue competitive runs because one of my testes went rather far up the inguinal canal and made quite painful contact with my intestines.

Each one of us must balance the probabilities - medical, psychological, etc. - and make a judgment call when the solution isn't as clear cut as cancer or some other issue that calls for urgent medical intervention to remove one's testes. I've never regretted my decision. My psychological readiness was surely assisted by the one urologist I saw in my mid-20s in the late 1960s who told me that I'd develop increasong pain as I aged and might eventually consider voluntary castration. If I'd known how comfortable in the crotch I'd be, I would have chosen the bilateral orchiectomy procedure many years previously.

[Riverwind (imported)]

In reading this thread it accured to me that I have had same types of experiences.

Male doctors and medical people chring at the thought that someone would want there balls cut off. Most are ready to send you to a shrink.

Female doctors on the other hand seem to lissen, there not as shocked, they handle it much better.

Maybe if I had had a female uroligest I would not have needed to pay for it myself. Oh well water under the bridge.

River