I have been taking cyproterone and tamoxifen since the beginning of the New Year, with my wife’s approval. She is several years younger than me (I’m 61) and she had gone through menopause several years ago, when her libido diminished considerably. All this time, I was constantly harassing her for sex that she had no interest in and I found myself frustrated most of the time. She said she would ask me for a divorce if I didn’t do something about it and lay off. When I said that there was medicine to stop me from being horny all the time, she said to take it.

I started off with a low dose of 25 mg of cyproterone and 10 mg of tamoxifen, which I increased to 20 mg daily. I reduced the cyproterone to 12.5 mg but I soon began experiencing nighttime semi-erections so I went back to the larger dosage and they stopped. Just a few days ago, I again saw a return of nighttime semi-erections so today I’ve upped my intake of cyproterone to 50 mg to see what happens. I don’t think that I would go above 50 mg for health concerns and will eventually go back to 25 mg. I also take a women’s over 50 multivitamin every day for calcium intake, try to eat healthy foods and do weight bearing training and calorie burning exercises.

In the past two and half months I have experienced very little sex drive, no spontaneous erections, no sexual dreams, no sexual frustration, much smaller testicles, smaller penile circumference, very little ejaculate, tiredness, which has since gone away, some shortness of breath when I exercise, some weight gain around the waist and softer and slower growing facial hair. This almost all happened in a matter of just a few weeks time after I started taking the medication.

Recently, I’ve begun to feel cold more easily and have some nighttime sweating that I can handle due to the hormonal changes, which my wife appreciates the irony of because I always made light of her hot and cold episodes at night when she was going through it. She refers to my changes as my male menopause experience.

When the weekend is here, I can get and stay hard and perform when my wife wants. It is rather nice because both of us are now satisfied with just weekly sex.

I realize that I will begin to experience other things as the weeks and months go by. My sex drive may drop off even more but when you don’t have it, you don’t miss it. I chose to start with very low dosages and slowly increase them. I thought that was a safer way to go. The large doses that others take I think are unnecessary and potentially dangerous to their health, especially over the long haul. The smaller the dosage possible, the better. So far, I like the changes and so does my wife.

Very interesting. Thank you for contributing to this thread. Are you taking Tamoxifen in order to prevent breast growth?

I seem to be super-sensitive to Cyproterone Acetate. The info on the Inhouse Pharmacy website suggests that some guys only need 10mg a week to achieve impotence, and I have a feeling I might be one of them. My wife decided to cut the tablets into little pieces and start me on roughly 2mg. However, I still knew which day it started: I had a metallic taste in my mouth and noticed other small changes too, such as a slight change in my mental focus, sleep disturbances from body heat fluctuations and weaker erections. This all happened within a couple of days of the first dose. It's the impact on my sleep which is the most bothersome side effect. I have a poor sleep pattern anyway due to allergic rhinitis, and additional difficulty in sleeping gets me down badly. I therefore decided to quit this latest trial after only a week. I feel a bit bad about being a serial quitter, but it's all experience, and when I finally sort out my allergy problems I will probably try again, although I guess I should give serious consideration to trying another chemical castration method.

Riven, now that you remind me, another effect from the cyproterone that I noticed quickly was the beginning of gynecomastia, so I began taking tamoxifen to counter it early on. 10 mg daily was not enough, even with my taking only 25 mg of cyproterone but 20 mg seems to work. Also, I noticed a further reduction in my libido when I began taking the tamoxifen. Perhaps some of the effects of the combination of drugs that I listed in my previous post are partially attributable to my tamoxifen intake.

My increase to 50 mg of cyproterone daily has ended my nocturnal semi-erections. I will stay with this dosage for a few weeks, while monitoring for any possible debilitating effects that I didn’t have at the lower dose. My goal would be go eventually go back to 25 mg.

By the way, I have no problems sleeping though the night, unless I’m woken from feeling cold or have hot sweats, but for me they are minor issues so far. Perhaps you should look into depo-provera as an alternative, if your wife doesn't mind giving you the injections. Personally, I would start with only one shot a month to see how it goes or maybe, in your case, just a partial dose since you seem to be so sensitive. The problem with depo is that you'll have to ride out any unfavorable reactions to the medicine. Good luck!

It's a while since I wrote in this blog/thread so here's an update:

I had another try with cyproterone in 2010 but I hit the same problem as before; basically losing sleep because of hot flushes, and I quit the drug after a week or so. I had another attempt with cyproterone in 2011, but first an update on my/our situation.

Mrs Riven's cancer came back again in 2010 and she had to go back into chemo in the winter. This has become a way of life for us but it's nonetheless very hard. The chemo she was on is known for affecting the central nervous system and I often found her with very low mood and I was finding it hard to absorb her tears without anyone there to support me. Luckily I was offered some therapies through a local cancer charity, and I asked to see their psychotherapist, who was a very nice, intelligent, middle aged woman who listened to me unload my troubles. I talked about my life as a carer, and the difficulties I have in keeping my self esteem together when 'househusband' and 'carer' as job descriptions don't exactly enhance a guy's status. During the six sessions I was allocated I talked about a lot of things, but although I thought I would tell her about my sex life and my experiments with chemical castration, I didn't. I could have had further sessions with but I didn't. However, the therapy was very useful and it kick-started some interesting conversations with my wife, who by then was out of chemo and getting her strength back.

Spring 2011. We were making plans, as much as you can when one of you has advanced cancer and, on a roll from my therapy, I made an attempt to engage my wife in our sex life by buying a sex therapy self-help book which we read together. It surprised us both when we found ourselves having some of the best sex that we've had in ages. Mrs Riven is 61 and her sex hormones have been at a very low level for a long time now, with the side effects of the cancer treatments making her feel even less sexy. But the effect of my bringing the sex therapy book into the bedroom helped her believe that I was still interested in her sexually, and we think the suggestions in the book helped us both to get confirmation from each other about our love and commitment. We had some nice sex because of it, but perhaps lapsing back into a more 'usual' frame of mind, it wasn't long before we weren't doing it so frequently again. Then the cancer needed treating again and MrsR went back on chemotherapy and of course sex went to the bottom of the priority list again.

Early July 2011. I got out the cyproterone and started taking approx 2-3mg twice daily. This felt better than previous times when I could feel the surges of a daily dose. I wasn't badly bothered by hot flushes and was ok for a week and starting to feel that I was going to be able to do it for a longer period than before. But then, after 8 days, I became ill with gastric problems, and worrying that low testosterone might be compromising my health I stopped taking it. My gastric problems have been bugging me ever since, and I was recently put on Omeprazole (Proton Pump Inhibitor) which is controlling the problem. My sex drive was significantly lowered by my week on cyproterone during July and slowly recovered towards the end of the summer. My friend M (a female radiographer) suggested that maybe just doing a week on cyproterone whenever I badly need a break from my sex drive is the way to go anyway, rather than trying to do it long term.

Late August 2011. Took cyproterone again at the same dosage as before, but only took it for three days before giving up due to feeling that I was losing sleep and feeling depressed. I realise that my sleep pattern needs to be more solid before starting cyproterone. I only took 3 of my 2-3mg doses, although I could still feel it's effect. I really am very sensitive to this drug.

October 2011. 'Came out' to a few close friends and family members about my experiments with cyproterone. Until then I had only shared this info with one person (M) other than MrsRiven and felt it unfair on her, and I felt that I needed to 'vent' about my struggle with our sex drive mis-match. Everyone I/we told about it made supportive noises at the time, but none have asked me about it since and I haven't felt like bringing up the subject either.

November 2011. Decided to try cyproterone again but just 1 x 2.5mg dose daily taken in the afternoon. I can tell that it still works for me at this low a dose as my beard growth still slowed down, although maybe not quite as much as before. I wasn't bothered by hot flushes. It made me calmer and took the edge off my sex drive, and felt sustainable. I was at day 12 and would have continued but then I got a chest infection and once again, started feeling doubts about my ability to fight the infection while my system was being altered by the cyproterone, so I stopped taking it.

At that low a dose (approx 2.5 mg daily), I didn't think cyproterone would make me impotent, but my erections were reducing in hardness and morning wood was only a semi-erection for a few minutes rather than the usual rock hard half hour. When I tried masturbating it took a lot of manual stimulation to induce an erection and then effort was needed to achieve orgasm. My ejeculate reduced in volume. I was curious to know if another few weeks would result in further changes, and whether this dose would be enough to cause impotence.

MrsR's cancer was coming back again, and had spread to her liver. So she went back on chemotherapy (for the sixth time in 8 years) in November. A different drug and it's working better this time.

January 2012. I now have a carer support counsellor - provided by the National Health Service. She's a phycologist in her 30s. I have told her about my taking cyproterone. She seems very interested and has described it as a 'sticking plaster' (Band Aid) for my relationship with my wife, which I thought was quite apt.

February 2012. Mrs R has finished chemo now. It seems to have done a good job and we're hoping for a longer period before the cancer needs treating again. We have been talking about our sex life and of course the subject of my doing cyproterone is part of that conversation. We think it appeals to us both because it reduces my sex drive to match hers, and reassures her that I intend not to stray.

Mar 2012. Took 2.5mg ca daily for 5 days. Then for another three days in April, and 12 days during May.

At the suggestion of my carer support counsellor, I spoke with my new (female) GP (General Practitioner, or family doctor) about my doing cyproterone. She is concerned, but understands my motives. She took blood tests in order to have base line for my liver function etc. I'm not sure if it's just an age thing, or due to the long term effect of interfering with my hormones with cyproterone, but my sex drive seems less strong these days. I do get nocturnal erections, but I don't get erect just from looking at porn, etc. like I used to. I seem to need a bit of manual stimulation to get erect these days. I'm pretty sure my ejaculate has reduced in volume too.

Mrs Riven has been very ill due to the cancer spreading to her liver. She has had more chemo and her liver is ok again, but she is not very strong and is unable to engage in strenuous activities. We have tried sexual intercourse a few times this year (maybe 4 times) but sex is not comfortable for her because her mucous membranes are very fragile, and even when she masturbates she can not orgasm any more - probably because of her lack of general fitness. So we have stopped trying to have intercourse, but she still likes to make me come manually from time to time.

We were talking with a girlfriend of ours about my doing cyproterone, and this girl, who works in a health food store, suggested I try Agnus Castus instead, with the hope that it might reduce my sex drive without giving me hot flushes and tiredness.

I have had an active summer this year but my sex drive has been very slow to come back. Occasionally taking cyproterone might be having a permanent effect, but of course, at age 57 I have to expect a slight reduction in sex drive. However, I've been getting more nocturnal erections recently and I've been masturbating daily, so I decided to give the Agnus Castus a go.

6 September 2012. I have been taking the (FSC) Agnus Castus 1000mg tablets daily for nearly a month now. I haven't felt any negative side effects yet, but I think my beard growth may be slowing and I don't seem to need deodorant as much. I still seem to be having prolonged nocturnal erections and I don't think my sex drive has been lowered yet. I'll keep taking Agnus Castus and note any further changes.

21 October 2012. I have nearly finished the bottle of Agnus Castus tablets and I don't think I'll be getting more. That's because I don't think they do anything. I'm not sure if the beard growth and body smell thing was real or imagined. I only have 2 more tablets of AC and after that it'll be interesting to note any changes. To be honest, I don't expect any changes. I'm pretty sure my hormones have gone back to 'normal' levels.

30 October 2012. My sex drive has increased significantly in the last couple of days. Harder and more persistent nocturnal erections, and sex has been on my mind very much more frequently. I think I have to attribute this rather sudden change to stopping taking the Agnus Castus about 5 days ago. Sex with Mrs Riven is still not possible. She is still on chemotherapy and it has caused her vagina to become far too fragile. She has adhesions between her inner and outer labia which are very sore. She has discussed the problem with her doctors and apart from suggesting aqueous creams, etc. there is nothing more they can do to help. Incidentally, the night before last Mrs R gave me a hand job and commented that there was a lot of semen and it was thicker than it has been for ages. I had been thinking about trying cyproterone again soon, but I will probably order more Agnus Castus and may resume taking that instead. I have read that the effects are cumulative, so it might be interesting to see how I feel after another few months.

Riven, you could try another type of CC medication - I used depo provera for several periods during 2009 and 2010 (perhaps early 2011? Can't quite remember now). I decided against CPA because of the stories I have read on here about depression, low energy and feminising side effects - DP didn't do anything like that to me (there is a high-dose version called Farlutal which I got through Goldpharma and was much more effective than the standard DP). It's the preferred drug nowadays for reducing the sex drive of sex offenders because it reduces sexual fantasies rather than making you impotent. I wouldn't bother with an OTC herbal 'remedy'. They are freely available because they do nothing - when a herbal drug is proved to be effective (like St John's wort), it's regulated.