I've heard of this before.

But how does it control prostate cancer?

Lovey,

My doctor's first reaction when he saw my vacant scrotum was, "Well, you will never have to worry about prostate cancer."

The point is, once a man is castrated, the prostate just shrivels up and goes away. Without testosterone, it seems that the troublesome gland can simply not exist. I still have mine and it is still functional, but a small fraction of what it used to be. My PSA is very low, and I have not had the "finger up the butt" treatment in several years, but I expect it will happen in the next couple of months. My expectations are that the doctor will have trouble finding it because it is a mere shadow of its former self.

Lovey (imported) wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2002 8:21 am I've heard of this before.

But how does it control prostate cancer?

Quite simply, prostate cancer feeds on testosterone. Indeed, before all the modern radiation, chemotherapy, and prostectomy operations came along, castration was the primary tretament choice for control of prostate cancer. Do a google search with keywords "prostate cancer castration".

As much as anything else, it is the reduced risk of prostate cancer that enables eunuchs to live10-15 years longer then intact males.

I saw my new doctor today and told him of my plans and that I was on Androcur. The first thing he said was that I just reduced my chanses for Prostate cancer to nill. He then talked about other things and finished with a blood test for liver, T count and some others I did not understand. Thats why he is the Doctor.

River

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2002 4:09 pm I saw my new doctor today and told him of my plans and that I was on Androcur. The first thing he said was that I just reduced my chanses for Prostate cancer to nill. He then talked about other things and finished with a blood test for liver, T count and some others I did not understand. Thats why he is the Doctor.

River

I congratulate you on finding a doctor willing to monitor you properly as you continue your plans.



By the way, although I keep telling everyone I am an elective eunuch, which is quite true, it is also true that I was diagnosed with Stage One prostate cancer. Most urologists refuse to do a castration at stage one. I had wanted to get rid of my excessive libido for some time anyway, which is why I went to Doctor Spector to kill two birds with one stone...or maybe two birds with TWO stones.

So I have two good things going for me now, The Eunuch Calm and a PSA of 0.3



Of course, I also have these hot flashes

Thank Andrew and others that have hounded me to get a Doctor and have him monitor my vital system. I went kicking and draging but did go, My Blood presure was really high 180/80 I think the thought of telling a total stranger what I am doing left me a bit nervice. After meeting the Doctor he tried to make me feel at ease and was very understanding and when he asked if I had someone to do the castration and I said a Doctor in Philly, he said "Doctor Spector"? That is when I really started to relax. So to all of you who feel like me about seeing a doctor. Go, Its well worth it and remember its your health there interested in not your balls.

Andrew (imported) wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2002 7:28 pm So I have two good things going for me now, The Eunuch Calm and a PSA of 0.3



Of course, I also have these hot flashes

As part of the insurance incentives program at my workplace, I let them do a PSA while they tested my cholesterol last November, and got a reading of only 0.048. I think mine was quite low because it was already more than two years past my castration, and also because I was only 31 years old at the time of my castration. If I ever get prostate cancer, my case would go on record, because the odds of that are now astronomical for me.

I think most cancers "feed" off sex hormones, not just prostate cancer. While the initial onset of cancer may be due to something like smoking, the rate of spread of cancer is often hormone related.