After my orchiectomy in April I had the expected bottom out in libido although my libido had been pretty low prior to that. I started HRT on a low dose of estrogen in June when my blood panels showed T as less than 20 and estrogen slightly over 5. My libido remained low, no interest in masturbation or anything. One good indicator was when I was flipping through cable channels and came across some softer porn of three women making out and performing oral sex on each other, something that would have "interested" me in the past. I realized watching it that now I would have been more interested in a Braves game than I was in the porn.

Now though something has changed. In mid-September I had my followup appointment with my endo and my blood panels showed an E level of 80. The doctor said he wanted my E levels higher so he doubled my presciption starting in October. Now here's the interesting part. Around two weeks after doubling the prescripton, my libido has returned with the increase in estrogen and I don't mean just a little. It's probably higher now that it was prior to castration. I thought progesterone needed to be added in to increase liibido? I normally don't talk about things like this but I've probably masturbated more since my prescription doubled than in the year prior to my orchiectomy. So the question, is that a normal reaction to a higher dose of estrogen?

Can you list the mg doses per day you are talking about? What would you consider 2mg/day?

smoothie36 (imported) wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2016 6:14 am Can you list the mg doses per day you are talking about? What would you consider 2mg/day?

Sorry, I belong to another forum where listing dosages will earn chastisement from the moderators the first time and a three day vacation the second so I don't think about listing the dosage. The 1mg twice a day (total 2mg/day) was the low dose I was on to start with and my endo doubled it to 2mg twice a day (total 4mg/day).

I forwarded the first two posts on this thread to two of the experts on estrogen and sexuality. I had the following response back within less than an hour. If I receive any further information, I will post that as well.

Richard has asked for any information that members here are willing to share about their current knowledge about the effects of estrogen and where they received that knowledge. Please either post below or send it to me as a <Private Message> that I can forward to him. Your responses may encourage him to provide more information.

*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*

Thank you for sending that posting from the EA. You can tell the member that it is well established in both young and middle aged adult males--and other animals (so we know it is not a placebo effect) that exogenous estrogens can raise libido above the castrate levels for men. Progesterone is not necessary for this to occur.

This may deserve some discussion. I'd like to know how well-informed the community is about this from their physicians, who are prescribing estrogenic compounds to androgen deprived males.

Below are most of the relevant references from the last five years.

Richard W.

-------------------------------- (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23484454)

The effect of estrogen on the sexual interest of castrated males: Implications to prostate cancer patients on androgen-deprivation therapy. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23484454)

Wibowo E, Wassersug RJ.

Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2013 Sep;87(3):224-38.

Does the timing of estrogen administration after castration affect its ability to preserve sexual interest in male rats?--exploring the critical period hypothesis. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23274500)

Wibowo E, Wassersug RJ.

Physiol Behav. 2013 Feb 17;110-111:63-72.

Quality-of-life outcomes from the Prostate Adenocarcinoma: TransCutaneous Hormones (PATCH) trial evaluating luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonists versus transdermal oestradiol for androgen suppression in advanced prostate cancer. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27753182)

Gilbert DC, Duong T, Kynaston HG, Alhasso AA, Cafferty FH, Rosen SD, Kanaga-Sundaram S, Dixit S, Laniado M, Madaan S, Collins G, Pope A, Welland A, Nankivell M, Wassersug R, Parmar MK, Langley RE, Abel PD.

BJU Int. 2016 Oct 18. doi: 10.1111/bju.13687. [Epub ahead of print]

Wibowo E, Schellhammer PF, Wassersug R. Role of estrogen in normal male function: clinical implications for patients with prostate cancer on androgen deprivation therapy. J Urol. 2011;185:17–23.

Steinach and Young, Discoverers of the Effects of Estrogen on Male Sexual Behavior and the "Male Brain". (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26601123)

Södersten P.

eNeuro. 2015 Nov 17;2(6). pii: ENEURO.0058-15.2015. Review. Free PMC Article (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26601123)