Below is an ongoing project. Any suggestions for improvement would be welcomed.



Every Eunuch will have different effects from his castration. Some of this may depend on whether he is an “elective” Eunuch or not. YMWV = Your Mileage Will vary. Some side effects of castration are:

Infertility, in all cases.

“The Eunuch Calm”, with reduced or eliminated thoughts of sex and aggression.

Reduced libido, erections, and nocturnal emissions, sometimes to the point of total asexuality.

Weight gain, including subcutaneous body fat. This thin layer of fat causes the skin to become softer and smoother.

Loss or thinning of body hair, but male pattern baldness halts. Reduced body odor.

Loss of lean muscle mass (hence muscle weakness, increased fatigue, and loss of stamina). Your shoulders will become narrower and you will lose muscle definition in your upper torso without a VIGOROUS exercise program.

Little to mild breast development, and mild fat redistribution around the hips and thighs.

The penis will shrink.

Hot flushes and night sweats.

POSSIBLE moodiness and tearfulness.

There MIGHT be cognitive losses, mostly in spatial orientation and short term memory

Possible Depression SHOULD be a major concern, and may require professional therapy.

The WORST side effect is osteoporosis. You will need to take at least 1,500 MG of calcium daily. Shortly before or after castration, you should have a bone density scan, and after that a scan every two years. A proper diet and exercise program will help in the battle against osteoporosis.

Most Physicians have no experience in caring for a hypogonadal man. Consider finding a Physician who has a thorough working knowledge on the problems and treatments of menopausal and post-menopausal women. Whilst the biology of a Eunuch and a post-menopausal woman are not identical, there is some overlap.

Andrew,

I looked over everything you just posted and cant think of a thing to add. Good Job.

River

Andrew (imported) wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2003 11:17 am “The Eunuch Calm”, with reduced or eliminated thoughts of sex and aggression.

Don't bet any money on THIS one.

It might happen, it might not.

Other than that warning, wonderful list, Andrew. Thanks.

Paolo wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2003 7:08 pm Don't bet any money on THIS one.

It might happen, it might not.

Other than that warning, wonderful list, Andrew. Thanks.

Hmmmm....how wouold you suggest we alter the sentence? Perahps: "Many will develop The Eunuch Calm...."

That works, Andrew.

It's a good point for the YMMV thing.

Andrew (imported) wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2003 11:17 am Your shoulders will become narrower and you will lose muscle definition in your upper torso without a VIGOROUS exercise program

While it is true that you will lose muscle mass, I have my doubts about changes in shoulder width. While muscle is bound to be reduced in that area, there is certainly also a lot of bone, and unless I am mistaken, that does not change (aside from losing some density) with hormone therapy/castration.

Thanks for making this resource available!

Thank all of you for your posts. They give me baselines to understand my own experiences.

I am slowly realizing that my hypogonadalism came after loss of libido. I suppose my hypogonadalism comes from normal aging. The loss of libido emerged as a side effect to medication. I must have confused the process of aging and response to medication. Certainly, the following effects seem to apply in my case:

1.) I'm certain that I'm infertile. The semen has been without colour for a long time. I never got anyone pregnant even in my youth. I suspect that I might have always had a low sperm count.

2.) For a long time, I had almost no thoughts about making love. I think that I became much less aggressive and assertive. For five years roughly from about 51 to 56, I had immense energy for hiking, travel, and reading. I felt this to be the best time in my life. I did masturbate about once or even twice a month during this time just enough to recall the sensations without being overwhelmed by the exercise.

3.) Reduced libido began almost sixteen years ago (in May). I am now sixty-years-old. I last made love at 49. I had erections for many years but they began to disappear within the past two years or so. I haven't had a nocturnal emission in years. I'm not certain when I lost the ability (most of the time) to masturbate to orgasm.

4. I went from 145 pounds to 165, then to 186, and recently to 225 pounds. I hate the weight but I don't have much desire any longer to fight it. I suppose my skin got smoother and softer. I'm not certain. I got older looking.

5. I'm not certain about loss or thinning of body hair. I've always had a lot of body hair. When I entered puberty, I recall thinking about the loss of the soft hair of childhood as a loss but I liked the body hair. We didn't shave back then. though I did mild body building from about 15 to my late 30's. For sixty, I have a pretty full head of hair. I don't know about body odor. I bath more than any other human being who ever lived. I used to shower or bath three or four times a day. Now I shower only once or twice a day.

6.) Five years ago, I could hike for hours and many miles at 8,000 feet. Two years ago, I struggled to walk three miles-an-hour at near sea level. I lost muscle definition in my chest. I tire easily. I feel sleepy a lot of the time. I'm not assertive about reading or study.

7.) Testosterone shots and exercise seem to have reduced mild breast development as well as

Andrew (imported) wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2003 11:17 am mild fat redistribution around the hips and thighs.

However, my breasts are no longer large from my former weight-lifting but from extra fat in the pectoral area.

8.) Horror of horrors, my penis did shrink. I call it the move to Adlai Stevenson status from John Kennedy status. My testicles atrophied, but with HRT they are full again.

9.) Hot flushes and night sweats disappeared after my bypass surgery.

10.) Medication seems to control moodiness and tearfulness.

11.) I definitely experience cognitive losses in focus, concentration,

Andrew (imported) wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2003 11:17 am spatial orientation and short term memory.

In youth, I had an extremely high spatial intelligence and great short-term memory. I suspect that both are now in a normal range.

With testosterone shots, I now get "hits" from women or get noticed in ways that didn't happen during the past two or three years. I have begun to regret that I lost libido as young as I did, but those are the breaks.

The psychological effects of hypogonadism are considerable and the counter effects of HRT are also considerable. Not responding sexually to women (or men for that matter) had the effect of isolating me. It took me out of the cycle of daily interactions that make life intriguing and rich (to me).

I miss making love. I miss courship. I would love to do some "wild" things before I get even older. I would be open to what an adventurous lover wanted to do. I would at least consider a lost of stuff. I did enjoy many years of sexual play with a fantastic wife. I loved being with her.

Not being in play, perhaps, did liberate me from the work that courtship entails, but it also denied me the chance to get to know another person in the deep way that sexual interaction allows (yes, I got the pun). It denies me the chance to feel fulfilled and complete. It denies me he chance to feel part of human interaction at its most basic level. I consider this a substantial loss.

With HRT I have at least for the moment found some sense of desire returning. I do have a girlfriend (though she lives rather far away). Whether I could actually share complete intercourse with her, I don't know, but I think that at least in some sense I could.

I'm not certain that the "eunuch calm" or a decrease in aggression (or assertion) is all that great (for me). The physical side-effects noted above are not desirable because I liked looking manly. I liked feeling buff. I liked nice hard erections. I loved having orgasms. I liked the bliss in getting a lover off.

Yet, during the time before HRT, I said that I did enjoy the calm and being out of play. Of course, at sixty, I know that much of what I experience is simply aging. And I now know that many of the effects that I took to be from hypogonadism were effects of loss of libido from medication.

I would hate to be without balls. I would hate to be without testosterone again, though I recognize that eventually will happen (again).

Anyone considering castration ought, in my opinion and if possible, first try chemical castration over physical castration. The losses from castration are considerable. Still, as with Andrew, you may want some of these losses, but you ought to weigh all possible medical side-effects.

I think being older helps me deal with the losses. However, loss of libido in my late forties still seems more than a bit early. And lust has its own pleasures.

Now my fantasy about penectomy is something else. That fantasy requires functioning with a high level of libido but thwarted libido. Being manly in all ways but having a penis is the essence (for me) of that very real and intense fantasy.

Another side effect is prostate cancer is less likley to be a problem.I seen my urologest today and he told me that he did not need to see me any more as long as i am on depo provera.Lsat year at this time he was giving me every test that he could because my psa was so out of line so this is a good thing NO.

I had a biopsy on tissue from my prostate before I began HRT. I will now have examinations every six months. My urologist is not concerned with my low testosterone. He is protecting me from cancer. My internal medicine doctor is concerned about my overall quality of life. I am willing to take some risk. However, I know what death from prostate cancer can be like. It's a question of risk and how much risk one will take in order to enjoy some benefit.

Well softee i will get a chekup every year by my doctor and the blood tests but the urologest probley wont have to see me.But yes i will always get my checkups my uncle died of this cancer.