How many take T after castration - how many not

[jako9999 (imported)]

Hi all as the title says how many people take T after castration and in what dosage and how many dont.

Im just trying to work out what to do I still want to get erections, but when I need to and think viagra or an injection in my penis can do this as my doctor has already told me if I cant get an erection on T this is available.

Thanks

[JesusA (imported)]

The question is more complex than just T vs. no T. I would ask about five clear variations of HRT that members of the Archive might be using (each of which, of course, has finer divisions).

Some, especially those with BIID, take a full replacement dose of T. The parts didn't belong, but what they provided is essential to the life they seek.

Some who are here take a full transitional dose of estrogen, looking to feminize their minds and bodies.

Some prefer to use absolutely no HRT of any sort, seeking a neutral/asexual life.

Others opt for small amounts of either T or E, with the goal of fending off osteoporosis, hot flashes, and some of the other effects of no HRT. There are different effects produced by low doses of either T or E, so they are not interchangeable.

Some move from one option to another over time.

There is a reason that Your Mileage Will Vary pops up in so many conversations here. Sexuality post-castration does not vary directly with the hormone option chosen. Some on full replacement T find themselves essentially asexual, while others on no HRT find that they are far more sexual than they had expected.

[janekane (imported)]

To illustrate an aspect of the diversity regarding sex hormones, I parted company with testicular testosterone in 1986, and have never taken replacement testosterone. An internationally known endocrinologist did put me on a female hormone regimen for a few years, which had the typical effects, and those effects rather well validated my sense of being somewhere in the transsexual realm, since those changes seem very, very right to my brain.

However, my reason for castration was not sexual in the usual sense. At the time of my orchiectomy, my dad had died, and my brother was dying, from a genetically-predisposed form of cancer. I simply figured that I would have a far greater "sex life" if I avoided dying from cancer as did my dad and brother.

I am among a number of folks here who garnered a chunk of portable wallpaper (Doctor of Philosophy in ...) and some folks think I may be a "research scientist" sort of person. I made a guess, the best guess a very, very good college and graduate school biology-focused education allowed me to make, that, without some drastic surgeries, my sex life would be greatly diminished because I have yet to see a corpse enjoying sex.

I have always had a simple way of living my life. For all I know or understand, it is, in words, tantamount to "telling the Eternal Tao" (which I have been told is the Tao that cannot be told). What way? Tao, I have been given to understand, means, in English, "way."

How do I live my life? "Whatever happens, as it happens, is necessary and sufficient."

Thus, after an event in my life has happened, I do not wonder whether my life would be better had the event happened other than as it happened.

Did I know that surgeries would allow me to live a life considerably longer than those of my dad and brother? No. My dad died at age 66, my brother at age 50, and I was 47 when I underwent the bilateral orchiectomy and total colectomy with ileo-rectal anastomosis.

An unlicensed "cutter" can, so I understand, sometimes do an orchiectomy and not kill the person being castrated. I cannot even begin to imagine an unlicensed "cutter" doing a total colectomy and the person, sans colon, surviving. So, I got doctors involved and got surgeries done by state-licensed doctors, though the orchiectomy was done by a doctor who set the condition that I would never, in any public way, identify the doctor.

There was the chance, far greater with the colectomy, of my dying during, or soon following, the surgery; much lower risk from the orchiectomy.

It has recently come to my attention that Steve Jobs had what was thought to be highly treatable pancreatic cancer, but, wanting to avoid surgery, tried other ways of treating his cancer until after it had become terminal. He was not the first person to accomplish such a feat; I had known some other people who shared his basic attitude and who had died in consequence of their attitude.

I make the best guesses I can about the future, and my future in particular, and, having made my guess, continue my life as best I can. I do not second-guess any decision or event in my life, and I do take into account as best I can, everything I can of what I have already learned in making a significant choice.

So, however it happened, I have lived more years than did my dad or brother. And I have no way of knowing whether I would be living better now had I not undergone those surgeries. If I have no way of knowing something, I reckon I have no need of knowing it.

Osteoporosis? Alendronate, for now.

And I am glad to be alive.

[tugon (imported)]

I take nothing. I wanted to be rid of T and I am. I do not want to feminize anymore than I have without T so I would never take E.

[AtomicMush (imported)]

I first started with injections 2 - 3 weeks apart, but now do implants about every 4 months. The injections seemed to cause my T to go up and down, and the down lasted longer than the up. The implants deliver a steady dose. Everything works great, and I'm not a raving sex maniac, just act like a normal 40 year old. Pretty good at 63-1/2. I am very happy with my situation, but I hate the floppy skin on my sack. That has to go!

[Hash (imported)]

Listen to Jesus, He's right about this. I fit the category of using low dose testosterone replacement. My "mileage varies" because after using low dose HRT for such a long time, my body has adjusted to it as being normal. Now, whenever I attempt to increase the amount of testosterone in my body, my body rejects it, aromatase changes it to estrogen and my penis disappears or shrinks up inside, my body bloats, my feet swell, I become an emotional mess. All the signs displayed by women going through their monthly cycle. My doctor believes this is a unique situation for me personally and it might have to do something with my chromosomes, genes, etc. My new normal is based on a small amount of compounded testosterone I use which brings me up to about 125-135 on average.

[graylayer02 (imported)]

Listen to Jesus, He's right about this. I fit the category of using low dose testosterone replacement. My "mileage varies" because after using low dose HRT for such a long time, my body has adjusted to it as being normal. Now, whenever I attempt to increase the amount of testosterone in my body, my body rejects it, aromatase changes it to estrogen and my penis disappears or shrinks up inside, my body bloats, my feet swell, I become an emotional mess. All the signs displayed by women going through their monthly cycle. My doctor believes this is a unique situation for me personally and it might have to do something with my chromosomes, genes, etc. My new normal is based on a small amount of compounded testosterone I use which brings me up to about 125-135 on average.

Wow, I thought that I was the only one who this happened to. When I was intact, going off of T did that to me. So did going back onto T. So did staying on T for about two years with varying degrees of adherence--I was sort of aggressive and emotional at the same time. That all went away after I tapered completely off of T; I feel back to my normal self. One thing is for sure: Swings in T levels do weird things.

[EunuchAusTX (imported)]

I don't use HRT either. I experimented with T for a while late last year but didn't notice any real difference in my sex drive or energy levels so decided against continuing with it. Despite my lack of T I have a reasonably active sex life (it helps that I'm a bottom), and occasionally go through spells where I want sex all the time and can't get enough of it. I just don't get erections or have orgasms all that often, and have lately begun to suspect that I've finally lost the ability to get erections at all. I seem to be more sexual than most no-T eunuchs but that is my own personal "mileage". If you want to get erections then HRT would seem to be the way to go. As for me I could be perfectly happy without ever having another one.

[stevesd (imported)]

I am on Androgel two pumps in the Morn and I am able to still get a woody, the Doc likes doing prostate checks and PSA blood Tests, but since my T levels moved to almost Zero after the Burdizzo Clamping, I am doing okay and still enjoy having a woody. stevesd

[unencumbered (imported)]

Doc likes doing prostate checks and PSA blood Tests, but since my T levels moved to almost Zero after the Burdizzo Clamping, I am doing okay and still enjoy having a woody. stevesd

Why does your doc check your prostate and do PSA tests on you regularly? I was under the impression that having low testosterone reduced the risk of prostate cancer.