Officially a eunuch 11/2008

[SteveS1980 (imported)]

Very informative and useful information. Thanks for sharing your experience. I desire removal of testes due to painful chronic recurring epididymus but doc says after epididymus is removed infection and pain will be non-issues. But after having epididymus removed from left testicle years ago I know what such an operation does; the testicle will be soft, squishy, small, numb, sterile. Not wanting to be a host to 2 such deformities I would prefer to have them removed and just use replacement hormones instead. A life of using such hormones, and their varying effectiveness, is something to consider. Your experiences are not heart warming. Once my surgery is over I guess I will revisit my desire, and consequences, and alternatives to removal.......which as I have learned is a virtual impossibility anyway as your case illustrates.

[Hash (imported)]

Consider using bioidentical hormones. I use a compounded testosterone cream and I don't shave off any hair, rubs right in and works great. I low dose the "t" so it also lasts a long time and only costs me $30 bucks a month, though my insurance pays another $30, but that's still only $60 a month. Cheaper than a lot of meds.

http://www.bodylogicmd.com/bioidentical-hormone-therapy

[bfleish (imported)]

Congrats from here too.

It really boggles my mind why the Dr went to such excessive pains to try and save what was obviously a doomed and probably non functional organ from your description and in the process put your well being and possibly your life at risk. All this in spite of your clear desire to have it all done with.

Maybe it had something to do with fears of a malpractice suit or something if you went home sterile. I guess the message is when you encounter a situation like this is to move quickly to change to a more sympathetic Dr. What have other people experienced in similar circumstances ?? Surely you should be able to make these kinds of dcisions yourself and have those decisions respected whan such medical conditions occur. GRRRRRR

The reason the doc went to excecessive lengths to try to save my very much doomed testicle is actually pretty simple. Training. You go to med school and have drilled into your head to "do no harm" and "do everything till the end" and that is exactly what my urologist did. My urologist is in his early 50's and is extremely conservative in his thoughts and processes. He felt that my wishes "of just getting rid of it" to end an infection was extreme for my thoughts and processes. After a very INTENSE conversation we somehow met somewhere in the middle.

After listening to him explain his reasons for doing everything he could to salvage what was left was for fertility I clearly explained to him that fertility meant nothing to me and there was no other reasonable reason to go through the time and don't forget about the expense of Hospitalization and

IV antibiotics to try to salvage

something that wasn't doing anything any more.

I watched the gears turn inside his head and realized that he had run out of reasons that his training had taught him to keep a testicle. Next thing out of his mouth was "You know this will be permanent, No second chances". I said "Where do I sign doc?"

I was trembling when I finished speaking with the doc. Honestly I did not have a plan B at the time.

I am not absolutely sure but I think I was the first patient my doc had ever castrated and it was not for cancer. And it definitely bothered him. Alot.

But in a strange way it made me respect my doctor even more. He stood up for what is right about medicine. But he also listened and was able to step out of his comfort zone and see that I was a real person, with a real problem and I was really asking for his help. And he absolutely helped me.

[bfleish (imported)]

Consider using bioidentical hormones. I use a compounded testosterone cream and I don't shave off any hair, rubs right in and works great. I low dose the "t" so it also lasts a long time and only costs me $30 bucks a month, though my insurance pays another $30, but that's still only $60 a month. Cheaper than a lot of meds.

http://www.bodylogicmd.com/bioidentical-hormone-therapy

Hash,

I will consider biodentical hormones at some point in the future. Right now my goal is to heal up 100% and not mess with my hormones (or any other drugs) until everything has settled down and life is absolutely normal and starts to become boring again.

I do have insurance so the Androgel is not a killer for me right now. But since it is so expensive I have a sneaking suspicion that in the future the Insurance Company might start pitching a fit about it. Another fight for another day.

[bfleish (imported)]

One month followup:

Actually it is 2 days early but here goes.

No pain, no drainage, feeling fantastic and good to go.

Then I went to the doctor today. He was alarmed that the infection in my scrotum had not gone down as much as he liked. It still feels & looks like there is a large testicle in there. The doctor assured me that he absolutely removed the testicle and what remains is the abcess and infection that surrounded my doomed testicle. He wants me to go back on antibiotics and if it doesn't start looking much better within a month he might want to go back in and see what's going on.

It took the wind out of my sails. I walked in feeling fantastic and ready to put this nightmare behind me and I got sideswiped by the doctor. I walked out kind of upset.

I guess I had it in my mind that once the testicle was gone and I healed up that would be it. Not so fast.

Oh well, that's how the ball bounces (or did it go spat when it came out?). I am in zero pain and feeling great on repacement hormones. Things could be a lot worse.

[jlc9292 (imported)]

I guess my body is really weird. I have been on shots that took my peak T levels over 1300. I have been completely off HRT for periods of time and am currently off. At levels of 800 or so I had problems. I feel better, have as much energy, lose weight (15-20 lbs.) each time I get off HRT. I am married and my sex life is active off HRT. I have no depression, memory issues, bone density issues, or any of the problems that most talk about. The only change is in my attitude towards sex. I am able to perform especially with levitra or prostaglandin but really don't mind if I go longer periods between sex. It is also much more difficult to orgasm but I don't mind that either. My testosterone level is down to 13 ng/dl or basically none. Below 50 is considered castrate level by most Drs. Certainly below 20 is castrate level. I have not had cancer. I am curious if there are others that really do not see much life change off testosterone completely.

[mrt (imported)]

The reason the doc went to excecessive lengths to try to save my very much doomed testicle is actually pretty simple. Training. You go to med school and have drilled into your head to "do no harm" and "do everything till the end" and that is exactly what my urologist did. My urologist is in his early 50's and is extremely conservative in his thoughts and processes. He felt that my wishes "of just getting rid of it" to end an infection was extreme for my thoughts and processes. After a very INTENSE conversation we somehow met somewhere in the middle.

After listening to him explain his reasons for doing everything he could to salvage what was left was for fertility I clearly explained to him that fertility meant nothing to me and there was no other reasonable reason to go through the time and don't forget about the expense of Hospitalization and

[quote="bfleish (imported)" time

=1227438360]
IV antibiotics to try to salvage

something that wasn't doing anything any more.

I watched the gears turn inside his head and realized that he had run out of reasons that his training had taught him to keep a testicle. Next thing out of his mouth was "You know this will be permanent, No second chances". I said "Where do I sign doc?"

I was trembling when I finished speaking with the doc. Honestly I did not have a plan B at the time.

I am not absolutely sure but I think I was the first patient my doc had ever castrated and it was not for cancer. And it definitely bothered him. Alot.

But in a strange way it made me respect my doctor even more. He stood up for what is right about medicine. But he also listened and was able to step out of his comfort zone and see that I was a real person, with a real problem and I was re
[/quote]
ally asking for his help. And he absolutely helped me.

Thats similar to my experience. The issue of "possible" fertility is very strong and needs to be talked out at length. You may think you have no one to impregnate or that your wife is past the age of being capable but a doctor thinks ahead. Maybe you will remarry a 20 year old or whatever. Getting out in the open the concerns that you might not be worried about but the surgeon IS, seems to be the right path. And yes, pain is relative. A Urologist is not "into" this very deep so thats why you really do yourself a favour by talking to a doctor who does pain. And if he/she can resolve it without removing your Testicle(s)? Thats a good thing! No, lifetime of HRT and REAL sterility.

[bfleish (imported)]

Two month followup:

It seems like its been a long time since my orchiectomy but in reality it has only been 2 months.

There still is a grape sized lump in my scrotum which is a remnant of the abscess that caused the failure of the testicle. It is a strange feeling to have something in your scrotum that feels like a small testicle that is slowly getting smaller and will one day be gone.

Hormone wise I am using Androgel and my latest T-level was 651. I have much more energy and my mind seems so much sharper. Morning wood and erections are "approriate" for someone my age. While I wish the sexual desires were reduced I really enjoy the other benefits of increased energy and mental clarity even more. Body hair has increased significantly. My chest and belly were hair free when taking androcur and now it has filled in almost completely.

Another benefit of replacing the hormones is that I am losing quite a bit of weight. It seems to just fall off with little effort. I feel much better 20lbs lighter. I've got another 20-30lbs to go.

So for now I have made the decision to continue the Androgel at the current dose. It has had such a positive effect on me that I can't imagine going back to my low energy, clouded mind state.

I guess I am one of those people that wanted eunuchism so bad and when I finally achieved it I realized that I couldn't live with the low energy and clouded mind. Please, please consider this before making the final cut. The energy loss was significant for me and even simple tasks like taking a shower became exhausting.

They say there is nothing like your own produced testosterone. But in my case whatever my body produced wasn't compatible with me. I did everything I could to remove it from my system via Spiro/Androcur/Depo Provera. After my orchiectomy I started Androgel and it seemed like it was a better fit. Very hard to explain but the replacement drug seems to work better than what my testicles produced.

I realize that as a enunch I can manipulate hormonally what I want. If I change my mind and want to return to no erections/desire all I have to do is reduce the dose of Androgel. If I want to be a horny SOB I can increase the dose of Androgel. If I wish to be more female then I can stop Androgel and take estrogen. In my case I don't think I would go the estrogen route, but I could.

Speaking of a horny SOB when I was trying to figure out what the right dose of Androgel should be I purposely tried a very large dose. Acne flourished, I snapped at everyone, and road rage became way too much. The biggest problem were the erections that would not go away. At first it was interesting and different. But after a full day of a raging hard on my penis would become very sore. Not fun.

The one thing that is still bothering me is my scrotum. It has not shrunk up at all. As a result it sticks to my thigh and can get very uncomfortable when it twists & stretches. I have found that trimming the hair on my scrotum helps but it still seems to be in the way more than I like. I have decided to give it at least a year to see if it will shrink up. If it doesn't then I'll look at getting it removed.

So after years of trying to become a eunuch my desires became different once the deed was done. I hope that this is a learning experience for the wannabes out there. The manipulation of hormones in your body is truly life changing in more ways than you can imagine.

[mrt (imported)]

Your post was quite interesting. Perhapes the Testosterone that your testes were making was going in doses too low or high or perhapes they were giving you strong cycles with way too little then too much or some combo? Androgel is like a rock. You get a peak and it slowly goes down. Nothing in your body will really change it much and perhapes thats why your satisfied with it?

In regards to too much or too little. YES! There is a "sweet" spot that you may spend months to years figuring out and when you do? NICE!

Anyway, glad you got rid of the pain and good luck with the swelling going down. It will eventually. Use hummm... Talcum? Powder in the shorts to keep your scrotum from catching and sticking to everything. My wife has a big bottle of this that I dump in my shorts to avoid the hot and stickies... The kind of underwear you wear can be a factor as well but I've got implants so part of it is to lift them up a tad.

[bfleish (imported)]

Almost 4 month followup.

Not good news. An abscess has formed from the stump of the cord that was left in the scrotum. The abscess is much larger than a normal sized testicle and does not hurt. But where the abscess has attached to the scrotum it is extremely painful. Back on pain pills and antibiotics.

When I had the orchiectomy 4 months ago I asked the doc to take the testicle out inguinally so that there would be no chance of a problem in the future. He chose to do it scrotally after I was knocked out due to the testicle being huge in size and he didn't want me to have to go through another inguinal recovery. I wasn't real happy when I woke up but I hoped for the best.

So here I am 4 months later discussing with the doctor about going back in again and having the remaining cord removed inguinally. I'm not exactly happy.

Mr.T has mentioned it many times on this site and now I join him in absolutely demanding that if you have a doctor do an orchiectomy make sure it is done inguinally.

The inguinal approach means not taking the testicle out through the scrotum but an inscision in the groin which removes the testicle and most of the cord.

Removing the testicle and the cord prevents the cord from causing all sorts of problems when disconnected within the scrotum. I've read of the nerves in the cord attaching the the scrotum and creating all kinds of pain issues. And there is my problem of an abscess forming from the stump.

On another note it is interesting to have gone a few months with an empty scrotum and then very suddenly having a very large "testicle" back in there. It seems like I used to walk with my legs a little wider apart pre-orchiectomy. I'm readjusting again.