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I don't know if this has been discussed before but I'll "raise" the issue again. I had surgery, EBRT and ADT. I've been off the ADT for a month and I'm waiting for the effects to subside. Has anyone thought of testosterone patches as a way to speed up recovery? I know that testosterone feeds the cancer but the EBRT should have killed it all off. Why not use a patch to eliminate the hot flashes and fatigue.
On another note, has anyone had any experience with other ED solutions. I'm thinking about the penile injections and the pump. Viagra and the other meds don't work well for me and the side effects ruin the mood. My urologist is pushing the injections but the thought of sticking myself in that special place is creepy. The pump seems like it might be the way to go. Anyone care to share?
I was on ADT for 6 months in order to reduce my prostate size for the HIFU treatment. It has been 4 months since the last Zoladex implant wore off. I still do not have any testosterone in my system. My urologist told me that it could be upto 8 months to a year before testosterone comes back. There is a small chance of it never coming back but he considers this will not happen to me since I am still a young man of 61 years. I do know without any testosterone in your system the ED drugs, Cialis etc will not have any effect on erectile function. I don't know if the injections will work but I do know that the ED drugs will not. I was on Cialis 5mg for two months starting after the catheter came out--5 weeks post operatively, and it did nothing. I had both nerve bundles spared. I even took 4 tablets of 5mg Cialis to get the 20mg dose and there was absolutely no effect. I would be interested to know if the injections would work without testosterone.
IS IT TRUE WHAT TV SAYS ABOUT WHEN YOU ARE ON ADT THAT VIAGRA ETC WILL NOT WORK. MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN ON ZOLADEX FOR 3 MONTHS. HIS LIBIDO IS REALLY LOW BUT HIS GP HAS PRESCRIBED VIAGRA( FREE FROM OUR WONDERFUL NATIONAL HEALTH). HE HAS NOT HAD SURGERY. WITHOUT SOUNDING STUPID WILL THEY WORK WITH STIMULATION OR IS OUR SEX LIFE OVER. PLEASE BE HONEST WITH YOUR ANSWERS.
MANY THANKS
As I said in another response to one of your posts, there are simply no definite 'rules'. Every man has a different reaction to both the ADT drugs and the ED recovery drugs. Think about the men in a pub - how some of them appear to be affected by a beer or two while others seem to be able to drink all night. And if you cast your mind back to your younger days, you may be able to remember that some performances were affected both positively and negatively by alcohol intakes [grin].
One of the most popular speakers at the support meetings I used to arrange when I lived in South Africa was a sex therapist. She used to say every time she was there that the largest sex organ was the mind and that no one should not have satisfactory sexual activities. She claimed that she had several quadriplegic, and satisfied, clients. So I'd say to you, and anyone battling with this side effect, get some professional help. Go along to a sex therapist, don't battle away on your own if there is someone who can help you.
I forgot to add to my last posting that if you were to take testosterone as a patch your body would think that is has enough testosterone in the system and as a consequence the testes would not start to produce the leydig cells which are the interstial cells in the testes that produce the testosterone. I would guess that the formation of the leydig cells wouid be significantly depressed. As a result, it could take a very long time for your body to recover to its normal testosterone production.
The pituitary gland produces a hormone called luteinizing hormone (LH) which stimulates the production of testosterone and the leydig cells. The level of testosterone in the body causes a biofeed back to the pituitary gland to stop or reduce production of the LH in order to maintain a certain level of testosterone in the body. Adding testosterone to the body is going to cause a reduction in the LH production and therefore slow the development of the leydig cells.
Paul,
I am only 8 weeks out but have used the pump with the blue pill. It takes some getting use to because the pump can hurt and you need to practice with it before even thinking of having sex and you will need to be in good shape because getting the rubber clip on the base of the penis is a real pain. With the pump my penis got back to Its orginal size but was not very hard and did not last more than five minutes for me. I go back to the doctors in October and will look into the shot. What's a little prick after what we have been through!!
