Implant While on ADT

[Kable_]

I am brand new member from Australia, although I have been reading posts here in the forum for quite some time now.

I am seriously considering getting an implant in the coming months, and I would appreciate feedback from members regarding my situation.

I am 73 and have had prostate cancer for about 18 years, and have had ED for most of that time. I am currently undergoing Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which is a hormone therapy that takes most of the testosterone from the body. Not a nice thing for a man to have to endure, because one of the main side effects is the inability to get an erection. But I already had ED anyway due to radiotherapy a long time ago. So, it's a real double whammy.

ADT also causes a reduced desire for sex, which is one of my big concerns, because I really miss it a lot, and I was always very horny in my pre ED days.

I have tried Viagra and Cialis, but they don't work very well for my ED. Injections do sort of work OK but I really prefer not to rely on that treatment. Also, these treatments don't have much impact on improving sexual desire.

I am wondering if there are any members here with an implant and who have undergone the ADT treatment. I would really appreciate your feedback as to how it has worked for you.

I'm particularly interested in finding out whether the ability to have a good strong erection with the implant actually makes you naturally feel more horny for sex, which has been suppressed a lot for me by the ADT.

Thanks for your input.

[ThailandBound]

I don’t claim to have any information regarding ADT, but since i do have experience with very low testosterone and testosterone replacement therapy, i’ll chime in with an opinion.

Sounds to me that the net effect of your ADT therapy results in the same exact thing as my naturally occurring low testosterone (which became an issue when i was about 53, I’m 63 now). The most troubling thing about low t for me was loss of libido and ability to maintain an erection. In prior years my libido had been ravenous.

I took testosterone injections for years and now am implanted quarterly with pellets. This has restored my libido as well as fascilitated the ability to maintain lean muscle. It’s good.

But that doesn’t really help you, i know, since your therapy has the opposite effect.

Regarding the implant, i’ll speculate that the psychological effect of an erection, especially with a receptive and appreciative partner may produce in you an enhanced sense of erotic experience, albeit not the same as when at a normal hormonal level. The ability to penetrate your partner, regardless of your arousal level may well serve to restore a sense of intimacy, which can only be a good thing.

I cycle my implant twice daily. Usually i am unaroused. Then again, my partner is not local. She’s in Thailand and i only see her quarterly for 2-3 weeks at a time. So, 90% of my implant-elections are in an unaroused state. Typically these do not produce arousal. It just feels like physical therapy. My glans does not engorge in those moments (it dies during real sex). Granted, when i’m really relaxed and cycling, sometimes i find a bit of porn leads to masturbating, which is not at the intensity level of real sex…but still a nice diversion to have a dick that i can play with endlessly and not go soft.

Do you anticipate ever being able to do testosterone replacement therapy? Or will your condition never allow that? Best wishes.

[Kable_]

Do you anticipate ever being able to do testosterone replacement therapy? Or will your condition never allow that? Best wishes.

Thank you for your reply, I appreciate your comments.

I would love to go on testosterone replacement therapy if I could. But because the prostate cancer feeds off testosterone, my Oncologist would probably fire me.

[TANGERINE]

Here is my experience with implant and ADT.
I was implanted 6 years ago....has been awesome and works great and sex was great.
I got prostate cancer 1 year ago and went through 8 months of ADT. The ADT completely zeroed my sex drive. It is true that I could still have sex thanks to the implant, and on rare occasion, to keep the wife happy, I had sex, though it was mostly out of duty.
So, ADT basically makes you a castrated male with no studly sex drive (as you describe). If you must "service" a woman, with the implant, this is possible and works really well from a performance perspective; but, you likely will not gain great excitement from it.
On a cerebral level, it is comforting to me to know that I can still perform as a man in the bedroom. On a instinctual level, I really did not feel like pursuing sex while on ADT. Now that the ADT is becoming history, my libido is gradually returning, though not anywhere near the level back in the day when I had full testosterone.

[ThailandBound]

Here is my experience with implant and ADT.
On a cerebral level, it is comforting to me to know that I can still perform as a man in the bedroom. On a instinctual level, I really did not feel like pursuing sex while on ADT. Now that the ADT is becoming history, my libido is gradually returning, though not anywhere near the level back in the day when I had full testosterone.

It is great to see you back here Tangerine. Your journal has truly been an inspiration to untold numbers of forum members here, including me. 8 months postop now.

There should be a permanent link at the top op the forum entitled “Implant Journals of Distinction” for new members to easily locate. Yours would be at the top.

[Kable_]

Now that the ADT is becoming history, my libido is gradually returning, though not anywhere near the level back in the day when I had full testosterone.

Thank you very much for your reply, much appreciated.

As mentioned in my original post, I have just restarted another round of ADT after a gap of about 3 years from my first bout of it. I did notice that my sex drive did gradually return during that time off it, and within a year or so I almost felt back to normal. So hopefully that will be the case for you too.