Taking the plunge

[gautengrob]

Hi 50 year old been having issues for 9 years following a heart attack at 40 over the last 2 years i have had hyper thyroidsim coupled with a complete loss of testosterone ( 10) which was brought back to 450 over the last 4 months cialis ,viagra, stendra have stopped working completely. I went for another testosterone test it was 360 after 15 days of testim I went onto shots my testosterone was checked at 28 days and it was 216 my Dr thought I would be in the 800's . I did a stress test at the same time my ejection fraction dropped from 55 to 40 to 47 which is pretty bad. My cardiac guy told me I will not achieve an erection with my heart without 20mg of cialis ( did not work ) or 100mg of Viagra almost killed me went into afib for three hours puked my lungs out but got a 2 min hard on whoopie!!!
I get random hard ons still mostly at 2 am not morning hard on unless I have cialis in me ( which does not work when its time to perform )

I never really had any response from my last post almost a year ago but Sept 28th of 2015 I had open heart surgery they did a bypass and a aortic valve replacement I really thought this would help the blood flow and I would be back in biz.. Still no decent hard ons no ejaculation besides a dribble my meds have dropped to a couple of BP pills but ill go two weeks with a limpie and then have a decent hard on he did a blood flow scan and its worse than a year ago

Uro is now recommending the implant AMS700LGX should I take the plunge or continue hoping and praying the pill works when I need it to ?? My biggest concern remains shrinkage

[JDavid]

It is pretty consistent around here that the main regret from guys who have implants done by a high volume surgeon is that they didn't get the implant sooner. Most of the reported problems with implants involve surgeons who aren't well known for implants. If I was in your situation, I would be researching surgeons.

[David_R]

I agree with JDavid. If you go to a prosthetic urologist (meaning one specially trained in prosthetics/implants) who does many on a regular basis, the doctor will stretch your penis out as far as it will go and then put in an implant that will go to that length.

[gautengrob]

Thanks JD I'm kind of struggling with the fact that I do get an erection with pills every now and then it's just not that great i do realize the disease is progressive and only going to get worse I read what you say about a high volume guy but I'm held hostage to insurance I'm hesitant about my urologists ability that's also a big part of this .. I keep questioning myself about "is it necessary" is the surgeon any good Yada Yada Yada

[DonBecker54]

For a long time, I kept telling myself that pills and injections were working sometimes, so I could put off an implant. For me, getting laid is expensive, so not getting an erection is a waste of money. I'm just two weeks post-op, but I'm very confident that I'll be happy with the outcome.

I don't know what to tell you about your insurance. I wouldn't trust a garden variety urologist to do a good job.

[Anonymous 3]

Thanks JD I'm kind of struggling with the fact that I do get an erection with pills every now and then it's just not that great i do realize the disease is progressive and only going to get worse I read what you say about a high volume guy but I'm held hostage to insurance I'm hesitant about my urologists ability that's also a big part of this .. I keep questioning myself about "is it necessary" is the surgeon any good Yada Yada Yada

I hear you about the insurance part. Same situation here. There would have been no hope of an implant if I had had to pay for it myself, none. So I went with the local guy. He is listed on the AMS site. Despite what is happening with me now, he still did a good job and I don't blame him at all. The thing worked great for all those months and with any luck, will again. One way or another.

Have you tried injections? That seems to be the route many of the guys here went. Pills, injections, sometimes the vacuum pump in the mix and finally the implant. I would skip the pump, it didn't work for me at all. Injections did work for quite awhile. They aren't terribly spontaneous, actually not at all, but eventually they stopped working too. Just a thought.

Good luck with your decision!

[cincinnatus1951]

Gutengrob:
Ditto everything that has been said. I struggled with the decision fro all the same reasons. Went bionic Jan 6 healing well and anxious to take if for a "test drive" in two more weeks. If the combination (more than one option of pills, pumps and shots) are not working well or consistently, go for the implant. Don't know what to say about insurance and local docs. If you are going to get an implant, I would definitely talk with a high volume guys and see if he will accept your insurance as payment, or make other arrangements. There are numerous stories about less than satisfactory implants. Very rarely do you hear about problems wtih the "gurus"
Cincinnatus

[DonBecker54]

I just wanted to comment on the subject of injections. I started doing them in 2014, and by April of last year I had Peyronies. About a 30 degree curvature. Not bad, but I lost about an inch of length because of the scar tissue.

Dr. Milam said that injections can cause scar tissue and Peyronies. So did Dr. Morganstern, the Atlanta urologist I saw for treatments.

The percentage of guys who get Peyronies from injections is probably small, but significant enough to take it into consideration.

When my implant is firing on all cylinders, I'll still be bummed that I'm an inch shorter because of the injections.

[JDavid]

There are several high volume surgeons who offer package deals of around 20K. I suggest you consider the expense, heartache, and lost opportunities for pleasure and happiness involved in pursuing strategies that do not work reliably and compare that to the expense of buying a new compact car and never again having to worry about getting an erection. My insurance covered it but I would have paid for the implant if I had to.

[Charlie999]

Very much agree with everyone above. Insurance covered my procedure about 18 months ago, and knowing what I know now, and doing what I can do now, I would have paid it myself if I had too - even if I had to work part time to pay for it. I will turn 84 in a few months, and was 83 when I got the implant. It totally changed my life. I can do things better than when I was 20. NO MORE LIMP DICK!!!. Believe me, it is a life changer. My only regret - I didn't do it ten years ago.Viagra, Cialis, etc. is all junk compared the mighty implant. The inconvenience, and little pain during the procedure is absolutely nothing compared to what you will be in only a short time. It provides a hard dick 24/7, and won't give up until you are ready. I continue to be amazed and extremely happy.
Good luck to you!!!

Charlie