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Cialis (tadalafil): Is it doing any good & how long to take it?
My physio recommended 5mg of Cialis per day.
Apparently it assists with repairing/preventing scar tissue from forming (and helps with incontinence?)
How do I know it's doing any good & how long will I need to take them for?
28 Cialis tablets is $200 but I was told that the generic tabs did the same thing. $50 for 28.
So I'm on them.
For how long & what does it even do?
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@rlpostrp I feel your pain , I’m one year post surgery, recently gave up on injecting myself without results but yesterday a slight miracle during some foreplay a partial erection, tears were flowing. I hope it continues and wish you and others. This was and always will be will be a big part of my life
@fiskadoro I bought a penis pump from Amazon, they have so many to choose from. It seems to work by pulling blood into my penis to get erect. If I leave it on for too long my cock seems to hurt slightly. I put on a cock ring on the base of my penis to keep the blood flow in my penis. It helps with an erection but not used the 20mg tadafil with it yet, that may make it even harder for masturbating or sex. British term for masturbation is Wank. Nothing like a good Wank from time to time.
@rlpostrp Try 20mg Tadalafil or 100mg Sildenafil and if that doesn’t work then try Trimix injections. If none of those options work, you are a candidate for an IPP implant. (Inflatable Penile Prosthesis). After my radical prostatectomy, I was able to get an erection, but when I had a recurrence and was put on ADT which resulted in my testosterone going down to undetectable, I developed ED. You can still have sex and still have orgasms without getting an erection, but that might be problematic if you are dating. I got an IPP implant almost a year ago and my wife and I have both been very pleased with the results. There are a number of good informational videos on YouTube about IPP implants that you may want to view to get a better idea what is involved. BTW an IPP implant is not visible since it is all internal. My surgery was fully covered by Medicare.
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1 ReactionI'm 2 months post-surgery and have been on low dose Cilias since surgery. It doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot right now but I was also on 6 months of ADT prior to my surgery and my onco said it would take 6 months for my T levels to get back to normal. I'm probably looking at another 4 months for my T levels to get to the point where I'll know if the Cilias is working. My doc's suggested taking it to help increase blood flow to that region and to help kick start things and since there are really no side effects I will continue to take it.
It is usually needed up to 24 months for nerves to recover after the surgery.
Most men have slow but steady improvement during those 2 years, according to all literature that I read so far. There is a small percentage of men that have full erections immediately after surgery but that is not a norm.
If you are just couple of months post surgery and have ED it does not mean that it will not improve over time.
It is really sad that surgeons do not explain those things to their patients or at least they can give them links to papers that explain recovery time for both incontinence and ED.
Incontinence usually resolves by 12 mos and ED by 24 mos.
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3 ReactionsI want to second @surftohealth88's comments about how long it can take the nerves to recover after the surgery. I wish I'd have kept a journal as it's hard to remember the details of the journey. Looking at my old posts, at 4 months I was 65% back, and barely firm enough to be able to have (very marginal) intercourse with my wife. That's with being on daily 5mg tadalafil and also using 100mg sildenafil an hour before intercourse (on an empty stomach). I consider I regained full pre-surgery capability about 14+ months after surgery. But make no mistake, progress for me seemed painfully slow and there were many times when I doubted I'd ever regain pre-surgery capability. At this point I continue to take the 5mg daily tadalafil and also still use 100mg sildenafil an hour before we want to have intercourse. I'll talk to my doctor about it at the next visit, and I'm not a medical professional so I may well be wrong, but I'm planning to stay on both pills indefinitely. But who knows, maybe things will get better and I won't need them in the future. At this point, I'm just very thankful they work for me. I should also mention that this whole time I've been exercising regularly, eating well, taking vitamin and magnesium supplements, and basically trying to give my body every chance to recover the nerve function. Was all that necessary, I certainly don't really know, but my personal belief is that it's all helped. Best wishes.
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3 ReactionsWhat I'm a bit concerned about is that I've left it too late.
The physio who worked with me pre-op in her unsuccessful attempts to teach me Kegels recommended 5mg Cialis on the first day.
Not a word from either urologist about penile rehabilitation.
Obviously it's going to be more effective if started on day one, but starting a year later.... I may have missed out.
@retireditguy
Thanks for that, @retiredguy. My experience is the following: had partial nerve-sparing surgery -- 75% left intact -- one year and nine months ago. Taking daily half-dose of tadalafil and once weekly full sildenafil, and using penile pump, I am back to about 70% functionality, hoping it will improve more. I am 65.
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2 Reactions@jmacpa Hello what milligram of Cialis do you take.
I had prostate surgery January last year, not cancer but had to get cleaned out due to urine blockage. Doctor said I wouldn’t see semen out of penis after that. I miss seeing it. Good erections befor that but now take 20 mg of Tadafil for erection and Vagina penetration. Usually it works. Just give yours some time to get a good erection, only thing in life is free.p
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2 Reactions@stevebritt006 i'm believe i'm 5mg - whatever the smallest dose is. its going to take a while for me to get an erection - my T levels are zero from 6 months of ADT prior to surgery. Onco doc said it will take 6 months for T levels to recover and I'm only at 2 months. so basically that will mean no erections for a year (6 months of ADT and 6 months of recovery). Hopefully something happens before the full 6 months but as I've commented to others - at the time my choices were: keep my wood or keep my life and I chose the later. I never had any erection issues prior to ADT so I'm hopeful that I will get back to my old self and if not I'll deal with it. As I've commented to others - I'm not my penis and I'm sure glad I'm on this side of the dirt - so if beating PC means no erections, I can (and will) live with that so I can spend time with my wife, kids, and grandkids.
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