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Prostate Cancer: sex drive after surgery or other treatments
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Mar 19, 2023 | Replies (64)Comment receiving replies
Greetings,
I’m a very fit, healthy 63 y/o that has always lived healthy, exercised and eaten relatively healthy and never smoked. I’ve pretty much been the same weight since high school. Recently I’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer. PSA 7, and a Gleason score of mostly 6 with two areas of 7. I’m blessed with a very active love life with a beautiful, wonderful girlfriend and we love and enjoy our intimacy frequently. That stated, I’m leaning towards surgery and one of my concerns is, after everything is healed and say a year down the road, how does the surgery effect my libido? I’ve come to terms with most of the other side effects of surgery, but I’m not finding any information what the surgery does to one’s sex drive. Can any post prostate cancers surgery men share your experience with regard to this?
Thanks to all and be well!!
Replies to "Greetings, I’m a very fit, healthy 63 y/o that has always lived healthy, exercised and eaten..."
A lot of the sex drive (libido) has to do with the hormone shots you have in connection with and before treatment ...even surgery.. the Lupron shot initially is to shrink the prostate.. so it can be targeted more easily... I had only one shot.. but the effects hang around for a year... some men get a series of shots .. 1 every 4-6 months... for a couple years... so you and your doctor ... even an oncologist must have a talk...
This is a response to @pda's question about sex drive after prostatectomy. My diagnosis was similar to yours and I elected to have the surgery since anytime you can cure cancer with surgery, it is an easy decision. I have also stayed in touch with several of my friends and acquaintances who have had the same surgery. The consensus is that it will probably not affect your sex drive but you will almost certainly have a problem with ED, said to be due to lower testosterone, but could be other reasons. The ED is treatable but with varying success rates. In fact, several of us have reported increased sex drive and enhanced orgasms, which are, of course, dry. The caveat is that if you have to have drug or radiation treatments, especially Lupron, after the surgery you will probably have problems with sex drive. Best of luck to you!
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Hi @pda, Great questions re how prostatectomy might effect one's sex drive. You'll notice that I moved your message to a discussion on the same topic.
- Prostate Cancer: sex drive after surgery or other treatments https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sex-drive-after-surgery/
I did this so you can meet @john57 @dmadi61 @ken82 @klaken @voodoo5500 and @stoney who are talking about their experiences. Click VIEW & REPLY to see the past posts.
PDA, what treatment options are available for your consideration?