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ED coming around after time

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Posted 3/9/2011 5:11 AM (GMT 0)
I find the ED after this surgery something I can hardly understand. For the first 6-11 month no response to drugs or much of anything except the shot. At 12 month all of a sudden things started waking up a little bit. At 18 months still more. Who knows what it will be at 2 years. I've heard of others talk about it but it is hard to fathom. I started loosing hope of anything and then our of the blue it changed on me. Is this common? Anyone else have this experience?
Posted 3/9/2011 5:43 AM (GMT 0)

I had a radical prostatectomy on November 9, 2009.  I had ED ever since, even with viagra, levitra, and cialis.   Then, all of a sudden, without any pills I got a mild erection 2 weeks ago while cuddling in bed with my wife.  One thing led to another and the next thing I knew we were having sex. It wasn't perfect, but it was great.  Then a few nights ago while dreaming I found I had another erection.  This time even better.  So, I think there is something to be said for never giving up mentally.  I also think there is something to be said about never putting pressure on yourself.  I have a great wife and she never put pressure on me either.   I had never given up on recovery, but such a long slow recovery did make me have doubts.  This weekend I am going to try to give things a bit of o boost with levitra.

I hope this helps those of you that are wondering if things can get back to a functional level.  I have sseen guys posting here discouraged after 3,6, 9 months.  It took me 16 months to get my first positive results.

Stay positive.

 PSA 3.7 it had doubled in 3 months

Gleason 4+3 = 7

Da Vinci prostatectomy November 9, 2009

PSA non detectable since surgery

Age 55 at surgery, now 57

Posted 3/9/2011 1:31 PM (GMT 0)

I am 59 years old and I am 4 years post op from robotic surgery and I was very lucky in that I had no ED problems after surgery from the day the catheter was removed. I had no problem getting rock solid erections, BUT!!!! ..... only with constant manual stimulation. With continual manual stimulation, I could get and maintain an erection for as long as the stimulation continued. Without the manual stimulation, the erection went flat in seconds.

Prior to surgery, just looking at a naked woman was enough to get a solid erection, but after surgery, I could think about sex and look at naked women 24/7 and feel absolutely nothing down there, not even a tingle, but as soon as the manual stimulation started,  then I so did the erection.

Then about two years post op, I noticed that when I looked at a naked woman, I started to actually feel a partial erection start from just the thoughts alone, without any manual stimuli. Now at four years post op, I wake up almost every morning with a solid erection, and now I can also get about 50% erection from just thinking about sex and looking at a naked woman without any  manual stimuli. I guess from this you can conclud that nerves do heal and reconnect over time.

Posted 3/9/2011 2:23 PM (GMT 0)
THANK YOU GUYS!!!! I really needed to see this thread! I am only 5.5 months post op RRP no ED issues prior 45 years old now. I was just starting to think I was going backwards and maybe peeked out on what I was going to get back down there. Then this last 3 days I have noticed a little more firmness with manual stimulation and yesterday even achieving nearly 100% but like NY sooner said had to continue with stimulation to maintain it. but this is a step farward for me and I am soo glad to see other guys see this type of progress even further out than where I am from the surgery. I remain hopeful of regaining everything I had prior to surgery. I will still be starting injections in a few weeks though unless a major break threw between now and then...
Posted 3/9/2011 4:36 PM (GMT 0)
I need manual stimulation to get an erection except for nocturnal erections. But At least I can get one The Dr. told me 1 to 2 years. I got one in three weeks. I can have sex now if I could only have something that resembled an orgasm.
Posted 3/9/2011 11:05 PM (GMT 0)
Took me a year and I had only one side spared. At 1 1/2 I just got my .005 reading on psa and with viagra I'm 100% so its all good.
Posted 3/11/2011 3:45 AM (GMT 0)
It is great to hear all your stories. I agree, it is difficult to keep the faith that it can come back when you don't feel anything at all. I still have a problem believing it and wonder if it will all just go away. I think the whole prostate cancer is just a huge blow to our confidence--it is so central that getting any confidence back is difficult. I'm a psychologist so I tend to look for cause and effect stuff. Sorry about that. Cheers to all of you. Keep on sticking with it.
Posted 3/11/2011 4:19 AM (GMT 0)
I had little firmness for the first six months; without viagra nothing, with viagra was able to have a perfunctory little bit of inter course after a lot of cramming. But in the second six months it's come back to about 80% of its former state without drugs. It does take manual stimulation more than before and my ability to control orgasm is less, but it's good enough. (bi-lateral nerve sparing DaVinci surgery, age 55)

So keep the faith, if you're seeing progress there's a good chance it will continue. Get lots of practice, alone or with a partner as the circumstances dictate. Neurons need exercise.
Posted 3/11/2011 4:48 AM (GMT 0)
O n my case, after my first post op check up, my uro gave me the smallest dosage of levitra to start stimulating blood flow. Then it was increased gradually by the VA to 20 mg taking it once a week. It did not have any response at all. Until one day in Jan last year all of a sudden I had a good one. The it stop again, until about mid year then almost once a week. Last Monday, after my recent post op check up (PSA <.06) my uro gave me two week sample of cialis for everyday use and to viagra which he told me to try it and see which one works the best. Well, I just hope of of these will work. But this is the least of our concern. Having the cancer removed was our goal and right now my PSA are undetectable which we hope and pray that it will continue to be that trend. ED will hopefully will be taken cared of eventually.
Posted 3/11/2011 6:14 AM (GMT 0)
Congrats. It just gets better with time.

I got my first starting erection 5 days post op. Yes I did need constant manipulation at first.

However now you can hang a couple shirts on coathangers on it. LOL

Best wishes for you.

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