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Prostate removal, no longer producing sperm... mental health..

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Posted 1/5/2012 2:47 PM (GMT 0)
Hello folks.

As I close in on 2 years since the day I was told I had pca (I remember it like it was 2 hours ago) and as I contemplate the physical and emotional toll of my prostate cancer, the subsequent surgery and radiation, etc.. I was wondering:

Since those without a prostate dont produce sperm, dont ejaculate, does this result in pent up pressure that we dont otherwise account for? I understand the release was of sperm that is no longer being produced, but there was a physical process that the body no longer experienced (anotherwords, nobody informed my testes that there was an "incident" further back in the chain)...

Ejaculating always relieved stress for me, and my partners along the way, as best as I can tell. The inability to do so MUST have an abnormal effect on the body and the mind.

While i'm current psa <.01, I think I might have a degree of post traumatic stress syndrome, and i've been wondering if the lack of a release (through ejaculation).

Sorry if I was unable to articulate my points in a better manner...

Good thoughts to all..

Thoughts?

 

Posted 1/5/2012 2:54 PM (GMT 0)
While your distress is no doubt real, it's got nothing to do with your sperm being pent up.

My sperm had been cut off from the world for over a decade before my prostate came out (vasectomy.)
Posted 1/5/2012 2:55 PM (GMT 0)
Bob, I think you articulated your point fine, and I am sure most have had those thoughts.

For starters, and let me assume you are having sex through the point of orgasm, though be it "dry".

If so, you are getting that relief you mentioned, the only difference is that there is no fluid release that was formerly built up.
Once I resumed sex, about 2 months post surgery (and was one of the fortunate few with zero ED), it was definitely weird at first having dry orgasms.

But I quckly learned, wait a minute, the big "O" has never lasted this long, or felt this intense. Within months, I never gave it a thought about the "dry" part. Trust me, the relief factor, for me, is just as good, if not better, than ever before. I know all this varies so much guy to guy.

This is just an unscientific opinion, but I think the "O" is deeper and better, because its no longer being muffled by fluid, like as if the seminal fluid was absorbing some of the feeling and intesnity in the past.

Hope this helps.

David in SC
Posted 1/5/2012 4:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Bob,

You still produce sperm, just no semen. When you climax your sperm takes the path of least resistance and that is directly into your bladder. So you are ejaculating, just not outside your body. Your sperm exits the body the next time you urinate

Your ejaculation is a stress relief for your partner ? Think of it this way, much neater, less sheet changes.
Posted 1/5/2012 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think that is quite correct Mr. G. As the connection of the Vas Deferens to the urethra is located within the prostate, when the prostate is removed the urethra is severed above and below the prostate gland (and rejoined later) removing this connection. Any sperm you produce are simply reabsorbed by your body. It is not possible for a man without a prostate to father a child via his urine. A vasectomy does much the same thing by severing the Vas Deferens much further back along the tube leaving the rest of the equipment intact and in good working order.yeah
Bill
Posted 1/5/2012 9:47 PM (GMT 0)
Mr. BillyMac is correct. Your testis still produce sperm. When a man gets a vasectomy his Vas Deferens are cut and tied. Many men can reverse a vasectomy by having the plumbing reconnected.

Post prostatectomy guys had the Vas Deferens cut and tied, but because the prostate and connecting seminal vesicles are gone there can be no reconnection. The ducts that allow seminal to pass to the urethra are gone with the prostate. There is no way that the sperm can ever enter the bladder.

Tony
Posted 1/6/2012 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
Hi all,
Just had a prostectamy a week and a half ago,, I don't wish this on anybody.....
But,, facts are facts.
My question is : I have the catheter still in(comes out tomorrow) but my penis is so raw at the end and hurts like hell..I am hoping this is from the bladder spasms trying to disperse urine?? I also had my staples out last friday and I opened right up ??do you think they just rushed everything??
Now they say another six weeks of healing,, does not make sence to me??
Posted 1/6/2012 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
Billy and Tony are both correct, there is no physical way that sperm is entering your bladder. My doctor said that is simply gets absorbed into the body.
Posted 1/6/2012 10:05 AM (GMT 0)
My uro told be (4 years ago, pre-op) that the ejaculate is sidetracked into the bladder and excreted when you urinate. Don't know who is right, you guys or my uro. I hope my uro knows what he is talking about though because he was also my surgeon. Just saying.... :-)
Posted 1/6/2012 11:58 AM (GMT 0)
Kickinthebutt,
I can only say that the only way that that is going to happen is by reattaching the Vas Deferens to either the bladder or the urethra and that would require some very serious and complex micro-surgery, The bladder is a sealed unit (apart from the ureters coming down from your kidneys) so there is no way that sperm are going to find their way in.
Posted 1/6/2012 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
I found this topic to be very interesting so I also went on a search for a plain english description of what happens and I found the following:

At Vasectomy.com the following is the answer to one of the most often asked questions.

What happens to the sperm?

This is a mystery to some people, but the answer is both normal and natural. The body absorbs unused sperm cells normally - whether or nor you've had a vasectomy. After the procedure, the testicles will continue to produce sperm, but they will not leave the body in the semen. They dissolve and are simply and naturally absorbed by the body.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – in their discussion of the effects of a Prostatectomy describe the following.

After radical prostatectomy, men experience dry orgasms in which there is no ejaculation. The reason is that the two structures responsible for most of the fluid in semen -- the prostate and the seminal vesicles-- have been removed. The vas deferens, the tube which transports sperm from the testicles, has been shut off. This lack of fluid emission has no connection to and does not interfere with, a man's ability to feel sexual desire and arousal, or achieve orgasm.

Thought this might help and add to the discussion.


Sonny
Posted 1/7/2012 7:14 AM (GMT 0)
Just to add a little more to what has already been said--

A radical prostatectomy involves the removal of the entire prostate, the seminal vesicles, and usually a large portion of the vas deferens (i.e., at least what is accessible, based on whether it is open or laparoscopic surgery).

Also, Bob-- I would like to add that I had your same concern re: the feeling of a "full release." I'm pretty sure most men who've enjoyed their sex life pre-op worry about the loss of that. I pretty easily rationalized (for myself) that I'd rather be "cancer-free"... and just hoped that I'd at LEAST be able to have dry orgasms, with or even without an erection.

That being said, MANY post-RP men (myself included, which I'll get to later) may experience "ejaculation" of urine during orgasm (along with some men believing they are ejaculating fluid from the Cowper's gland, which I can't believe would be barely noticeable, given that semen only contains <1% volume from the Cowper's gland). Purgatory/David in SC noted here (and many, many others have noted on this board and elsewhere) a more intense, longer lasting orgasm post-RP.

Sooooo.... re: that feeling of "relieving stress"--- I know exactly what you mean... and I also think that the contractions of so many muscles involved in an ejaculation contribute to that feeling, not just the ejaculation (release of semen) itself.

This is why I say this--- in my VERY LIMITED time post-RP (about 6 weeks post catheter removal), the most pleasurable orgasm was a single occurrence of one that included the full pre-RP contractions and the urine "ejaculation". It was alllllmost identical to a pre-RP orgasm, with really the only notable absence being that "point of no return" feeling that I used to get pre-RP. I'm 100% ED right now and using VED/Cialis. I've had maybe 9-10 orgasms post-op, and almost all of them have been different. Except for this single one, the others all have been a feeling of a kind of hot flash, followed by a mild shiver. Not nearly the same as before, and no DEEP contractions. They were still "good" and I would say "moderately relieved that stress" tongue , but I do look forward to figuring out how to repeat that particularly good one.... with or without the urine leakage... but I suspect the leakage may have contributed to that "full release" feeling. I'll take that any day. yeah
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