Is lack of sex drive normal after prostate surgery???

I have the identical libido problem as NY-Sooner. It used to be 24x7 but now zero. Cialis and Bimix took care of the ED but now if Halle Berry walked by naked I'd think "cute girl" rather than the electric jolt I used to get. I doubt the fluid theory. Bimix has done nothing for my libido.

Interested in this thread. Over 2 years since my RP, sex drive gone, now able to get only weak erections. Can ********* to climax ever since the op - just takes a long time - but it's disappointingly lacking in the great feeling of exhiliration & relief I used to get. Pre-op I'd chase after any skirt, now I can't be bothered to try. I side with the prostate secretion/pressure sensor hypotheses.

I know for a fact that my urine chemistry has changed. I have collected in bottles for ten years now, they used to get a thick hard coating like calcium on the insides, now they are always pefectly clean. Something more than seminal fluid gets made in the prostate!

wd40 said...
I understand perfectly and I offer you my layman's theory as to way some us seem to have a profound loss of sex drive..

As I understand it, the prostate produces a chemical that momentarily enhances the libido when a visual or mental stimulation occurred. I think some of us, the chemical stimulus was much more than others and we enjoyed that feeling of almost instant sexual arousal. When we lost our prostate, we lost that magnificent boost in our sex drive, something that others don't miss as much since the effect was not as dramatic..

All is not lost. Try to maximize your own erotic stimulation to regain some of your former sex drive.

this makes sense^^^^like something important is missing.....or gone....

(I should add....I'm single.....and feels as if....the hunter has become the .... wall flower)

Post Edited (island time) : 10/18/2017 12:32:25 PM (GMT-6)

NKinney said...
Sex drive is not related to anything that was done physiologically (physically, to your body) during RP.

Sex drive is different from erectile function.

RP degrades erectile function in 100% of men. Recovery is impacted by whether neurovascular bundles were retained ("saved") or not. Many men with nerve bundles "saved" have a partial recovery; others not so lucky...and indeed for most men the recovery is mostly luck (or should we say bad luck for those who don't).

Hormone deprivation therapy, a treatment for advanced PC cases, does physiologically affect one's sex drive. This therapy is also called "chemical castration."

Are you sure? As in.....science has proven this beyond any doubt (at least for now)??

NKinney said...
island time, please also see the final short paragraph I added in an edit which was not included in your quote.


There's really nothing to "prove." Fundamentally, the two functions you are asking about are from different parts of the male anatomy. You may have a hormone deficiency which contributes to both poor erectile function AND low sex drive, but RP doesn't cause a hormone deficiency. Testosterone is not produced in the prostate.

(sorry I missed it....this is a subject close to my heart....if not....this is a subject that *is* my heart!! lol)

But seriously Kinney.... I mean... It just seems ... even hypothetically speaking....let's say that a medical procedure could be innovated that removed the prostate....and in it's place...put something in there that replicated the exact positioning of the nerves....as if the prostate were still there..."took the place of the prostate" so to speak....and was able to do it without even bothering or touching the nerves at all....so....as far as the nerves were concerned....they'd never know the difference?

Something tells me....it's not that far fetched an idea that it could still impact a man's sexual self.

the "idea" being....there's just *something* about that prostate that's .... important (besides ejaculate)

(Not sayin' there is....but not convinced there isn't? )

Urologist-in-chief Patrick C. Walsh, M.D said:
... a more like cause of this diminished libido after surgery is depression. In most cases, " treating the depression restores the sex drive back to normal."

Unfortunately for all of us, Skypilot is spot on.

Billybob@388

You and me both, brother. I have all the desire but none of the equipment.
Not a day goes by that I don't miss it.
Sure, I can pretend it doesn't matter. But it does... It really does...

Jeff

Thanks NKinney,
Now I understand why they say, more men die with prostate cancer than from it.
We die from broken hearts.

NKinney said...
Again, sex drive (libido) is different from erectile function.

The physiological lack of erectile function can, however, be a contributing cause to the psychological problem of failed sex drive....which is pretty much exactly what Walsh and I said.

Or, the way it was put in the article "Loss of Libido in Men": Impotence, or ED, erectile dysfunction, is not the same as loss of libido, but when you experience one, sooner or later you are likely to feel the other as well.

BTW, loss of libido and low sexual frequency increases risk for CVD, cardiovascular disease...the number one killer of men diagnosed with (or without) prostate cancer, so if you are suffering from failed sex drive after "only" having RP or RT, you may want to see someone about that.

Not sure whether that applies to me or not. Tons of desire(libido), pretty much zero activity, last sexual pleasure and almost last activity having been about 2/16/14, or whatever a couple of days before my RP might have been. "Impotence, or ED, erectile dysfunction, is not the same as loss of libido, but when you experience one, sooner or later you are likely to feel the other as well.". Well then hurry up, I say. I have no use for a healthy libido, although maybe if I get rid of that- along with the already long gone ability- it would be even worse for heart health?

Oh well, whatever. What's the old saying having something to do with healthier habits, something like: "If you don't drink, chase women or eat what you want, it's not that you will actually live longer, it just feels like you have lived longer"? ;)

I'm also in exactly the same boat. No significant problem with ED but lower sex drive. I have had my testosterone checked and it is on the low-normal range, so that could be part of it.

I suppose another reason could be just getting older. I've read this complaint (or sometimes they consider it a blessing) from philosophers in our age group who lived 2000 years ago. I have a friend who has the same issue to the point that his wife confided he no longer wants to have sex and this fellow has never had prostate cancer.

I'll throw in one tip that I actually find helps. It may sound strange but you might want to give it a try - Fresh garlic. (Eat it combined with something else.) The only trouble is perhaps this will lead to lower desire in your partner instead.

/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11481410

Pratoman said...
My erections are good enough for doing the deed, and when I do the deed it's quite pleasurable 90% of the time. With that said, erections are nor quite what they were, although I felt it was starting to diminish a bit even before my diagnosis.
My libido is still there. But I'm , I guess, a little less hungry for it than I used to be.

I suspect a lot if this has to do with the natural aging process . For a lot of us.

My wife has the TV on QVC. Right now, there are 2 beauties doing some sort of exercise, which causes my youthful libido to give me certain unwanted thoughts. An extreme drop in libido, especially if it could be accomplished without some other accompanying SE, would be, IMO, a blessing.

I repeat, this is an amazing thread which has been brought back from the dead. I did not know of this possible SE whatever the cause, and I am surprised to see how many men are reporting it. Several causes other the RP have been proposed, even for men with full potency, but then again there appeared to be no problem in regards to libido prior to RP. Reminds me of the assurance that injecting is very unlikely to cause Peyronie's, yet almost every one reporting PD had RP followed by injections, seems to me. I'm thinking the % who developed PD after RP who did not also inject- even if they used pills and pumps with rings, is very low compared to those who also injected. But, I have not seen a poll so I am just going by a feeling on that one.

And now we have guys, even those lucky guys with full capabilities both before and after RP, and with full desire before RP, who simply are suddenly after RP not interested anymore. Now we have guys like me, full of desire to use tools that they no longer have, side by side with guys who have all of the tools, even Rigid brand, and no desire to use these tools. It is almost like some sort of sadistic joke. It would seem that the prostate, even not counting nerves that run along side of it, is a very important organ in relationship to a man's overall sexual pleasure and sexuality. It just confirms for me that there is a long list of powerful reasons to avoid surgery if at all possible to do so safely. But that of course is just 1 man's opinion, colored by his personal experience, and not shared by a bunch of other guys.

Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 10/21/2017 10:03:54 AM (GMT-6)