I am seven months post total colonectomy and have been on first the testosterone gel and now the shots for the last 5 weeks at 200mg per week. I am also trying all three ED drugs at different times and still haven't been able to perform. I hear it will come back just give it time.

Well I need to hear from men or their better halves about how long it was before they had a return of erections and when it did return how long, if at all it has performed like before the surgery.

I am wondering if I am one of the lucky 1% that have permanent damage. I was told by my Urologist not to give up and keep trying. He put it like this if your arm was damaged you would go to therapy three or more times a week it is the same thing so you need to try to make it work at least every two or three days.

I feel like I am loosing the fight and if it isn't going to come back I am only punishing myself and my wife and that we should start accepting the fact that we have lost this small part of our relationship and start the process of moving on past this.

I need to hear some stories about how after a certain period of time it did heal and start working again. I also want to know if it's been years and it never has worked right or at all. I know nobody wants to talk about this but I am in need of information good or bad.

I am asking about both Erectile Dysfunction (ED) and Retrograde Ejaculation (RE) Both together and separate.

Ain't I The Lucky One%

I didn't even try to have sex until several months after the surgery. I had an incision from just above my belly button to just above my pubic bone. The incision left that whole area feeling very tight and tender. That left me very afraid to get an erection, because I thought I might split myself open. But once I did try to have sex, some 5 months after surgery, everything was fine. The only difference from before the surgery is I notice it seems like I have to strain more to orgasm.

How much, if any, of your rectum did the surgeon leave? If he left a decent amount, I think you'll be all right, and maybe you're just too stressed right now. That's the No. 1 reason for ED. If the surgeon didn't leave any rectum, maybe there's a chance you're in that 1 percent.

Good luck.

It has been 7 months since the first surgery. Nothing worked for the first couple of months. There was no feeling at all. It is starting to come around the last 3 months but not as good as before surgery. I was told it might take a year to heal so I am still hoping it might heal.
I think the 1 percent erection failure rate I was told is low. It is not like people keep score, no one has asked me. so my number has not been added to the "erections not working great club".
Hope things improve for you
David

I'm going on nearly 2yrs and mine still is not 100% and I still can not make love to my wife .

I can perform it for myself and have some feeling not 100% and stuff comes out maybe 20% of the time and I would say it is 65% maybe 75% it did improve with time but still not what it should be to have sex not happy about it.

I have tried all drugs no provail and I was suppose to get the pump but i'm not rich insurance I have does not cover most of it so I can't get one my doctor wants me to try it but I cant fork out 900 buchs to try something that may not even work so I may try the injections but I have to wait until my hernia surgery then I plan to I will let you know how it goes.


Also did your doctor tell u there is a surgery that they can do to help it also mechaniclaly or something but honestly give it time .

Also every day work at it your self its like therpy I notice it has helped me do it daily. also take the meds when u do it 7 months is kinda early for some of us .

If you noitce something changes are it shoudl come abck but may take a few yrs .

Some people say after 1yr if it dooesnt work it wont ever that is a lie I notice changes after a yr all the time just its slow go. I also was swallow like a basket ball after setp 1 had complications so that proly played a role and had to self cath for 4 months.

Anyhow any querstions pm me will be happey to answer them good luck don't give up thats your man hood and I know its important i'm 33 yrs old i'm not done yet and wanan have kids.

WARNING WARNING THIS COULD BE A TMI DISCUSSION WARNING WARNING



Just wanted to give an update. March 4th I had an appointment with my urologist. It was the one where he taught me to do my first injection of tri-mix.

He started to give me 20cc but decided to only start with 10cc. He instructed me on what to do then he drew up the medication handed it to me and said now don't hit that vain.

It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. He left the room and in less then ten minutes my erection was back. I left the doctors office 35 minutes after the injection and well it worked great.

The only issue was that after 3 hours it was still there so after 2 sudafeds at the 2 hour and 2 1/2 hour mark, we where off to the emergency room for the antidote, thankfully in the rush to get there I lost my erection.
I have to say it was the first time I was happy to lose it.

I won't go into details about how often but I will say that everything feals the same as before except when it lasts longer then I do! It can be a bit uncomfortable, but a cold shower and all is well.

I am working on adjusting the amount to give me one that will last a comfortable amount of time.

The Doctor said that I should be able to not be taking the shots permitly as my body and nerves heal it should start to work on its own. Getting it to work starts the healing process.

All this to say that if you are having problems and the viagra drugs are not working the tri-mix shots are more then worth the minor discomfort and embarrassment of the first time.

Good luck and I would still like to hear your stories of encouragement and disapointments.

Believe it or not, patient teaching for these injections was one of things I did as an outpatient surgery nurse...Lot of happy campers there.

Jan

I'm going thru the same thing and hoping I'm not in the one percent. Not that I feel sexual, but I usually get an erection in the morning or involountarily, and nada. I finally tried masturbation and it was very limp. I hope its not permanant.

Whoever decided it was 1 percent of men with problems...never asked enough guys with j-pouches. Most guys don't want to talk about it. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't 10 to 15 percent.I bet the people who say it is only 1 percent do so because they don't want to scare guys off from having the surgery. Kind of like only a certain percent get BB, pouchitis ect...
I still would trade my condition I am in now for the one I had with my useless colon.
David

My surgeon did not quote the 1-3% chance that floats around. She put the chance at 15% - I am assuming from their experience. Made me a little concerned that maybe they had a higher incidence, but I think you're right - it may be underreported. Also, there may be 15% of men who have trouble for a time but only 1-3% who have permanent issues.

I hope you are right Elmer Fudd. I had my first surgery Feb. 20. Until last week i had a soft noodle.
This last week, using myself as the experiment I was able to maintain erection and ejaculate.
How sperm output is way down. This past week I have tried more experimentation, and despite using Cialis I have not been able to maintain erection. I'm trying to not blow it out of proporting.I hope this is just temporary. This is not what I signed up for.
I had some e.d. prior to surgery but could always count on levitra or cialis. A urologist told me a long time ago that colitis does effect erections. Please guys tell me it gets better with time.
Eric

Eric,

Look around the Men's Health forum for this topic and you will find quite a few guys who have chimed in saying that things got better over time for them. To be fair, there are a couple who haven't had success and have tried alternative therapies.

But in your situation - wow! If you've already had success, it means your nerves are able to perform for you. It's not like you can ejaculate one day and damage your nerves so you can't anymore. I would bet right now some of the problem is thinking too much? You know our guys are not good performers under pressure

From everything I have read, things will get better with time - especially if you have had some success with things. Also, it seems that for a lot of us, our sex drive is diminished as a result of the whole surgical / life adjustment ordeal. I would put my money on you getting better.

Good news you got it back.

These are the risks we are made aware of and we still go ahead with the surgery, that is the test of how much we want this procedure done.

As far as the body is concerned you should never give up, it has an enourmous potential to heal up and recover.

Just for a balanced view and to present a happier flip side of the coin, loss of erectile function was one of the major worries for my surgery. On the 5th day in the passenger seat I emarrassed my wife as I whispered 'he lives!!!!!', the vibrations of the motor stirred the little man from his slumber....

Good news you got it back.

These are the risks we are made aware of and we still go ahead with the surgery, that is the test of how much we want this procedure done.

As far as the body is concerned you should never give up, it has an enourmous potential to heal up and recover.

Just for a balanced view and to present a happier flip side of the coin, loss of erectile function was one of the major worries for my surgery. On the 5th day post op in the passenger seat on my home from hospital I embarrassed my wife as I whispered 'he lives!!!!!', the vibrations of the motor stirred the little man from his slumber....

Really glad you got the one eyed whale up and sailing again.On the other hand I think that with the love and support of a good woman being impotent is not the end of the world.Trust me I know,it`s been 5 years now since my one eyed whale sunk permantly and all is fine between me and the most incredible and loving person in my world.My wife has stuck by me through good times(when it worked)and absolute bad times(the end of wee willy).Like I said I am so thrilled that you found your saving grace.Good luck Zeke and may the one eyed whale sail on forever!!

Hi Guys, Im 2 1/2yrs down the road from my op, im still on the bag, given the all clear, told all i have to do is make an appointment and the bag with its associated hernia will dissapear.

however thats not the topic, erectile disfunction is.

due to cancer invading rectum bladder and prostate, guess some nerve damage occured and part of prostate was removed so i suppose that didnt help.

anyway its been 2 1/2yrs now with nada

tried viagra once, didnt like the result.

but sometimes a strange thing occurs i wake up with an erection, so what that all about