Howdy from Michigan

[waj1993]

Missed out on the other forums and their iterations (EA). Losing the grapes has been on my radar for over 30 years. If everything lines up they maybe gone in the next year.

I know the impacts, short and long term for the most part, but rooting through the posts to see what else I've missed.

Glad to have found this site and the folks adding to the knowledge base.

[WheelyFixed]

Welcome, glad to see you found us!

Certainly feel free to ask any questions that you aren't sure about, many of us have been down this road and are happy to share our experiences and knowledge.

Are you working with a TG center and going through the SOCv8 process, or are you looking at medical tourism?

WheelyFixed

[mounds_dont]

Wheely didn't say, but we have people here that are in all stages of the journey. From ideation to pre-op, post-op and living the dream. Please ask questions. I know I did, when I first got here (first and second EA). I played what I called 'stump the experts'.

MD

[waj1993]

WheelyFixed: investigating medical tourism as it is less restrictive, with navigating the American medical system as a secondary. Kids are grown, this isn't a sudden rash decision: wish things would be easier here stateside.

My testosterone is avg 258 over 6 tests (total), free is right around 12, so its not like the little things are super productive.

[WheelyFixed]

WheelyFixed: investigating medical tourism as it is less restrictive, with navigating the American medical system as a secondary. Kids are grown, this isn't a sudden rash decision: wish things would be easier here stateside.

My testosterone is avg 258 over 6 tests (total), free is right around 12, so its not like the little things are super productive.

That level is low, but not terrible - after I got hurt, I was at around 150, and they put me on gel to get me up to around 300 for a few years, and then I started this journey...

We have had several members that got their surgery done by Dr. Aguilar down in Mexico, and everyone has said he did a good job, and that the facilities and care before and after were great. He does "informed consent" but I'm told will want to be sure you are really certain about it, so will want to either talk about why you want to be fixed, or see some psych eval or equivalent... (IMHO this is not unreasonable for a non-reversible procedure...)

I was one of the early people to go through the SOCv8 process at the TG center that is part of MGH, the hospital system I get most of my care through. I was initially terrified by the idea of coming out to the medical community but it has turned out to be a total non-issue. I found it was a bit of a pain to jump through all the hoops, like getting psych letters, and especially waiting for appointments but overall it was surprisingly easy, though slow...

IMHO the biggest advantages of going through the system are that it lets you stay local (travel w/ a disability can be a major challenge) and it was also covered by my insurance, in my case 100%.... (Others have reported getting hit w/ copays that were sometimes almost as much as Dr. A. charges, so you need to investigate your coverage. The TG center will probably have a really good idea about this from other patients experiences)

WheelyFixed

[waj1993]

To clarify regarding my average (or to put it into context): I've gone from a high of 291 in January, to a current 205 (mid October). I don't know how statically significant that shift is (I've only been monitoring it since mid December). I've been experimenting since December with what I have been attempting as self induced hypogonadism by utilizing controlled periodical testicular hyperthermia (heating the jewels up without burning them for 6-8 hours at a time daily). It's been tough to ascertain the effectiveness or the thermal conductivity of the tissue (although the jewels are just below the scrotal skin). I've been using banding (not painful banding though), to help isolate them and hopefully expose them more to the heat by keeping the distance from the heat source as small of a distance as possible. The goal in theory is to render the testicles inert (induce fibrosis and cellular degradation) to the point that they cease to function. I started this before coming across this site (or others) and seeing how more accessible elective orchiectomy can be. Banding, crushing, or needling seemed a bit higher risk in terms of having to explain things.

I had to give them an occasional rest (maybe a week at most, no more than three times since beginning) when I was dialing in what felt like the right heat amount without scalding things (getting them too hot where they "molt" results in an extended itchy period while the skin heals.). I'm going to continue this approach while simultaneously pursuing a referral letter for a local orch - if that fails then it would be time to put a passport to work (which wouldn't be terrible, I love me some good authentic Mexican food - stuff that actually has flavor).

Monitoring the effective temperature is problematic, (those laser pointed infrared thermometers have a considerable amount of variation on skin, and to measure surface temp with those I have to remove the heat source, which instantly drops surface temp - and it drives the cat crazy if she spots the laser anywhere). I've got access to K type thermocouples, which is a strong consideration for monitoring.

[WheelyFixed]

I remember discussion on EAv2, and a little here - see https://connect.xfinity.com/ I did a Startpage search on "testicle heating" and got a LOT of hits...

Possibly most useful...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat-based_contraception
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/andr.13264
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7995654/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 2475901092

I remember reading other stuff and IIRC the approach that they used was essentially a mini crockpot with a control setup similar to a souve` pot, with a lower temperature, but the same sort of digital controller to hold an exact temperature... I believe the idea was that by using a hot water bath, you could presume that after a while the testicles would be at the same temperature as the bath which is more easily monitored....

I also just found this site which is rather more on the kinky side of things...

https://thedoghouse.azurewebsites.net/m ... tering.htm

and finally, I found an article I vaguely remembered reading before...

http://www.puzzlepiece.org/bcontrol/malebc.html

Hope these are useful, note that it appears that none of these (except possibly the doghouse article) seemed to cause permanent changes, so surgery is probably still in order if wanting to actually get rid of the testicles...

WheelyFixed

[waj1993]

Agreed. This is all in an attempt to render them inert until the divorce proceedings are final with the little fellows. I suspect it's had an impact, as based on regular orchidometer comparison I'm down to around 8-10ml in volume so far. Can't get to 0 though without a bit of surgery...

Funny story of sorts: back in my teenage years before internet and better awareness, I tried using electricity (not household) thinking that a current across them would kill them off. Boy oh boy, the things I didn't know back then. Thankfully I had previously experimented using household electricity at a much younger age for other things way before then and had a healthy fear / respect enough to not mess with outlets. (my folks never did figure out why the fuse for my room kept blowing - and in retrospect I am glad the fuses did their job. Not sure even this much later I'd ever fess up to that to my Dad even though the statute of limitations for doing stuff as a kid has long expired. That was pretty dumb...)

[TheRagingEunuch]

"Funny story of sorts: back in my teenage years before internet and better awareness, I tried using electricity (not household) thinking that a current across them would kill them off."

It's stories like this that make me regret having been born a Eunuch. Look at all the fun I missed out on! Grrrrrr!

[waj1993]

"Funny story of sorts: back in my teenage years before internet and better awareness, I tried using electricity (not household) thinking that a current across them would kill them off."

It's stories like this that make me regret having been born a Eunuch. Look at all the fun I missed out on! Grrrrrr!

Wasn't doing it for the fun factor but to nuke the little suckers out of commission. Fun would be the scientific side: what would be the current (electrical) threshold required to accomplish the intended goal without leaving burns or collateral damage. That in itself would be fascinating. I would've volunteered for such a study, with the understanding that they get evicted afterwards.