According to Fight Club, which is clearly indictive of my limited knowledge on the subject, without any testicles I would have no libido whatsoever and would consequently experience a grief I have never known. If I had one testicle removes would my libido be reduced to 50% and would I experince grief over it’s loss?
Without any testicles you wouldn’t have any testosterone, which would pretty much kill your libido. Testosterone production is regulated by the pituitary gland. If you have only one testicle it will simply produce more testosterone to reach the level set by the pituitary gland. So, you should not expect any loss of sex drive if you lose a testicle.
I never heard my mom complain about my dad, who was a testicular cancer survivor.
Ok but say you had your gonads cut off by somebody or removed for some reason would injecting testosterone artificially give you a labido?
Testosterone in a male is produced mainly in the testicles. A smaller amount is produced in the brain or a gland close to it. I don’t feel like looking up the exact area. I was researching this a couple months ago.
Men naturally produce it in a large variance per individual, and lose of a testicle will bring down the level. Most men would do fine with one testicle. You can have too little testosterone and be fully intact. There are two shots out there. One is longer lasting, but the mood swings are greater. There is a new cream that is applied daily, to your chest, which provides the best stability in testosterone levels over the day. You do have to always be careful, if children or women are around. I ran across a case where a three-year-old boy had started to go into puberty, an enlarged penis and body hair. The father used the cream and played with the kid without a shirt on. This was stopped soon enough that the kid lost all the extra body hair, and the bones had not stopped growing.
Losing one testicle shouldn’t impede a man’s sex life or libido (well, maybe while he’s still healing up, but not after…)
In fact, there are a number of cases where European castrati soprano singers had full-blown affairs with women, including sexual intercourse. So, apparently, losing two testicles, even before puberty, won’t stop some men.
In addition to the testicles, testosterone is produced by the adrenal glands. How much those little glands pump out varies considerably from person to person. In some cases they man produce enough to produce a libido on their own.
For those who need help, testosterone supplements will do the trick. Isn’t medical science wonderful?
Lance Armstrong (Tour de France champion 1999 & 2000, and testicular cancer survivor) was interviewed in this month’s Maxim. His quote, as near as I recall, was “one makes up for the other, trust me.” He also reported that his wife is satisfied.
hmm, the biggest player on my campus is in possession of only one testicle. and he won’t get any complaints from me.
so that would be a no then.
I know a testicular cancer survivor who lost the other one in an accident. He gets monthly shots and his only side effect is occasionaly hot flashes.
Makes you wonder about people who propose castrating rapists.
The first four or five days after my left testicle was removed due to cancer, my testosterone production appeared to be zero. My body hair stopped growing (e.g., no beard growth; hairy part of arm shaved to insert IV stayed smooth as a baby’s behind) and I was scared. I had been warned by my doctor to expect a lowered testosterone level, but nobody warned me that it would drop to zero. Within a week, though, I was back almost to normal. I don’t believe that I ever reached my pre-op levels, but certainly reached 95%.
Probably not if you’re a girl.
The adrenals also produce testosterone. After losing both testicles, some men have enough testosterone remaining from adrenal gland production to suffer no change in libido. Some require supplemental testosterone.
Losing one testicle should not significantly affect libido (from a physiologic standpoint anyway).
Qadgop, MD
Not to slide off-topic a bit, but I am reminded of when my cousin lost a testicle (surgically) due to infection. Two moments were particularly funny (especially to my cousin, who has a wicked sense of humor and likes to repeat the stories):
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When I went to visit him in the hospital just before the surgery, his scrotum had swollen up to about the size of a grapefruit. He had an ice bag secured by straps that seemed to be made specifically for just such a purpose. I said with as straight a face as I could manage “Your balls are really in a sling now.” He didn’t really appreciate the joke then since laughing was a bit painful, but on later reflection thought it was my best line, ever.
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When I visited him post-op, he was feeling a lot better. He said that morning he had asked the doctor if there would be any lasting effect from the loss of a testicle, expecting to hear about a reduced libido, etc. The doctor told him quite seriously that in cases like this, the only consistent effect was a tendency to drift to one side when swimming. My cousin was dumbfounded and finally asked, “Really?” “No, not really, but I really had you going there, didn’t I?” A proctologist with a weird sense of humor, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.