For those of you who have had an orchi are you glad you did or do you regret it?

What benefits did you get from having it done mentally, physically, financially, etc?

What was the down side for you?

I'm curious since this is something I'm considering myself but it seems to be the red headed step child of MTF surgeries.

I had an orchi and I am very happy about it.

No more need for spiro and the relief of knowing I no longer have those evil twins makeing T.

There really hasn't been a downside to be honest.

I haven't had it, but I'd like it very much. It would stop me having to use spiro so I wouldn't get mad paranoid about potassium levels all the time, and I would know without a doubt that my testosterone was low.

I can't see anything bad about it, but I guess it is the point of no return probably not something to get if you doubt your transition.

I got mine early on, and for myself, it was a Very Good Decision. Lower doses of E with better results and easier for my liver to metabolise. Did nothing though for facial hair. Even tight jeans were easier to deal with!!

One caveate: Do Not get into a situation where you cannot get your estrogen in whatever form you are taking it. ALWAYS have an emergency stock pile and do not run out. I did, and after a week the Hot Flashes that came on were awful! The good news is that it reverses itself in a day after you start again, but until that day you'll be in a Bad Way, and no mistake! Menopausal  women get a whole new level of respect from me!!

Lexi- in Sunny North Carolina for the next week-

Quote from: Lexicaligari on December 11, 2011, 11:42:49 AM
I got mine early on, and for myself, it was a Very Good Decision. Lower doses of E with better results and easier for my liver to metabolise. Did nothing though for facial hair. Even tight jeans were easier to deal with!!

One caveate: Do Not get into a situation where you cannot get your estrogen in whatever form you are taking it. ALWAYS have an emergency stock pile and do not run out. I did, and after a week the Hot Flashes that came on were awful! The good news is that it reverses itself in a day after you start again, but until that day you'll be in a Bad Way, and no mistake! Menopausal  women get a whole new level of respect from me!!

Lexi- in Sunny North Carolina for the next week-

That is true. You can then avoid tucking or things like that. Wearing leggings or skirts would be far easier to handle without the ...... hanging around. I am also considering about that at the moment.

Orchiectomy, I think, is only a good decision if you are not sure you will ever have SRS.

The reason is that without testes in it, a scrotum shrinks quite a bit, possibly leaving the patient with insufficient material for SRS, which makes skin grafts necessary.

But on the other hand, it will free your liver from the burden of anti-androgens and probably be more comfortable on an everyday basis.

Since everyday comfort is a trivial matter if it's going to be better in the future anyway (assuming your dysphoria with your testicles themselves is not particularly high, and you want to have SRS in the future), I guess the real question would be comparing the long-term harm on your liver by the anti-androgen with the consequences of having insufficient material for SRS.

In response to scrotal shrinkage...
I have been taking the time to stretch the scrotum every day since I healed from my orchi and I have seen no apreciable amount of scrotal shrinkage.

It would seem to me that if you have time to dialte after SRS then you have time to do some stretching pre SRS to provide plenty of donor material for that surgery.

I really want one.

Is there a way to get an orchi without actually removing the testis?
Like just get the T production cut off?

Nope. You want the T factory gone you need to remove the testicles.

The concept of an orchiectomy is the removal of testis, so no, it's impossible.

Cutting the T production, uh... With prolonged HRT, maybe it dies down? I know fertility disappears, but I'm far from sure about hormone production.

Well, uhm, no, I don't think you can. You can block T's effects with anti-androgens, but not remove T itself if the testes are still there.

I'm leaning towards getting an orchi myself.  I'm not worried about being sterile since I don't plan on makin babies.  In my case, my testies are most likely above average in size which makes it very uncomfortable to tuck and sit. Not to mention that I hate seeing them...

I'm not plannning on having SRS, but do wonder one can still have an erection after orchi? 

Thank you for bringing up this topic.

Erections after an orchiectomy are probably as frequent as on AAs. Possible, but hard to maintain and probably weak.

I am considering this route actually. Since I dont plan on having SRS [which is both a financial and personal reason], and I really dont want to be on Spiro for all eternity. Is it expensive?
I've already had my baby so I'm good.

It's not a very expensive surgery. Not sure at all, but I think I saw something like 2000$.

I have just got a referral to a surgeon  for an initial consultation, and this is one of the things I will be discussing with him. 
If for some reason I can't go ahead with SRS for some time it would be nice to know whether this would be a shorter-term solution.  I may have some medical contra-indications so am considering all my options beforehand.
My children are adults and I had a vasectomy 20 years ago, so they are just hanging aroung being a nuisance really.

Karen.

Quote from: monica93304 on December 19, 2011, 08:21:26 PM
I'm leaning towards getting an orchi myself.  I'm not worried about being sterile since I don't plan on makin babies.  In my case, my testies are most likely above average in size which makes it very uncomfortable to tuck and sit. Not to mention that I hate seeing them...

I'm not plannning on having SRS, but do wonder one can still have an erection after orchi? 

Thank you for bringing up this topic.

Yes.

In fact....I get stronger erections now that my evil twins are gone than I did when they were atached to me.
I do understand that this is atypical. I think it is all psychosomatic. I hated hated hated my testicles, so much so that they distracted me and gave me allot of issues. Now they are gone I can focus on the sex with more ease.

You also always have the option of forcing an erection with cock rings...

I made a decision this morning that I am going to move forward with an orchiectomy. I want to thank all of you ladies for your responses, they were helpful.

What it really came down to for me is that I needed to move forward in a concrete way with my transition. Having those two things dangle between my legs causes me more dysphoria than anything else. It's not what I want, it's not a vagina but at least they won't be there. Also, with they way things are going for me financially it doesn't look like srs is going to happen any time soon. I'm really looking forward to not having to take spiro, it's driving me crazy having to pee all the time and I don't feel it's been as effective as it's should have been. Tucking will be so much easier. I'm tired of trying to hide those things, they don't belong in my pants anyway.

For me these things outweigh the risks and I'm willing to work to maintain the tissue I have for srs in the future.

Quote from: cynthialee on December 19, 2011, 12:45:36 PM
It would seem to me that if you have time to dialte after SRS then you have time to do some stretching pre SRS to provide plenty of donor material for that surgery.

I couldn't agree more.

Do you need a letter for this? I'm thinking of doing it to just speed up the process.

Quote from: Laura91 on December 21, 2011, 01:58:27 PM
It depends on the surgeon. My surgeon did it with informed consent so I didn't need a letter from a therapist.

Did you use the retired doctor in PA, Fara in ATL, or Arnkoff in MI? 

I can't find Fara's pricing but it was like $5000 last I saw.  Arnkoff is only 2k.

Or is there a new Dr that will do informed consent?

I'm sure my therapist would kill me, but after this FFS I'm not going to be able to afford 20k+ for GCS for a few years and I don't want to stay on Spiro that long.

I didn't need a letter.

But I had deformities in the testies and constant unremiting pain. Even if I was a cisgender male they would have had to be removed.