Pumping the bulb

[JohnHC]

I have the AMS 700 CX with MSPump. That being said and the fact that this one hasn't failed like my first one did under 2 weeks, I was wondering when being pumped up can you fully compress the pump on each squeeze? I've only tried mine 3 times so far on this second implant and can compress it fully on the first pump ( that you get the pop to set it in inflate mode ) but on every pump after that it seems I can only squeeze it about halfway. Is that normal? And how do you know when you've pumped the implant to max? I can pump it several times and it'll get very hard, but since I can't seem to fully squeeze the bulb I really can't "feel" if it's maxed out or not. I've even tried using a washcloth to be sure the pump doesn't slip while squeezing it. I'd like to get my mind right on this so that when I start cycling this thing in earnest I'm fully inflating it and not stopping at say halfway and end up making it more difficult to reach that fully inflated status that I need to be at so that the scar capsule doesn't form too small and hinder me.

[Gt1956]

Mine basically works the same as yours. First pump or two are pretty good squeezes. After that it come down to merely small flexes of the bulb. My drs nurse swears that I'm still moving fluid so getting a stiffer erection. She maintains that in the long term that the fast small squeezes inflates faster. Its hard for me to argue with her, she can get me fully inflated really fast using her method.
I don't get glans discomfort at full inflation. I test my progress by how well my penis will flex. I give it a gentle bend in the dorsal direction. This would be up, bending right or left is totally futile.
This nurse knows dicks, been with the same urologist for 12 years. After about 30 seconds at my first visit she had assessed the incision, pump location & that the tips were even in my glans.
My surgery was May 1, I've posted quite alot about my recovery. Try reading my history. Good luck.

[Bigdave]

Mine is pretty much the same.
I can feel the pressure in my glans as I approach maximum inflation. The amount of bulb deflection is quite small, but it's definitely still moving fluid.
I have no desire to abuse my implant my squeezing excessively hard on the pump. I want this thing to last many years.

[Jage64]

I squeeze the first time pretty hard and fast to set the valve and get the strongest POP I can. From that point, I do sort of half squeezes and immediately feel the erection growing. I usually takes me 15-20 partial squeezes to get to the point that the bulb is a marble and cannot be compressed again.

After 3-4 minutes, I can get another couple of half squeezes in, as I think the cylinders continue to stretch under pressure. I'm adding a squeeze or two every few minutes for the first 30 minute or so of my cycling. For the last 30 minutes I can feel the stretch/discomfort in my glans, and that's a welcome feeling, as I assume it's stretching things out even more.

By the 60th minute I'm ready to deflate for some relief, but I usually hang on until 75 minutes or so.

When I was first implanted I could pump 100+ times and never get to the point that the bulb would not compress. I was pretty nervous about that, and the doc didn't really have an answer for me, other than maybe I was just stronger than most? I knew that wasn't it, but I couldn't ever get to full inflation. The remedy was getting into a 104 degree hot tub, I don't know if that softened something that was stuck or what, but I pumped up in the hot tub and at 15 pumps I was a steel rail and could add no more. From that point, things were different, and every now and again I hop into the hot tub and get things softened up in there just for good measure and to sort of 'reset'. In the hot tub I need the minimal amount of pumps to get to full hardness.

[2435tjklAS]

You will learn the answer to all of your questions yourself before too long. But not now, because you got this implant 11 days ago!!!! I didn't start cycling until 35 days and at that point I was also confused by the instant compression, then the halfway pumps, then it seeming like it didn't work, then everything else. Give it time.

Cycling could take you up to a year or longer. No reason whatsoever to be concerned yet.

[advaita]

With my AMS CX, apart from the 1st pump with "pop" which is more flexible, all the others are about half done. Difficult to get more, especially with one hand. (With two hands it might be doable to do full push-ups.)
I don't think there's any need to force more to get full pressures. It probably saves the material, just spend little more time pumping.

[SWorks17]

I have the AMS 700 CX with MSPump. That being said and the fact that this one hasn't failed like my first one did under 2 weeks, I was wondering when being pumped up can you fully compress the pump on each squeeze? I've only tried mine 3 times so far on this second implant and can compress it fully on the first pump ( that you get the pop to set it in inflate mode ) but on every pump after that it seems I can only squeeze it about halfway. Is that normal? And how do you know when you've pumped the implant to max? I can pump it several times and it'll get very hard, but since I can't seem to fully squeeze the bulb I really can't "feel" if it's maxed out or not. I've even tried using a washcloth to be sure the pump doesn't slip while squeezing it. I'd like to get my mind right on this so that when I start cycling this thing in earnest I'm fully inflating it and not stopping at say halfway and end up making it more difficult to reach that fully inflated status that I need to be at so that the scar capsule doesn't form too small and hinder me.

John, are you already cycling your implant? I know you had a revision, I could barely grasp the pump without pain a few weeks after surgery. The doc just told me to try and pull down on the pump so that it wouldn't migrate upwards in the scrotum. At 4 weeks I played around with the pump because I was half inflated by the doc during the surgery completion, because of having scrotum pain I could barely squeeze the pump, I did once but that's all I did.
So you must have deflated your implant and you're trying to inflate it again.
At 6 weeks I could only get in about 10 or 11 pumps and I thought that it was a steel rod, but as I kept cycling and gaining length back, I could pump it up more and more. Now that I'm 20 months out, I can pump it up 40 times slowly and I think that is maxed pumped, if I pump it up with fast pump squeezes, I can get around 70 pumps. So, you can tell that pumping it slowly lets the pump fully fill before making another pump.
I have the LGX which is different, but I have the same pump, from what I've heard the CX implant gets very hard very quick, because it doesn't expand as much as the LGX.
I just kept pumping until I couldn't pump anymore or the discomfort was too great. But this is when I started cycling the implant after my Doc gave the go ahead to cycle.
Yes, you need to do your cycling before the surgical capsule forms, but it doesn't form for a few months, as you heal you'll be able to pump more.

Hang in there

[oldbeek]

My doc left me pumped up 80-90% pumped. He said "leave alone, no positioning, no pulling down, no nothing" No sex for 4 weeks. I had lots of pain for the full 4 weeks. At 4 weeks I could not make myself push the button to release it. Mind over pain. Doc squeezed the release and I came off the table. A gentle blow job during the 4 weeks sure felt good. Back to your question. At 5 yrs out, I do the pop then about 30 quick half squeezes and I am a railroad spike. Cant bend it at all. Up to 3 years I could only keep it that hard for 5 minutes because of the pain. Now I can go about an hour rock hard. Can go all day long wearing a useable 80% pumped hard on.

[JohnHC]

John, are you already cycling your implant? I know you had a revision, I could barely grasp the pump without pain a few weeks after surgery. The doc just told me to try and pull down on the pump so that it wouldn't migrate upwards in the scrotum. At 4 weeks I played around with the pump because I was half inflated by the doc during the surgery completion, because of having scrotum pain I could barely squeeze the pump, I did once but that's all I did.
So you must have deflated your implant and you're trying to inflate it again.
At 6 weeks I could only get in about 10 or 11 pumps and I thought that it was a steel rod, but as I kept cycling and gaining length back, I could pump it up more and more. Now that I'm 20 months out, I can pump it up 40 times slowly and I think that is maxed pumped, if I pump it up with fast pump squeezes, I can get around 70 pumps. So, you can tell that pumping it slowly lets the pump fully fill before making another pump.
I have the LGX which is different, but I have the same pump, from what I've heard the CX implant gets very hard very quick, because it doesn't expand as much as the LGX.
I just kept pumping until I couldn't pump anymore or the discomfort was too great. But this is when I started cycling the implant after my Doc gave the go ahead to cycle.
Yes, you need to do your cycling before the surgical capsule forms, but it doesn't form for a few months, as you heal you'll be able to pump more.

Hang in there

I'm sorta sudo cycling, I have pumped it up about 4 times now. I'll pump it up till it starts to get a twinge of pain, let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes then deflate partially and "set" the pump by giving it a quick squeeze to set the valve. I only started after the swelling in my scrotum was mostly gone. I could palpate the pump and pull it down slightly since day 3 after ( didn't try beforehand.) I don't know how inflated he left me after surgery but it couldn't have been more than 50%.

My Dr already knows as I told him I would be starting as soon as the swelling went down and whatever pain was manageable, he was ok with it because I had thoroughly researched, watched videos, etc about everything long before and up to the first surgery. ( He said I've been his only patient this well informed about what to do and what to expect about the surgery and aftermath.) He said easy at first, and I told him I know I probably won't get close to full inflation till after 3 or 4 weeks because I'd be afraid of pulling the incision apart. He said that would be doubtful but just go easy at first, so you can completely heal before going full bore.

I'm guessing that the pump will soften and get easier to pump as it's used and as the capsule expands relieving some of the back pressure. I know I'm just anxious to really get started in earnest because of how long I've had ED and a mostly non functioning member.

I've been lucky it seems due to the fact that neither surgery was really painful in any sense and was just the swelling in the scrotum that made things difficult to deal with. Being well informed from this site, and others, watching multiple surgeries on video, and watching what multiple Drs have said in videos about the surgery and recovery is what has kept me sane during this whole experience so far.