Things are improving and I thought I'd post my experience so far...
I had nerve sparing surgery for prostate cancer in May 2009.
Prior to surgery, I had absolutely no problems. I could get an erection on demand, all the time and anytime and even sometimes when I didn't really want or need one at the particular moment
.A few months after surgery I tried all the oral drugs. None had any effect except to give me varying degrees of headache, musle pain, stuffy nose, etc. I also used a VED for several months. I was getting good results with it, but nothing usable for penetration. After a while, it seemed the pump was becoming less effective. Of course, all this was very discouraging and I wondered if I would ever have any "normality" again.
Several months after my surgery, I tried the oral ED drugs again...same response as before...just side effects and no primary effects.
About 8 months after surgery, I started trimix injections. Initial dose and injection of 0.1 mL gave me a bit of a chubby, nothing usable. The next few did well. So well I ended up in the ER for priapism. Luckily at about the 5 1/2 hour mark, sudafed, ice, brought it down. My ED Uro diluted my prescription to 50% (with saline solution). Next several injections were good. Usable wood. Seemed like I was more sensitive injecting on my left than my right side. Pretty soon I thought I would end up in the ER again but a couple sudafed brought that down at home. I kept reducing my dose. I got to the point where I was injecting 0.02 mL or less and still having 3+ hour wood...and pain from the alprostadil in the trimix. My ED Uro had previously stated that having increasing sensitivity and lowering the required dose was a good sign and it looked like the trimix was getting things kick-started.
Pretty much stopped trimix injections around 13 months after surgery.
Began trying the oral ED drugs again. After a few times, levitra at 10 mG was starting to work, but sometimes needing a fair bit of stimulation..not always consistent. I did find that when I tried to roll over into the missionary position, I'd lose hardness (venous leakage). It seemed the stuffy nose side effect was improving.
The last few times using levitra at 10 mG, I had kept more than enough hardness for penetration (rolling over)...Yippee! It seems now, the 10 mG is pretty consistent and amount of stimulation required is significantly diminishing.
I think the trimix was responsible for firing up the boiler again and now I'm responding reasonably to oral drugs at low doses. Side effects are still somewhat bothersome but improving. Size still seems to be smaller than pre-surgery and I'm hoping that will improve. Last couple of times, there has been a little bit of penis shaft pain...almost feels like it's getting "re-stretched"
Not too long ago, I was thinking there wouldn't be any hope. I guess what I didn't have was patience.
Interestingly enough, my surgeon, my GP and another doc said (being at that time about a year out from surgery) if I hadn't had anything natural or if ED oral drugs weren't working by then... there wouldn't be any improvement. They were wrong...my ED doc was a lot more optimistic.
Also, been getting a lot of nocturnal wood...not real hard, but something that wasn't happening like this a while back.
Who knows...maybe the return of natural wood someday? I consider myself pretty lucky.
All for now
