Lack of Sex Drive and Cancer?

My boyfriend had testicular cancer two years ago and his sex drive dropped a little, but just last year (october) he had teritoma tumors in the lymph nodes in his abdomen and he had a twelve and a half hour surgery to remove them. During the surgery something happened, i dont know...medical lingo dosnt work with my brian, and now he cant ejaculate. He can get hard and orgasm, just nothing comes out. Since this happened he has absolutely no sex drive or anything. He is 24 by the way, but his birthday is on Monday so really 25. He wont bring it up to his doctor because his mummy still goes with him to every appointment, to pay the bills.

[cutemouse]

Sorry, forgot to ask a question...Is this common? Whats wrong? What can I/we do?

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  At this point, its hard to definitely say what's causing your boyfriend's difficulty in ejaculating.  If he's had testicular cancer and teratoma, and has received chemotherapy and radiation treatment previously, it's possible that he presently has low levels of testosterone in his body (as a result of the treatment), which may account for his decrease in sex drive and ejaculation problems.  There may also be a psychological angle to this - the lack of sex drive may be a sign of depression.  It's very possible that he's depressed over the things that have happened to him at a very young age.

Encourage your boyfriend to be open about this problem and discuss it with his doctor, so that he can be properly evaluated and treated.

[cutemouse]

Hi. Umm. He dosnt have an ejaculation problem, I guess I didnt specify this enough, he ejaculates, but it goes into his bladder instead of coming out...and I highley doubt that having cancer bothered him at all, he says and acts like it was no big deal and I dont think he is lying about it. He says that people with cancer make it up to be worse than it really is. (I rephrased his comment so it would be more suitible for this forum). He also hasnt/dosnt/and will never drink, smoke, or do drugs.

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  Thanks for the clarification. The condition you are describing is called retrograde ejaculation.  This is usually a side effect of surgery for testicular cancer.  During your boyfriend's surgery, the sympathetic nerves (nerves controlling ejaculation) in that area may have been injured, resulting in backward travel of the semen into the bladder during ejaculation.  There are medications, such as imipramine, chlorpheniramine, or ephedrine, which may help alleviate this condition.  He can consult with a urologist or an internist to see which treatment is appropriate for him.

[cutemouse]

He can take meds for this? The way the doctor made it sound, I thought it would always be like this, like it was permanent, he even made us freeze sperm.

Next time he goes to the doctors I will make it a point to go with him and ask about this.

Thank You~

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  The medications I enumerated can lessen the symptoms of retrograde ejaculation, but if the damage to the sympathetic nerves are extensive, the condition might be permanent.

[cutemouse]

Thinking back, I dont think the doctor really explained it all that well because he was more focused on wether or not the tumors where cancerous and the two foot scar on my boyfriends chest healing correctly...