I have castrate-resistant MPC, on ADT for over 4 years and currently on chemo. My urologist and MO recommended I take 5mg Cialis daily to keep the blood flowing down there and prevent atrophy. I hate to take another drug, but will if it is beneficial. Does anyone take daily Cialis and are there any side effects?
Daily Cialis?: I have castrate... - Advanced Prostate...
Daily Cialis?
I used it after my RALP to promote healing only.
But after that, and in your case you need to exercise him, that will stop atrophy. Whether you do it, or a partner. That will help blood flow.
Not Cialis but I take 40 mg of Sildenafil (generic Viagra) daily. It seems to help. No side effects.
I do. No side effects for me with 10 mg/day daily dose.
Does it possibly help even after the nerves were not spared during prostate removal?
In my case, all of the nerves were removed with the prostate and there is subsequently « failure for any kind of lift off », sadly, but I’m relatively well, working lots and my PSA and T have been undetectable since removal and ADT. It’s swings and roundabouts I guess
My experience supports your doctors' recommendations. I only wish my uro had prescribed cialis or viagra early on, before I had some atrophy.
I currently take sildenafil daily, except for days when i am going to inject Trimix. As terminal says above - use it or lose it, but in my case the sildenafil has been key to maintaining sexual function.
I take 5mg aday
5mg/d here too. I definitely think it has helped keep my little guy from totally wasting away.
I think if you can afford it and the side effects don't bother you it's worth doing since it lets your penile arteries expand and this causes more blood to flow down there, which prevents the tissues from deteriorating. You will probably enjoy your ADT holidays more if you do that - and you may get lucky and have some fun while you're on ADT, though you may need to try injections.
Cialis was of no help to me. But viagra was. And it had the bonus of being linked to reduced Alzheimer’s.
Schwah
These drugs help, but they are best used in conjunction with deliberate stimulation. They work better if you do. Side effects are minimal for most. I get a bit of a stuffy nose if I try too large a dose, which doesn’t improve the effect anyway so I avoid that.
Oddly I take a daily hot tub and I have found that it does wonders in terms of bringing blood to the zone. Kind of the opposite of a cold shower.
Im in the UK. Had to fight to get Cialis after significant size and sex function loss over several years of ADT. Was grudgingly referred to a sex therapist. UK allows 4x 20mg tablets per month on NHS. I take 1/4 tablet (5mg) on alternate days. This has made a huge difference. Some size regained and erections have returned. Viagra didn't work for me and gave me bad headaches. Recommend you try it and see if it works for you. Good luck.
I tried it and all I got was a stiff neck!
In Scotland..referred early in ADT (Lupron three months intermittent) by advanced nurse practitioner. So no limit NHS Scotland apparently.
5mg daily whether on or off Lupron.
Does keep atrophy at bay; no side effects and with a bit of stimulation and focus allows some erectile function. Use it or lose it.
My sympathy to all those never advised of this.
I began daily 5 mg Cialis after IMRT and 4 months of ADT. It works. My post-treatment atrophy was reversed and I feel “close to normal” sexual function. My insurance refused to cover, but I found that Good Rx brings the cost down significantly.
Study I was in recommended 60mg 3 times a wk of sildenafil. Now, only as needed (as it were). Consider penis pump. It works. While on ADT I had no interest in anything sexual but kept to a routine. It helped, I think. Minimal genital shrinkage (just one more f-ing indignity of PCa). Get a partner/significant other to participate in play. Make it fun.
Good luck to you.
EdinBaltimore
what pump works? Ive tried one and got nowhere….
The study provided pump, meds, etc. The pump is manufactured by NuPath and, yes, it works. The hardest (no pun intended) part was getting into a routine and forcing pleasure on myself (! LOL) There are other brands - check Amazon or sex shop. Unfortunately, it's not something one can try on at the store (?)
Good luck to you.
EdinBaltimore
I use it, keeps me from peeing on my shoes.
I’ve been taking 5 mg of cialis daily for years. First to treat BPH and now to help with ATD
I take it every day, and supplement another 5 if things are looking promising! I use Mark Cuban’s cost plus drug’s pharmacy and get 90 pills for about 12$, amazing savings there.
Every day is really hard on willy.....
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n Sunday 05/21/2023 2:05 PM DST
Can't thank you enough for asking about this. I had no idea
I hate that the urologist scared the hell out of me with an estimate of 18-24 months to live,
But I also hate that he told me that the adt would end my sex life. F**k him!
When I told him that I still had interest in sex and intercourse 2 years after diagnosis and beginning adt, his response was that he had other patients who would be glad to hear that, because he had been telling them that a continued sex life was impossible.
UROLOGISTS be advised, tell your new patients that not only is intercourse possible during ADT, it can be possible, and life saving
IMHO, Anything less is malpractice
Your urologist's intention might have been to motivate you to do the things you've done == 95% vegetarian, exercise more... My urologist did not go into survival guessing, but got my total attention by saying my PCa is incurable. They get to break the grim news of a cancer diagnosis and I doubt there is a way to sugar-coat it in the slightest. Since PCa runs in my family, I was all too aware of the QoL downsides. (old SciFi Blade Runner reference.) Its like PCa treatment turns us into replicants.
“It’s Too Bad She Won’t Live. But Then Again, Who Does?”
I wish I could be as generous in my eval of my original urologist's intentions. Unfortunately, the evidence points to a less optimistic take. He originally missed the cancer, then he tried to treat only my incontinence. After passing clots, two foley catheters, 4 months of self cathing, he scheduled a biopsy, Following the biopsy he called to say I had stage II cancer and that he could take care of it withsurgery. The next day he called back to say that the cancer was probably stage III, and the following day he called again to say that it was stage IV, that he was sorry that he missed it for a year, that I had 18-24 months, and that he was sorry.
Several months later when he found out from my primary care that I still had sex regularly, he was amazed and said that he thought that it was impossible to have an erection while on ADT. My onclologist took a look at my chart and started cussing out "that damn plumber" - the onco's words. In the oncologist's opinion, if the urologist had been on top of his game I most likely would have been diagnosed prior to developing lung mets. Kind of a big deal. I'm no longer angry, but I am also not gracious in my estimation of the uro's expertise.
I’m 80 and my beautiful, empathetic, supportive, retired marriage family counseler wife is 77. Sex has been an important and joyful part of our relationship and marriage for over 45 years. We didn’t want to lose that when I had a nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy in 2011, with 6 months follow-up ADT and radiation the first part of 2012. Thankfully that summer we were able to enjoy sex again.
But when my PSA started to rise in 2017 and I eventually had to return to ADT, it lowered my libido and killed my erections. A penis pump helped maintain circulation, but I couldn’t get hard enough to enjoy regular intercourse. My wife and I still made do touching one another, and that helped a lot.
After my PSA got down to “undetectable” for a few months my doctor let me go on ADT vacation in 2020 until my PSA started going up again a year later. Good sex again during that vacation!
In December, 2020, I happened to hear a talk on ““Incontinence and Sexual Side Effects of Prostate Cancer Treatment” by Salt Lake City Urologist & Men’s Sexual Health Physician Dr William Brant, who said daily Cialis was helping a number of his patients. Links to his talk and slides can be found at
Talk: gotostage.com/channel/586ae...
Slides: naspcc.org/docs/Incontinenc...
Thanks to those links I was able to persuade my Kaiser urologist to prescribe 5mg daily Tadalafil (generic for Cialis) “for urinary problems.”
Since then, Tadalafil has helped my libido and even enabled me to keep an erection at least for a minute or two after manual stimulation from my wife so we can even enjoy senior sex every week or so – despite ADT. Great for my mood and our relationship.
I do experience some sinus pressure I try reduce by taking Loratadine (generic for Claritin) shortly before we make love. After reading other comments above in this thread, I might try taking an additional 5mg of tadalafil to see if that might help give my erection a boost without making the sinus pressure worse.
Good luck carguy! Please let us know how Tadalafil/Cialis works for you.
silver5
so glad you posted this info. I invite you to join Carlosbach and I and start a club for those of us continuing to have regular sex in spite of PCa.
Having an interested and interesting partner is very helpful, you are a lucky man.
The caution is if you take nitroglycerin. The combination can dro BP too low. Combining with an alpha blocker might also cause some issues.
That being said I take 5mg/day cialas and it helps.
you should go through a doctor for the Rx who knows your medical history
You should take it until you get a penile implant. I've one and it is a weapon.
I take over about three years tadalafil 5 mg and have no sideeffect, but a good blood-flow and -filling. without the pill my morning-wood (atleast half-mast) in bed will be very weak!!
sounds like the guys covered this for you pretty well. TeBozo will crack you up but I’ve followed him and find him to be a pretty smart guy as are they all. Like many my insurance wouldn’t cover it either despite having BPH issues. A co-patient in treatments with me on this journey learned so much the hard way and too late. He quickly reached a point of no arousal and ultimately so much shrinkage that is junk is no longer recognizable as functional but he has a wonderful wife and two loving kids and because of the loss of his libido he says he doesn’t fret over it. He set me on to daily Cialis but I had to ask my oncologist to prescribe it. I don’t get how every member of any of our medical team isn’t on top of this for us with as much experience as they have, embarrassment on their part be damned. This is important to each of us perhaps more so for what we stand to lose with the battle. I’ve conveyed it to mine. I don’t see that anyone mentioned it but if you don’t have a partner to help you then don’t be bashful about helping yourself. This is the time of your life it’s okay to be a “Jerk” 😁.
I'm stage 4b widespread pc and take daily 5mg cialis and it works good. Bevor it was verry cold in the "privat room" and he was only like a childs.. but so it's ok
Recently it has been shown that Cialis helps prevent adverse heart events. See: everydayhealth.com/heart-he...
I've been on for 6 months.....can see the benefit. No side affects. And as someone else said....use it or lose it.....to prevent atrophy.