Is that an order? <g>
For many years, orchiectomy (removal of the testes) was used to reduce hormones
in the man?s body. Now, men are more often treated with various anti-hormonal
drugs. Dealing with the side-effects of chemotherapy is the same as in females.
The use of tamoxifen causes hot flashes and reduces the sex drive.

More men present with later stage disease than women because of the lack of
screening programs.

For 40 years it has been known that, in a substantial portion of men with
advanced breast cancer, surgery to remove the testes (orchiectomy) can cause
tumors to shrink, metastases to clear up, and symptoms to disappear, for
periods lasting from months to years. More recently, similar results have been
achieved by removal of the adrenal glands (adrenalectomy) and the pituitary
gland (hypophysectomy).  Orchiectomy, or surgical castration, is usually the
initial ablative procedure because it produces a high response rate with few
surgical complications. Men who respond to orchiectomy as well as those who
fail to do so may respond subsequently to either adrenalectomy or
hypophysectomy, and these operations can be used sequentially.

One large review established that orchiectomy produced tumor regression in
two-thirds of the men treated; the median response lasted 22 months.
Adrenalectomy led to a response in three-fourths of the patients, which lasted
for a median period of 26 months. Hypophysectomy succeeded in more than half of
the men, with responses lasting for a median duration of 20 months.12 These
therapies not only produced tumor regression and relief of symptoms, but they
also lengthened the responders' survival.,.

The above are compilations from two separate web pages.
So Mary, if there are late stage male survivors out there (who previously had
the orchiectomy), I would think that the sex drive and/or orchiectomy issues
would be psychological issues that they might not wish to discuss in the
company of mostly women here. Or if there are those disagnosed late with bc,
requiring or choosing the orchiectomy, they might prefer discussing such with
other males.

I also have many friends, male and female, who have Lupus, thought to be a
woman's disease. The males read messages, but stay in the background mostly.
There's also thought to be a hormonal connection with that disease. In
addition, one male that I email with, feels that his "knees have been cut off
from under him" (feels less valuable to society"), because he is too sick to
work. He has had to switch from role as the provider of the family to
"house-husband, carer of the young kids" while she had to go back to work to
ensure ongoing health insurance coverage and income. Many/some males seem to
have more difficulty with those issues.

Hence, why, in part, I provided another source of support for males with BC.

Good enough?
J