Couple ED Questions

Hey All,

I posted a question here a couple of years ago but still haven't had much progress :/ and was wondering if some of you could maybe give me some advice?

I'm still having difficulty both achieving and maintaining erections.  I'm 27 now, and needless to say, I'm not the same as I was when I was 16/17 years old.  I completely get that.  However, the moment I find myself getting aroused when I'm in a sex-related situation, I feel like whatever keeps the blood flowing into my penis that makes it feel super rigid and erect, isn't there anymore.  I haven't had any injuries and have seen multiple urologists, sex therapists and primary care physicians about this problem and they all say I'm 100% healthy.  I've had my testosterone checked (normal) and my other hormones (normal).  I'm healthy, eat right, quit smoking cigarettes years ago and drink socially/in moderation.  Here's a couple of top line questions that I'd really appreciate some insights to:

- I smoke marijuana pretty regularly but am not by any means an unproductive person and maintain a very active lifestyle.  Could this inhibit me from achieving erections?  If so, I'll give it up even though I've done this before in the past without improvements :/ (my docs don't seem to think this is the issue either btw)
- I masturbate about 1-2 times per day...could I be sexually exhausted?
- I notice that I don't have nighttime erections anymore and if I do, I wake up with an erections that's at best about 60-70 percent.  My physicians have all said that this is not necessarily indicative of a physical problem as I've been cleared with a good bill of health :)...a definite plus, but can sexual anxiety really have an effect on nighttime/morning erections?
- I notice that I no longer get aroused when imagining a sexual situation or seeing women that I find attractive walk by.  Maybe I'm noticing it more since I've been experiencing this problem for some years; however, was wondering if this is normal or if I should be getting erections in these scenarios
- I don't go flacid int he middle of sex...only when trying to achieve an erection and maintaining one while during foreplay (like if I perform oral on a woman, that would've historically kept me aroused but doesn't anymore)
- I have almost as much difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection when I'm masturbating...even in the comfort of my own home I can't keep my guy up!
- I've noticed that the pills I've been using (cialis, viagra, levitra) are starting to not be as effective as they used to be. Could I have caused permanent damage from using them for a couple of years?

Any advice would be awesome.  Thanks everyone.

[jr_inmex]

you pose good questions, and I doubt there's any 'the answer is' answers for them.  One observation I find interesting is: "I notice that I no longer get aroused when imagining a sexual situation or seeing women that I find attractive walk by".  For the *most* part that describes me, but I think there's a good reason why:  an attractive woman walking by does not represent a sexual opportunity - if it was an attractive woman who walked that also *smiled* at you, I bet the reaction would be (instantly) different.  Sex is all about excitement - I don't know if it's even possible to get an erection if your heart-rate doesn't rise significantly.  I think as we age and have more and more sexual experiences, the bar does get raised.  It takes more than it did before to get a reaction - but that doesn't mean there's necessarily anything fundamentally 'wrong' with us.  People get jaded, in medical terms I imagine they use the phrase 'build up a tolerance' when explaining why a drug's effectiveness may fade over time.   So how to make things exciting every time ... that I do not know.  But I think at age 27, in apparently good health, the changes you describe are premature - they shouldn't be happening yet for physical reasons.  A mental reboot is needed with respect to sex - if I knew how I'd be rich.  

[SrferDude]

Thanks for the feedback.  Any idea of how I can go about doing a mental reboot?  It's an extremely frustrating problem and to be honest, I'm intimidated and nervous to enter into new relationships.  I remember when I was younger (in my teenage years) the mere thought of having a woman alone in my bedroom or the back of a car or whatever would get me instantly aroused.  I now will talk dirty with a woman I'm seeing via text messaging and even then...absolutely zero reaction (aka no erection).  

Also, this is kind of an off question, but last night before I went to bed I masturbated twice.  Would that inhibit me from waking up with a morning wood?  I only ask because I woke up this morning completely flaccid and didn't know if that could be the reason.

Thanks.

[jr_inmex]

Regarding the latter question, my opinion: definitely.  Why is it any different than if you ate a big midnight snack and then were surprised you weren't hungry at 8am? I don't think hormones and whatever else that makes up libido are 'ever-present' and a guy can expect them to bounce back to the required levels in a short period of time.  You might experiment with very small amounts of Viagra (or whatever you mentioned you've tried) before bed, to see if that causes a change.  I recall reading an article that said it worked - that small nightly amounts are helpful in the overall scheme of things.  Makes sense to me, and I do so a couple nights a week.  

Sexual texting - guys are generally so visual I don't know if words really have the same effect.  You have to find something that reliably triggers a starting reaction, and then incorporate it into your sex life.  In my case, I like buying stuff from the lingerie section for whoever I'm seeing - nothing like the sight of a nice tush in something tight.  Maybe for you it's taking a shower with her - you've got to mix it up and keep the brain excited.

[palpateit]

This story sound like the several thousand I have heard over the last 4-5 years on ours and other forums dealinmg with ED. If you have been using internet porn for masturbation, I would suspect porn-induced ED. Therapists and doctors are ignorant of this condition. They wrongly equate porn use with masturbation, as if they are the same. Masturbation cannot cause ED.

Check out this thread. Read the posts. Look for my first 2 posts and follow the links to the prresentations and articles. They explain everything, and answer all questions.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Mens-Health/22-with-porn-induced-erectile-dysfunction/show/469209

Here's the first research on the subject..................

SCIENTISTS: TOO MUCH INTERNET PORN MAY CAUSE IMPOTENCE (2011)
It may not make you go blind, but Italian scientists have identified a worrying side-effect of watching too much pornography.

Researchers said Thursday that young men who indulge in "excessive consumption" of Internet porn gradually become immune to explicit images, the ANSA news agency reported.
Over time, this can lead to a loss of libido, impotence and a notion of sex that is totally divorced from real-life relations.

"It starts with lower reactions to porn sites, then there is a general drop in libido and in the end it becomes impossible to get an erection," said Carlo Foresta, head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine (SIAM).

His team drew their conclusions from a survey of 28,000 Italian men which revealed that many became hooked on porn as early as 14, exhibiting symptoms of so-called "sexual anorexia" by the time they reached their mid-twenties.

There was some good news, however, as the condition was not necessarily permanent. "With proper assistance recovery is possible within a few months," Foresta said.

Other data presented at the SIAM'S annual conference in Rome suggested that Germans are the biggest consumers of online porn in Europe, with 34.5 percent of internet users logging on to watch smut.

France ranked second (33.6 percent), ahead of Spain (32.4 percent) and Italy (28.9 percent)

[SrferDude]

Thanks Palpateit,

Another question.  Like I said in my post above, I smoke (and enjoy smoking) marijuana on a daily basis and have done so for years.  I reviewed the site to which you were referring and it talks about dopamine receptors, etc.

Reading this led me to do a little digging on the correlation between chronic marijuana use and its effects on dopamine and neurons (which are both responsible for sex).  What I read is that over time/long-term use, the brain's ability to produce dopamine on its own diminishes.  My question is, is if I stop smoking altogether, will my brain be able to produce dopamine normally again and, hopefully, achieve normal erections?

Thank you.