Erection Problem

[Salvation]

I am 20 years old and in good shape; I recently moved to China for 6 total weeks. Before I left I was vaccinated against Hepatitis A, but 1 day after I arrived in China I became sick with a minor illness. During that time, my girl urged me to have sex with her. I tried, but lost my erection.  She is everything I could want mentally, emotionally, and physically, but now even though I have regained my health, I am very anxious about sex and find it nearly impossible to get or maintain an erection (although I still have them most mornings when I wake). I am still able to masturbate alone, so I believe that my main problem is psychological (I normally have a vigorous sex drive).

So I have a few questions:

1. What caused this sudden change in my sex drive and erection problems in the first place?
.......Stress from dealing with my first international flight?
.......The sickness?
.......The medication used to help fight the sickness?
.......The anxiety of living in China without having mastered the language?

2. What can be done to quickly regain my normal sex drive?
.......I don't want to take medications and I doubt that such things as Viagra are available here anyway.
.......I'm considering getting drunk to help release the inhibitions, but I read that drinking alcohol can decrease sex .......drive.
.......The bedroom that my girl and I sleep in reminds me of my problem, should we rearrange it or move to another .......room?

Thanks for your help.

[metropolis]

Stress, medication (e.g. antidepressants) and anxiety may indeed cause ED. But before you jump into any conclusion, you should see a urologist and go through a series of tests. There may be some underlying organic cause that you're not aware of.

If this is indeed a case of psychogenic ED, there are solutions available. PDE-5 inhibitors (Viagra, Cialis, Levitra) are very effective and can make you more confident but they're not exactly anxiety drugs. There's another ED drug that could be useful: Vigamed (oral phentolamine). Vigamed blocks the effects of stress hormones (adrenaline is an erection killer, this is why anxiety and erections don't go hand in hand) and promotes blood flow to the penis via the sympathetic system.

If you're looking for a natural solution, I suggest valerian pills. Valerian root is a mild sedative and has no side effects. You can read all about it on Dr. Marc Bonnard's e-book The Viagra Alternative. I always take 150 mg before sex and I'm very happy with the results.

Good luck!

[Salvation]

Also I should mention that I've been here for only 13 days and I lost almost 20 lbs (9 kg) within the first week without gaining the weight back.