Dudewithaproblem
I lost my virginity at 23, after a few years of using porn. I suffered with delayed ejaculation the first time I had sex, and the whole way through my 20s, without knowing what it was. I just knew I found it difficult to climax during sex, could last a long time, and was often only 80% erect, enough to achieve penetration, but not enough for it to feel great for either person. I suspected porn had desensitised me to sexual stimuli, but didn't know it was legit until I found Gabe's videos on YouTube at around age 31.
After age 30, I started to get full blown erectile dysfunction, and in the search for answers I spoke to doctors, who prescribed the typical ED meds.
Cialis first, which was wildly inappropriate, because my bookings typically only last a few hours and Cialis had me walking around flushed red for several days each time I took it. I switched to Viagra after a year or so, which was much more appropriate in its duration. But eventually I realised the meds were only working sometimes, which I never realised could happen. People talk about Viagra like it's impossible not to get an erection when on it, but that's obviously not the case. It was frustrating to realise even the magic blue pills didn't work for me.
So I tried to quit porn, and found some improvement. However, I kept going back to small amounts of low level porn, nowhere near as extreme as I used to watch, but enough to stall my recovery. I also did not quit masturbation.
Even though I was relapsing frequently, I thought I should have been seeing more improvement, so I started to suspect low testosterone as a factor. I had a bunch of medical tests done to rule out physiological causes, of which there were none. I was in perfect health. My testosterone is in the lower end of the healthy range (320ng/mol), but my doctor insisted it wasn't enough to cause ED.
I finally started seeing a sexual psychotherapist, whose first thought was performance anxiety. I didn't believe that to be the full answer, because I had already mostly quit porn and experienced some improvement, and I knew I only felt anxious when my penis didn't work, not the other way around.
Now, after months of minimal results from psychotherapy, I have decided to try this reboot thing for real. No half-assing it. I truly believe this is the answer.
As I am writing this now, I only use porn occasionally, and masturbate a few times per week. The porn I watch is very tame compared to what I used to watch, which was anything and everything on the internet. Now I can simply look at a picture of a naked woman or watch a plain video of some basic heterosexual sex to get hard.
I typically only use porn every 1-2 weeks, which is a big improvement on the once or twice daily habit and occasional whole day binges throughout my 20s.
I want to cut out porn and masturbation simultaneously to see what effect that has. Hopefully this is the final push needed to reset my libido back to full strength.
After age 30, I started to get full blown erectile dysfunction, and in the search for answers I spoke to doctors, who prescribed the typical ED meds.
Cialis first, which was wildly inappropriate, because my bookings typically only last a few hours and Cialis had me walking around flushed red for several days each time I took it. I switched to Viagra after a year or so, which was much more appropriate in its duration. But eventually I realised the meds were only working sometimes, which I never realised could happen. People talk about Viagra like it's impossible not to get an erection when on it, but that's obviously not the case. It was frustrating to realise even the magic blue pills didn't work for me.
So I tried to quit porn, and found some improvement. However, I kept going back to small amounts of low level porn, nowhere near as extreme as I used to watch, but enough to stall my recovery. I also did not quit masturbation.
Even though I was relapsing frequently, I thought I should have been seeing more improvement, so I started to suspect low testosterone as a factor. I had a bunch of medical tests done to rule out physiological causes, of which there were none. I was in perfect health. My testosterone is in the lower end of the healthy range (320ng/mol), but my doctor insisted it wasn't enough to cause ED.
I finally started seeing a sexual psychotherapist, whose first thought was performance anxiety. I didn't believe that to be the full answer, because I had already mostly quit porn and experienced some improvement, and I knew I only felt anxious when my penis didn't work, not the other way around.
Now, after months of minimal results from psychotherapy, I have decided to try this reboot thing for real. No half-assing it. I truly believe this is the answer.
As I am writing this now, I only use porn occasionally, and masturbate a few times per week. The porn I watch is very tame compared to what I used to watch, which was anything and everything on the internet. Now I can simply look at a picture of a naked woman or watch a plain video of some basic heterosexual sex to get hard.
I typically only use porn every 1-2 weeks, which is a big improvement on the once or twice daily habit and occasional whole day binges throughout my 20s.
I want to cut out porn and masturbation simultaneously to see what effect that has. Hopefully this is the final push needed to reset my libido back to full strength.
- Location
- Australia
