20-year old in need of advice and hope

Hi, everyone

I’m 20 (soon turning 21) and it seems that I’m affected by this syndrome as well (it seems to be the only logical explanation). Achieving erections is difficult and if I get one it doesn’t last very long. I’m able to achieve orgasm but it’s not what it used to be and I have to try reallly hard. I realized I might suffer from PFS after I tried sleeping with a person I’m super attracted to and realizing I couldn’t get a long-lasting erection. Since I hadn’t actually tried having sex before I didn’t really pay attention to the decresing frequency of erections as I was taking finasteride. It’s been a year since I quit and only a few days ago (after I tried to have sex for the first time) did the real impact hit me. Over the last couple of days I’ve felt kind of desperate and tried to find my way out of this place but didn’t manage to do so. It seems that not being able to perform in bed when I extremely wanted it devastated me. So I really need some advice as to how you’re guys dealing with sex. Does Viagra help? There’s a couple of ways in which erectile dysfunction can be treated but do they work for us? Basically I wanna hear what helps you have better sex, because not gonna lie, I’m feeling really desperate at the moment and I’ll be extremely grateful for any sort of advice you can give me.

EDIT: Let’s please try and keep this positive. I’ve read a lot things on here that really scared me and I know that stressing doesn’t help at all.

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from the things u described i assume that u just got hit by sexual sides, if thats the case imao its a good news(compared to fullblown PFS) i believe it will get better over time if you follow a healthy life style.

EDIT: Welcome to the club

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The thing that worries me is that it’s been a year since I quit and even though I do sometimes get an erection it wasn’t enough for penetrative sex. On the ASEX scale I was either picking 5s or 4s (but mainly 5s).

Thanks a lot for the hope <3 ! I really need it now - and yeah just to add, I haven’t observed any mental/psychological side effects apart from the depression and anxiety induced by my failure in bed.

so i guess u were lucky, anhedonia/deppression that comes with PFS is scary as fuck, i think PFSers should be given a medal of honor for dealing with it everyday lol, in my experience 1 year for pfs symptoms is kind of short… my symptoms improved in a span of 2-3 years. imao stay away from alcohol,hookah,weed,… hit the gym every week, put jogging on ur activity list… do meditation or visit church(just for peace of mind i find its helpful).
you welcome buddy i know dealing with pfs is not an easy thing and not everyone(outside of it’s circle) can understand it…

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If you haven’t already you should get counselling. You have suffered a traumatic experience at such a young age and therapy would really help you deal with this.
We have had a lot of suicides from young guys who struggled with sexual problems. At your age these things can feel like the end of the world but I assure you it’s not.
Yes you are right to want to improve your situation but also take care of your mental health it’s just as important.
Regular meditation can help with worrying and low mood.
Look into Qigong and Tai Chi they can help with internal healing and improve blood flow. There’s lots of short routines on YouTube to start your day with.
Talking about these issues will help you more than you know.

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I’m really glad to hear all this. I’m also super happy that your symptoms improved! It also calmed me down because PFS was all I could think of over the last couple of days.

ac3c thanks a lot for the advice! You absolutely hit the nail on the head there. It did seem like the end of the world to me. Your comment also helped me calm down.

Guys, thanks a lot for the support. I really appreciate how kind you all are.

EDIT: I do plan on getting an appointment at the urologist sometime so I’m hoping they’ll be able to help…

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Hey man as someone who was affected at exactly your age (27 now) I would say 1. Be grateful it’s only sexual and not mental sides 2. You’re young and have plenty of time to still recover not to mention studies hopefully coming out soon that could benefit your symptoms and 3. God forbid you’re like me and the sexual symptoms stick, I’ve learned to appreciate other things in life that bring me joy and can tell you that life without sexual pleasure is still liveable and worth living although it may not seem like it at that age.

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In response to your question, yes viagra works for a lot of PFS sufferers. There are some who it does not work for, but if you are able to get some sort of erection it should be fine.

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