Has anyone experienced worsened erectile dysfunction after having COVID?

Hello folks. My original username on here was fuckfin, but I had to create a new account after having been gone for so long.

It’s surreal to be back on here after so many years. Last time I posted was 12 years ago. Here’s my original post from back in 2011:

Long story short, I got PFS after 2 years of taking finasteride. After much grief and medical appts, I got to a place where I was able to function more or less and tried to move on with my life. This lasted until 2019, when I made the giant mistake of taking trazodone for sleep. 10 days of Trazodone led to a whirlwind of new issues, including ED and numb(er) genitals. I even had persistent genital arousal disorder for about 3-4 months, which was the scariest of all.

When things finally calmed down, I was left with about 30% less function than before the trazodone. My mental state fell apart. I couldn’t handle the fact that this had happened again, but in a different way, and that I had been foolish enough to do it to myself (I would never tell anyone here to take trazodone or not to take it – but this was my experience with it, and I would never, ever touch the stuff again personally. I think I am ultra sensitive to pharmaceuticals). Then began a journey through therapy, meditation, sleeping pills – anything to help me survive this nightmare that had put me on the edge of the cliff all over again.

I finally saw Dr. Goldstein in August 2021 who gave me shockwave treatment which helped a bit for a couple of months. He also put me on daily cialis. He wanted me to go on Clomid and Anasterozole but I have yet to take that plunge. In summary, the tests Goldstein gave me revealed abnormal findings and was consistent with cavernosal artery insufficiency and abnormal erectile tissue inhomogeneity.

The use of daily cialis gave me some semblance of a sex life back. I often take 40 mg before sex, and it does the trick decently enough. Also, using marijuana helps with my libido. Other things that have helped with physical and mental stuff: macuna supplements, magnesium, zinc, and micro-dosing mushrooms.

Fast forward to these past two weeks. I got COVID on Saturday, July 18th. I was pretty anxious when I found out, but not that worried about it considering my whole family had gotten it and made it through without any lingering sides.

As for me: I am having severely worsened ED and penis sensitivity since having COVID. I was so focused on the other potential symptoms while I was sick, and not thinking about my sexual abilities until I came out of the other side of my sickness about 4 days ago. Then I began to notice that even with ED meds, I am not able to achieve an erection strong enough for penetration. It feels rubbery, flimsy, and numb.

I know it hasn’t even been a full two weeks yet since I had a positive test. But I am terrified all over again and needed to write this to see if anyone else out there is experiencing this and has any advice. And the doom-scroll on the internet tells me that there are many, many publications showing that there is a correlation between COVID and ED, so it’s not crazy to think that this is COVID related. It feels like whatever it did to me, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Has anyone else here had this experience? It’s really devastating me right now.

Thank you.

I think you probably meant June :wink:

I also had COVID about half a year ago. Aside from the usual covid symptoms it worsened my PFS symptoms as well. Genital numbness, erectile dysfunction, libido loss, fatigue, all of these worsened significantly. It was a similar experience where the covid symptoms themselves had passed relatively quickly but it took a month or two (maybe three, I don’t remember exactly) before the worsened sides finally returned to baseline.

So I would say just give it some more time and you will probably see some improvements.

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Whoops, yes I meant June 18th.

I had a few pretty terrible days sexual symptom wise, things are a tiny bit better now. But still not where they should be. It’s nice to know that things returned to baseline for you after a few months.

Thanks so much for responding.

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Okay, so it’s been 7 weeks now and all I can say is things are NOT right.

Before covid, I was fairly easily able to have sex with daily cialis. Now, even when I take twice my regular dosage of cialis, it’s near impossible to have sex. My libido has tanked, there is very little sensation, and the firmness of the erection isn’t very functional. I can penetrate but quickly lose it. Weirdly, a couple times this has happened, my penis sort of contracts and shrinks which is accompanied by a bit of pain that seems to come from the urethra and extend into the perineum.

I was really resting on the fact that with the use of ED meds I’d managed to gain back some semblance of a sex life, so this has been a crushing blow. I know 7 weeks isn’t very long in the scheme of things but it’s really making me depressed. I hope it resolves soon. I do worry that endothelial dysfunction is part to blame.

Anyone else?

I got Covid for the first time and got through it with mild symptoms but my pfs symptoms are a whole lot worse following the virus. I’m hoping things improve over the next few days

A quick search of PubMed turned up a couple of small studies suggesting improvement over time is certainly possible:

Worrying about permanent loss of function will certainly not improve the situation, regardless.

I had COVID - did not notice any change in symptoms comparing before/after.