Online porn addiction, sexual exhaustion

General Discussion
#1

So its been 15 months since I quit finasteride. Its been pretty much downhill since I quit. No libido, poor erections. But for some reason tonight was unusual.

I was just lounging around in my room tonight and I wasn’t horny or anything. I decided to try to masturbate to see if I had any improvements. I usually force myself to do this every couple days.

Oddly enough, I had one of the most intense orgasms tonight since a year ago. The feeling was just like pre-finasteride. My ejaculate was still low volume, but it “shot” out at high pressure like it used to do. The feeling came out of no where. It was strange because I didn’t even feel like I had any libido tonight. My penis also stayed engorged with blood after I ejaculated for an extended period of time, just like it used to.

I’m not sure if this is just gonna be one of those “once in a blue moon” moments, but tonight I suddenly remembered just how euphoric sexual pleasure used to be for me.

Not really sure if this is due to any of the supplements Ive been taking. Ive been taking Maca root powder for 6 weeks now. I also started Tribulus and DIM supplements like a week ago. I havn’t felt any real improvement in my libido since I started any of these supplements, but tonight came out of no where. Althought I didn’t have any libido tonight , my orgasm was very intense.

Anyways, just thought I would share some good news, whenever possible. Definitely gave me a ray of hope.

#2

Glad to hear you had a good experience. On the subject of supplements making a difference, L-Arginine has definitely made a distinct improvement in the amount of ejaculate and quality of orgasms I have. Hasn’t much changed the size really, but at least the pleasure has restored considerably.

#3

hey worried, taking the supplements seems to be doing the quick, but what happens when you don’t use the supplements? What’s your status these days?

#4

Well, I’ve figured out my problem guys. Its complex, and some may not fully believe it, but I’ve definitively figured it out for myself.

I have been complaining of low libido, lack of morning erections, and poor erection quality since June 2007. I’ve been blaming propecia for these problems as I do not have any significant depression or stress in my life. Doctors have been telling me that my problem has been psychological all along.

Well, they were half right.

I’ve determined what has been causing my problems. During the exhaustive research I have been doing on sexual dysfunction, I found a site about porn addiction and overuse. It has been a combination of porn addiction (I didn’t believe it at first) and propecia that has caused my problems. Let me explain.

I have been heavy into porn use since I was 12. As I grew older I found that watching porn became a daily ritual, sometimes using up to 2-3 hours of my day, everyday. I found that I was watching increasingly graphic porn to get off as the years went by. The porn I was watching was getting more intense, more graphic, and more shocking. I began watching porn that was initially “shocking” to me, but I would eventually learn to become aroused by it. Later, I would become desensitized to this porn, and move on to more graphic things. I would roam from one kind of site to the next, maintaining an erection for hours, orgasming multiple times per day – everyday.

In college I began using propecia to stop my hair loss. It first caused me to lose my erections, but after about a month of use, this side effect went away completely. In fact, Propecia then caused my libido to SKYROCKET. Yes, propecia massively increased my sex drive beyond my control. I’ve mentioned this fact in my first posting and others as well. I was masturbating 3-5 times per day. It then fueled my porn addiction even more where I was now incredibly horny AND watching massive amounts of porn to curb my sexual hunger.

Three years later, while still using propecia and abusing hours of porn, I had sex with my new girlfriend for the first time (first time WITH HER, I was not a virgin, just to clarify). For some reason I could not reach orgasm. It was at this time that I began panicking about propecia and began using this site. I had never had a problem with orgasm or erections until this point. I then went through the next 18 months thinking I had “no libido” because when I would look at women, I would not pop a boner like usual. In the last 2 months, after identifying the problem and by testing myself I found that the problem was TWO-FOLD:

  1. My brain and body had become accustomed to the supercharged libido and orgasms I was having while on propecia. I had now STOPPED propecia, so in general my sex drive felt lower. The morning erection issue is complicated. I still get morning erections, but since sex was ALWAYS on my mind (first thing in the morning), this may have played a part in my frequent morning erections while on propecia. I will monitor my morning wood more closely in the coming weeks and let you guys know how its going.

  2. Porn abuse. I found that I could become easily aroused by extreme porn content, yet not by real sex. I became subconsciously bored by the thought of regular sex when compared to what porn had to offer: unlimited scenarios, visually-enhanced women, and overstimulation.

Regular sex just could not compete with the porn anymore. I was COMPLETELY unaware of this (I have always felt very in tune with my body, so this was a shocker) until I tried quitting porn/masturbation. I found that I could not quit watching porn and I felt sexually dead if I was not getting constant stimulation from the porn. I knew that my libido was still intact because I would become easily aroused by the thought of porn. But I was not becoming easily aroused by the thought of real sex with women. This was very confusing. I had conditioned by mind to become aroused by shocking porn and I stopped sexually responding to normal sex. It is a learned behavior. Dopamine and the reward-circuitry in the brain is related to all of this:

reuniting.info/science/three … about_porn

Anyways, I am going to stop watching porn now, and also stop masturbating for 6-8 weeks to let these porn images fade from my mind. They are highly addictive considering our male biology.

Do yourself a favor and try quitting porn COMPLETELY. Masturbate using only your fantasy, and if you find porn characters and scenarios pervading your fantasy, you have a problem. If you find yourself thinking of porn during sex, you got a problem. People have not identified this porn problem because internet porn is relatively new and no one is aware of it.

My propecia side effect was a bit unique considering that I had a high libido WHILE on the drug (10% of users some report this). My story may be very unique to me, but some people here may have a porn issue that they are fully unaware of. If you were or are a regular porn user, try exploring this issue. It may be the key to your success.

I know many here were hoping I found a magic supplement that would cure everyone, but I suggest everyone at least TRY abstaining from porn for a while and see what happens. I hope that my story can be of some use to you all. I won’t be visiting this site regularly anymore, so please just respond to this thread if you want to contact me.

If porn is not your problem, then I hope you will find the answer in the near future. I still believe propecia is incredibly dangerous and I would never have used it. It alters brain and body chemistry, as it did to me.

Thank you Mew and others for all your support.

1 Like
#5

So… you don’t think it’s more than curious that with Propecia use, you had your first cases of ED? Or did you have your “desensitization”-related ED issue before Propecia?

Uh yeah, this is not characteristic of libido nor ED issues seen in post-finasteride syndrome cases. Arousal by sexual thoughts is rare, I don’t care what kind of porn it is. The fact that you only had ED in regular sexual situations shows there’s more to your issue than just fin messing with your body.

You definitely speak for yourself here; if I had a spontaneous erection from visual stimuli like I used to, I would consider myself nearly cured. I’m glad you have a grasp on what’s causing you problems, but it really has next to nothing to do with the majority of post-fin sexual dysfunction victims. I hope your situation improves and you make a full recovery from your heart-breaking diagnosis of “too much smut syndrome”.

#6

This did not help me.

I can go for weeks without looking at porn.

#7

Any update on your condition or your attempt to quit porn?

#8

then how do you explain my testicle pain, and i never really jerked off that much, but just in case ill stop jerking off for now, ill try 30 days see what happens…

#9

What does your testicular pain feel like? Can you be specific? Does it go away when you jerk off?

Sorry to be so explicit, just trying to gather some info…

#10

well i dont have it anymore but yh it went away when i jerked off i had it for the first week after quiting and my balls starting hanging very low, then for 2 months after that i felt pressure there and my balls still hang very low

#11

L-Arganine is in a protein powder I take. I am crediting it in combination with exercise in reducing shrinkage. The penis is much fuller when I take the supplement.

I’m going to find some straight L-Arganine and take it after working out to try and isolate the effect. I do notice an overall positive difference when I take the supplement in size and strength. But it only works after I work out, I don’t think it’s getting taken into the muscles unless the heart is pumping and I’m hungry.

On the note of porn, every orgasm we have taxes testosterone. I don’t think porn itself is the problem but the consistent over-masturbation that reduces the amount of available testosterone in the body. You use up all you have and you’re constantly on empty. This is why I feel so much better when I only do it once every 2/3 days (days I don’t work out hard).

#12

I have been trying to quit porn over the last couple months and my dependence on porn for sexual arousal may indeed be more extreme than others on this site. I would watch porn and masturbate maybe 3 times a day since I was like 12 years old. Initially, the porn made me super horny and I could not stop fantasizing about every girl who walked by. However, by the time I turned 23, my years of porn abuse had finally caught up with me and I had trained my sexual cravings to be satisfied by extreme types of porn, and had consequently lost my sex drive around real women.

It is extremely difficult for me to quit porn and I’ve even joined a program now for help so I can just get passed this once and for all. I never knew I did not have the discipline required to quit porn because I had never thought it was a problem until I finally figured out what was causing my low sex drive.

I have been using it as a means of easy escape from boredom, loneliness, stress, etc. I can easily get aroused by porn and masturbate to orgasm with it. The variety of porn, its graphic nature, and the fact that you can specically search out ANY type of porn that you want is the reason porn can begin to hijack your sex drive and distort your natural fantasies about women. You will begin watching porn that initially disgusted you, but now turns you on. The dopamine rush of excitement you used to get in your brain from softcore porn now requires more graphic material to get the same dopamine rush. You have to quit porn completely so that your dopamine in your brain come back to normal levels.

Do a search on porn addiction and you will find out if this is the cause of your own problems.

#13

How is your sperm quality? Is it as thick and white as before? Does it burst out farer?

#14

Very interesting…Ive also been watching porn since I was in 6th grade, first started looking at pictures and then as speed of internet grew moved on to videos. I do not think i could even jack off to a picture…

Never had any sides while on propecia but when my supply was like 6-7 days late I started noticing trouble maintaining an errection.

Hopefully within 2 weeks Im better, we will see…I stil can get an errection but its wasnt hard enough to enter a girl this weekend, thats when i started looking on the internet and found this site…

Idk if to get back on it (since I never had sides while on it) or to let my body adjust to not being on it and hope I level out…

Going to try to not watch porn

#15

I eventually discovered my problems were actually due to abusing online porn and becoming sexually desensitized from viewing it so excessively. Try to rule out porn addiction before you pursue propecia.

#16

worried,

I think your kidding yourself.

This is your post below. Viewing porn online and masturbating would not cause you to lose morning erections and lose your sex drive for 4 months.

By posting this, your only adding to the group of doctors out there that believe the sexual problems are in our minds. In other words your spewing ignorance.

#17

It also wouldn’t cause extreme brain fog, fatigue, muscle twitches, panic attacks and extreme anxiety, cognitive difficulties, emotional numbness, physical changes to the penis, low testosterone, etc, etc, etc.

A ridiculous statement indeed.

#18

I have a porn addiction and it causes you to lose your sex drive towards real women and can cause eventual sexual dysfunction after many years of abuse. We are not built to keep viewing constant sexual material and maintain an arousal to it after so many times of viewing it. If you abused it as much as I did, your sexual arousal becomes completely blunted. Just do some internet research. I’ve confirmed it for myself. Your problem may not be the same, but I blamed propecia for 3 years until I figured out my own problem.

I’m not here to spew ignorance. I was in the same position as everyone else on this site for 3 years. I was in a state of anger and confusion over what was causing my libido issue. I’m not here to tell everyone that they have a porn addiction, but rather I am trying to let people know that it MAY be an issue for them as it was for me. I have been trying to stop watching porn for 1.5 years now, and I just can’t quit. I become aroused by really graphic porn but not by real women anymore. And the porn that I watch has become increasingly more graphic to maintain the same arousal state. Naked bodies just don’t do it for me anymore since I’m so desensitized. It needs to be hardcore. This is a sign of a porn issue. But I mistaked it for propecia since I didn’t think porn could ever cause problems.

Just do a simple experiment to see if porn is an issue for you. Try cutting the porn completely for several months. If you have a problem staying away from porn or you feel that you must keep using it to “test” your libido/erections, then you may have an issue, like I did. Try searching about porn and sexual/erectile dysfunction in forums like at Medhelp.org and people have the same symptoms that we have.

I don’t want to go so far as to say it causes brain fog, but it might. When you watch porn, you get a dopamine surge of excitement in the brain. If you do this often enough, you need more graphic porn content to get the same dopamine increase. At some point, you feel depressed because porn is so overstimulating that everyday life becomes mundane, hence depression. I didn’t believe any of this until I tested it for myself. I suggest you do the same. Here is an article about dopamine and sex/porn.

reuniting.info/science/sex_in_the_brain

I still think propecia is a dangerous drug. You are messing with your hormones by using it. That is never a good idea.

Good luck.

#19

Worried,

This feeling of the sexual tank running on empty doesn’t just come from abusing porn. If anything frequent viewing of porn and ejaculation should build up a NEED to ejaculate. Do you remember what that was like? I used to watch porn and masturbate multiple times a day, sometimes as many as 5 or 6 times. Watching more didn’t make my penis flaccid. On the contrary, it created the need to continue doing it more and more if I didn’t.

Our bodies are designed to need to ejaculate at least daily. We are constantly building sperm with the design of getting it out with preference inside a mate. If you skip porn for a couple days as a normal adult male this should be more than enough to create the urge.

The constant building of pressure and need to release the sperm is gone. At most this should only take a few days to replenish, not a few months.

I agree that watching porn does run what’s left of the tank down, but it seems that watching porn is the cause of ED is a bit extreme. Our dicks know what to do with a woman, they know how to react. Women are the ones that need the brain connection, we just need them to show up to get hard. Or we used to before fin starved our bodies of what we need to do exactly that.

This feeling of being run down is exactly what many of us are experiencing. And many of my friends who watch porn, many who may be classified as being addicted, do not have this problem. The more they see it the more they want…

#20

Martin,

Yes, you are right that the more you watch porn, the more you want to keep watching. It is highly addictive. But what happens is that you eventually become desensitized to softcore porn and move to hardcore porn. Have you noticed this in your own porn watching habits? After watching so much, you condition and train your mind to get a “fix” of porn and that satisfies your libido. Eventually, your normal sex drive will begin to wane as your mind finds sexual content less and less exciting. It causes a dopamine rush in your brain, and you need more hardcore content to get the same rush. Eventually, sex begins to get boring as your brain gets desensitized. Do some searching on the internet and you will find that people have identical symptoms.

Porn is by no means a psychological issue. It is a physiological issue. You are conditioning your brain to orgasm to graphic images that are readily accessible. Porn was not readily accesible 50 years ago like it is now on the internet. Thats why so many young men these days are finding they need to use viagara and confused as to why.

I have been watching porn multiple times a day, like you. I used to ejaculate like 5-6 times a day. This is completely abnormal. We are absolutely not designed to ejaculate that much on a daily basis. Humans did not have porn to watch daily 100 years ago. Our brains are not designed to be viewing this much sexual content at the click of a mouse button. Online porn has only recently become available to this extent in the last 10-15 years. From what you are telling me, you are in the exact same boat as I am and I suggest you try quitting porn.

Just try quitting porn. What do you have to lose? Why do you watch it anyway? If I were you and had a sexual dysfunction issue (which I do), I would not discount anything in order to get better ASAP. If the idea of quitting porn makes you feel uncomfortable/scared, this is a huge sign of porn addiction.

Just try it. Do your own RESEARCH and come up with your own conclusions. You will find out soon enough for yourself if this is an issue for you. As for your friends, they may or may not get problems depending on how much they use porn. It is very addictive and my guess is that after several years of abuse, they will have issues and be wondering why. My porn use was out of control. Watching it for hours a day and ejaculating multiple times a day are completley abnormal and compulsive activities.

Good luck guys.