I've suffered from ED since my early 20's, and when I try to Google the ED issues that are important to me on the Internet, it seems there is no frank discussion of them (although I'm probably not the most astute search engine user). If you Google "Cialis vs. Viagra", for instance, you get a bunch of sites that tell what the medications do, their side effects, etc., but there is no real comparison information for them. Well, I'm here to change ALL that, baby! In subsequent posts (which will be shorter'n this one, I promise!), I will try to tell you in plain terms what my personal experience with ED and various treatments has been. As I age, I hate to tell ya, the game continues to change so that the struggle continues, although things are still better today than when I began this battle.... Feel free to comment and share your own experience!
A brief (?) description of my background, which of course you can skip: I'm 55 years old, am on my third marriage (ED was not a factor in them, far as I can tell), and I began seeking ED remedies back in the early 1980's. At that time I thought it might be a psychological issue and went to see a couple of psychologists (not psychiatrists) which was futile: They told me to get in touch with my feelings, immerse myself in the moment, etc, etc. Neither of them ever said maybe I should see a medical DOCTOR to see if maybe I had a medical PROBLEM. Some of the literature on the subject I read back then mentioned the "postage-stamp" test, where at bedtime you put a string of stamps tightly around your johnson and glue the ends together so you can see if you have erections while you sleep, which implied that if you did have them, there was nothing physically wrong with you (which is 'way INCORRECT). Well I knew I was having night-time erections and morning wood, so I figured my problem must be all in my head, sorry to say. Later I heard that something like 80% of ED cases are medical, not psychological, and I bet the percentage might be higher now that diagnosis and treatment options have improved.
I was able to muddle through sexual problems in my first marriage in my 20's because at that time my night-time spontaneous erections and morning wood could be made to last long enough to have a fairly satisfying sexual experience for both of us, although there were often long gaps between performances, mostly due to my fear of the big "I" happening, I think. This went on until my marriage ended in 1992.... I soon met the woman I thought was really the love of my life, and when we were comfortable enough together, I explained the problem to her. She was very supportive, and after reading Dr. Bernie Lubbers' great book Male Sexuality, I found the courage to consult my family doctor, who referred me to a doctor specializing in Sex Therapy, who sent me first to a Urologist. He gave me a Papaverine test (hope I spelled it correctly, since I'm too lazy to look it up)-- they inject a drug into your penis(!) that causes a spontaneous erection and then see how long and how much of the drug it takes to work. The appearance is a bit curious, because if you're not aroused, the shaft of the penis enlarges but the head and skin remain soft. When that happened, it was such a new experience that I kinda stroked it a little to see how it felt, which caused everything to be hard and tight. When he came to check on me, the doc noticed it and told me not to play with it because it might skew the test. It was kinda funny-- I'm kind of well-endowed, so the doc placed a small towel over my growing member to cover it, but of course it raised quite a tent in my lap while I waited, and at one point a nurse came in to that room by mistake, looked at me, mumbled something about being in the wrong room, stared at me for another second, then covered her mouth and giggled, then backed out the door!
The doc said the Papaverine test showed I was circulatorily challenged, so to speak, so after I finished dancing a jig and singing "IT'S NOT ALL IN MY HEAD! IT'S NOT ALL IN MY HEAD! WOOHOO!, he prescribed a 5cc Papaverin injection whenever I wanted to have sex (Viagra was not yet available). It works great, once you get over the whole jabbing your penis with a hypodermic needle thing, but the process is rather lacking in spontaneity. We finally worked into kind of a routine, where we'd fool around a bit, which would arouse my manhood to it's maximum soft size, which then made the injection easier to perform.... Seems like it would take about ten minutes for the Little Man to fully stand at attention, but after that it was Katy Bar the Door! The first time I tried it I was soooo ecstatic, we made love for almost an hour straight, and after a few minutes I could've gone another round, but she said enough was enough. If kept stimulated, the erection would last an hour and a half to two hours, but if put away immediately like when you need to leave for work, it would only be about ten to fifteen minutes before you could go out in public without drawing unwanted attention. I don't know if Papaverine is still available, but I think Total Performance Medical may prescribe a similar injectible. TPM guarantees results, but there's a $300 fee to start their program and you can only get the exact drug formula they prescribe from them, and I dunno how that expensive that would be. When Viagra came out I switched to that, but looking back, I'm not sure I should have....
