Better understanding erection quality

[Frosty]

Maybe "full blown" isn't quite right. It appeared to be solid but when going for PIV it would still not be hard enough. I thought it was good to go, but when the going got good it didn't quite make it. Still, to get insurance to cover it (Medicare covered my IPP in full) you may have to show several years of progression until the implant is the only feasible way to get a solid erection.

[1sfman]

For me, as I stated in a previous post, it came down to a quality of life, For those who do injections and they work well, that's fabulous.

For me, it took a lot of deep breaths before I could plunge that needle. We had a few semi-successful PIV sessions using injections, but no PIV organism for me. The shots wouldn't hold up, I started losing the erection, and it was game over. Went all the way to Quad-mix, same result. Plus, the shots left my glans very sore for a couple of days. So it became very clear that the only path forward was IPP implants.

As you stated, you have an additional battle in the UK as you can't get tri-mix or quad-mix. So for me, the question becomes a quality of life, or quality of sex life. And for me, that quality had sunk pretty low with a lot of failures. I just got back from my 6 weeks post-op doctors visit. I was not allowed to pump it up during the 6 weeks, so today was the first day. The doctor did the first pump up and asked me what I thought. For the most part, I was speechless, but I managed to say, looks good. I was thinking, Damn, that's awesome!

So now, I can have an erection for as long as I want and I no longer have to fight the mental thinking I always fought. Will it go up? Will it stay up? No longer. I can flush those thoughts out of my brain and enjoy sex like I haven't for several years without the fear of failure. And when it's time, a few pumps and I'm ready to go. No waiting around hoping shots would kick in.

But, as I said, it's a deeply personal decision as to which way to go. I wish you all the best with what ever decision you make.

[jwjwjw]

Never Enough.... thank you for sharing your situation.

Seems to me you have nothing to lose by giving injections a try.I'm 70 now and started with trimix 2 years ago. My success rate with trimix is like 98% and I now have better sex than I did when I was 50.
I know you said you had a problem with needles but you can get a auto injector to do the injection for you and it makes it sooooo easy. I understand that in the UK you do not have as many as options as we have here in the US but it still would be worth a try.
You can ALWAYS go the implant route if injections do not work for you or they stop working.

Let me repeat the Inject Ease injector that I use makes injecting super easy.

[Never_Enough]

Never Enough.... thank you for sharing your situation.

Seems to me you have nothing to lose by giving injections a try.I'm 70 now and started with trimix 2 years ago. My success rate with trimix is like 98% and I now have better sex than I did when I was 50.
I know you said you had a problem with needles but you can get a auto injector to do the injection for you and it makes it sooooo easy. I understand that in the UK you do not have as many as options as we have here in the US but it still would be worth a try.
You can ALWAYS go the implant route if injections do not work for you or they stop working.

Let me repeat the Inject Ease injector that I use makes injecting super easy.

An autoinjector would be good for me but I cant seem to find one that works for Invicorp.

Im going to see the Urologist next week to see about different needles.

Thanks.

[CanGetItUpButNotOff]

[quote="]Im going to see the Urologist next week to see about different needles.
[/quote]

Just FYI… I use an 8mm (5/16 in) 31ga needle. Being so thin and short helps overcome the visual anxiety.

[LGXDownunder]

For me and Im sure for a lot of us the biggest hurdle when deciding whether or not to go bionic is whether or not your existing erections are better than the risk.

The go to line with Implants for a lot of guys seems to be that they are 'last resort' when you erections are impossible- but what happens if your erections are possible but not good enough to live a comfortable life?

In order to help me make an informed decision I would like to ask here what people would rank my erection quality as if I describe it as best as I can.

Cause of ED is in my sig.

With no pills I am unable or very unlikely to get an erection good enough to penetrate with partner but can get a decent erection alone.

With between 15 and 20 mg of Cialis or 75-100 mg of Sildenafil I can achieve an erection that I am able to penetrate with about 80-90% of the time.

Due to the nerve and muscle pain this fluctuates between about 65 and 90% hard, but rarely feels 'fully rigid' even then. It sometimes goes soft after a few minutes and I tend to only last between 2 and 5 minutes. Changing positions is not possible even with high levels of pills, as soon as stimulation stops it starts to drop- I literally cannot flex it to keep it up.

There are occasions laying beside my partner it will stay hard and rigid longer, but they are few and far between and it doesnt usually carry into actual sex. Handjobs and blowjobs are usually better possibly because theres more sensation.

This is with a partner who is fully understanding and puts zero pressure on me- if it wasnt like that I doubt I would be able to as my cause is a mix of physical and psychological.

Im not sure injections are going to be a thing going forward as I have a problem with needles and they are cumbersome- plus if you miss you're screwed because you wont have taken pills to cover it.

I procrastinate because I keep reading people who say 'only get an implant if erections are impossible'.

What would people here see my erection quality as and how would they deal with it?

Were an implantees here in a similar situation?

Thanks.

To me it sounds like your sustained erection quality is poor for penetrative sex. Assuming that fixing it and satisfying your partner are your main goals I think you would definitely be a potential candidate for an implant. I would change that comment to 'only get an implant if USABLE erections are impossible'. In your case that appears to be true, and I suspect you could eventually suffer psychologically if continuing on your current path with no improvement, or an alternate solution that works reliably. My own decision was easy as I had absolute zero erectile function, but even then I procrastinated for 3 years in the vain hope that it might magically return.

By all means do give injections a try first. I had little success with them and they caused more problems than they solved, in addition to the inconvenience etc that you point out. But many use them long term and are happy with the results. You also need to consider that you are still very young and an implant is a one way street, plus potential number of future revision surgeries, as current implant longevity is not permanent. If you search this site you will find quite a few younger guys with similar symptoms to yours who have opted for an implant, but it's a very personal choice.