25 years old and not knowing how to proceed – ED because of Neuropathy

[Nadie123]

I am looking for an appropriate place to do the MRI and rule out the possibility of a tumor, they performed a Doppler ultrasound that gave positive results but I present symptoms similar to those of a venous leak, therefore I doubt that the test has been carried out well, I have 23 years and since you are dealing with the desire to die and with the depression caused by this condition, additionally I have the misfortune to live in a very sexualized country and where that issue is quite taboo ... with the 5mg pills I have not had results satisfactory ..

[Nadie123]

hi .... opolion, have you tried pills daily like cialis? ... i am going through a similar situation at the moment the only thing found is high prolactin levels, it also gives me a pain in a testicle when i get my erections

Was the cause of your high prolactin determined? Did they do a CT or MRI to check for a pituitary tumor?
High prolactin will cause havoc with erectile function. It is the hormone released straight after ejaculation to help initaite the refractory period, when most males find it very difficult to regain an erection.

I'm on that thank you very much for your help

[Simbarn]

Hi Simbarn, thank you for your reply.
The main reason why I think it is neuropathy is because I have other symptoms that indicate it, as far as I investigated it. I have a stinging pain in the area around my left testicle that occurres from time to time. I also told my doctor, so he examined the place but didn't find anything. I thought there is something clogged or the like but now I'm almost sure that it is nerve pain (of the damaged parts) that I am feeling. And yes I also noticed other changes in my body, like problems with the bladder, bowel and stomach, which I now found out are also common effects related to neuropathies. I went to regular doctors who examined me but they all didn't find anything. And now it makes sense because it's all related to damaged nerves and that's why they couldn't find a direct cause.

I think you may be trying to make a diagnosis with not much understanding of the complexity of neurology. The symptoms you describe could be relevant to a number of conditions.
Alcoholic neuropathy happens over a long period of time and there would be issues with nerves in other parts of the body such as the limbs, not just isolated to the penis.

An autonomic nervous system dysfunction may be more likely than damage to specific nerves, a specialist with years of training and experience is needed to find the problem.
Autonomic nervous system dysfunctions can alter the balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in the body, one possibly becoming more dominant than the other. The issues you are experiencing with your bladder and bowel concomitantly with erectile difficulties may suggest that the above could be worth investigating.

Your “nervous and twitchy” disposition could suggest a natural leaning towards sympathetic dominance.

There is also the condition called “hard flaccid” which concerns the pelvic floor area/muscles. This could also possibly be connected with a nervous system dysfunction causing these muscles to be in an overly contracted state most of the time, resulting in intermittent pain in the area. Possibly also limiting blood flow and compromising neural function. Perhaps you should do some reading about the condition.

I think it was a good idea that your specialist has given you a daily dose of Cialis. I would consider taking it at night. This will help encourage the regular increase of blood flow that is supposed to occur every night to help keep the penis healthy. Without these nightly erections, hypoxia can occur and then more problems in the penile tissues start to develop. Lack of oxygen is a big problem for this organ which does not get sufficient during the day unless you are having random strong erections a number of times a day (as we did in our teens!) lasting for more than a minute or so. This is why the night time erections are so important and happen for good reason. Your urologist may have given you the daily dose not just for “on demand” purposes but also for what current research has demonstrated, that these class of drugs have been shown to help restore endothelial function if used chronically over a long period of time.
To supplement this, using a VED device once or twice a day will also help oxygenate the penis. The combination of these two things can help to repair tissues in the penis as described above.
If you do use a VED device, read Niarceel’s post here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14385&p=126522#p126480
It may help you to read more of his posts as well, as they have much good information and he has spent years researching the condition, as I have.
My suggestion for using them for just penile tissue repair is to not over fill the penis with blood and cause any degree of stretch other than what your penis will do normally. Use it to just fill the penile tissues comfortably with blood, hold for a few minutes, then release and refill with fresh oxygenated blood and repeat the process a few times. You are not trying to get a bigger penis from doing this, you are just trying saturate the tissues with fresh oxygen. One positive thing to remember in your case is; younger cells will respond much better than those that have aged.

You could also read some of my posts which discuss sympathetic or adrenergic hyperactivity in the penis itself. I also mention medications that have been used to help with this condition that some men develop in middle age or are born with a susceptibility for developing earlier in life. Men that suffer with chronic performance anxiety are quite likely to have this susceptibility IMO.

[opolion]

Thanks a lot Simbarn for your detailed knowledge.
I know that neuropathy and neurology is super complex and that it will be quite difficult to get a proper diagnosis. You're totally right in terms of alcoholic neurpathy, I also rather thought to have a damage of autonomic nerves caused by alcohol, I didn't specify it well enough in my initial post.
I will definitely do everything to investigate this as much as possible and see if I can get a diagnosis.

All your advice regarding keeping the penis healthy and full with oxygen is very helpful, so thanks a lot, I'll try to do so. Can you recommend a good VED?

I never heard about the hard flaccid syndrome. I can relate to quite a few of the symptoms but not to all of them. This whole ED topic is just way more complex and uncharted than I thought

[Simbarn]

Thanks a lot Simbarn for your detailed knowledge.
I know that neuropathy and neurology is super complex and that it will be quite difficult to get a proper diagnosis. You're totally right in terms of alcoholic neurpathy, I also rather thought to have a damage of autonomic nerves caused by alcohol, I didn't specify it well enough in my initial post.
I will definitely do everything to investigate this as much as possible and see if I can get a diagnosis.

All your advice regarding keeping the penis healthy and full with oxygen is very helpful, so thanks a lot, I'll try to do so. Can you recommend a good VED?

I never heard about the hard flaccid syndrome. I can relate to quite a few of the symptoms but not to all of them. This whole ED topic is just way more complex and uncharted than I thought

If you post that question in the VED section I am sure you will get some good advice from the other members who use them regularly.

Owing to the complexity of erectile function, science is still learning much about why it works and why it stops working. When you begin to understand some of the factors involved in the erectile process, it becomes apparent that its a wonder it continues to work at all! Given that, it is so very important that a healthy lifestyle is imperative for its continued good performance. With the stressful lifestyle, bad diet and lack of exercise that some people have, it is not surprising that such a large percentage of men in middle age start having problems.

[Charlie2019]

Hello FT community, I am new to the forum, and I would appreciate any advice from you guys a lot!

Here is my story:

I am only 25 years old, and suffer from ED since 3.5 now. As you can imagine I am struggling a lot with this condition,
especially because I am still young, overall healthy and not really supposed to have this condition at my age.
It has basically ruined my young years, which should be full of sexual experiences – and makes me highly depressed since I feel like never being able to have a long lasting relationship with a woman in all my upcoming years. It takes off a big purpose of my life and I'm fed up of seeing my friends getting into happy relationships and me struggling so much, just because of my ED. I am a nice, good looking and tall guy, but all relationships and dates I had endend sooner or later because of my ED. I just feel like isolating, until I find any solution of this beast of a problem, it affects my life soo much in a negative way.

Until I was 21 everything was great for me. I had the best erections and super high libido. But then suddenly, strong erectyle disfunction hit me unexpectedly.
It came all of a sudden 3.5 years ago, and was at a time of a lot of alcohol consumption during approx. 2 weeks in my exchange study semester,
so that's probably what caused it (since it's the only possible explanation for me). I didn't think it was permanent and that it even gets worse and worse, I just had no clue about anything like this.
It started off already pretty severe and made me very insecure. Finally, one more party vacation with my friends ruined everything. I highly regret this decison, to have taken that vacation, maybe before my nerves could've still being able to recover.
Then however, I was at the point, where I never got any spontaneous erections, neither during the day, night or morning (maybe slightly occasionaly in the morning) – so I'd say the ED got into a really advanced state.
The problem was I never really knew what it was. I am not an alcoholic. I just drank quite a lot during these 2 occasions. Otherwise I live a quite healthy life and do a lot of sports. I was also smoking during my exchange semester though, but otherwise just socially at parties.

2 years ago, I went to see a urologist in my home country in Europe, but he couldn't give me a satisfactory diagnosis in the end,
and just blamed it to be a psychological cause, when it is clearly not – since it's a condition that's always there, even when masturabating.
He didn't recommend me to do a doppler ultrasound or the like, for which I asked for to find out more.
Ever since, I tried all the different available medications and dosages (levitra, cialis, viagra...), and found that only the strongest dosage of sildenafil (100mg) could mostly help me to achieve intercourse, but even then it wasn't quite satisfactory and also expensive. I could also only come once, every time I took one 100mg pill, which wasn't satisfactory either.

My last and most recent attempt to make my ED better, was doing the low intesity shockwave therapy. I did 5 treatments, with a lot of hope. However, it only made things worse (probably damaged more nerves) and I should have done more research before going into it.
Though, now I found out with quite certainty, that my ED occured because of a autonomous neuropathy, caused by alcohol abuse within a short amount of time. Even though I told my urologist the same possible reason (which I had thought could be the cause), he said that this couldn't be plausible, in such a short amount of time. I now believe though that my nervous system was just too weak and that also bad nutrition lead to the nerve damage.
Now I am pretty sure about the cause. However, now I'll do all available tests to get a medical diagnosis, which still can be quite hard to get since it's tough to figure out nerve damage. My current state is that even with 100mg of viagra, I have a quite limp penis, despite the highest possible arousal and currently I don't feel like I am able have sex anymore.

Finally my questions are:
Do you think I am on the right way, and did anyone experience a similar history with his ED?
Also, the only solution (last resort) for me right now (even though I fear it a lot), would be to get an implant? Would you recommend me getting an implant soon, or do you guys think that there's still other things to try first and that I should wait more?
I also heard of nerve translpantation, however I have high doubt that it could work in my case (they do it mainly after prostatectomies), does anyone know more regarding this? Or do you think it could be good enough in the near future?
Should I proceed thinking about an implant, since my condition is really advanced, or wait? I mean I would do everything to regain spontaneous erections, but how possible is it in my case that I could get them back?

Maybe some of you can help me on my way to a rather normal quality of life and out of deep depression, thanks a lot!

Are you in the UK? if so, go see Dr. Ralph.

[opolion]

Thanks a lot Simbarn for your detailed knowledge.
I know that neuropathy and neurology is super complex and that it will be quite difficult to get a proper diagnosis. You're totally right in terms of alcoholic neurpathy, I also rather thought to have a damage of autonomic nerves caused by alcohol, I didn't specify it well enough in my initial post.
I will definitely do everything to investigate this as much as possible and see if I can get a diagnosis.

All your advice regarding keeping the penis healthy and full with oxygen is very helpful, so thanks a lot, I'll try to do so. Can you recommend a good VED?

I never heard about the hard flaccid syndrome. I can relate to quite a few of the symptoms but not to all of them. This whole ED topic is just way more complex and uncharted than I thought

If you post that question in the VED section I am sure you will get some good advice from the other members who use them regularly.

Owing to the complexity of erectile function, science is still learning much about why it works and why it stops working. When you begin to understand some of the factors involved in the erectile process, it becomes apparent that its a wonder it continues to work at all! Given that, it is so very important that a healthy lifestyle is imperative for its continued good performance. With the stressful lifestyle, bad diet and lack of exercise that some people have, it is not surprising that such a large percentage of men in middle age start having problems.

I totally agree, a healthy and good lifestyle is so important for having a proper sexual function and nowadays it's a stressful world out there.
For me it was a bit different, though it started when I was only 21, and just because it seems like I had to much alcohol, consistently in a short time during my exchange semester during my undergrad studies, which damaged my nerves. I usually lead a pretty healthy lifestyle, it was just during that time I wanted to enjoy myself and now it seems like have to live with my misery. If only I had known that this could happen, I wouldn't have tagged along with the mates drinking.

[opolion]

Hello FT community, I am new to the forum, and I would appreciate any advice from you guys a lot!

Here is my story:

I am only 25 years old, and suffer from ED since 3.5 now. As you can imagine I am struggling a lot with this condition,
especially because I am still young, overall healthy and not really supposed to have this condition at my age.
It has basically ruined my young years, which should be full of sexual experiences – and makes me highly depressed since I feel like never being able to have a long lasting relationship with a woman in all my upcoming years. It takes off a big purpose of my life and I'm fed up of seeing my friends getting into happy relationships and me struggling so much, just because of my ED. I am a nice, good looking and tall guy, but all relationships and dates I had endend sooner or later because of my ED. I just feel like isolating, until I find any solution of this beast of a problem, it affects my life soo much in a negative way.

Until I was 21 everything was great for me. I had the best erections and super high libido. But then suddenly, strong erectyle disfunction hit me unexpectedly.
It came all of a sudden 3.5 years ago, and was at a time of a lot of alcohol consumption during approx. 2 weeks in my exchange study semester,
so that's probably what caused it (since it's the only possible explanation for me). I didn't think it was permanent and that it even gets worse and worse, I just had no clue about anything like this.
It started off already pretty severe and made me very insecure. Finally, one more party vacation with my friends ruined everything. I highly regret this decison, to have taken that vacation, maybe before my nerves could've still being able to recover.
Then however, I was at the point, where I never got any spontaneous erections, neither during the day, night or morning (maybe slightly occasionaly in the morning) – so I'd say the ED got into a really advanced state.
The problem was I never really knew what it was. I am not an alcoholic. I just drank quite a lot during these 2 occasions. Otherwise I live a quite healthy life and do a lot of sports. I was also smoking during my exchange semester though, but otherwise just socially at parties.

2 years ago, I went to see a urologist in my home country in Europe, but he couldn't give me a satisfactory diagnosis in the end,
and just blamed it to be a psychological cause, when it is clearly not – since it's a condition that's always there, even when masturabating.
He didn't recommend me to do a doppler ultrasound or the like, for which I asked for to find out more.
Ever since, I tried all the different available medications and dosages (levitra, cialis, viagra...), and found that only the strongest dosage of sildenafil (100mg) could mostly help me to achieve intercourse, but even then it wasn't quite satisfactory and also expensive. I could also only come once, every time I took one 100mg pill, which wasn't satisfactory either.

My last and most recent attempt to make my ED better, was doing the low intesity shockwave therapy. I did 5 treatments, with a lot of hope. However, it only made things worse (probably damaged more nerves) and I should have done more research before going into it.
Though, now I found out with quite certainty, that my ED occured because of a autonomous neuropathy, caused by alcohol abuse within a short amount of time. Even though I told my urologist the same possible reason (which I had thought could be the cause), he said that this couldn't be plausible, in such a short amount of time. I now believe though that my nervous system was just too weak and that also bad nutrition lead to the nerve damage.
Now I am pretty sure about the cause. However, now I'll do all available tests to get a medical diagnosis, which still can be quite hard to get since it's tough to figure out nerve damage. My current state is that even with 100mg of viagra, I have a quite limp penis, despite the highest possible arousal and currently I don't feel like I am able have sex anymore.

Finally my questions are:
Do you think I am on the right way, and did anyone experience a similar history with his ED?
Also, the only solution (last resort) for me right now (even though I fear it a lot), would be to get an implant? Would you recommend me getting an implant soon, or do you guys think that there's still other things to try first and that I should wait more?
I also heard of nerve translpantation, however I have high doubt that it could work in my case (they do it mainly after prostatectomies), does anyone know more regarding this? Or do you think it could be good enough in the near future?
Should I proceed thinking about an implant, since my condition is really advanced, or wait? I mean I would do everything to regain spontaneous erections, but how possible is it in my case that I could get them back?

Maybe some of you can help me on my way to a rather normal quality of life and out of deep depression, thanks a lot!

Are you in the UK? if so, go see Dr. Ralph.

I'm in central Europe unfortunately. Dr. Ralph seems indeed like a very experienced doctor though, thanks for the advice man, appreciate it

[Flavio]

[...]

The main reason why I think it is neuropathy is because I have other symptoms that indicate it, as far as I investigated it. I have a stinging pain in the area around my left testicle that occurres from time to time. I also told my doctor, so he examined the place but didn't find anything. [...]

I think Simbarn is absolutely right and you should get a second or third opinion.

It's true that the nervous system plays a fundamental role in ED but it's too early to say if this really is a neuropathy.

The mind plays countless tricks on us and this is especially true when it comes to sexual health. I remember I once had testicular pain all the time, I went to see a urologist about it and it turned out to be pure anxiety.

I know nothing about implants, they are very popular these days but they're only a last resort solution.

My advice is this: keep doing A LOT of research on this subject, talk to doctors, read books (anything written by Tom F. Lue is a must), share your experiences.Knowledge is power. The more you know about ED, the less stressful it will be.

[opolion]

[...]

The main reason why I think it is neuropathy is because I have other symptoms that indicate it, as far as I investigated it. I have a stinging pain in the area around my left testicle that occurres from time to time. I also told my doctor, so he examined the place but didn't find anything. [...]

I think Simbarn is absolutely right and you should get a second or third opinion.

It's true that the nervous system plays a fundamental role in ED but it's too early to say if this really is a neuropathy.

The mind plays countless tricks on us and this is especially true when it comes to sexual health. I remember I once had testicular pain all the time, I went to see a urologist about it and it turned out to be pure anxiety.

I know nothing about implants, they are very popular these days but they're only a last resort solution.

My advice is this: keep doing A LOT of research on this subject, talk to doctors, read books (anything written by Tom F. Lue is a must), share your experiences.Knowledge is power. The more you know about ED, the less stressful it will be.

Thanks Flavio for the recommendations. Well, I've already spent so much time on researching and I totally agree that it's so important. For a while I also thought it might be psychogenic but I did examinations like measuring the nerve conduction velocity and also urodynamics and they showed clear impairments in both. So still to me the only logical explanation is a toxic neuropathy that causes my ed. But my doctors couldn't say anything specific yet and demanded me to do MR scans now which I'll be doing in 2 weeks so I hope they I'll be wiser after that.
But I'll definitely check out Tom F. Lue's publications. Cheers mate