Postby Cozpgh » Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:10 am
I started taking Viagra in 1999 - pretty much right when it came out. I was 25 years old and had been experiencing erectile dysfunction since becoming sexually active in my teens. 25mg of Viagra about 15 minutes to a half hour before sex would result in an instant facial flush, stuffed up nose, and long lasting spontaneous erections even with no or just mild stimulation. A hot and heavy makeout session would usually result in me being erect in my pants and pulling out a very hard ready to go dick.
Sometimes my sex was more porn star performance than others but I had more successes than failures on just that 25mg dose of Viagra for about 18 years. Even when I'd cut up a 100mg tablet, splitting into four's since the pills were much more expensive then before generics hit the U.S. market, I'd get the facial flush and a spontaneous erection from just a lick of some of the crushed pill powder in the cutter.
Maybe 15 years in, I started to notice more stimulation being needed before I'd be hard. Or I'd have to masturbate myself while going down on my wife to be ready for penetration. I figured it was just married sex life. Lack of that early passion. Somewhat monotonous. Relationship problems. Job stresses. Life.
A lot of it was that. Our marriage ended. It was then when I discovered that the once predictable 25mg of Viagra was completely failing me with new partners. Sometimes to the point of not getting an erection at all which was a new experience for me. My problem, even going back to my teens, was I'd be very hard for a long time and my erection would gradually go down as I leaked more precum or when I was close to ejaculating but couldn't. I went up to 50mg and was having penetrative sex but still losing my erection off an on through a 1 to 2 hour session. Just up and down. Thankfully my partner then - who has become my girlfriend was just amazed a man wanted to be in bed pleasing her for that long and never made a big deal about my constant in and out and up and down. Thankfully, for me and I guess my partners, all those years of ED going back to my teens has made me a better lover in all the other pleasing ways to get them to look past my finicky dick. She saw the 6 minutes of fucking, 15 minutes of oral and hands, 10 more minutes of fucking, kissing and making out, on and on and on to be satisfying. I on the other hand was frustrated.
She is 17 years younger than me, polyamorous, and ethically nonmonogamous. A girlfriend of hers was brought into our relationship. Every man's dream, right? The first time we all got together, I failed on 100mg of Viagra and 20mg of Cialis earlier in the day. In addition to taking L Arginine and Citrulline and also going on TRT. I've since experimented with varying dosages of single and combined PDE5 inhibitors, PT 141, apomorphine, oxytocin, and was even talked into Gainswave and a P Shot by my TRT doctor which didn't make much of a difference besides adding some girth and veins. My girlfriend is still very satisfied with our sex life and we've had some amazing experiences together even with my inconsistent erections. She knows how much it frustrates me and how much its added to my already bad performance anxiety. She can tell when I'm hesitant to play with her or for us to play with anyone else together because I'm worried about my erection quality and performance.
My most consistent success has been 5 mg of Tadalafil (Cialis) daily, an as need dosage of Sildenafil (Viagra) up to 150mg or 200mg, and some PT 141 earlier in the day. The strangest thing about the Sildenafil/Viagra is I no longer have any physical side effect from the drug whatsoever. Even in high dosages or repeating a 25mg to 100mg dose every 4 to 6 hours for a 24 hour period. No facial flush. No stuffed up nose. Nothing visual or hearing issues, which is good. No headaches or dizziness. Just some occasional acid reflux on days where I'm dosing every 4 to 6 hours. Granted, I've never done anything higher than a 200mg dose of Sildenafil at once, you'd think with the combined PDE5s, the arginine/citrulline, etc. I'd have some sort of physical discomfort or adverse reaction. Especially considering how red my face used to get from just that 25mg (and sometimes smaller) dose back in the day. I sometimes think that reaction to Viagra/Sildenafil ended when I started taking the Citrulline/Arginine supplement but I've since tried removing that from my regimen and that specific medication reaction never returned.
I've read where you don't build up a tolerance to these drugs - your underlying condition worsens - but how have I've gone from multiple adverse reactions/side effects to nothing even on higher or more steady/consistent doses? My heart workup was fine. Blood panels the past five years have been good. I'm a runner. My BP is always a bit high at first at the doctor's office but my doctor knows to keep checking it the more we talk through the appointment and it always falls down to a normal range and is normal when I check it at home even if pulling out the cuff alone is sometimes enough to make it temporarily spike. It comes down on its own after I relax. It's also never been dangerously low on the combined or high dose PDE5's. The bottom number has gotten into the 60s here and there but with no side effects. The white coat syndrome I have initially at the doctor's office does make me wonder if my body reacts to sexual situations the the same way I react when I first get to the doctors. That adrenaline spike and temporary BP spike negatively affecting my erections. Maybe the light Viagra dosage coupled with the predictability and comfortability of married sex was enough to remove my sexual performance anxieties from the equation. It's weird because I was ultimately in bad marriage but the 2 day a week sex on Wednesdays and Sundays quieted my performance anxiety - especially knowing a 25mg dose of Viagra was there to help me out. And, just like when my BP goes down the more comfortable I get talking to my doctor, maybe those times I feel like the oral meds work for me today are really just times I'm able to get into a relaxed state. Not necessarily the higher doses of meds. We've had great sex and I've had a better erection sometimes 6 to 8 hours after I've taken a Viagra dosage when I wasn't having a good erection when we initially tried an hour or so from when I dosed. It seems like the PDE5 inhibitors are still working for me but are just being metabolized differently to the point where I don't feel the side effects I used to feel that indicated to me I was ready to go - like the facial flushing - anymore.
And I'm still having sex 5 to 10 times a week - in fact, the best sex of my life - just with inconsistent up and down erections. I really feel like I shouldn't complain but I'm so consumed by all of this and it's so distracting. Especially since me and my girlfriend enjoy playing with others together. I don't want to avoid those situations because I'm worried about my ED.
I opened up to my girlfriend the other night about Trimix injections and a possible implant down the road. She wasn't as freaked out by either as I thought she'd be. I explained some of the things I've learned from discussions here. Even showed her a few pics and videos of implants. We were laughing about all the possibilities of us going to sex clubs with my pumped up dick. She feels I'm overreacting and probably don't need to inject or gut my penis just yet, however, she also doesn't want me going down this slippery slope where I'm just combining and upping the oral medications to higher and higher dosages to the point it does become dangerous. Even though, so far, I'm lucky and have had no real side effects on these current combinations and high doses.
I tried to get an appointment with my urologist for a doppler/ultrasound and test injection but he couldn't see me until February. So I went through Olympia and a telemedicine appointment for a Trimix vial with antidote. Have stopped the daily Cialis/Tadalafil and supplementation for a few days. It'll be a bit weird trying to have sex without a PDE5 inhibitor for the first time in 22 years and I'm hoping I've studied up enough on injection technique. I've also considered still taking a 25mg or 50mg dose of Sildenafil and going lighter than the 10 units suggested for my first dose - like 3 or 5 units. I'm not necessarily looking for 2 hour sex here every time. I just want to be able to have intercourse to completion without losing and regaining my erection multiple times and maybe a light dose of the Trimix coupled with the dosage of Sildenafil that worked for me multiple times a week from 1999 to 2017 will be enough to carry me through or at least have a renewed confidence going into the encounter. I'm sure I'll talk about my experiences here. This is my first post hence the length. But, to answer your question, I got about 15 to 20 years out of my use and it could be argued they're still somewhat effective for me since I'm sexually active despite my frustrations.
48 years old, ED since teens, 25-50mg of Sildenafil worked for 20 years but now require 100-200mg of Sildenafil - sometimes split into 25-50mg every 4 hours - + daily Tadalafil at 5-20mg. Have had P Shot, Gainswave, TRT, and now on to Trimix injections.
