long term effects of lack of nocturnal erections

[PeetyPeet]

Hi guys,

This is a topic I've struggled to discuss with medical professionals - they shrug it off or change the subject - so I'm interested to know the forum's opinion.

Let's imagine you completely stopped getting nocturnal erections. How and why doesn't matter, but for the sake of argument let's say you had a prostatectomy or a back injury that damaged a crucial nerve.

With no treatment or therapy (VED, PDE5s etc), what would be the long term effect on the penis?

Cheers

Peety

[Old Man]

Peety:

I had a radical prostatectomy in April 1995. It was a non nerve sparing surgery, but for some reason, I did not lose any of the nerves. The uro surgeon was a good friend of mine and he along with his assisting uro did their best to do me a good job! Worked out so that I can still get natural erections using manual stimulation or the VED.

Old Man

[Jimbruski]

Peetypeet,

This is a very interesting topic for me because I did experience no nighttime erections for about 8 years.  Mine was because of severe depression.  I experienced no nighttime erections to the best of my knowledge and absolutely no morning erections.  

When I was able to get the depression under control and I experienced my first morning erection I also noticed my Peyronies for the first time.  I believe the years of no erections, day or night, may have allowed the plaque to take hold and advance the Peyronies Disease.

It will certainly be interesting to follow this thread.

Jimbruski

[popopo]

I feel that stress and depression does have a big influence on peyronies disease and sexual health overall.the f'~c<+d up thing is that it's a circle that's hard to break because every time my penis gets worse I get depressed wich causes worsening again.. This goes on till eventually yiu just have to accept that you're barely potent.. I also notice a lack of morningwood now even though I'm on trt with tesrosterone levens around 1000 ng/dl and estradiol in the "sweet spot" range. I think for me it's also just thatmy penis is physically unable to get fully erect lots of times, but it might be stress that makes it worse. Also, would weed have any effect on nocturnal erections? I allways hear that it interferes with REM-sleep wich is also the moment mostguys get erections, right?

[Pfract]

PettyPeet: the result is massive shrinkage and atrophy of the penis, because the nighttime erections are there for ''maintenance''. That's what happens with cancer patients, and why they must follow a protocol after the surgery to try to regain erections. Involves injections to induce erections so scarring doesn't form, and also the VED. Also.... How do people here know that they don't have nightly erections, if they are asleep? What test have the users did?  

[Jimbruski]

Pfract,

You are exactly right and that is why I said in my post that to the best of my knowledge I had not had any nighttime erections.  I do know that I had no morning erections and from what I was able to gather from reading about ED, the two go hand in hand.  I tried all of the suggested tests using a roll of stamps and other wild concoctions and all would suggest no erections.  This however is hardly scientific,  so again, to the best of my knowledge I had no nighttime erections.

I did experience shrinkage but also when I regained the ability to have erections again I also discovered Peyronies so I believe you are correct about penis health and nighttime erections.  Hopefully that is what Pettypeet is after when he started this thread.

Thanks,

Jimbruski

[PeetyPeet]

Thanks guys. Just to clarify, when I say nocturnal erections/NTEs I mean both nighttime erections and morning erections.

I also agree with Pfract. It's certainly like what I've experienced. It's perplexing therefore why medical professionals can't see lack of nocturnal erections as a cause of ED, not just a symptom. In my view any man experiencing ED should start using VED and/or be put on regular low dose PDE5s immediately to maintain the health of their penis. This should be standard medical practice.

The only sure way to prove that one does not experience NTEs is the 'Rigiscan'. But it think it's fair to say that if you stop noticing morning wood at all, you are experiencing a decrease in the frequency and/or rigidity of NTEs. They appear to occur during REM sleep. REM sleep occurs in cycles throughout the night, and these cycles get longer as you approach the end of a night's sleep. The last cycle is the longest and you are more likely to wake during it, hence why men notice morning wood

I don't know exactly how depression and weed could affect NTEs. I can only assume that anything that affects REM sleep could potentially affect NTEs. I think both depression and weed have been demonstrated to alter sleep patterns. If you're smoking weed it could also raise blood pressure which can be bad for erections.

Jimbruski - throughout the time you did not experience NTEs, did you notice any changes to your penis? How about your ability to get an erection in a sexual context?

Old Man - Were you able to get NTEs after your prostatectomy? If not, did you begin VED therapy straight away? Aside from ED, did you notice any changes to your penis is the months / years following your operation?

Thanks

Peety

[Jimbruski]

Peety,

Thanks for pulling this all together.  During my years of depression I never experienced daytime erections.  Intamancy was destroyed by my level of depression.  It was very severe.  I probably had 6 instances of semi hard erections, none good enough for intercourse.

I did suffer shrinkage which I tried to remedy with VED but I had no idea what I was doing and may have done more harm than good.  I definitely expected immediate results and when that didn't happen I just gave up.

Hope this helps ...

Jimbruski

[Old Man]

Peety:

No, the prostatectomy gave me total impotency for quite a while after the surgery. I did not have a nerve sparing surgery, hence the impotent effect. I have not had any NTE's of any sort since the surgery. In addition, I developed venous leakage at about the age of 55 and I had to start using cock rings for sex.

Shorty after the surgery, my uro gave me several injections for erections which only partially allowed some erect state. Not enough for sex though, so the VED was RXd for me and I have been using the VED for Peyronies Disease therapy and ED therapy since the surgery in April 1995. It has been 21 years since the prostate surgery, and at age ofo almost 87 YO, I have regained some degree of potency by manually stimulation to an erection and then placing a cock ring on to hold the erection long enough any sexual activity I want to do.

I also still use the VED periodically to keep the old tool is a good healthy state and for erections.

Old Man