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Navigate: > > Trouble with erections

Posted on: 04/30/2004

Question

I am 17 years old and my girlfriend and i just recently started having sex. We have had sex 4 times and suddenly i can not achieve an erection anymore. I have never had this problem. We have fooled around and she has gave me handjobs for over a year and i never had this problem. I dont know what to do because i cannot have sex again until this problem is fixed. Please help me?

Submitted on 04/08/04 at 02:34:47

Answer

Thank you for your question. It is a common concern for young men and their partners. However, there is a lot of information that I don't have regarding your physical health and situation that will make my answer incomplete. Here is my best advice.

The mechanism of erection and ejaculation is part physical and part emotional. Inability to achieve an erection is a COMMON problem. It usually does NOT indicate a physical problem, especially in young men. It is not uncommon for a young man to have an erection problem once and then worry so much about it that he has trouble with achieving an erection later.

With that said, the things that can influence erection and ejaculation are smoking, alcohol, drugs, depression and anxiety.

If you wake up in the morning with an erection or are able to masturbate then there usually is nothing physically wrong. It implies that the situation is more emotional than something wrong with the physical mechanism of erection.

Obviously, if this problem doesn't resolve it would be appropriate to seek out the advice of your family doctor and let them take a careful history and perform an exam.

Good luck.

Answered By:
Steve Johnson , PA-C

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