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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be angry DH has ruined our sex life because of ED?

246 replies

thesparrowflieshigh · 22/01/2020 15:56

He's had it really since we met 18 years ago but I was young and in love and thought we'd get past it. He probably manages a decent erection 10% of the time and the other times we manage it with a semi erection. This is pretty much always in the missionary position as he doesn't like trying anything new because of the ED. He also wants to start intercourse as soon as he is hard enough to enter me so foreplay is very limited. I've sort of gone along with this for years and as I can orgasm pretty easily when I fantasise a lot. However, recently my sex drive has just died and I am left feeling resentful towards DH that he can't just relax and get a normal erection. It also makes me feel rubbish and undesirable There is nothing wrong medically. He has had Viagra which works but only takes it every now and then. I really don't know how to move forward from here. In other aspects of our relationship we are a great match and I wouldn't leave him over this. I am just really sad that this part of me has been taken away.

OP posts:
Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 23/01/2020 19:54

Do you know that he's orgasming? Possibly not if he's list his erection.

And see my points about the messages he was given, as a child, about sex. The comments op made about his parents, the fact this has been going on for at least 18 years meaning he was likely a young man at onset, his reluctance to engage in anything other than missionary position suggests that maybe this has a large psychosexual component. I don't think people should be quite so quick to brand him as selfish.

Lippy1234 · 23/01/2020 19:55

Men don’t need an erection to orgasm.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 23/01/2020 20:03

Maybe not, but in all of my years as a urology nurse working with men with ED I didn't meet one.

bd67thSaysReinstateLangCleg · 24/01/2020 00:20

in all of my years as a urology nurse working with men with ED I didn't meet one

I've brought a flaccid man to orgasm via prostate stimulation. I'm surprised that you've never come across men who can orgasm that way.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 24/01/2020 01:39

I've brought a flaccid man to orgasm via prostate stimulation. I'm surprised that you've never come across men who can orgasm that way.

I highly doubt the man in the op is doing that and tbh the patients that I worked with were men who wanted treatment so that they could have penetrative sex with a partner. That's why we taught them to self inject or they had rods inserted into the penis.

Prostate massage wasn't really applicable.

CSIblonde · 24/01/2020 01:51

I think he needs disabusing of the idea that a semi erection is fine. Viagra can be bought online & cheaply & it's safe for every day. I'd be wondering if its a confidence thing if theres no medical issue? Assume he's seen GP re health if it's gone on that long. The unwillingness to try different positions seems to point to general lack of sexual confidence. What would he do if you took the lead & changed position? Say no?

MimiLaRue · 24/01/2020 06:27

I've brought a flaccid man to orgasm via prostate stimulation. I'm surprised that you've never come across men who can orgasm that way

His orgasm isn't the issue here. Its hers.

IchbineinBerlinner · 24/01/2020 16:04

@Bloomburger could I have the name of that therapist? I have the sme problems as the op. Is there a support group for women like us? I love my DH but I also love sex

Bloomburger · 24/01/2020 16:39

Can you pm me ichbineinberlinner I'm not great at this tech stuff.

I'm not sure if there is a support group.

Maybe we should have one on Mumsnet. I just hate when it turns into a slagging the ED sufferer offathon.

bd67thSaysReinstateLangCleg · 24/01/2020 18:07

I highly doubt the man in the op is doing that

Irrelevant: the point is that he doesn't need an erection or vaginal penetration to orgasm.

Addressing your original statement:
if the erection goes it's not coming back so he could engage in foreplay that can't go any further. Would that suit the op? In which case, she's then putting her pleasure before her partner's isn't she?

He can pleasure her until she's seeing stars without an erection. She can get him off afterwards without an erection, although she might want to wear nitrile gloves to do so. "Foreplay that can't go any further" isn't selfishness on the OP's part as you insinuated, because he doesn't need an erection to orgasm.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 24/01/2020 18:11

He may not want to engage in digital massage of his prostate, and nor might the op want to stick her finger into his rectum to massage his prostate - did you think about that?

Bloody hell, I can just imagine someone telling a woman on here to have a all intercourse because it was far more convenient for all concerned.

bd67thSaysReinstateLangCleg · 24/01/2020 18:14

And TBH "foreplay that can't go any further" tells me that you don't consider outercourse to be a complete sexual act in itself.

OP, taking away the pressure to "perform" by taking PIV off the table helps a lot of couples who face ED. That's why I suggest it.

bd67thSaysReinstateLangCleg · 24/01/2020 18:20

Anal intercourse isn't comparable to prostate massage. A penis is not as big nor as damaging as a finger.

The OP is at liberty to heed or ignore suggestions written here. I'm not going to prefilter my suggestions on the basis that HearHooves might naysay them, because that would be paternalistic towards the OP.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 24/01/2020 18:22

And TBH "foreplay that can't go any further" tells me that you don't consider outercourse to be a complete sexual act in itself.

Sex, overall, should be mutually pleasurable. I don't see it as good advice to say that a man should engage in foreplay so that only his partner is satisfied. I don't see it as a solution either to basically say "no it's fine. She can stick her finger up his arse and massage his prostate" particularly when reading between the lines it appears that this man has some psychological issues around sex anyway.

We get it - you're into anal (certainly giving it). Not everyone is and it's quite err, niche

greeneyedlulu · 24/01/2020 18:25

You need to talk to him about this and say that you'd like to use the viagra more often. Maybe try toys too and spice things up a bit

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 24/01/2020 18:26

Anal intercourse isn't comparable to prostate massage. A penis is not as big nor as damaging as a finger.

Anal intercourse doesn't have to be a penis in the anus. Regardless, would people be telling a woman to accept a finger up the arse for everyone's convenience? No, they wouldn't, particularly if that woman had psychological issues around sex.

No one should be pressured into doing anything that they are not 100% comfortable with.

bd67thSaysReinstateLangCleg · 24/01/2020 22:59

We get it - you're into anal (certainly giving it).

No, he was into receiving it. I was, and still am, indifferent to giving it and very averse to receiving it. Way to put words into my mouth.

I didn't regard my indifference to giving prostate massage as a barrier to giving him his pleasure because I enjoyed watching his pleasure. Is that so different from "foreplay that goes nowhere" (or whatever your exact phrase was) on the part of the OP's husband? Sometimes one-sided pleasure is OK, as long as sex isn't always one-sided.

when reading between the lines it appears that this man has some psychological issues around sex anyway.

I wasn't detecting that from the thread opener and in any case I'm not in the habit of armchair diagnosing psychosexual issues. I limited myself to practical tips.

Regardless, would people be telling a woman to accept a finger up the arse for everyone's convenience?

Women don't have prostates, so not comparable. The equivalent would be suggesting that a man try clitoral massage on a female partner with vaginismus in order to bring her to orgasm without penetration.

No one should be pressured into doing anything that they are not 100% comfortable with.

I absolutely agree with that statement. However, I don't think the word "pressure" applies to giving suggestions on a forum. Someone comes onto a forum, asks for advice, and people give it. I say again: "The OP is at liberty to heed or ignore suggestions written here. I'm not going to prefilter my suggestions on the basis that HearHooves might naysay them, because that would be paternalistic towards the OP."

The OP can ignore everything I've written if she thinks it won't help. No harm is done by me suggesting what has worked for me in the past because I cannot pressure her into doing what I suggest.

Bluerussian · 24/01/2020 23:58

Lippy1234 Thu 23-Jan-20 19:55:46
Men don’t need an erection to orgasm.
.........
No they don't. I had a brief relationship with a guy when I was young, he had ED but was very good with hands and mouth. At some stage he ejaculated from a flaccid penis. I didn't massage his prostate - didn't know about such things then.

After seeing him for a while he began to get erections and we eventually had penetrative sex on two occasions. It all became very ordinary, he was much more exciting when he couldn't get it up. I never said that to him, we drifted apart anyway so it didn't matter.

Inappropriatefemale · 25/01/2020 09:13

He sounds very selfish, why can’t he give you oral sex one night without having sex so that he is pleasuring you rather than your own thoughts doing it, it seems it’s his way or the highway. Tell him everything that you’ve written here.

Cheesespreading · 26/01/2020 12:31

Inappropriatefemale what do you mean it seems to be his way or the highway? The man can’t even keep an erection, I’d say it’s not great for him either. Should we suggest the op starts giving him oral to see if it helps him?

Inappropriatefemale · 26/01/2020 12:57

I mean he doesn’t give her oral at all as he loses his erection so why can’t one night he just focus on her without it leading to sex and the next night they can have sex, after all he isn’t making her come, she is doing it by herself so it’s only fair that one night it’s all about her.

Inappropriatefemale · 26/01/2020 12:58

Plus he won’t take his viagra so yes he is being selfish.

MimiLaRue · 26/01/2020 13:00

what do you mean it seems to be his way or the highway?

Did you read the part of the OP where she said when he finally gets an errection he wants to stick it in immediately without any foreplay? that can be painful and dry for some people and in my opinion extremely fcking selfish of him

MimiLaRue · 26/01/2020 13:10

after all he isn’t making her come, she is doing it by herself so it’s only fair that one night it’s all about her

Exactly! OP said she only orgasms because she fantasises, so what IS he doing for her pleasure? nothing whatsoever by the sounds of it if she is having to fantasise herself to orgasm.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 26/01/2020 13:41

Exactly! OP said she only orgasms because she fantasises, so what IS he doing for her pleasure? nothing whatsoever by the sounds of it if she is having to fantasise herself to orgasm.

What is she doing for his pleasure?