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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Viagra Found

64 replies

Nevercloser · 29/05/2021 09:55

Hi
My elderly relative was taken into hospital recently and didn’t have a toilet bag. I took my husband’s from the bathroom and emptied it. I found cut up blister packs of viagra which had obviously been used. They were in a small zip pocket at the front. I took them out. I was in a rush and just tipped everything else out, didn’t say anything and have not mentioned it since. I think my husband thinks they are still there, they were in a pocket nobody would go in without reason.

My relative is very ill and going to die shortly. I have been so stressed with this that I couldn’t face confronting my husband. My son is also at home from university and was intending to go back but hasn’t done yet. I was also waiting until he was out of the way. I am so scared of where this is going to end up. I’m going to have to bring it up soon though.

We have a very good marriage in all ways apart from sex. We haven’t had sex for a number of years. E keep saying we must get back on track but neither of us actually makes it happen. My husband has suffered from erectile dysfunction in the past but, again, we’ve kind of brushed it under the carpet, put it off and assumed that things would get back to normal eventually.

I also had a mastectomy four years ago which I’ve tried to talk about but my husband just reassures me and then shuts the conversation down. He doesn’t talk about his feelings and finds emotional upheavals hard to deal with. He doesn’t talk about his own feelings. He is a fixer and when he can’t fix things doesn’t know what to say.

He has been a fantastic husband for twenty five years. He is reliable, solid and, as I said, a fixer. If he can see I need something doing or buying he just gets on with it. He is very generous and was happy to support me whilst I left work to do a degree after my cancer treatment. He is a wonderful father and has always out the kids first. I love him and I know he loves me. We have a happy life together, we are planning our retirement and we are best friends. He always has my back.

But I don’t know what to think about this curved ball. I don’t think he’s having an affair. He’s a terrible liar, well he just doesn’t lie. He’s been wfh
for over a year and doesn’t go anywhere without me or the dog. He’s not out of the house for more than an hour. He would have had plenty of opportunity before the first lockdown though. Nothing at all was amiss though and I can always tell when something is on his mind.

My question is, does anyone have experience of men using viagra just on their own ? Is this a thing ? Because it would make sense. He wouldn’t feel guilty about that, nor should he. He may have been using it as a sort of stopgap until we eventually got round to making some progress with our sex life. Or am I just kidding myself ? The thing is that cheating would be so out of character for him that it would mean the whole basis of my life is not what I thought it was.

I’m going to the hospice to see my relative now but I’ll be back late. I’d be very grateful for any insight or experience of this. Thanks.

OP posts:
CuntyMcBollocks · 31/05/2021 05:50

You need to ask your husband. It may be innocent, but you need to prepare for the possibility that it's not. I have a friend who takes viagra without planning to have sex, so you never know.

Nevercloser · 31/05/2021 08:22

Thankyou Cunty. You’re right I need to find out but I’m scared. I’m so glad though that it is a ‘thing’ to take viagra for sole use. It gives me a lot of hope.

OP posts:
starrynight21 · 31/05/2021 08:44

If he has ED it's very likely that he is using it for himself - to see if it helps. My DH has severe ED and in the beginning he tried Viagra and other medications to " try and see". In his case they didn't work, and he went through many prescription medications until we just decided to give up since he was getting very upset about it and worrying about me.

The difference was that DH did tell me about it, every step of the way ( whether I wanted to know or not ! Sometimes it was "too much information !) But your DH sounds a lot different from mine - yours sounds lovely and just a very private person whereas my DH is a 'tell all" kind of man.

In your situation I'd let this go until things settle down, with your sick relative and your son going back to uni. There isn't any rush to approach your DH about it and I'm sure you'd both feel more comfortable talking about it when things are quieter.

Best wishes , OP.

Fabiofatshaft1 · 31/05/2021 09:56

Why torture yourself !?

Gently and calmly have THE conversation with him.

All men suffer with some form of ED during their lifetime. As we get older, a man’s virility wanes, usually. Just as many women’s sex drive and libido wanes.

After a terrible divorce through being cheated on, I lost all interest and desire in sex for a long time.

I’ve used them in the past, at the start of new relationships when I was full of nerves, or when I’ve been super tired through work and my partner was super ‘ not tired ‘. I didn’t broadcast it. I hid it. I’d conveniently pop to the bathroom before retiring to bed with my partner. It’s use was occasional.

Initially I was embarrassed about it even ashamed, and I certainly didn’t want to discuss it. I’ve worked permanent nights all my life so my bio rhythms have always been wonky.

My attitude now is it’s just an aid to be used occasionally. I’m sure many women have their own ‘ aids’, physical or mental or emotional to help drive their libido.

A lot of women have a great misconception about Viagra. Many think you take one, and it’s instant hard on.

It doesn’t work like that. You have factor in things like diet, alcohol, mood, etc.

( I haven’t mentioned health problems, this is another can of worms )

All sildenfil does is increase penile blood flow. But the physical change is ( It was in my case ) is inextricably linked to mental and sexual desire.

If the desire isn’t there, it’s probably not going to work. Maybe some men use viagra for masturbation, but it wouldn’t work for me in these circumstances.

Talk to him.

BillieSpain · 31/05/2021 10:19

I know more to than I need to know about this, but it could ease your worries. 59, ED, lockdown so I believe an affair is highly, highly, unlikely (especially given your relationship), it is IMO 99% masturbation.

And yes, it is definitely a thing.

(Some people even call it a 'posh wank') Envy

Skyla2005 · 31/05/2021 11:07

Check his phone !

FeelingStupid2021 · 31/05/2021 15:32

Never - i can see my DH being embarrassed but when I first ask him he denied he knew what it was then a few hours later said he'd remembered but only after I told him I had googled the pill and knew what it was. I think that's the bit that annoyed me the most. He has previous for omitting information, more than once.

WellThisIsShit · 31/05/2021 21:37

Give yourself time and space to deal with this. You don’t need to move quickly. Flowers

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 31/05/2021 22:32

All sildenfil does is increase penile blood flow.

All it does is increase blood flow to everywhere. Whilst that particular part of the body is usually the desired focus (and reason for taking it), it isn't even always used with that in mind - it's sometimes given to even very young children who have problems with blood circulation, so obviously nothing sexual whatsoever in those cases.

It tends to be put on a mysterious separate 'shelf', when it's just one of a whole load of drugs that correct routine problems - it just happens to also have a particular sexual benefit, which makes it stand out (so to speak) in people's thinking, when it's really not necessarily 'all that'.

It's given a joint mystique and shame (by other men and also sometimes by women too) that it's only for 'not real men' or otherwise men who are 'really randy and raring to go'. It's just a corrective drug, though - that's all. If he had diabetes, he might be taking insulin; if he has ED, he might be taking Viagra, that's all.

Men could just as easily see all the adverts for solutions to vaginal dryness on TV, and make the assumption that, if they see their wife has bought any of the advertised products, it's because she must be having an affair and/or using it for purely sexual reasons, as there 'couldn't possibly be any other motive' for it.

Even if she is buying it to remedy purely sexual problems (whether with her DH or alone), would you instantly consider it deceitful if she didn't tell her husband straightaway and justify why she'd been out buying it?

Everything else you've said about him points to a loving husband in a committed relationship where sex isn't currently happening, but which both spouses are keen to remedy.

Fabiofatshaft1 · 31/05/2021 23:22

The definition of a posh wank, as I understand it, is using a condom or a sock to avoid a splat on the floor 🤪

MMmomDD · 01/06/2021 00:50

@Nevercloser

In your place I’d not be ‘confronting’ your H. Not if you want to try to actually have some sex life again.

It’s clear he isn’t having an affair. A man with ED, and the kid of man you are describing - will simply not be confident enough to have an affair. Last thing any man would want is to not be able to perform with a woman, and affair would put so much stress on him - no amount of viagra would make a difference.

If you confront him about his masturbation - you’d only make him more shy and even less confident about himself.
What I’d do instead is to make him feel ok and accepted. There is no shame in needing a little pharmaceutical help.
Give him his pill at dinner and say you are up for trying to have some fun with him later....

BillieSpain · 01/06/2021 08:45

@Fabiofatshaft1

The definition of a posh wank, as I understand it, is using a condom or a sock to avoid a splat on the floor 🤪
Yes, I thought so too. But a friend in London in the know recently told me, it may have been a 'luxury wank' Honestly, I can't remember. It was along those lines!

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll that is a brilliant post and I agree with all of it 100%

Fabiofatshaft1 · 01/06/2021 10:52

@Nevercloser

If you could take a pill that instantly made you look, feel and change you, to look ten years younger, and the only side effect was a headache, would you take it !?

If a middle aged man, can take a pill to give him the erection of a twenty year old, to make him feel confident and virile so he can give his partner the utmost pleasure, then why not, why the stigma or shaming !?

@MMmomDD

Is I think, spot on. I don’t think he has the confidence for an affair. ( I could be wrong ), but the more likely explanation is they are for masturbation purposes, much like a rabbit for women, or he’s experimenting to see if he can get his mojo back so he can start having a sexual relationship with you again.

Have a conversation, but don’t use your opening gambit as, ‘ I’ve found some hidden viagra, who is she !? ‘

Fabiofatshaft1 · 01/06/2021 10:54

@BillieSpain

I think a luxury wank is with condoms or socks from Harrods......

BillieSpain · 01/06/2021 11:02
Grin
Nevercloser · 12/10/2021 21:39

I just thought I’d update and also thank again all the posters who took the time to help me.
It all came out in a heated discussion about something unrelated. He accused me of being secretive, which I had been. I had been mildly out of order but blew up at this accusation. It all came out and I told him how devastated I had been finding viagra on the day I was taking my relative to the hospice to die. It was very emotional for us both.

As most of you had said, it turned out that he had been using viagra on his own, with the intention that it would filter through to our sex life . I absolutely believe him. We have had some very difficult conversations, which we have avoided for years. He was ashamed and didn’t know what to do about the ED. I know there hasn’t been anyone else, or prostitutes.

The outcome has been wonderful. He now uses viagra with my knowledge, we schedule it together and it’s a joint venture. The honesty and laying bare our respective vulnerabilities has enormously enhanced our relationship. It’s been extremely hard to get to this point because we’re both very private people but so very worth it.

If anyone else is in this position, by which I mean not communicating properly, I would urge you to bite the bullet, force the conversation and get to the point where you are both honest with each other. It really is worth the awkwardness, tears, embarrassment and hard work.

Thank you to everyone who offered me advice, it helped me so much.

OP posts:
Nevercloser · 12/10/2021 21:44

I’ve just reread that and see that it comes across as very smug. I don’t mean it to. It’s been extremely hard for both of us to get to this point and there’s still ongoing work to do. We could easily slip back into non communication so we still have to be mindful and not lazy or complacent. But we are both trying and committed.

OP posts:
OneFootintheRave · 12/10/2021 23:04

That's a great update and very inspirational. I know I need to have the same conversation with my DP.

CandyLeBonBon · 12/10/2021 23:12

What a lovely update op. I'm glad things have improved Thanks

grapewine · 12/10/2021 23:12

The outcome has been wonderful. He now uses viagra with my knowledge, we schedule it together and it’s a joint venture. The honesty and laying bare our respective vulnerabilities has enormously enhanced our relationship. It’s been extremely hard to get to this point because we’re both very private people but so very worth it.

I'm late to reading this thread, but what a great outcome this is. Communication is difficult, I agree with that, but so important. All the best.

altmember · 12/10/2021 23:15

Not smug at all. It's great to see an OP come back and update with a happy ending, compared to some of the threads and horror stories on here.

AbandonAllHalfHope · 12/10/2021 23:31

I'm very sorry to read about your relative. Condolences. 🌷

Thank you for taking the time to write an update - wishing you and your DH all the best. How lovely to read such a positive update.

Tal45 · 13/10/2021 08:43

That's a wonderful update, not smug at all. Keeping secrets in relationships is no good, even small innocent ones can be misinterpreted and can easily rip things apart. It sounds like you've really started to communicate now - don't stop! Keep that going forever now x

Nevercloser · 13/10/2021 09:17

To Onefoot

Do it and soon. You’ll be so relieved. Good luck.

OP posts:
Nevercloser · 13/10/2021 09:18

Thank you so much everyone. It was great to have the support before and now. I just wish I’d done it years ago and not wasted so much time.

Wishing everyone in a similar position all the best and the strength to find honesty.

OP posts: