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Fed1981 wrote:Ok, hard flaccid is definitely real because I cannot tell you the craziness I have witnessed in the past 48 hours.

So my symptoms were barn door hard flaccid:
- no nocturnal/morning erections
- took loads and loads of stimulation to even get any sort of erection and even then it was a very spongy/weak erection
- immediately lost erection without manual stimulation in a matter of seconds
- when flaccid my penis felt hard and rubbery and was always shrunken up
- premature ejaculation (I have always had the opposite in that it used to take me quite long to ejaculate)
- tightness in my anus + some sharp pains now and then in the perineum

Basically, since using a VED for roughly 2 weeks around 4 months ago (on a Consultant urologist's advice for narrowing at my base) I noticed my erections getting worse. Subsequently, the erections only got worse and worse until the past month in which I had struggled to get an erection at all (with girlfriend or alone). I was convinced I had permanently damaged myself with the pump and resigned myself to injections or an implant. I saw several urologists who all had no ideas. I had an USS doppler and MRI which couldn't identify any physical problem. I was beside myself because, despite all the negative scans and urologist reassurance, I still couldn't function at all sexually. This led to anxiety and low-mood + immense amounts of stress which likely only exacerbated the issue and trapped me in a vicious cycle.

A few nights ago, I sat down and tried to calmly think this all through. If I had damaged myself with the pump wouldn't I have had pain, bruising, petechiae, oedema or at least some physical signs to support this (I never had any of those things)? If the urologists all say they can't find any physical problem then I should believe them - they were all specialists in andrology after all and experts in their field. If my USS doppler and MRI were reported as normal, I should also put faith in that. Therefore, I decided to focus on addressing pelvic floor and hard flaccid as the problem. Further credence for hard flaccid as my issue is the fact that I have mild spasticity and tightness in my lower limb muscles anyway due to what the neurologists think was a mild lumbar spinal cord ischaemia during an operation to fix a whole in my heart at the age of 1 (likely a clot embolised from the heard through the spinal artery). It is minor, but nevertheless I know I am predisposed to muscle spasms and tightness in my lower limbs.

I did lots of research on hard flaccid and was surprised how the description of onset, symptoms, triggers were all almost identical to my situation. I watched some videos regarding exercises to relax the pelvic floor and I started doing these about 4-5 days ago:
- cat-camel pose
- child's pose
- pose (don't know what it's called) lying on back with legs raised and apart, knees pulled toward chest and breathing down into pelvic floor
- did all the above with abdominal/diaphragmatic breathing several times a day and also tried to abdominal breathe whenever I could during the day
- did some soft massage of the tissues in my perineum where I felt soreness and tightness
- also tried to reduce my stress and got some diazepam for anxiety

This sounds too good to be true but I swear that after months of poor erections (and a month most recently of no erections and absolute despair), for the past 24-48 hours I have had on demand erections just as before. Just kissing my girlfriend gives me a perfectly normal erection that will last for a long time even without stimulation. There is no sponginess or softness; it is exactly as hard and the same size as I remember it. I can now have sex for a long time without the premature ejaculation rearing its head. My flaccid also feels back to normal. I couldn't believe this myself but I am a firm believer in hard flaccid and pelvic floor dysfunction now; I think that unfortunately there are many men desperately running from urologist to urologist and being made to feel crazy about their symptoms. No matter how many scans you have, a diagnosis of hard flaccid/pelvic floor dysfunction will not be made. Furthermore, the urology community has only started to recognise this as an entity in the past few years and this is just a select few Doctors. It will take many years for an overhaul to happen in which urologists recognise this across the board. Therefore, whilst I'm not blaming urologists, I think it is optimistic to believe they will be able to help you. Of course it is useful to see a urologist to have USS doppler and MRI to reassure yourself that there is no physical problem.

Now I can be reassured there is no severe physical problem as it would be impossible for me to have had erections as I have in the past 48 hours if there were. It seems that the VED caused some initial trauma/trigger to be set off in my neurovascular bundle/pelvic floor which was subsequently perpetuated and maintained by my stress, anxiety and despair - I honestly felt like my life was over and I am a 28-year-old high-functioning Doctor normally. What I mean to say is that you shouldn't feel like you're going crazy. I come from a medical background and many times couldn't explain what was happening; admittedly I felt like I was crazy at some points because urologists repeatedly told me there was nothing physical wrong despite all the symptoms I report above.

I just wanted to write this to give some hope and reassurance to those suffering with similar problems. I know how lonely, desperate and worthless this can make you feel. It can make you feel less of a man and even start to lose who you are as a person. Suddenly the world seems a harsh place and things that made you feel safe and happy become grey. Clearly I'm not saying this will work for everyone, and of course (as with all things) there will be some who truly do have pathology within the penis that needs to be addressed (that isn't to say it can't be rectified); however, there may be many men like me with pelvic floor problems/hard flaccid precipitated by penis exercises, pumps, stretching or even just stress/anxiety who can truly turn things around with the right mental state and exercises. I hope this can help some people and provide some peace of mind - good luck to everyone and stay strong - you can definitely make improvements no matter your situation! There are always options and a light at the end of the tunnel

Endoftheline wrote:I'm glad you were able to catch it so soon! I really do feel like things get permanent if it hasn't been treated for a few years. I've done everything you did and more yet my HF symptoms never resolved. I'm waiting on my implant appointment to end this nightmare. Wish I could have went the natural way

Fed1981 wrote:Ok, hard flaccid is definitely real because I cannot tell you the craziness I have witnessed in the past 48 hours.

So my symptoms were barn door hard flaccid:
- no nocturnal/morning erections
- took loads and loads of stimulation to even get any sort of erection and even then it was a very spongy/weak erection
- immediately lost erection without manual stimulation in a matter of seconds
- when flaccid my penis felt hard and rubbery and was always shrunken up
- premature ejaculation (I have always had the opposite in that it used to take me quite long to ejaculate)
- tightness in my anus + some sharp pains now and then in the perineum

Basically, since using a VED for roughly 2 weeks around 4 months ago (on a Consultant urologist's advice for narrowing at my base) I noticed my erections getting worse. Subsequently, the erections only got worse and worse until the past month in which I had struggled to get an erection at all (with girlfriend or alone). I was convinced I had permanently damaged myself with the pump and resigned myself to injections or an implant. I saw several urologists who all had no ideas. I had an USS doppler and MRI which couldn't identify any physical problem. I was beside myself because, despite all the negative scans and urologist reassurance, I still couldn't function at all sexually. This led to anxiety and low-mood + immense amounts of stress which likely only exacerbated the issue and trapped me in a vicious cycle.

A few nights ago, I sat down and tried to calmly think this all through. If I had damaged myself with the pump wouldn't I have had pain, bruising, petechiae, oedema or at least some physical signs to support this (I never had any of those things)? If the urologists all say they can't find any physical problem then I should believe them - they were all specialists in andrology after all and experts in their field. If my USS doppler and MRI were reported as normal, I should also put faith in that. Therefore, I decided to focus on addressing pelvic floor and hard flaccid as the problem. Further credence for hard flaccid as my issue is the fact that I have mild spasticity and tightness in my lower limb muscles anyway due to what the neurologists think was a mild lumbar spinal cord ischaemia during an operation to fix a whole in my heart at the age of 1 (likely a clot embolised from the heard through the spinal artery). It is minor, but nevertheless I know I am predisposed to muscle spasms and tightness in my lower limbs.

I did lots of research on hard flaccid and was surprised how the description of onset, symptoms, triggers were all almost identical to my situation. I watched some videos regarding exercises to relax the pelvic floor and I started doing these about 4-5 days ago:
- cat-camel pose
- child's pose
- pose (don't know what it's called) lying on back with legs raised and apart, knees pulled toward chest and breathing down into pelvic floor
- did all the above with abdominal/diaphragmatic breathing several times a day and also tried to abdominal breathe whenever I could during the day
- did some soft massage of the tissues in my perineum where I felt soreness and tightness
- also tried to reduce my stress and got some diazepam for anxiety

This sounds too good to be true but I swear that after months of poor erections (and a month most recently of no erections and absolute despair), for the past 24-48 hours I have had on demand erections just as before. Just kissing my girlfriend gives me a perfectly normal erection that will last for a long time even without stimulation. There is no sponginess or softness; it is exactly as hard and the same size as I remember it. I can now have sex for a long time without the premature ejaculation rearing its head. My flaccid also feels back to normal. I couldn't believe this myself but I am a firm believer in hard flaccid and pelvic floor dysfunction now; I think that unfortunately there are many men desperately running from urologist to urologist and being made to feel crazy about their symptoms. No matter how many scans you have, a diagnosis of hard flaccid/pelvic floor dysfunction will not be made. Furthermore, the urology community has only started to recognise this as an entity in the past few years and this is just a select few Doctors. It will take many years for an overhaul to happen in which urologists recognise this across the board. Therefore, whilst I'm not blaming urologists, I think it is optimistic to believe they will be able to help you. Of course it is useful to see a urologist to have USS doppler and MRI to reassure yourself that there is no physical problem.

Now I can be reassured there is no severe physical problem as it would be impossible for me to have had erections as I have in the past 48 hours if there were. It seems that the VED caused some initial trauma/trigger to be set off in my neurovascular bundle/pelvic floor which was subsequently perpetuated and maintained by my stress, anxiety and despair - I honestly felt like my life was over and I am a 28-year-old high-functioning Doctor normally. What I mean to say is that you shouldn't feel like you're going crazy. I come from a medical background and many times couldn't explain what was happening; admittedly I felt like I was crazy at some points because urologists repeatedly told me there was nothing physical wrong despite all the symptoms I report above.

I just wanted to write this to give some hope and reassurance to those suffering with similar problems. I know how lonely, desperate and worthless this can make you feel. It can make you feel less of a man and even start to lose who you are as a person. Suddenly the world seems a harsh place and things that made you feel safe and happy become grey. Clearly I'm not saying this will work for everyone, and of course (as with all things) there will be some who truly do have pathology within the penis that needs to be addressed (that isn't to say it can't be rectified); however, there may be many men like me with pelvic floor problems/hard flaccid precipitated by penis exercises, pumps, stretching or even just stress/anxiety who can truly turn things around with the right mental state and exercises. I hope this can help some people and provide some peace of mind - good luck to everyone and stay strong - you can definitely make improvements no matter your situation! There are always options and a light at the end of the tunnel

Fed1981 wrote:Ok, hard flaccid is definitely real because I cannot tell you the craziness I have witnessed in the past 48 hours.

So my symptoms were barn door hard flaccid:
- no nocturnal/morning erections
- took loads and loads of stimulation to even get any sort of erection and even then it was a very spongy/weak erection
- immediately lost erection without manual stimulation in a matter of seconds
- when flaccid my penis felt hard and rubbery and was always shrunken up
- premature ejaculation (I have always had the opposite in that it used to take me quite long to ejaculate)
- tightness in my anus + some sharp pains now and then in the perineum

Basically, since using a VED for roughly 2 weeks around 4 months ago (on a Consultant urologist's advice for narrowing at my base) I noticed my erections getting worse. Subsequently, the erections only got worse and worse until the past month in which I had struggled to get an erection at all (with girlfriend or alone). I was convinced I had permanently damaged myself with the pump and resigned myself to injections or an implant. I saw several urologists who all had no ideas. I had an USS doppler and MRI which couldn't identify any physical problem. I was beside myself because, despite all the negative scans and urologist reassurance, I still couldn't function at all sexually. This led to anxiety and low-mood + immense amounts of stress which likely only exacerbated the issue and trapped me in a vicious cycle.

A few nights ago, I sat down and tried to calmly think this all through. If I had damaged myself with the pump wouldn't I have had pain, bruising, petechiae, oedema or at least some physical signs to support this (I never had any of those things)? If the urologists all say they can't find any physical problem then I should believe them - they were all specialists in andrology after all and experts in their field. If my USS doppler and MRI were reported as normal, I should also put faith in that. Therefore, I decided to focus on addressing pelvic floor and hard flaccid as the problem. Further credence for hard flaccid as my issue is the fact that I have mild spasticity and tightness in my lower limb muscles anyway due to what the neurologists think was a mild lumbar spinal cord ischaemia during an operation to fix a whole in my heart at the age of 1 (likely a clot embolised from the heard through the spinal artery). It is minor, but nevertheless I know I am predisposed to muscle spasms and tightness in my lower limbs.

I did lots of research on hard flaccid and was surprised how the description of onset, symptoms, triggers were all almost identical to my situation. I watched some videos regarding exercises to relax the pelvic floor and I started doing these about 4-5 days ago:
- cat-camel pose
- child's pose
- pose (don't know what it's called) lying on back with legs raised and apart, knees pulled toward chest and breathing down into pelvic floor
- did all the above with abdominal/diaphragmatic breathing several times a day and also tried to abdominal breathe whenever I could during the day
- did some soft massage of the tissues in my perineum where I felt soreness and tightness
- also tried to reduce my stress and got some diazepam for anxiety

This sounds too good to be true but I swear that after months of poor erections (and a month most recently of no erections and absolute despair), for the past 24-48 hours I have had on demand erections just as before. Just kissing my girlfriend gives me a perfectly normal erection that will last for a long time even without stimulation. There is no sponginess or softness; it is exactly as hard and the same size as I remember it. I can now have sex for a long time without the premature ejaculation rearing its head. My flaccid also feels back to normal. I couldn't believe this myself but I am a firm believer in hard flaccid and pelvic floor dysfunction now; I think that unfortunately there are many men desperately running from urologist to urologist and being made to feel crazy about their symptoms. No matter how many scans you have, a diagnosis of hard flaccid/pelvic floor dysfunction will not be made. Furthermore, the urology community has only started to recognise this as an entity in the past few years and this is just a select few Doctors. It will take many years for an overhaul to happen in which urologists recognise this across the board. Therefore, whilst I'm not blaming urologists, I think it is optimistic to believe they will be able to help you. Of course it is useful to see a urologist to have USS doppler and MRI to reassure yourself that there is no physical problem.

Now I can be reassured there is no severe physical problem as it would be impossible for me to have had erections as I have in the past 48 hours if there were. It seems that the VED caused some initial trauma/trigger to be set off in my neurovascular bundle/pelvic floor which was subsequently perpetuated and maintained by my stress, anxiety and despair - I honestly felt like my life was over and I am a 28-year-old high-functioning Doctor normally. What I mean to say is that you shouldn't feel like you're going crazy. I come from a medical background and many times couldn't explain what was happening; admittedly I felt like I was crazy at some points because urologists repeatedly told me there was nothing physical wrong despite all the symptoms I report above.

I just wanted to write this to give some hope and reassurance to those suffering with similar problems. I know how lonely, desperate and worthless this can make you feel. It can make you feel less of a man and even start to lose who you are as a person. Suddenly the world seems a harsh place and things that made you feel safe and happy become grey. Clearly I'm not saying this will work for everyone, and of course (as with all things) there will be some who truly do have pathology within the penis that needs to be addressed (that isn't to say it can't be rectified); however, there may be many men like me with pelvic floor problems/hard flaccid precipitated by penis exercises, pumps, stretching or even just stress/anxiety who can truly turn things around with the right mental state and exercises. I hope this can help some people and provide some peace of mind - good luck to everyone and stay strong - you can definitely make improvements no matter your situation! There are always options and a light at the end of the tunnel

BrokenPiston wrote:Thank you for all the detail. It does sound too good to be true (I'm so skeptical of pelvic floor exercise miracle cures) and yet all your detail suggests something to it. Congrats.