With the rise of consumption of high-speed internet pornography among young men, Porn induced erectile dysfunction or PIED has become an epidemic among young men. In this article, I’m gonna explain what is PIED, its causes, symptoms, treatment, and everything else you need to know about it.
PIED is just one of the problems under Porn induced sexual dysfunction. Various other sexual dysfunctions due to over-consumption of porn and excessive masturbation are porn-induced premature ejaculation(PIPE), porn-induced delayed ejaculation(PIDE), etc.
Sexual dysfunction is just one of the problems of the consumption of porn and excessive masturbation. PMO(porn, masturbation, orgasm) has many other psychological, physical, and mental problems. To know more about the side-effects of excessive PMO, CLICK HERE.
I’m also adding masturbation with porn because they go hand-in-hand. porn is the main culprit here, but masturbation with porn is even more dangerous.
What is PIED?
As the name suggests, erectile dysfunction caused due to the overconsumption of porn and excessive masturbation is known as porn-induced erectile dysfunction(PIED).
Erectile dysfunction includes not being able to get an erection, not being able to keep an erection, not getting fully hard, penis feeling numb, ejaculating while soft, etc.
Can Porn Really Cause ED?
Contrary to the mainstream media which promotes watching porn and jerking off, stating that it is good for your health, the truth is that PMO has no benefits and only side effects.
The mainstream media cites the lack of studies linking heavy porn use to erectile dysfunction. But the truth is there are already many studies linking these two.
The phenomenon of high-speed internet porn is not that old. It’s only about a decade or so since high-speed internet porn was available to everyone and that’s why people, especially older ones, who have never been addicted to high-speed internet porn say that porn is not addictive and that there are no side-effects of porn.
Earlier people used to jerk off with only imagination or using some magazines. But today, there is an unlimited no. of porn videos available in just a click. An 8-year-old child who discovered porn on the internet can easily get hooked on it, and porn can really mess with the brain of that child.
High-speed internet porn being available to 6-7 year olds is not an old phenomenon, that’s why there is no widespread knowledge about this among people.
Causes of PIED
As said earlier, the over-consumption of porn is the root cause of PIED. Adding masturbation with porn makes the situation even worse.
Masturbation alone is unlikely to cause PIED. If you are masturbating with only imagination and no porn or arousal material, it’s safe to say you are unlikely to suffer from PIED.
How much porn is too much?
But how do I know if I’m consuming too much porn? It depends upon person to person. But, I’d say if you watch porn daily, you are definitely over-consuming it.
Anything more than twice a week or more than 1 hour of watch time per week, could qualify for over-consumption and it can cause problems.
The younger the person is, the earlier they will experience PIED symptoms. A 12-year-old watching porn every day will notice PIED symptoms earlier than a 30-year-old who only started watching porn in his 20’s.
Science Behind PIED
Our brain is plastic and it can change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections, this is known as neuroplasticity.
When you watch porn, your brain releases a feel-good chemical known as dopamine, which tells your body that this thing feels good, let’s remember it so we can do it later.
As a result, your brain creates a pathway between watching porn and feeling good. The more you watch porn, the stronger that pathway becomes.
Due to this, whenever you think about watching porn or come across an arousal material, that pathway gets triggered and your brain forces you to watch porn so it can feel pleasure again.
Also, your brain gets desensitized to a particular genre of porn. As a result, a porn genre that gives you pleasure now will no longer make you excited after some time, and you’ll need a more “edgier” or “aggressive” content to feel pleasure.
Heavy Porn Users have often said that after some time vanilla(normal 1on1) porn stopped giving them pleasure and they now need more ‘”edgier” content to “get a kick”. This craving of wanting more and more “extreme” porn content never stops.
Since your brain gets desensitized, regular sex, or intimacy with a partner won’t give you the same pleasure, resulting in a decline of dopamine. As a result, you won’t feel aroused.
This lack of arousal and excitement results in you not getting hard or not being able to keep your erection. Your brain is wired to getting arousals from “extreme” content, and sex/intimacy with a partner just doesn’t match it.
The good news is that, because our brain is plastic, it can rewire itself and weaken that pathway between watching porn and feeling pleasure if you refrain from watching porn for enough time.
Symptoms of PIED
How to know if your erectile dysfunction is porn-induced or not? There could be many other reasons behind ED. There are some signs to look out for. The symptoms of PIED include:-
- Difficulty maintaining an erection when putting on a condom
- Being able to get off while watching porn but not being able to get off with a real partner.
- Experiencing greater sexual excitement using porn than with a partner
- Decreasing sensitivity of the penis
- Ejaculating when you are only partly erect, or getting fully erect only as you climax
- Needing to fantasize to maintain erection or interest in a sexual partner
- Earlier genres of porn are no longer “exciting”
- Declining sexual arousal with a sexual partner(s)
- Losing erection while attempting penetration
- Can’t maintain an erection or ejaculate with oral sex
- Never having morning wood
If you are a heavy consumer of porn and you are facing one or more symptoms stated above, your ED is porn-induced.
Treatment of PIED
Now that you’ve understood the causes, the science behind it, and the symptoms of PIED, you must be thinking about how to cure or fix it. As I said earlier, since our brain possesses plasticity, it is possible to cure PIED.
All you need to do is completely give up porn and masturbation. That pathway connecting watching porn to getting pleasure will weaken over time and your brain will once again become sensitive to intimacy with a partner.
Curing PIED is just one of the benefits of giving up porn and masturbation. To know many other benefits, CLICK HERE.
How Long Will It Take to Cure PIED?
The answer to this question depends upon various factors:-
- How long were you addicted to PMO(porn, masturbation, orgasm).
- How young were you when you started indulging with PMO(The younger you were, the longer it will take)
- How frequently did you watch porn(The more frequent you watched porn, the longer it will take)
- What content did you consume(The more “edgier” the content, the longer it will take)
- Did you have any sexual experience before you started watching porn(If no, it’ll take longer)
- Were you also sexually active while indulging with PMO(If no, it’ll take longer)
The basic rule of thumb is to refrain from porn and masturbation for at least 90 days. Generally, people get cured or at least notice an improvement after 90 days.
But based on the factors stated above it could take months and even years to completely cure PIED in some cases.
If you started watching high-speed internet porn regularly since you were 7-8 years old and now you are in your 20’s, it means you’ve been an addict for many years, be prepared to give up porn and masturbation for at least 6 months. Most people fall into this category.
Can I Masturbate In My PIED Recovery Journey?
Some people will suggest that you are allowed to masturbate occasionally while recovering from PIED. But, I’d say don’t do it, it’ll definitely slow your recovery.
While recovering, people experience what’s called a “Flatline” in which you lose your libido and have no sexual desires or thoughts. People fear that they’ve permanently lost their libido/sex drive and watch porn or masturbate to check if they can get hard or not. This kills their progress.
The best option is to completely give up porn, masturbation, sex, or any other sexual or arousal activities and let your brain heal properly.
PIED Withdrawal Symptoms
The recovery from PIED isn’t a straight path. You will feel many ups and downs. You might also relapse several times before finally being able to fully heal.
You will face many withdrawal symptoms on your recovery journey. These withdrawal symptoms include:-
- Insomnia and other sleep difficulties
- Anxiety, stress, and other forms of fear
- Headaches and pains and stiffness in muscles, joints, teeth, jaw, genitals, and other parts of the body
- Fatigue and weakness
- Depression, despair, and other forms of sadness
- Agitation
- Lack of Focus / attention / concentration (brain fog)
- Mood Swings
- Frustration, irritability, annoyance, short-temperedness, and other forms of anger
- Flu, nausea, fever, and other forms of sickness
- Little or no libido, flatline (Can take days to manifest, and last a long time)
- Pornographic flashbacks and sexual dreams
- Horniness, sexual cravings, sexual thoughts and urges to use porn and/or masturbate
- Desire to avoid socializing
Don’t worry if you face these withdrawal symptoms, it only means that your brain is recovering and you are on the right path.
Withdrawal symptoms are frightening and not easy to face, but you must persist. If you fail and relapse, try again and keep trying until you fully recover from PIED.
It might take several attempts, but it’s worth it.
PIED Recovery Signs
You know you are on the right path to recovery when you experience these signs:-
- The mere anticipation of sex gives you arousal.
- Strong and frequent morning wood
- You find real-life girls more attractive than you previously did
- You get horny and get spontaneous erections during the day.
- You occasionally get sexual dreams.
When you experience the signs stated above, it means your brain is healing and soon you’ll be fully healed from PIED.
It’s important to note that experiencing recovery signs does not mean that you are fully healed. You mustn’t go back to your old behavior of watching porn and jerking off thinking that now you are healed.
Recovery signs are just the symbol that you are going on the right path and you need to keep going till you fully recover.
If you’re suffering from PIED and are unable to quit porn, I recommend reading the book “Your Brain on Porn” by Gary Wilson. It explains how badly porn affects our brain and what we can do to quit it. It’s the best book I’ve read on the topic. It is available on Amazon.
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