How long does it take for sexual dysfunction to get better?

How long does it take to treat sexual dysfunction? There is no unified standard answer - most patients with simple psychological triggers and mild symptoms can achieve significant improvement in 1 to 3 months. Patients with organic damage, combined with underlying diseases such as hypertension/diabetes, often require 6 months to 1 year or even longer conditioning. If there is irreversible nerve and blood vessel damage, long-term medication may be needed to maintain it, and it cannot be completely "cured".

The 28-year-old man who came to my clinic last week had a typical psychological ED. He had just been married for three months. He was too nervous to have sex for the first time and failed. After that, he was afraid that he would not be able to do it every time. I did a full set of examinations to rule out blood vessel and hormone problems, gave him half an hour of cognitive counseling, and told his lover not to put pressure on him, and to do more sensory training without taking medicine. I came for a follow-up visit last week and was told that he was completely normal, and it was only 47 days old.

Of course, don’t think that everyone can recover so quickly. I just followed up with a 45-year-old patient last month. He has a history of diabetes for almost 10 years. When he was diagnosed, his glycosylated hemoglobin reached 9.2. His erection hardness was only level 2, and he could not complete sexual intercourse at all. During conditioning, he had to lower his blood sugar to the normal range first, and then cooperate with medicine to improve the vascular endothelium and pelvic floor muscle training. During the first three months of follow-up visits, morning erections were more frequent, but he still couldn't have normal intercourse. He almost gave up, but gritted his teeth and persisted until the eighth month, when the hardness stabilized to level 3 or above, and now it can basically meet the needs of the couple's life.

Regarding conditioning plans, doctors from different directions have different ideas. For patients with this kind of vascular damage, Western medicine mostly recommends taking small doses of PDE5 inhibitors as needed, which are drugs like sildenafil and tadalafil that everyone often hears about. Together with functional training, they have a relatively fast effect and can also help patients quickly build confidence.； Traditional Chinese medicine prefers overall conditioning with prescriptions that nourish the kidneys and activate blood circulation. The course of treatment will be longer, but many patients report that the stability is better after stopping the medication. Both options are supported by a large amount of clinical data. There is no absolute advantage or disadvantage. Just choose the one you can accept.

The first thing many people ask when they come for consultation is "Can you guarantee that I will be cured in one month?" I really can't give this a guarantee. I met a 32-year-old patient before who refused to seek medical treatment. He first bought thousands of "secret recipes for aphrodisiacs" online and ate them for less than half a year. His liver function became abnormal and became worse and worse. After going to a regular hospital for investigation, he found that it was caused by low androgen levels and chronic prostatitis. It took more than three months of symptomatic treatment to slowly improve, and he suffered for many months.

I have been practicing andrology clinic for almost 11 years. I have seen patients with the fastest psychological premature ejaculation. After adjusting the rhythm of intercourse and applying a little local anesthetic, there was a significant improvement on the same day. I have also seen patients with nerve damage after pelvic fracture. It took more than two years of conditioning to barely complete intercourse. In fact, what often affects the speed of recovery is not how serious your condition is, but whether you can make adjustments according to the doctor's instructions - if you are told to quit smoking, you smoke two packs a day, if you are told not to stay up late, you check your phone until 2 o'clock every day, if you are told to control your blood sugar, you drink Coke every now and then. No matter how good the plan is, it is useless.

To put it bluntly, this matter is similar to the logic of recovering from a fall. It's just a scratch on the skin, and the scab will form in two or three days. If it is broken, it will take two or three months to get off the ground. If the nerve is injured, it may take several years to recover, and there may be sequelae. Instead of staring at the calendar every day to calculate how long it will take to get better, and being anxious every day will affect recovery. It is better to do a comprehensive examination first, find out what your problem is, and follow the doctor's plan. On the contrary, you can avoid detours and get better faster.