Cant maintain an erection?! 21 days on Nofap

First of all, congratulations on deciding to do NoFap. If you keep on this journey you will not regret it.

About your question, I think its a phenomenon called the "Flatline" (you can read more about it and other things here: https://www.nofap.com/rebooting/), but my point is, this inability to get erections is TEMPORARY. The flatline is not forever, it will pass, and when it does, the erection quality goes through the roof, its an unbelievable improvement, as long as you last long enough clean of PMO.

You might be wondering how long? If you read some of the other stories on this forum, you will see that there is no set amount of time (i once lasted 48 days without PMO and I still was seeing improvements with each passing day). Some people will only need a couple weeks, others need more than a few months. Just keep yourself clean and move forward.

Best of luck on your NoFap journey.

 

What you are describing is very common for guys moving from the first two weeks into week three. It is a flatline, but as @avatarivn said, it is temporary. Nevertheless, it can go on for many weeks. There is something important to bear in mind.

Do not test your penis to see if you can get an erection. There is nothing wrong with it. It might look smaller than normal and won't harden up, but it is perfectly fine. So, many have made a major error by trying to make an erection happen!

 

Hi all, I'm having the same issue. I also can't maintain an erection. It happened just about 1 weel after I quit porn at the start of August. Never before in my life have I had any issues with maintain an erection. But I had to quit porn because of what it was doing to my life.

 

I'm a SO but my question to those asking about why they can't maintain erections is in what situations? Yes flatline is real but neither of the two mention when they can't? Are you having sexual contact with a woman and can't?

 

I can barely get it up when by myself. It doesn't stay up either. Before August when I was still watching porn, I never had a problem. I'm dating a girl at the moment, she's gorgeous. We have tried to have sex a few times and I've failed far more than I've been successful. We've decided to give me 3 months to try NoFap and I will never ever go back to porn.

 

@SomalianTeen, it is very important that you relax and enjoy the process that you are making. In flatline, you are tempted to try anything to get an erection. You are afraid that you are broken and it will never function again. That is a head game that can ruin your reboot and send you back to the worthless, hopeless fapper you were. Do not let that happen to you. In flatline, your brain rewires to a pre-porn state. You need to let it happen without trying to check to see if it is healed. Use your sexless time to build some relationships that are built on real not on trying to get some.
Keep up the good work. Stay strong.

 

Okay I totally get you being concerned during sex. I'm female I had a partner who was an addict that I left so of course I have no clue what it's like to own a penis! But something that perplexes me and I come across this a lot on this thread is men that keep checking their penises to make sure they are working. Like let me just touch myself even though I'm in no way stimulated to make sure things are good I'm sorry but huh? Your penis is not responding because you are not sexually stimulated. It's not staying hard because there is no reason for it to. I think this boils down to men that were heavily into porn and addicts not knowing what reap sexual stimulation is. So with porn use most men don't say hey I am sexually stimulated let me watch some porn. They watch porn then become stimulated. Many times the decision to watch has nothing to do with sexual desire but boredom sadness etc. real life stimulation comes in the form of kissing, touching, smelling and comes on gradually. For the most part I think if men only moed when they were physically stimulated they would not need porn and they would MO a lot less. Point being your body needs to reset and learn what being stimulated is. It has no idea now because it's looking for porn.

 

You have no clue - that is why it perplexes you that men keep checking their penises to make sure they are working.

 

i agree to that very much and for sorry that is my current situation nearly no response even to porn itself

 

Be patient give it time. I know it's really difficult but things will get better. Don't look at porn just to make sure it works. When you do that it delays the healing process. Think of it like a broken arm
in a cast because it's healing. During that time you can use your arm but for limited purposes and not how you used to. You would not attempt to for example try to lift a heavy weight with that arm just to make sure it was working right? You would not because you realize that would cause more injury, delay your recovery and maybe have you end up in a second cast! Then when the cast comes over your arm is still a bit weak, not the same as before and you have the go slowly and often do therapy to rebuild strength. Even though you can't see it your mind and your penis are healing just like your arm would. I know you don't believe me but trust me it's still working just as it should.

 

lol I know I really don't get it. I volunteer at a military hospital and when guys get injured particularly by IEDs they tell me the first thing they check for is to see their penis is still there. Not their legs arms, ears their penis. To men a penis is their masculinity and literally their manhood but to most women it's so much more than that. I can say that most female partners spend about 2% of the time thinking about their partners penis!

 

great one actually i agree with you even i have search porn many time because i was bored there was nothing to do or i had bad day a bad experiance somebody said something bad to me and i was like fuck everything lets watch porn and get relief for a moment but its fake relief now i m finding real relief

 

that was a cool example of arm

 

You say women think about their partner's penis 'much more than' men? Or only about 2% of the time? I feel these contradict each other. Unless you think 2% is a lot!

 

Sorry there needs to be a comma there. I meant to women a mans masculinity is so much more than just their penis. And yes women spend maybe 2% of their time thinking of their partners penis if that. So long as it's working and not way too big or way too small we don't give it a thought. It's sort of why men send dick pics expecting a positive reaction and women are grossed out and confused. It's how you touch us in bed. It's how you kiss. It's you providing emotional support making us feel safe. That's what we are concerned with.

 

I enjoyed reading your female perspective. Men are physical. So penis means a lot to us because its an access to sex. Men love sex. Women are emotional so touching means a lot to you.

 

Thank you, GG, those words are so beautifully encouraging!