I’m in My 20s — I Don’t Want to Take Viagra Because of Propecia!

I’m in my mid-20s and began taking Propecia about 6 months ago. I was quite scared of the possible sexual side effects before I started the medication, and after 2 weeks on it, I think I experienced the erection troubles. A couple weeks later, the side effect went away. I went for a few months with no sign of symptoms, no problems with maintaining the erection… until I started seeing a new girl. We fooled around a few times and I didn’t have any troubles whatsoever. Then one night she got a little liquored up and we started to mess around. I was rock hard, but after several distractions I went to half mast. Since she’d been drinking, I think she just figured my problems in the bedroom were due to that. Like maybe I didn’t find her attractive when she was drunk or something.

The next day I got some Viagra from a friend so I wouldn’t have to worry about my performance and ever since then I’ve been using it whenever I thought I’d need it. But if I don’t take that blue pill yet and we start to get frisky, I start to wonder if I’d be able to keep it up. So is this just a case of me worrying about things too much, or could this be from the Propecia? I don’t want to have to constantly worry about taking a pill before I get physical with a girl.

It sounds like you could be willing yourself into having problems like this. I mean, it sounds like you got so worked up about the possibility of side effects that you had a nocebo response. It could be from the Propecia, but erectile issues occur in less than 2% of men and the vast majority of claims made on the internet are unsubstantiated, so that percentage can seem greater than it is if you rely solely on fear-mongering web forum posters. The 2% number comes from actual medical studies. The erectile dysfunction symptoms can occur in adult men of any age without a medicinal cause, particularly in cases where you have a new sexual partner (or maybe even alcohol in excess). It’s not uncommon, but it’s just not something younger men… or men of any age… will openly share with their friends.

Talk to your physician about your own prescription for Viagra or a similar drug if you’re really concerned, and you should let him know that you’re taking Propecia (or go to the same doctor that prescribed that to you). You may want to experiment with Viagra when and if you get a steady girlfriend so you can sort through the psychological effects and the physiological effects. When men take Viagra and build psychological dependencies, that tends to take the fear factor out of sex.