With appropriate treatment, about 95% of men will recover from premature ejaculation. Premature ejaculation can be treated with lifestyle changes, behavioral and psychological therapy, medications, and topical ointments:
Lifestyle changes
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Manage stress
- Wear desensitizing condoms
- Perform pelvic floor exercises
- Stop your urine flow in midstream by tightening your pelvic floor muscles
- Hold for 3 seconds and then release
- Repeat 10 times at least 3 times a day
Behavioral therapy
Behavioral therapy involves exercises that can help delay ejaculation. Methods include the following:
- Stop-start method: This method involves you or your partner stimulating your penis until just before ejaculation, then stopping just before climax until the urge to ejaculate is gone. This is repeated until you have gained more control.
- Squeeze method: In this technique, you or your partner stimulates your penis until close to ejaculation. Then, firmly squeeze your penis so that the erection partly goes away. The squeeze method may help you better control and delay the climax on your own.
Psychological therapy
You can also seek the help of a psychologist, psychiatrist, or sex therapist who can assist you in identifying the source of your ejaculation problem and finding solutions that may help. Working through your emotions and any psychological issues may help you gain greater sexual confidence.
Premature ejaculation can be frustrating and embarrassing when it occurs frequently, negatively affecting your sex life and causing relationship problems. Counseling can help couples work through these issues together.
Medications
While there are no approved drugs to cure premature ejaculation, doctors have noticed that antidepressants such as fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, clomipramine, and tramadol may delay orgasms by affecting serotonin levels. Alpha blockers called α1-adrenoceptor antagonists are also an option for drug therapy.
Topical ointments
Numbing creams or sprays can be applied to the head of the penis about 20-30 minutes before sex and washed off 5-10 minutes before sex.
What is premature ejaculation?
Premature ejaculation occurs when a man ejaculates very soon after starting sexual intercourse, before or shortly after penetration.
When a man is sexually stimulated, signals are sent to the spinal cord and brain. After reaching a certain level of stimulation, signals are sent back from the central nervous system to the reproductive organs, which lead to ejaculation of semen through the penis.
Normal ejaculation occurs in two phases:
- Emission: Sperm produced in the testicles moves to the prostate and mixes with seminal fluid to make semen. It is then transferred to the base of the penis through the vas deferens.
- Expulsion: The muscles at the base of the penis contract, forcing the semen out of the penis.
Premature ejaculation is a common problem, affecting about 40% of men at some point in their lives.
What causes premature ejaculation?
Although the exact cause of premature ejaculation is unknown, the problem is often thought to be rooted in psychological issues such as:
- Stress
- Depression
- Performance anxiety
- Feelings of guilt
- Lack of confidence or self-esteem
- History of sexual suppression
- Relationship problems
- Emotional disturbances
Other factors that may contribute to premature ejaculation include:
- Erectile dysfunction
- Age (changes of premature ejaculation increase with age)
- Hormonal abnormalities
- Low serotonin levels
- Prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate gland)
- Urethritis (inflammation of the urethra)
QUESTION
Testosterone is a chemical found only in men. See AnswerHealth Solutions From Our Sponsors
What is Premature Ejaculation. American Urological Association: https://www.urologyhealth.org/urology-a-z/p/premature-ejaculation
Premature Ejaculation. American Academy of Family Physicians: https://familydoctor.org/condition/premature-ejaculation/
Brunilda Nazario. Premature Ejaculation. WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/men/what-is-premature-ejaculation
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