Erection Question for the Med Community

Hey Everyone,

I asked this question a few months ago and received and answer, but, it didn’t quell my curiosity. I’m looking for responses from the medical community and also from other individuals that I suspect have experienced the same thing.

I have noticed that the quality of my erections are much better if I haven’t ejaculated in a few days. Erections following ejaculation suffer, most notably, in terms of girth. Another, possibly related, erection phenomenon that I have noticed is that the erection that I quite often wake up to are the best erections of the day. The engorgement is complete - fully erect, vascular, with a fully engorged glans. Subsequent daily erections, without benefit of ED drugs and without ejaculating, are nowhere near as strong as that “morning wood”.

It seems to me that there is something, other than blood flow, that is causing a difference in erection quality. If someone from the medical community would kindly explain this to me I would appreciate it. Also, I am curious to know if others have witnessed the same phenomenon themselves.

Arousal level or the potential for arousal usually accounts for the improved EQ that you are experiencing. During sleep time the blood will pool in the loin area and will result in tumescence of the penis upon waking up, this in turn will cause a rise in libido causing the erectile circuitry to engage.

A couple of related threads:

Anyone experience this Morning wood erection quality much weaker.
Quality of morning wood

I’ve also heard the speculation that morning wood is a physiological event, free of the constraints of cognition and thus more intense as a result.

That’s just speculation, though.

Thank you Lampwick. One thing that I forgot to mention was that this phenomenon seems to worsen with age. When I read those links that you provided I noticed that there was no provision for age.

Which phenomenon worsens with age, and in what way?

Lonelysurfer - when you speak of “potential for arousal” one might think only of arousal triggers that our senses provide us with. I.e. Visual, tactile, olfactory, etc. I wonder, however, if there is not a chemical “potential for arousal” within the body that is linked to the amount of time between ejaculations. We know that there is a physical refractory period between erections but it seems that there might also be a chemical “refractory” period as well.

For me, at this age, erections subsequent to the first ejaculation suffer both in girth and in length. Mostly girth. When I was younger the erections were the same. The only difference was the amount of stimulation, in terms of time, required to reach orgasm again. That’s why I’m thinking that there is a chemical part of the erection mechanism that requires a longer recovery with age. One would think that the use of ED drugs would eliminate this phenomenon, however, that hasn’t been my experience.

Hey valvguy, I’m in my early twenties and my erections seem to be extremely erratic and I can never point out exactly what distinguishes a good erection day from a bad one except for the quality of my erections. Some days I’ll have exactly what you described in your first post, while other days it won’t be an issue at all and I can get wood quite easily especially if I start pumping it up with some kegels the erections practically come by themselves. This is a topic that fascinates me because I can’t seem to understand why some days I’m so on and some days I’m so off, so to speak.

Hey Beelzeboss,

I hope that we can get some input from the medical community. It seems to me that a urologist, or such, would have an answer to this. I doubt that it is unique to me, although, it might be unusual to find men studying their erection quality so much.

Your morning erections (between 9 - 10am) are going to be the best, because that is the time when males have the highest amount of testosterone. There maybe exceptions thou.

There is. It is about the introduction of the chemical prolactin which is signaled by the brain to the pituitary to produce upon orgasm.

Avocet8. Thank you. That is very interesting. I had mentioned the first time I posed this question that I have been found to have a very low natural testosterone level. So much so that I now get 1cc of Depo Testosterone I’M every two weeks. One of the test to see why I was deficient in testosterone was an MRI of the pituitary gland. There was no tumor so eventually my endocrinologist and I just agreed to supplement. I’ll study prolactin. It’s possible that my pituitary is sending the wrong signals for both test and prolactin. Thanks again. Sorry can’t get “I’M” above without an apostrophe.

Hey Niz007 I have learned the same thing. This, I think, is different though. I may be wrong, however, I think that testosterone has little to do with this phenomenon. Since I am supplemented with test I have very high levels immediately following an injection that tapers over a two week period. I’m going to followup on Avocet8’s prolactin comment. Maybe THAT is the trigger.

Avocett8. I found an old thread that you wrote entitled The Erection Process. Very informative. This prolactin thing looks promising. I suffer from Hypogonadism, Azoospermia and I’ll bet elevated Prolactin Levels as well. I’ll have to dig out my labs and see if it was tested. Also looks like a link between NSAIDS and ED. Did I mention that I take 1600mg a day of Ibuprofen a day often for Rheumatoid? This is all starting to make more sense now. If you don’t mind I’m going to dig out another thread that I started a while back and felt like I kind of got a non-medical blowoff answer.