Men’s health is about your heart, lungs, brain and other organs, but it’s also about reproductive health. You might have learned pretty early on that poor health can equal poor arousal, as well as intimacy problems like infertility.

Most guys wouldn’t say “lasting too long” belongs on that list of problems, but if you’ve had trouble finishing or can’t climax these days, you’re probably wondering why.

Before you run off to make an appointment with a therapist or urology expert though, it’s worth your time to read about the problem and why it could be happening. Below, we’ve covered possible causes of DE and how it can be treated, so that you can get to the finish line before it causes relationship problems and more.

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Reasons for a Man to Have Trouble Coming

DE may be awesome for your quick-triggered friends, but if you’re a man struggling with this issue, you’re probably not surprised to hear that it’s actually a form of intimate dysfunction.

It’s a fairly uncommon intimate dysfunction overall — between one and five percent of men who are intimately active are affected by this condition. These men may have either lifelong or acquired DE. 

Lifelong DE is when you’ve experienced the problem for as long as you can remember. Acquired DE, on the other hand, is a problem that developed somewhere along the line, or may be limited to specific partners — in other words, it doesn’t occur with every intimate experience you have. 

A related condition called anorgasmia describes an inability to climax from intercourse or any bedroom activity.

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Performance Anxiety and & Other Psychological Causes

The psychological causes of DE can range pretty widely — if you think your mental health, performance anxiety, relationship issues or other “in your head” issues might be at the root of your problems, you should talk to a therapy professional.

DE can happen due to fear of (or during) intercourse, or as a lack of self-esteem, but it can also be caused by losing your attraction to your partner. This can happen for emotional reasons or due to physical causes of attraction (or lack thereof), or it could even result from having intercourse with someone of a different gender than the one you’re attracted to.

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Excessive Self-Pleasuring

Self-pleasuring is perfectly normal and even healthy. But if you’re doing it excessively, it could lead to some problems — like DE. This can happen if the sensation or technique isn’t easily replicated by a partner. Plus, some studies show self-pleasure can lead to a loss of sensitivity if your grip is a little too tight.

Find out more about excessive self-pleasure in this guide to self-pleasure and ED.

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Neurological Disorders

Certain conditions related to your nerves, like the following, may delay or prevent climax: 

• Spinal cord injuries

• Multiple sclerosis

• Nerve damage brought on by diabetes

• Complications due to adult circumcision

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Endocrine Disorders

Your hormones may impact climax and arousal function, which means hormonal conditions can also cause DE. Potential hormonal causes of DE include:

• Low testosterone  

• Hypothyroidism 

• Hyperprolactinemia

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Medication Side Effects

Turns out that some medications in charge of helping the rest of your body work optimally could make it impossible to climax. Pain medication like opioids, antidepressants (especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) and antipsychotics may produce adverse reactions, including delayed climax, in users. 

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Treatment Options for DE

Living in uncertainty about reaching climax or constantly preparing your mind for lengthy sessions of intercourse can negatively affect your bedroom life.

This is why getting the right treatment when you have trouble coming is so important.

Managing this condition usually requires getting a proper diagnosis. This can be made through a consultation with your primary care provider, who can do a full examination and take a detailed history of your symptoms. 

Where DE is confirmed, the following treatment methods may be adopted.

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Treat Underlying Conditions

First and foremost, talking to a healthcare professional and diagnosing underlying conditions may be your shortest path to normal climax function. Treating the underlying condition may also treat delayed climax.

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Switch Medications

Medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may affect your desire to be intimate and more. Switching to another medication can help you move on from the side effects and get back to previous bedroom functioning.

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Psychological Treatment

For psychological issues related to DE, treatment methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy are great for changing negative notions about intercourse and re-learning reproductive ed.

Self-pleasure habits can be retrained, fantasies can be realigned and performance anxiety can be addressed with mindfulness and breathing techniques to put you more at ease during intercourse.

If you and a partner both need help, online therapy for couples and interaction exercises to examine relations between partners can also help with managing DE.

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Testosterone Therapy

Testosterone promotes bedroom drive, sperm production and fertility, so if your supplies are low, you may want to explore testosterone replacement therapy or an alternative to address the intimate side effects.

Low testosterone levels aren’t something you should be ashamed of — it’s important to remember that this is a reproductive medicine issue, not an issue of your masculinity.

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Toy Stimulation

One of the easiest ways to treat delayed climax is to incorporate a toy into your bedroom activities. In cases of decreased sensitivity, certain toys can help mechanically trigger climax (women in your life may be able to explain this).

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Medications

While there is no medication that’s specifically FDA approved to treat DE, a number of existing medications might be helpful and have some limited evidence. These include (but aren’t limited to) amantadine, bupropion, buspirone and cyproheptadine.

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Why Am I Having Trouble Coming? Key Takeaways

If you’re not coming, it could be the result of physical and psychological factors, the same way the psychological factors of ED can prevent lift off.

The average bedroom performance is between five and seven minutes, so many guys would see some extra stamina as a plus. However, while having impressive stamina may prolong satisfaction, finding it difficult or even impossible to climax following intercourse could tip normal endurance into possible DE.

Here’s what you need to remember if you’re trying to tell if you have DE:

• DE may be caused by a number of psychological or physical factors.

• To help with fast-forwarding climax time, psychological activities like therapy and self-pleasure retraining can be effective. 

• Similarly, reducing or discontinuing a drug that is possibly responsible for delays could help with managing the condition.

• Some medications could be helpful in managing DE, although none are specifically FDA approved for this purpose.

• Seeking professional help to assist with DE is always advisable when you suspect you have this condition.

This article originally appeared on Hims.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.

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