If you’ve ever experienced difficulties getting an erection while slipping on a condom and practicing safe sex, you’re like 40% of young adults experiencing condom-associated erectile problems (CAEP). CAEP is just another way to call erectile dysfunction (ED) induced by wearing condoms.
ED is common, but it’s caused by a lot of things. Some people find that their ED is caused by wearing condoms. It can be caused by sexual performance anxiety about wearing an ill-fitting condom or an indication of an underlying health problem.
Fortunately, there are more than a few ways to find what’s causing it – including ways you can manage it.
Don’t wear ill-fitting condoms
Nothing’s worse than a condom that’s way too tight or too big for some individuals – and we get it. They can absolutely interfere with your pleasure, concentration, and ability to maintain an erection.
Condoms tend to differ between girth or circumference–in general, condom lengths are relatively the same across the board. Condoms should fight comfortably tight but never too tight so as to cause pain.
Here’s a good rule of thumb to determine if a condom fits you well. Tug on the tip after you slip it on. If it comes off, you may want to try one size smaller.
If your condom is too large, it will mess with your ability to enjoy stimulation. This makes it more challenging to produce an erection.
Try on a variety of condom styles and sizes while masturbating to find out the right fit.
On the other hand, condoms that are too tight or small can prevent blood from entering the penis, which may likewise affect your erectile performance.
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There is also a school of thought where people use condoms like cock rings. They find wearing a slightly tighter condom while they’re fully erect may prevent blood from leaving the penis – allowing them to stay harder a bit longer. Your mileage may vary with this, but it might be worth a try if you’re running into some erection problems from time to time.
Ultimately, finding the right condom size and the right timing when you put it on before “getting it on” are important because putting it on too early can hinder blood circulation to the penis.
Once you find the right size and brand, always keep a pack on hand. Safe sex saves lives.
Know the ins and outs of how to wear a condom
Sometimes, condom-related ED can simply be caused by wearing the condom incorrectly.
But since we now live in the age of YouTube and streaming media, you can find plenty of instructional videos on how to put on a condom properly.
While some people find condoms detrimental to the enjoyment of their sexual pleasure, some condom types actually may enhance it. For instance, ribbed and dotted condoms can help enhance stimulation, making it easier for you to stay hard.
Reduce your stress levels
Emotions play a large role in your enjoyment of sex. Chemicals regulate our bodily processes, and sometimes, chemicals can mess with each other, affecting your ability to concentrate, and getting yourself in the mindset to enjoy sex, to produce an erection.
For instance, anxiety is a callback to our fight-or-flight response or how our body responds when we perceive a threat. Sex should be pleasurable and not threatening, but emotions and thoughts that can distract us from intimacy may interfere with our collective ability to produce and keep an erection.
Maybe you’ve had problems with getting erections while wearing condoms in the past. Such thoughts can psyche you out of using them again.
There are also individuals who worry about how they perform, if they might ejaculate too soon, or whether they can produce an erection hard enough, so their partner enjoys sex. All of that unnecessary stress can seriously hamper your sexual performance, and wearing condoms may worsen it.
Our advice to partners with condom-wearing stress? Be patient and empathetic to their struggles. It takes time to get used to performing with a condom–and if it takes more than a handful of times to make things work, being patient helps alleviate your partner’s stress.
However, if your emotional stress is seriously bothering you while running into condom-associated erectile problems, here are some solutions you might want to try.
- Seeking therapy. There is a wealth of emotional and mental support outlets and apps you can use to find treatment and get your problems off your chest. Whether you use a telehealth solution or seek couples therapy in person, there are professionals out there to manage conflicts and stress affecting your sex life.
- Exercise more often. Exercise doesn’t just boost your overall health and physical condition. It’s also a great way to reduce stress. And when you’re stress-free, it’s easier for both you and your body to perform better.
- Implement lifestyle changes. Erectile dysfunction is a blood circulation issue. Therefore, making lifestyle changes that will boost your heart and circulatory health can only help your erectile performance. Quitting smoking, eating healthy, and avoiding recreational drugs and alcohol may be all you need to overcome ED.
Getting ED medication has never been easier
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Hacks for dealing with condom anxiety
If you find yourself stressing out about your performance or your erections because of wearing condoms, here are a couple of tips for you to familiarize yourself better with them:
- Engage in solo play with condoms. You know what they say–practice makes perfect. Solo play is a great way to understand what condom size, type, and length work for you. Try masturbating with different brands and find ways how to make it more pleasurable.
- Lube up. Applying a bit of silicone or water-based lube on your penis shaft before wearing a condom may help you get used to it and enhance the feeling of wearing a condom. Don’t put on oil-based lubes because they may damage the condom.
Other individuals find that using PDE5-inhibitor erectile dysfunction drugs like sildenafil (generic Viagra®), tadalafil (generic Cialis®), or vardenafil (generic Levitra® or Staxyn®) helps them improve their erectile performance. They help boost blood flow to the penis. You can take these drugs 15-30 minutes to an hour before having sex. Ask your healthcare provider if using ED drugs is a possible option for you.
What causes erectile dysfunction (ED)?
A 2015 research found that many people with condom-associated erectile problems have ED even when they don’t wear condoms.
And while ED affects almost 40 million Americans–making it a common condition–it isn’t something you should take lightly. More often than not, ED may be an indicator of an underlying health issue like hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes, among other things. In some cases, determining the cause and treating the underlying issue that causes it helps improve ED outcomes.
Certain drugs can also cause ED. Consult your healthcare provider if you suspect one of your medications is causing your ED. They will help you find a suitable substitute.
Ultimately, condom-associated erectile problems are common among men. Just remember that there are plenty of ways to address and treat the issue entirely.
