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Natural erections

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User
Posted 11 Mar 2026 at 00:13

I had  RARP six years ago and have tried a pump and tadalafil which both give me a satisfactory induced erection. However, I do get a fully hard natural erection at night during my sleep but am not able to get a hard erection whilst I am awake. Any ideas why this should happen at night apart from wanting to pee and will I eventually get a fully hard erection during the day?

User
Posted 11 Mar 2026 at 07:11
The RARP has degraded your erection capability and after 6 years it is unlikely to improve further.

I have found the practical impact of this is more intense mental stimulation is required to achieve "an effect".

So pre rarp I might have got a real boner just from having a smutty thought, now it needs full on sexual stimulation to get "half cocked".

Practically this means if I want penetrative sex I will need assistance from a cock ring. Fortunately for me this works well, other guys use the pills, injections or pumps for assistance.

It's an unfortunate consequence for most men post RARP

User
Posted 11 Mar 2026 at 16:16

Hi Oriental Peter

francij1 is right. Unless you are lucky, post prostatectomy natural erections range from zero to normal (rare). You can hope that in the long run your situation can return to normal but even if it doesn't you should not despair because it is possible to re-establish your sex life, no matter how bad your prognosis turns out to be. I was your age when I had my prostatectomy, over 15 years ago. I had nerve sparing surgery but I suffer from total ED and arousal climacturia. This hasn't stopped us enjoying sex because we no longer rely on natural erections - I have been using vacuum pumps and constricting rings to give me strong reliable erection for 30 minutes. Of course it takes away the spontaneity but we have re-established our sex life, with imagination we have modified our love making with many unexpected benefits. Have a look at the following link which may cheer you up!

https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t28948-Re-establishing-Sex-Life

Good luck.

 'Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.'                    Richard Feynman (1918-1988) Nobel Prize laureate

 

 

User
Posted 16 Mar 2026 at 21:15

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

I had  RARP six years ago and have tried a pump and tadalafil which both give me a satisfactory induced erection. However, I do get a fully hard natural erection at night during my sleep but am not able to get a hard erection whilst I am awake. Any ideas why this should happen at night apart from wanting to pee and will I eventually get a fully hard erection during the day?

The test you've done is exactly the test which is used to identify if the problem is physiological or psychological, and the good nocturnal erections but poor erections when desired suggest it's more likely to be psychological.

You should go to your GP and explain this, and ask for a referral to a psychosexual counselor. If you still have contacts with the urology clinical nurse specialists, try asking them too - they might get faster access. Meanwhile, ask to try some max dose Tadalafil (20mg) particularly if you were using a lower dose before.

 
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