Nice work if you can get it. And if you get it, won’t you tell me how?
Do you ever have to have sex and then immediately be examined?
You get paid for sex where they poke & prod you. You have E.D., so you are male.
Q: Are there drawstrings involved?
(Eventually, will there have to be?)
Who exactly is doing this research on you?
Ah, I knew we’d get a few wiseasses 
Okay. In no particular order:
Q. Who exactly is doing this research on you?
A. Big Pharma–the makers of the drugs. They contact study coordinators at urologist offices around the US and probably beyond, and these coordinators are the people I deal with.
Q. Do you ever have to have sex and then immediately be examined?
A. Fortunately, no. Closest was having to bring in a sample of ejaculate less than three hours old. Luckily I live much closer than 3 hours to the office.
Q. Do you ever have a hard time filling out the survey?
A. Har-de-har-de-har. Or perhaps, hard-e-hard-e-har.
Q. if you had an erection for 4 or more hours, then how long duration? how did it seem? what did you do?
A. I have never had an erection for anything approaching 4 hours. Just as well, from what little I’ve heard about it.
Q. Ok, srsly. How much money we talking?
A. The amount varies. Usually it’s about $40 or $50 per visit with the study coordinator. The visits are typically about a month apart. For long studies, I have cleared close to $500 (which if paid in one calendar year requires me to fill out tax forms). I should point out that my wife is generally asked to fill out diaries and questionnaires as well, for which she is also paid, so even a short study can net us a reasonable chunk o’ change.
More in a minute or 5.
Okay, more:
Q. How invasive are these exams?
A. Again, varies. They often take regular blood samples. One or two have required the finger-up-the-butt-to-feel-the-prostate (I earned my $$ for those, let me tell you). Others want EKGs. The current one is nice–other than a very desultory “physical” at the beginning there hasn’t been anything more than blood pressure readings and an occasional urine sample.
Q. And what causes of ED are they suspecting?
A. This is officially “unknown origin.” My testosterone levels are in the normal range, but low normal, so that’s a possibility.
Q. Is the cause important to the researchers?
A. Not so far as I know. They’ve never asked.
Q. “Do you at least wash first?”
A. Absolutely. Sometimes afterwards too. We could say that I am unwashed in spirit, if not perhaps always in body.
Q. Have you ever ventured over to the hormone studies? How do they compare?
A. No idea–never participated.
Q. What sort of in the doctor’s office activities have you had to complete?
A. Blood pressure/blood draw/EKG etc, mostly. The rest of the time is given over to “reviewing” my diary (which generally records info about individual “intercourse attempts,” as they not very erotically put it) and having me answer a lot of questions about erections, sex drive, etc., since the last visit.
Okay, I’ll post this and continue…
Q. Are the drugs you’ve tested unreleased drugs or the existing big 3 (viagra, cialis, levitra)?
A. Both. I have done several studies with drugs that have not yet been approved in the USA. One recent study dealt with a drug that had been approved for use in Russia and South Korea, but the US government wanted to take a closer look. The drug had already passed basic safety testing (or so I was TOLD :p) but its efficacy had not yet been studied to government standards. I have also taken part in studies with all of the Big Three at various times.
Q. Can you characterize the effects on libido, erection, and ejaculation of the different drugs you’ve tried? For instance, I heard that viagra makes it easier to get an erection but harder to ejaculate (in some instances).
A. For me, anyway, Viagra is the most consistently effective in actually producing an erection. (Not that it’s 100%, mind you.) Cialis is the one that works least effectively on me, though it’s not awful. No differences that I’ve seen in libido, except that the expectation that I have a decent shot at getting hard is itself a libido-booster. I haven’t noticed much difference in my ability to ejaculate using the various drugs, but to the extent that I have, what you’ve heard does seem accurate–Viagra delays the orgasm more than usual. (Which is not necessarily a good thing, as premature ejaculation has never been one of my sexual issues.)
Q. They provide someone for you to (try to) bang or do you have to BYO?
A. Oh, this is strictly on a BYO basis. No beautiful young women lounging nearly naked in the exam rooms ready for the taking, I’m afraid. In fact, in order to qualify for (virtually) every one of these studies I have to promise that I am in a monogamous relationship that had lasted at least 6 months. (Which I am.)
Q. I did a vasectomy study that completely removed any stigma of discussion on the entire topic of my male organs and their functioning. So I can understand your comfortability and even comedy in discussing your own.
A. Amazing, isn’ t it? I’m a pretty private person, all things considered. My urologist is a man, as is my primary care doctor, and discussing erection difficulties with them was…extremely difficult the first couple of times. I wasn’t at all sure I’d be able to discuss this stuff at all with the study coordinators–especially because all the coordinators I’ve worked with have been women, and attractive women at that. But here I am talking quite openly about my sex life with them, even joking about things (“Okay, Kim, clearly I am on the placebo AGAIN”), and I would NEVER have anticipated this when I got started. Funny how things work out.
Viagra, Levitra or Cialis.
Have you developed any opinions on their relative effectiveness? Anything being tested that is even more effective for you?
Stop reading my mind!
As you are getting paid for this, do you think there’s a chance that your dysfunction is getting subconsciously reinforced by the spondulix? In other words, might the cash be providing impetus for your impotence?
But it’s such a good read. Plus it’s the only way I can, you know, “get into The Dope.” KnowhatI’msayin?
This is a really good question, and one I have certainly wondered about in the past. Especially because some of the studies require a “qualification” period in which I need to have sex several times w/out medication. If I got actual hard-ons during this period, they wouldn’t want me. So it’s a possibility.
On the other hand, they typically want to see some evidence that erections are possible, even if not frequent. So if I handed in a diary that said no-sign-of-any-swelling four times, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be selected either.
And I don’t know that I’d say it got any worse after I started the studies. Still, the mind is a powerful thing. I’d never say “absolutely not.”
If it’s not too personal:
Has your ED adversely affected your relationship with your wife?
What percent (if you could guess) of the time can you successfully get a hardon and ejaculate versus the number of times you try and don’t ejaculate?
Has this been a problem your entire life, or something that started in adulthood/after getting married?
Do you have any lingering resentment about your failed 1996 presidential bid?
When they were screening you for the study, what questions did they ask that may disqualify some guys? I have to take a handful of meds every day, for various reasons, and some of them are the ones responsible for my ED. But because I’m taking them, I don’t qualify for any studies. Typical Catch-22.
Also: With the right kind of stimulation (e.g. oral) I am capable of having normal ejaculations, without an erection. Lack of blood flow prevents erections, but doesn’t in any way diminish ejaculations. Have you found this to be true?
Do you know what medication you’re taking? I’ve tried Viagra and Cialis, and they both make me feel very warm and flushed, and not much more. Are you experiencing that?
No, these are fine.
- My ED has certainly been a problem in my relationship at times. My wife prefers it when I have an erection, not just because I can do things with an erection that I can’t without, but because she finds it a turn-on in and of itself. Though she knows that my not getting hard is not due to any lack of interest in her, there are times she can’t quite put that aside as well as we’d like. And I sometimes get frustrated/angry with the fact that when the brain says, Yes! Yes! the dick says No! No!, which can make it tough for me to initiate sex sometimes, and can make it difficult for me to focus on her and the lovemaking rather than on the state of my erection or lack thereof. Which can be an issue as well.
That being said, we generally have a strong relationship, and we can very much enjoy sex whether I have a hardon or not.
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I’d guess that there is some swelling 50% of the time (without meds), and an erection that is hard enough for penetration maybe 10-15% of the time. Unfortunately, maintaining an erection is difficult too. I probably fall out at least three fourths of the time after getting inside. So the odds of what the studies call “successful intercourse” or “intercourse to completion” are probably on the order of 2-3%. (Ejaculation is a different issue, though. I can often come without an erection.)
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Since forever. I remember having trouble with erections even as a teenager, enough to make me think that something might be wrong. That was tempered by the fact that I grew up when the watchword was “Everything that has to do with sex is perfectly normal” and by the fact that I didn’t have anything to compare my erection to. The internet and the VCR had not yet been invented, I was too shy to try to sneak into adult movies, and I wasn’t one to spend much time in sexual experimentation with other guys. It wasn’t until I was about 30 that I began to realize the extent of the problem, and a few more years before I felt able to try to do something about it.
Thanks for the questions.
Well, had I been elected, I wouldn’t have left semen stains on any blue dress, I can tell you THAT.
- There have sometimes been questions about medications. I’m not sure which ones are on the no-fly list; I don’t take much medication and those that I do take don’t disqualify me. I guess I can see why they wouldn’t take you, since the ED is caused in part by the meds. Still, I agree it’s a catch-22, and it seems to me that with more and more folks on meds these days, it might be useful to run some studies to figure out whether there are ED drugs that could be helpful even while taking these erection-inhibiting medications.
As I think I mentioned, the other big question I get is whether I have been in a monogamous relationship for at least 6 months. (Whoops, not quite true: a monogamous HETEROSEXUAL relationship. Unfair, but there you are.) The bigger hurdle seems to be demonstrating that you have the “right” amount of ED for the study–this is self-reported as no one is standing over you with a measuring stick. If you get hard x% of the time and can maintain it y% of the time (I don’t really know what the values of x and y are since I don’t seem to approach them), they don’t want you because you’re not impaired enough. If there’s no evidence of any erection activity, ever, they may not want you either. (I use “you” generically.)
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Absolutely. I have had many orgasms over the years despite having a half-mast erection, a small amount of swelling only, or no sign of any erection at all. The process, I will admit, is more enjoyable when I’m hard–more surface area if nothing else–but the quality of the orgasm is usually just as good either way. Having ED does NOT mean being unable to have an orgasm.
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Yes, I usually know what medication I’m taking, or supposed to be taking (sometimes it’s a placebo). I haven’t experienced the “warm and flushed” feeling, but I am told that different men react in very different ways. Viagra does tend to work pretty well on me, but certainly not at a 100% level.
Thanks for asking! Good luck to you.
Will he paint the house?
Very interesting, that you can still have orgasms without the erection. Have you ever considered getting a… for lack of a better work, inflatable implant? I’ve seen them used for transpeople who undergo female to male sexual reassignment. Pump it up and go. I’m not sure whether this can or should be done with an organ that is still sensate, though.
Warning… Girl in the room!
First of all, Ulf, I have to say I am impressed with your candor and your willingness to share with strangers in order to help others. I know you get paid and all that, but I know for a fact that a large number of men don’t have the ‘balls’ to admit to a problem even to themselves. Bravo, I award you an honorary stiffy for bravery.
Now I wonder, if the gentlemen don’t mind my presence, if you have tried a combination of ‘methods’. Your description above of achieving an erection but unable to sustain it makes me think than maybe the medication with a <ahem> ‘cock ring’ might complete the picture of having and keeping the old boy at full throttle, at least until Mrs. Ulf is happy. Just between us Dopers, I have found a silk or velvet hair scrunchie around the base can be extremely helpful to Mr. Surrounded when he has had one beer too many.
Are these researchers also keeping track of your vision, hearing and kidney function?
I have to mention that my BIL works for a large phamaceutical company that produces penile implants. Once when he was visiting we all went out for dinner and he was telling us about his work and the new technology they were just about to implement, when the manager came over and asked us to leave because our inappropriate conversation was bothering other people. We were discussing the implants and their issues and improvements, but it wasn’t a lewd or crude type of conversation. As a matter of fact, we were speaking in lower tones and we used a number of discreet euphamisms in order to accomodate for our surroundings, but just the very mention of the subject got sombodys panties in a wad. Ever since then I am dedicated to helping others GET OVER THEMSELVES ALREADY.