NoFap - A Possible Source for Erectile Dysfunction, Penis Shrinkage and Incontinence

Hi all,

Disclaimer: The title is reflecting my experience only, is anecdotal and not based on any scientific evidence.

A few words about me for context: I am a 28 year old male that exercise 3-4 times per week, and is active in the great outdoors several times per week for hours at the time. I work in an office as an engineer and this requires a lot of sitting. I tried NoFap back in 2018 but had to quit because experiencing erectile dysfunction and incontinence. This time I have been on NoFap for about three to four weeks - and it feels great.

Erectile Dysfunction, Penis Shrinkage and Incontinence
It is currently no problem to avoid watching porn and masturbate. The reason is because the availability to have sexual intercourse one to four times per week. The problem is that I am starting to experience erectile dysfunction, penis shrinkage, and incontinence. I have been feeling great not watching porn for over a week, but relapsed today, with little to no edging this time and the last.

This is the train of thought for relapsing process this time:
- I used to be with a chick but not on NoFap for a few months. I usually masturbates one to three times per week, but this includes edging in addition to sexual intercourse once or twice per week. I then started NoFap, and attracted this girl after one week no-PMO.
- I met this girl 2 weeks ago, and had a strong erection and ejaculated within 3 minutes of intercourse the first time.
- Then we have had sex several occasions and I have lasted longer and longer and the sensation has declined. This can of course be from several factors - e.g. less stress since we know each other, less desperate feelings and maybe I have a less stress to consider in general.
- In the beginning of NoFap that was started three weeks ago, I had several strong and random erections at work. The frequency of these has been fewer and fewer and not as strong.
- The last time we had sex felt kind of plain, and my erection wasn't as strong as the first times. But I didn't think much about it, only that this could be mild constipation problems. This was on Saturday night.
- Today I exercised and have been sitting at my computer since then.
- Today I was on the toilet and experienced incontinence. It then clicked and I was linking this to previous NoFap experience. I watched YouTube for a few hours and then I realized that the erection is smaller, and the blood flow is noticeable diminished - less sensation. This was without porn.
- Worry got me and started to watch porn. It is enjoyable to watch these beautiful ladies, and I feel already that I have a healthier relationship to porn. This is beside the point. Anyways, it did not take too long to ejaculate, I could have edged but something told me to just get over with this and don't feel shameful. So I did, and wrote this post.

There is of course always some guilt associated with watching porn and relapsing. It kind of feels of to relapse after just 8-9 days.

Conclusion and Discussion
It might have been heavy consumption of caffein that caused this today and previously, the fact that I am still a bit constipated and other external factors that is - most likely the caffein and constipation problem. Or it could be that NoFap is causing greater problem to the penis compared to fapping. I know some people call this flatlining, but the last time this happened in 2018 it was really frightening and scary to watch my above average penis shrink to this level. It actually took months to recover after quitting NoFap. This time I have another solution to this problem:

The strategy moving forward is to have sex with this girl more often, to maintain the erection and also last a bit longer doing this. Maybe I should start incorporating kegels, but at the same time I have heard that this isn't good for men - any thoughts on this?

To not touch the private parts has been tried, as advised from his forum in an earlier post I wrote, but the problems that made the NoFap journey stop in 2018 and have made me reluctant to jump on the NoFap train in the meantime.

I want to experience the perks of NoFap, push the limits, and reap the rewards of an increased likelyhood of attracting a really hot sexual partner, but at the same time it is not worth having the problems in this title.

To avoid these problems- Erectile Dysfunction, Penis Shrinkage and Incontinence - are some of the main reasons to be on a NoFap journey.

Any advice?