Smoking and erections

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this. But at this time, this is the only forum I can start a thread in.

As I know, all and all it is best to quit smoking for all around general health concerns.
My question is.
Has anyone who has been a “long” term smoker noticed an “improvement” with the quality of their erections after they have quit smoking?

I’ve been a smoker now for over 30 years.

Thanks

I moved the thread to the Men’s sexual health forum for you.

Have you searched the forum for this topic?

Thank You

Yes I have done a search. However I was just looking for replies from those who have quit smoking and have noticed an improvement after they have quit smoking.

Hell yes. I could always get really hard even while I was a heavy smoker, but a couple weeks after I stopped, I noticed my erections were as hard as a diamond. And they throbbed again like they did when I was a teenager. There was another factor that could have contributed as well - I began working out and running. Nicotine affects blood flow negatively, which affects erections. Smoking your nicotine intensifies the effect. Nicotine also affects testosterone, which affects sex drive, which affects erections.

Quit and you WILL notice a difference, and you will love it.

In the first 2 to 3 years that I smoked, I didn’t experience worse erections. But the last few years I smoked, I had pretty weak erections.

I’ve quit smoking for over 4 months now, and my erections are better than before.

It can take a couple of weeks until you experience better erections again when you quit smoking.

Smoking’s effect on circulation is profound as one continues to smoke over time. It is the one of the greatest risk factors for peripheral artery disease in the larger arteries of the pelvis and lower extremities. The circulation of the pelvic arteries that feed the penis are effected as well. The longer you smoke the greater the overall compromise and damage.

You have smoked 30 years, 1 - 2 packs/day (1 pack/day X 30 years = 30 pack-years). 30 - 60 pack-years of smoking is significant. How much permanent irreversible vessel damage the smoking has done is variable from individual to individual. If you stopped now (which as you said would help overall health), at least the further progression and further erosion of erectile quality can be arrested.

I hope that there will be more interaction with you by ex-smokers (like dharmabum and Pepsi) who can give you personal experiences.

Actually, a propos smoking and testosterone: it has been shown that smoking increases testosterone production.

Here’s an exerpt:
"In the entire cohort, smokers had higher total (21.9 ± 7.2 vs. 19.8 ± 6.9 nmol/liter; P < 0.001) and free (427 ± 113 vs. 391 ± 113 pmol/liter; P < 0.001) testosterone levels at baseline than nonsmokers. Smoking at baseline seemed to be inversely associated with a lower risk of hypogonadism as defined by total (at least 20 cigarettes/d vs. nonsmoker, OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.16–1.22; trend across smoking categories, P = 0.11) and free testosterone levels (at least 20 cigarettes/d vs. nonsmoker, OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.29–1.44), but the association was attenuated even further by adjustment for respective baseline testosterone levels. A decrease in smoking during follow-up was even more clearly associated with the risk for hypogonadism as defined by total (for a 10-cigarette decrease per day, OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 0.97–2.92) and especially free testosterone levels (for a 10-cigarette decrease, OR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.16–2.79), with only minor attenuation when adjusting further for baseline testosterone levels. Although the increase in risk with decreased cigarette smoking during the follow-up was independent of changes in waist circumference and other characteristics of the metabolic syndrome, it is noteworthy that men who quit smoking during the follow-up had a larger increase in waist girth than men who remained smokers (9.6 ± 0.6 cm vs. 7.3 ± 0.5 cm; P = 0.007). In analyses with total testosterone and free testosterone as continuous outcome variables, the change in the daily number of cigarettes smoked was also consistently positively and independently associated with changes in total and free testosterone levels during follow-up " (Laaksonen et al, 2005)

And here’s the link to the study: http://jcem.end ojournals.org/c … l/jcem;90/2/712

See here:

Wow.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Also I saw there is already a thread related to this question.

Quit smoking? anyone else observe this

In the discussion section of this paper they write:

"The mechanisms by which cigarette smoking may increase testosterone levels are unclear, but nicotine-mediated inhibition of aromatase has been suggested to explain low estrogen and high androgen levels in women smokers. Consistent with this hypothesis, the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole has been shown to increase total and bioavailable testosterone levels in elderly men with low testosterone levels . The decrease in testosterone and increase in hypogonadism as a result of decreased smoking could also be secondary to weight gain and increased abdominal obesity, but adjustment for waist girth and its changes did not attenuate the relationship. Weight control through diet and exercise should nonetheless be actively encouraged for men who quit smoking, as increased abdominal obesity and its accompanying negative health consequences may partially offset the substantial health gains of smoking cessation."

I would not start smoking to increase my testosterone levels. They wouldn’t recommend it either.

The vascular damage, high blood pressure and heart disease induced by long term smoking (all which can cause impotence) will ultimately negate any increase in testosterone caused by the nicotine-mediated inhibition of aromatase. This damage is not irreversible.

Stop smoking "for its substantial health gains" , lose weight and testosterone levels will not fall appreciably.

All that elevated testosterone plus smoker lungs, seems like a no win situation. All that surging testosterone and know where to go because your in an iron lung or on oxygen.

Ha Ha Ha. Wheeze, cough. Ha Ha Ha.

I heard a myth on this forum once that women who smoke are looser than average. The high T might help to support that theory!

edit: loose as in promiscuous, not as in “not tight”.

I do not advocate smoking to boost testosterone levels nor do I claim that smoking is good ;-) Just informing.

I did not believe you were advocating smoking to increase testosterone. I was just very curious how the authors of this interesting study handled their contoversial data. I thought giving their conclusion on “substantial health gains” from quiting would give our fellow members the understanding that they too were not advocating smoking to increase testosterone.

Now if they could fiind a way to inhibit aromatase to increase testosterone without all the other nasty effects of nicotine, that would be interesting.