Extender Circulation

I don’t know why this happens, but the more sets with an extender I do in a day, the worse circulation I get. For my first set, I’ve done as much as 1:40 with no circulation issues. I can then get fully hard to completely restore blood flow, and wait a few hours, but with my next set I’ll be numb at between :30-1:00. I can see how previous sets would affect pain or other issues, but why is circulation affected?

What kind of extender are you using?

Noose extender.

Are you sure that circulation is being affected? Numbness could indicate a pinched nerve.

Whether it’s circulation or a nerve, I don’t get why it’s fine on my first set of the day, but then becomes a problem on any subsequent sets.

One comparison I can think of is sitting cross legged for meditation. It’s pretty common for one of my legs to fall asleep after 30 minutes of sitting or so. It’s definitely a pinched nerve, not circulation problems (in this case), because severe pain and tissue death can result in a very short time without fresh oxygen. If I’ve already done other sitting meditation sessions earlier in the day though, my leg can start falling asleep much faster than if it were my first sit of the day. I think there’s just something about nerves being “fresh” for the day making them last longer than they will in similar situations later on. Not sure if this helps at all.

What exactly is a “set” with an extender? Don’t you just put it on and leave it alone?

I call it a set because I stretch as far as possible in the straight out position for as long as I can handle or until numbness.

That info about nerves does help. I don’t know how long it takes for them to completely recover, but it sounds like that may be the problem.

Actually, if the numbness is from a nerve, I wonder if it would do any damage to go longer on later sets.

I’m not exactly sure about the reason to it, but I had to go through the same thing. For a while I was using the extender for 4-6 hours a day, but it became uncomfortable to wear after applying it a few times (around the fourth or fifth hour at the time), but after spending a few weeks like this, I managed to push this further and wear it for as long as 7-8 hours daily, and the discomfort occurred just in the last two hours.

By now I can wear it for ten hours when I have the chance, although the last 1-2 hours can still be a bit problematic - no pain or anything, just a bit of irritation.

If you want to get more “serious” about using an extender, my advice would be to try to be consistent with having it on for as long as possible, and after some time you should see improvements.

Use less tension. Check if your glans becomes darker - if so, remove the extender immediately. If you can replace the noose with a comfort strap or noose, do it.

When I stop early on later sets it isn’t from discomfort, it’s the numbness. If I were to push the set longer, despite numbness, I don’t know if I would be doing any damage, but I’m thinking I might.

You can’t stretch as far with a comfort strap. I’ve gained over 2 inches, and most of it was from wearing a noose extender straight out at high tension. If I put on the Male Edge comfort strap extender, which allows you to strap in before attaching the headpiece to the bars, I stretch about an inch less than with my noose type.

Man, I never even heard of someone using an extender like that. I’ve owned two, and you’re supposed to put it on and then tuck it up or down and go on your way, stopping once every hour to make sure you’re getting enough blood into the glans. Everything about what you’re doing strikes me as a bit crazy. But carry on I guess.

Well, that’s strange B_b, because your question is of a kind that one could expect from a guy who just started using an extender.

There may be other bodily processes that cause blood pressure/circulation to be altered, like digestion, temperature changes, mood/anxiety, need to urinate/deficate.

For me early morning is the best time, and as the day passes, extender sessions become shorter in time, just as you have posted.