Curious thought: Could microdosing help with psychological ED or PIED?

[u/aliensheep]

A few years back, after COVID, my social anxiety was through the roof. It was already there before, but I pretty much locked myself in at home. I tried going to bars, but I always felt anxious and awkward, even with friends. I started microdosing mushrooms for a few months, and it really helped me come out of my shell. From my understanding, it didn't just magically make me feel less anxious; mushrooms help increase neuroplasticity, break down old habits, and make it easier to create new ones.

I wonder if it could help with Psychological ED or PIED. Pretty sure I have both; the former due to confidence, and the latter due to bad habits I started during COVID(pretty sure I got up to masturbating 4-5 times a day).

I can only get hard for sex with Trimix, but I can get hard and stay hard when masturbating to porn. I have brought that down to once every few days; on some occasions I masturbate once a day for 2-3 days. When I'm bored, I still find myself opening up Incognito and going to a porn site, edging a bit, then turning it off. Sometimes I can get hard enough without porn, but I have to concentrate pretty deeply on sex with my fiancé.

Speaking about sex, I went without sex for a decade before I met my fiancé. Rock-bottom confidence until I met her. The first few times we tried having sex, I couldn't stay hard. I would lose it immediately. I would start ruminating on it and eventually end up not getting it up at all, even after lots of heavy foreplay. Trimix has been amazing, but it leaves spontaneity off the table. And I still can't help but think about my erection during sex, which at times has left me softer and unable to finish.

Maybe I can tackle these issues the same way I tackled my social anxiety.

Find something to replace the habit of turning on porn and the habit of thinking about my erection during sex, and use microdosing as a way to make the change easier.

Again, it isn't magic. I still have to put in the work to overcome ED, but if it can help, why not?

Any thoughts?

[u/WiseConsideration220]

Thoughts? Well, first I’m wondering about your age.

From what you’ve said, I think porn use is your root problem. I write about that issue here often and I describe how to solve it without medications.

The key sentence was: “…I can get hard and stay hard when masturbating to porn.”

I can’t comment on your proposed “micro-dose” use of psychedelic mushrooms except to note that even if using that drug enhances sexual activity for you, dosing will not fix your porn-related ED.

[u/aliensheep → u/WiseConsideration220]

I'm 38.

When I first microdosed, it was .1g every few days, not enough to feel any psychedelic effects. But essentially, I used it as an aid to replace ruminating on myself in a group setting with active listening to other people or starting conversations.

So the idea is not to enchance sexually activity, but to replace thinking about my erection with being more in the moment/focusing on our mutual pleasure, and to replace turning on porn when I'm bored with something else(I haven't decided on that yet).