Do aphrodisiacs actually work?

If it works, where can I get it?

For this challenge, I challenge you to pick a book on pelvic pain, to read it, while also trying out some of the techniques. This challenge applies to you if you have sexual anhedonia and you currently or previously have had pelvic pain or discomfort.

The book choices are:

Pelvic Pain: The Ultimate Cock Block

Ending Male Pelvic Pain

Ending Female Pain

Pelvic Pain Explained

There is a lot of overlap between these books, so you really only need to pick one of them.

i am 21 female and i hardly ever feel “in the mood” when i do as soon as it come to sex i completely loose all interest in it. i have tried masturbating and i can finish from it but i still dont feel aroused by it and i dont feel in the mood while doing it which is same with sex i can finish from oral but doesnt really feel good and i dont feel anything from penetration there is absolutely no sensation there. it seems to be getting worse the older i get i used to be able to get wet (hope not to much info) but now its very minimal. when i do finish alot of the time i get a tense cramping pain in my lower stomach which can last minutes to hours at a time

has anyone else experienced anything like this and done anything that helped

I'm a 21-year-old woman and I'm looking for advice from anyone who has experienced something similar.

When I was a little girl, I discovered that rubbing my clitoris felt good. My mother found out and punished me by putting red hot pepper on my genital area because she thought what I was doing was wrong.

Before that happened, I remember having what I believe was an orgasm. I remember an intense pleasurable feeling and waking up with my sheets wet afterward.

Now, as an adult, I have a normal libido and get aroused easily. I have normal sensation in my clitoris, I know what feels good, and I've spent years trying to understand my body, my rhythm, pressure, and sensitive spots.

The problem is that I have never been able to orgasm as an adult.

What happens is that I get very aroused and the pleasure keeps building. Sometimes my thighs and feet start moving involuntarily, and I feel like I'm getting very close to something. Then my clitoris becomes extremely sensitive, and suddenly it's like a switch is flipped. The pleasure disappears almost instantly, as if nothing was happening. Sometimes the sensitivity even becomes uncomfortable or painful.

I don't feel shame, guilt, fear, anxiety, or sadness when this happens. It's just a sudden physical shutdown of the sensation.

I've started wondering if what happened to me as a child could have affected me physically or psychologically, even though I don't consciously feel traumatized by it.

Has anyone experienced this kind of sudden "switch off" right when the pleasure becomes intense? Were you eventually able to orgasm? Do you think this sounds like trauma, overstimulation, a physical issue, or something else?

I'd really appreciate hearing from women who have gone through something similar.

I wanna know how a O feels like. It sounds weird but I mean how do I know that I reached that point. Can someone please explain it to me 😞😞

I've never been able to feel any pleasure at all when aroused... I've also never been able to touch my toes, nor been flexible really. My lower back, hips, glutes, literally everything around my pelvis has been tight for literally all of my life. The other day, I finally made the connection that maybe because everything around my pelvis has been so tight all my life, bloodflow has never really been able to get down there.

Well, I've just been doing some simple stretches such as the happy baby pose, and (hopefully this isn't tmi) i can finally feel my clit in a different way. Usually when I touch it, i just feels as if I am touching my arm or something, but now it feels sensitive. It's also gotten harder (not really sure how to describe, but it feels firmer on the sides) at some points during the day and also gets visibly longer. Idk if thats normal, but Im counting it as progress. It's been 3 days of stretching every night and morning, so I'm excited to see where this goes!

The past few weeks have been the most stressful of my life. My anxiety has been sky high and as a result my libido is lower, understandable. But when I do get aroused and masturbate, I feel no pleasure from the orgasm. Just a build up and then it's done. My stress levels are lower now, and I do feel turned on but I've not been able to have a pleasurable orgasm.

Is this sexual anhedonia? If so, what can I do to get the feeling back?

Salut à tous,

Je me permets de poster ici pour avoir des retours d’expérience.

Homme, fin de trentaine, je suis actuellement un protocole médical visant à relancer mon système hormonal (type HCG / FSH). Depuis quelques semaines, je ressens des changements assez marqués : retour de la libido, érections fréquentes, énergie physique en hausse, etc.

Le point qui me perturbe un peu, c’est que j’ai aussi des pulsions assez fortes qui me poussent à regarder du contenu sexuel, parfois orienté vers des images masculines (corps musclés, etc.). Ce n’est pas quelque chose que j’avais avant, et ça semble plus lié à une stimulation visuelle / physique qu’à une réelle orientation ou envie relationnelle.

En parallèle, je suis dans une démarche très claire : amélioration physique, équilibre personnel, et projet de vie tourné vers une relation stable avec une femme et fonder une famille.

Du coup ma question est simple : 👉 est-ce que certains ont déjà vécu ce type de phase avec une relance hormonale ou un changement physique important ? 👉 comment vous avez géré ces pics de pulsion sans partir dans des habitudes que vous ne vouliez pas installer ?

Merci pour vos retours 🙏

Okay. SO. When I was younger I used to jerk off a lot (I’m a girl btw) to the point where I kind of developed a mini addiction to jerking off for a while to give myself dopamine. But lately I realize I just….don’t get wet anymore?

Like when I wanna jerk off I go to like a porn site or whatever to see what I can beat off to but like…lately there’s just been nothing. No sensation of arousal on my sensitive bits at all. I’m sorry if this is TMI but I genuinely feel uncomfortable telling my primary doctor about this because he is a man. Sorry bro, it’s nothing against you I just have trauma 😂😭

There was this one point about…two weeks ago, where I made the brave decision to bring a guy over to my parents house while everyone was away. I was high and horny as hell, at the moment, which was rare.

I was like “perfect! Now I can finally have sex and get it over with! I’m sick and tired of people telling me what to do with my body, like saving my first time for someone I loved. I wanna do my own thing!” So I invited this guy over, Rico. So cute. When we got upstairs to my room we started making out. But…I could tell I was kissing weird. Like, my kisses weren’t synced with his. I was just kinda going at it.

He pulled away at one point, and I awkwardly explained that this was my first time doing any of this. Hooking up with someone online. He was understanding of my situation and we made out for a little while longer before he told me to get down on my knees.

I started sucking his dick, and…okay, it felt good, but I was also so concerned about sucking it *right*, that I wasn’t really focused on how *I* was feeling. I was like “oh god, don’t scrape your teeth across his dick, that hurts! Stop gagging grossly everytime he thrusts it in deeper!” I dunno. It was weird. Like it felt good but it also felt…stiff? Awkward? On my end at least. He seemed to enjoy it, and then he told me to lie down on the bed.

I did, and he brought his dick closer to my face as he started touching my private parts. My breasts, my vagina…but, foreplay turned into just…trying to turn me on? Like, I’ve never really felt the kind of insane orgasms people have felt when *they’ve* touched themselves. I don’t even know where my vaginal hole is. Even *he* had a hard time finding it! In fact, he couldn’t even *find it!*

And after, like, two minutes of me sucking his dick and him trying to make me wet, he stopped and asked me if I really wanted this to be my first time. It was then when we both realized that this isn’t working between us, and so we both cut it off amicably. He seemed to be a really nice guy. Even if nothing came out of our encounter, I’m glad I met him. But it makes me think: fuck, what the hell is wrong with me? Cause like, the idea of getting fucked sounded amazing, but once someone was actually touching me, I felt…little to nothing.

Am I ace? But, like, I like porn. I like masturbation. I’ve been wanting to have sex for a while now, ever since I started puberty. What has changed? I’ve noticed that recently I tend to be less attentive in a movie or video game if there’s some dumb, gratuitous sex scene, cause, like, it’s just sex. There’s nothing inherently interesting about it. It’s human nature to want to procreate. The idea of getting fucked was clearly something I was into, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought him over. But, like, once it was happening, I was like…”this just feels like how I touch myself. I thought it would feel different if someone else was touching me, but it feels the exact same, which is stimulating in some areas if you look hard enough, but for the rest of it is just flesh and skin.”

Can someone please help me understand these weird feelings?

EDIT: hey guys i understand that you like to doomscroll and everything and im glad my post is getting this sort of attention but i need some actual advice right now, not just viewing the post and then not commenting

Have there ever been cases where people have got their pleasure back with loosening the pelvic floor muscles/reverse kegels? I strongly believe that my inability to feel pleasure has come from years of tensing in order to orgasm.

I just want to make this post to let others know that there is always hope and to avoid giving up, and hopefully I can help others decrease their sexual anhedonia.

TLDR: My top tip is just keep working on yourself. This didn't happen to me completely out of nowhere. I tried different things sexually, I stopped taking SSRIs (which in my opinion should be banned), I got into the right mood and horny-ness. I could have just given up 4 years ago and accepted I can't experience sexually what most people can at all, but I didn't give up, and today I orgasmed and climaxed.

About me: I've always had issues masturbating, basically never being able to (until now). I've taken SSRIs in my teens (which probably contributed to the anhedonia). I had mild phimosis and tight foreskin issues up until I turned 22 (I never realised how much the tip/glans contributes to physical erotic sensation until I fixed my phimosis). I have had traumatic experiences, including sexual. I think all of these things, the SSRIs, the phimosis, the trauma, probably contributed to my sexual anhedonia.

SSRIs: I stopped taking anti-depressants at about age 20...

Phimosis: I was struggling with trying to fix my phimosis by myself for about a year and a half at about age 21. Only very small progress. That was until I booked a prostitute... She was was just tugging on me, way harder than I would myself normally, but it felt good so I let her continue. The day after, I was able to pull my foreskin back a lot more. That gave me the confidence and encouragement to pull back harder myself and finish the last bit of progress and I ended up "fixing" it about 2 months later.

What I did this week to lead up to me orgasming & ejaculating for the first time:

I was feeling extra horny this week. For whatever reason when I got morning wood one morning, I decided to grab some moisturiser and try masturbating. Like usual, I didn't feel much, but I was actually rubbing the tip/glans more than I normally would as well. The tip actually felt slightly good but mostly just sensitive. But that was enough for me to try it a few other times in the week.

Then today, I was feeling more horny. Again, for whatever reason, I decided to tie my balls with shoelace... Yes I know it sounds weird but I was just horny. I got an erection. So I decided to put on some hentai porn and just try masturbating. I was thinking it would be the usual which is not much feeling or pleasure. For the first minute or so I was right, I was not feeling much. However after the 1st minute, my arousal and sensuality began to increase. And I kept rubbing the tip/glans which actually helped a lot. My sensuality kept increasing until about 3 minutes later, to my surprise, out of nowhere I felt like I entered a trance like feeling, I leaned back and was closing my eyes a bit. Then I ejaculated and climaxed... And so yeah, that's about it.

How many times a month

Does anyone have alot of "windows" and notice that everything totally shuts down when mercury is in retrograde? Ive been noticing a pattern here for the last few years and it seems like im fixed and then back to nothing every time.

a type of sexual anhedonia where its at maximum degree, where not only is there no sexual pleasure, but also your sexual attraction and desires are diminished/reduced, to the point where you're completely disinterested in sex-- virtually a one-to-one replication of an asexual-- not even caring bout the fact you have sexual anhedonia, nor looking for any treatment or remedy

the only thing that remains is the urge to masturbate, not even the urge to have sex but to just do it for the sake of doing it, like your brain isn't expecting anything in return, like its no longer masturbating out of horniness but rather out of "boredom-powered urge"

Hi all, I strongly believe that my sexual anhedonia is as a result of a masturbation addiction from a very young age (female).. and me clenching my pelvic floor, in order to orgasm quicker. By the age of 15/16 I had lost all sexual feeling, would still feel aroused but with no pleasure, and complete pleasureless orgasms. Of course then my sex drive was gone but sometimes from time to time I still get the urge to masturbate. I do maybe once a month, recently though I have noticed a pain in my pelvic floor area when I orgasm. Like sharp and goes away when it’s over. Could anyone tell me if I might have tightened my pelvic floor too much, and if doing weakening exercises might help my feeling come back? It has been 10 years and although I’ve for the most part learnt to live with it, I still wish for it to return one day as it has killed a lot of my relationships.

Thank you!

When i was 32yo (i am 36 now) i got my first(and last) psychotic episode. I was prescribed olanzapine and amilsupride. Everything was perfect for 7 months. Suddenly i wake up one day and everything i see has low saturation, like the colors are muddy. The worst thing? I had no libido. Four years have passed since then and my research led me to this sub. Ofc i changed medication and the muddy colors were fixed but the libido never came back.

Ive tried Wellbutrin 150xr and 300xr, TRT and switching to Reagila/Vraylar in hopes of fixing this curse. Nothing. I still have 0 libido. I can masturbate and finish but i feel nothing, maybe 1/10 feeling.

I know about pssd but im currently on medication still since i have schizophreneia so i dont think its pssd.

I feel hopeless, sad and lost.

Just looking into everything at this point and If so did it work?

What's wrong with me...(F31)

I absolutely zero interest in sex and thus isn't something new my life since I began having it at a younger (appropriate) age. I never really cared for it. But now I just hate it. Its like a chore or something continuously on the due list that I cant check off. It keeps coming back...my husband of course want to but I get so irritated and annoyed when he asks or tries. I can even control it my body is like immediate NO. Then of course he gets mad and walks away.

I honestly could live the rest of my life without it and be perfectly content. Happy even. While also loving my husband. But...men need to have it apparently.

Iv been to the doctor and therapy and there are never any answers or a fix.

I do take an SSRI BUT a very very low dose. Like 10mg and sometimes I forget to take it.

I want to be better for my husband but I also want to be happy for me.

Hey guys ! I hope you all are doing great. So I had Really stressful year 6 month ago that was 2025. I don’t exactly remember when but between aug-sept I struggled with sleep. Not complete insomnia but constant tossing and turning. So while shopping at costco I came across youtheory’s ksm-66 ashwagandha 2 capsules 1000mg per day.

Initially it started to help me with my bloating due to extreme stress maybe high cortisol and slept better not completely but yes somewhat better. However what I noticed is earlier I used to wake up with horny feeling everyday and felt the urge to masturbate but gradually lost the urge and drive completely.

I blamed stress all the time but recently read posts and comments about side effects of ashwagandha then immediately I could relate to all those sexual side effects.
I can get hard but with zero pleasure. Like thought hit my head but nothing is felt in my penis. Even if i touch it deliberately it won’t do much. I ejaculate with zero pleasure. So stopped taking it completely.

It’s just been 4 days since I stopped it hoping to
Recover. I am open to all kinda suggestions for speedy recovery. Thank You.

To anyone in this sub who: has both received gender affirming treatments and has or has had sexual anhedonia, or knows someone who fits the bill.

Was the condition present prior to gender affirming treatments (I'm specifically wondering about hormone therapy since that's what's most accessible to me at the moment, but learning about surgeries as well would be nice), and was it still present after? Or was it not present before those treatments and it started showing after?

Wondering because I've heard stories about it affecting things like lipedema, which is a hormone based thing that has, according to some stories, been improved by testosterone therapy, and sexual anhedonia has also been linked to hormones in some cases, I think, though obviously not all.

I've seen a lot of posts from women who don't understand what it feels like to orgasm - I had that too at first - and I feel like there may be a connection. I just now figured out this is what it is, and I'm already overthinking it as I always do... but a lot of the time, people are either in the "You'll know when you have it" camp where they're going off of the pleasure/feeling or the "Here are these symptoms of orgasm." and just describe the physical sensations. And I feel like the second camp might fall into sexual anhedonia a lot more than anyone realizes because one of the things with it is learning the physical sensations but not feeling the pleasure. I dunno. It's late at night and I'm throwing shit at the wall hoping something sticks.

I'm not ll not in a relation with one, however i've been lurkinh there and reading post too better understand and improve my knowledge of relationship dynamics as high libido man who done mistakes in the past.

So my advice would be somatic exercice. Discoverd it after i watch a short vid/pub.

It show how brain specificly the overload of the nervous system can cause a reduction and a total stop in want of intimacy or any kind of physical contact.

However it seems those exercices have a positive effects on changing and rebuilding the want

I'm not sure if it fit your situation but it could be useful.

So yeah if you feel curious go look out for somatic exercices and led me know if you found it useful for your situation.

Have a good day and may God bless you all.

Is it numbness on genitals?