This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

It's been an extremely difficult and emotional 1st yr of marriage for me and my wife. This is probably one of the most difficult issues for us to tackle. I have extreme difficulty achieving orgasm, and it is sometimes difficult to maintain an erection. This leaves my wife feeling inadequate and unattractive, despite my reassurances to her. How do I convince my wife that sexual intimacy is still pleasurable, satisfying and necessary despite my inabilities. We were recently referred to a psychologist, so this issue will be addressed by someone soon, but I just thought someone here may have some personal insight. I know for many this is a difficult subject to talk about, so please PM me if you have insight but don't feel comfortable speaking about it on a public forum.

heya FL, what's your supplement regimen right now? how would you describe your diet and lifestyle in general?

if you're game, and if you are not already trying this out, consider trying 25-50mg zinc per day for 3 weeks and see what comes up. as it were ;)

I take 3 multis a day that contain zinc, as well as omegas, b's,c's,d's,cal/mag,glucosamine/chondroitin.....I am currently working on a creating a more specific regimen for myself as I fired my naturopath......wasn't helping me at all.

yea i ditched my naturopath pretty fast too.
IIMA, what is the brand of multi you're working with right now FL?

it's so hard (no pun intended) on both sides of this issue, both the guys and the girls feel inadequate.
in my relationship i even secretly thought he might be gay (secret's out now i guess lol).
in the last couple years he started to have health problems so i did some research for him and put him on a supplement regimen (including zinc of course).
he also started exercising more, and stopped being quite so picky with food.
he's all better now
i find zinc affects my sex drive too, FYI ladies

Can't remember the brand of multi.....it was the one given to me by the ND (supposedly very high quality).......as for diet, I'm pretty good there......shouldn't even need the supps but I figured they couldn't hurt........I'm a chef and I know quite a lot about diet and nutrition. My wife is celiac as well, so my own diet is closer to gluten free than most and I have cut out saturates at limited my intake of red meats. I haven't completely barred any foods from my diet, but I've increased intake of the good and severely cut back the bad.

does trophic or genestra ring any bells? anyway, if you get a chance and don't mind, i'd like to have a squint at that product to get the detailed amounts. that's cool that you're a chef i learned a lot of fun stuff when i had a chef for a roomie back in the day

FL -- I identify myself as the "insulin girl" because I think excess insulin has a fundamental role in MS. For that reason I think a low-carb diet helps many with MS. Carbohydrates convert to glucose (blood sugar); glucose triggers insulin secretion. Therefore, I urge you to discontinue taking glucosamine (a sugar-based supplement).

As a woman, I may not know about erectile dysfunction (ED); but I hear it mentioned on the TV advertisements for Viagra, Cialis, etc. Perhaps your doctor would have samples to give you so that you could try a drug to see if it would help.

Later comment: I just read this posting by whyRwehere concerning watermelon/citrulline: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/healt ... 498061.stm

Perhaps it would be good to add some watermelon to your diet.

(Now WHY didn't that link come through? THERE -- I think I have fixed it now.) So let me try it this way too -- here is where whyRwehere posted in the CCSVI forum:

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopicp-68398.html#68398

Don't be shy. Ask your family doctor for some viagra. It will help you get over the anxiety performance issue. good luck, Carole

Viagra helped me the first time I took it, then never again. Then we started the regiments of Cialis, penile injections, ect.... The injections work, however, that is a DEFINATE mood killer when you have to say to your spouse, "hang on sweetheart, let me give my johnson a shot".. and it is VERY uncomfortable. I eventually ended up getting a penile implant. I had my first one (yes, first one) as well as my second, third, and forth one prior to me knowing about my MS. They couldnt figure out why my body kept rejecting my implants. Now we know why. Thank God, my last one took well and its been in for two years with no problems. All that being said... Now that I have one like and 18 year old, I dont want to use it. Sounds crazy I know. It has caused major problems between me and the wifey. But I was wondering if it is the MS that is causing the lack of desire? I mean, I would rather drink beer and watch the grass grow as opposed to use it. I dunno. Now the doc has me on testosterone cream, but I constantly forget to use it. So, I really cant say if it works or not. I wish I had desire, believe me, it would make my life a whole lot better, and the wifey would be happy. Now I put all my dirty laundry out here, I hope someone has some suggestions. I only posted this info because I know what you are going thru.

I'm not certain if the viagra route will work, as the problem is more of a lack of sensation issue, not that of lack of blood flow. It is worth a try though.......who knows. We've also always been quite spontanuous in our lovemaking, so I'm not sure how trying it on a schedule (as is the case with medications) will work....but it still may be worth a try.

oooooooooohhhh that's totally different then. my bad i assumed it was ED. i regained a lot of my sensory via nutrition and once your supplement program is in place for a while, hopefully it will help you too!

I have dysorgasmia too. You know the world's biggest tease? Willie gets to attention ok, but then it doesn't end with orgasm for me unless my wife pulls on it like pulling taffy. Make sure you do your research on the subject TOGETHER. Sex for me is totally different now. For your wife to feel inadequate because you can't get off due to MS is just silly; but shows she just doesn't understand the problem (I hope). If she understands but still feels like it's her, then I guess good luck. It is just a lot more affection and she always gets her secret toy surprise so it's all good. You know the biggest sex organ in the human body is the brain. My brain is satisfied, but we had to work on it together. To me, there really is no other way.

I tried viagra too. That just made me congested and flushed; it didn't make the orgasms any easier as I really had suspected it would not. Yes it does make you "18 year old hard", but it doesn't do anything to orgasm. This is a tricky one but she needs to know that dysorasmia and anorgasmia are MS symptoms. If she blames you for showing symptoms of a disease you have, then you have other problems obviously, but I'd try the educate together route.

Low sex drive is also a symptom, but it sounds like you don't suffer from that. Don't let it make you withdrawal. She needs to feel like you still want her that way. I probably touch my wife more than ever as I want her to know that she is still desirable. Just my $.02.

unless my wife pulls on it like pulling taffy

LOL!!!
my carpal tunnels are having sympathy pains

Kim recovered from sexual dysfunction in her early weeks on ABX.