I can ejaculate, but not orgasm. What could be causing this?

July 10, 2008 7:58 PM

I can ejaculate, but not orgasm. What could be causing this?

I'm a young (16-20) male, this has essentially been what has happened to me while masturbating.

Build-up is completely normal, and feels like always. Except, when I normally would orgasm (and ejaculate) it builds up to the "peak" and normally where it would "release," I ejaculate, but do not orgasm. All feeling goes away after the build-up and I don't feel any orgasm at all.

It's worth noting I've always had a very low sex drive, but have had absolutely no problem orgasming in the past. For the past 3 weeks, however, I haven't been able to at all. I am somewhat overweight, but not morbidly obese, and I haven't put on any weight since the last time I orgasmed.

What could be causing all of this? Eager to get it solved!

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (10 comments total)

Anti-depressants perhaps? I mean, are you on them? Sorry to hear this anyway, possum. Hope your bits get back to normal soon. See a doctor if you can cope with the embarrassment factor.
posted by taff at 8:09 PM on July 10, 2008

Forget about the embarrassment factor... Go to the doctor.
posted by matty at 8:14 PM on July 10, 2008

taff: I don't believe OP can post any follow-ups seeing how he posted anonymously. I'm sure he's paying very close attention though.
posted by devlin at 8:31 PM on July 10, 2008

I've never experienced this myself, but Googling "ejaculation without orgasm" turned up this long and interesting thread on hisandherhealth.com. Apparently, this is not as unusual an experience as one might think, and may be a behavior one has to unlearn, as the body can to short circuit to this response.
posted by mosk at 9:00 PM on July 10, 2008

You may have low testosterone. Body fat converts testosterone to estrogen...and estrogen/low testosterone promotes fat accumulation. It would explain your low sex drive as well. It usually shows up as erectile dysfunction rather than anorgasmia, but it's probably worth checking out with a doctor.

Medications could always be a factor.

Also, most cases of anorgasmia in men are due to psychological factors. You might ask yourself whether you're under any more stress than usual, or if anything traumatic or unusual has happened lately.

Good luck -- hope you're back to normal soon.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 9:09 PM on July 10, 2008

I don't think the OP has had anything traumatic or unusual happen, but I'm also certain he's very thankful for all of your responses and all of the help.
posted by devlin at 10:12 PM on July 10, 2008

What about stratera, mhuckaba? That doesn't make any sense.

Anyway. Anti-depressants can cause this, problems with your colon can cause it, all kinds of weird stuff. There's a lot of play that goes on between the prostate and all that other good stuff down there during your average orgasm, and if one part isn't working you won't have one. (See? Guys are just as complicated as women.)
posted by SpecialK at 3:22 AM on July 11, 2008

I'm 27. I had this for a few years. I'm not entirely sure as to the cause. The way I solved it was addressing the mental side of feelings and issues about sex (see books like this one).

And, probably more importantly, I dramatically increased the amount of masturbation I did, whether I wanted to or not, and I used porn (to personal taste--for me, as unexploitative as possible, but whatever works) to jump-start the libido.

So, again, even when I didn't want to, I would, and it seemed to reset everything and get it in working order. (Just like you, everything worked perfectly, but no orgasm.)

At the peak, it was twice a day, morning and night. It took a few weeks until the fix seemed to stick. The kicker, for me at least, was that I really had to eat healthy (vitamins), sleep well, and do a little exercise each day in order to not totally hate this frequency. But everything's normal now. YMMV, good luck!

I also had some sort of vague, sub-clinical prostate irritation. Is anything faintly uncomfortable down there? See a doctor about antibiotics(?). Also, there's a book that might be useful.
posted by zeek321 at 4:53 AM on July 11, 2008

Oh, also, I had really strong pelvic floor muscles and a really weak transversus abdominus muscle. Maybe that was pulling internal equipment out of alignment. Core exercises (like pilates) done reasonably might be helpful too. But, if you have more subtle tissue irritation, I would listen carefully to your body if trying a big fix like this because you could make things worse.

You can also lie on your back and relax your pelvic floor and stomach and massage both. You'll probably find all sorts of very sensitive spots. For the stomach, you want the area between your belly button and pubic-hair line. Be gentle and careful!!!
posted by zeek321 at 5:05 AM on July 11, 2008

Intense exercise and walking.
Deep breathing (sighing, moaning) while masterbating.
Anal play for yourself (try toys).
Kegels.
Un-attach from the result, look at it as play (sounds like you're pretty relaxed about it though).
posted by Furious Fitness at 2:37 PM on July 11, 2008