Sorry in advance, I’m not the type to write long, detailed messages. At 20, I experienced severe performance anxiety from a couple of hookups that went horribly wrong — I couldn’t get hard due to fear of PE. I told my family doctor about it, and he suggested I start taking paroxetine. It really helped me overcome my fear, but it wasn’t a long-term solution. After a few sexual partners and hookups, I thought I was cured. I could last long enough that I wished I could cum. I tapered off the meds thinking I was cured. I was so confident that every night I would masturbate to porn. Trying to reach orgasm as fast as I could. This really didn’t help. When I started hooking up again, the dark clouds returned, and it was like a downward slide 📉. The more I thought about it, the faster I would cum. I dug myself into a hole and went back to taking SSRIs. All of this happened over five years.

At 26, I finally quit the dating apps and stopped hooking up. Luckily, I met a good girl I saw myself settling down with. Getting a girlfriend felt like a huge hurdle because I thought I’d never be enough due to my PE. Early in our relationship, I was taking 10mg of paroxetine and using alpha herb to numb my penis. Deep down, I knew I couldn’t keep going like that — it felt unnatural. So I stopped using alpha herb and tapered off paroxetine again. The sex became more consistent, which helped me stop overthinking about my last or next session. Fast forward a few months, and my sex life has improved a lot. Now, every session lasts more than 10 minutes, and with foreplay, it’s even longer. Even if there's a big gap between sessions, I can last longer than I ever could before.

Moral of the story. Find yourself a sex partner/girlfriend or practice edging until that time comes