Poor sleeping quality due to frequent erections at night

A Dr. Dennis Auckley at Case Western University in Ohio, who claims to be a sleep specialist, offers some counsel. Unfortunately, it is terrible.

He regards the erections as "perfectly normal", then adds that the sleep disruption might instead be caused by "sleep apnea or periodic limb movements," not to mention "the environment you sleep in (i.e. too warm, too loud) to other medical problems (i.e. heartburn or breathing problems) to medications you may taking."Appalling. Of course nocturnal erections are "normal", and none of us believed otherwise. What is not "normal" is that the erection is so constant, chronic and so exceptionally rigid that it keeps interefering one's ability to get a good night's sleep.

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I would to communicate with somebody, offline, about this issue. The main thing is that I am reluctant to talk about this with my friends and family, but if I could find somebody who understands what I am going through, it could be a major step forward in perhaps the both of us working towards finding a solution.

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Hi Rick, good to find out there are others going through this nightmare, it's ruined my life for the last three years and given me chronic sleep condition. I'm a shadow of my former self, always worn down by fatigue, unable to commit to everyday plans until on the day. I thought it was due to using propecia, which caused an irritable bladder that became a major problem. I definitely think it might be connected to the frequent night time erections, which came along as the irritable bladder started to improve. I still have to empty the bladder to relieve the erections, I can rarely lie on my side either which provokes the condition. Interesting that it might be sleep induced. Maybe... it does tend to happen more from 5am onwards, but sometimes I'm very much awake when it's happening and just trying to rest. I feel it's connected to the bladder but nobody can find a thing wrong, I've seen urologists and an endocrinologist - just getting another 2nd opinion soon. I've had no more than a few good nights of sleep in 3 years, It's a life changing condition for me. I'm determined to find a solution or at least a proper diagnosis for starters.

Has anyone found any effective treatment or therapy for this?  I have had the problem for six years and also took Propevia for several years before stopping a few years ago. 

Thanks 

54 years old - had low testosterone symptoms tired, poor erections, no strength, rare nocturnal erections. etc, etc. On average a healthy person with a penis will have between three and five erections in a full night sleep, with each erection lasting between 25 -35 minutes.

Doc. Started me on testosterone ejections and all seemed to greatly improve. But a year later I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea (one of the causes for low testosterone). As soon as I started with the Cpap machine I noticed a big increase in nocturnal erections some times 1-4 a night. They wake me from a dead sleep, sometimes I just lay there waiting for it to go away, but they don’t. I mean the painful, rigid, uncomfortable, so hard I could poke a hole through drywall. These are much stronger than during sex or when I was in my teens and twenties..

Blood test showed that with my testosterone therapy and the use of the Cpap machine my testosterone levels went through the roof. Which caused the major increase nocturnal erections. I tapered off the testosterone injections and the problem nocturnal erections were still a problem but no were near the frequency..

Recently I have been on vacation - stress free, no work, lots of sleep and the nocturnal erections have returned with a vengeance. 2-4 times a night. My testicles will have a dull aching feeling during this period. Unfortunately at 3am my wife is not real understanding and not very receptive to a man in with a problem. My wife knows what’s going on so she knows what I have to do to get rid of the problem - rub one off, get up and go pee, (hard to pee with erection) or walk around the house..

We as humans naturally have an increase in testosterone levels as we sleep, it helps repair our bodies. In my case (we’re all different) I believe my problem is self inflicted and my situation may hint to others what their problem “may be”.  My combination of testosterone therapy, the additional small amount of nocturnal testosterone being natural produced is likely my nocturnal problem. I would rather have this problem than ED…Hope this helps others…

I have been having the same issue for almost one year now. It's nice to find so many people in the same boat, but disheartening to find no real solution. I have been to three urologists and tried a variety of herbal medicines. I had my blood checked and an ultrasound of my prostate done. I have started taking fish oil daily to improve circulation but so far nothing has worked. Almost every I am woken up my very hard unnatural erections which will not go down until I stand up and walk around. This happens 2-5 times a night. The shaft of my penis feels somewhat harder and a little numb when I reach normal day time erection these days and I'm worried I may be doing some lasting damage. I go to the gym and take protein regularly so the testosterone thing could be relevant?

im 32. Been forced to take abilify aripripazole for one year, an antipsychotic. When i stopped it i got SRPE (sleep related painful erection). I m awakened 3 to 5 times a night with a hard on, have to completely wake up for it to go away, then it starts again when i feel asleep again, during the REM phases. I never had any problem, it has been caused by the use of the anti psychotic which impacted on how dopamine, serotonine and reuptake inhibitors receptors works in the brain. It also modified the way my blood flows in the whole body. Basically this medication destroyed my life. Im constantly iritated, angered, tired, and you cant even find peace in resting as it is disturbed. A complete nightmare, a living hell. I read that it is the result of either using anti psychotic/neuroleptics that destroy your brain, or other drugs use. Apparently the problem is deep in side the brain, drug use or medication alterate how some blood vessels in the brain are wired leading to this debilitating handicap (see;vascular compression of the basal forebrain on google) I cant believe a pill i took for one year, definitely deteriorated parts of my brain.

there will probably more and more men with this atrocious problem in the next decade as more and more men are put on neuroleptics due to depressive states. My advice. never take abilify or any other nati psychotics, psychiatrists should take these drugs they put people on to see what it does...they too well paid by big pharma to sell them not caring the least about the side effects. Most people who have them problably end killing themselves so you never hear about them. watch the video the marketing of madness on youtbe you ll understand better.

I've had it for many years now and have been to a bunch of doctors. Up until finding the term previously mentioned in this thread "sleep related painful erections" I thought it was the only person on the planet who struggled with this. If you Google the term, there's at least two or three articles in great detail. Unfortunately none of the remedies seem to work for very long. Something not generally mentioned, which is only marginally helpful, is that the more you wake yourself up the more the erection goes down. (which at least at some point lets me fall back asleep) Also I find sitting on the arm of a cushioned armchair (kind of like a bicycle seat) helps facilitate the decrease of the erection faster. Unfortunately then you have to try to get yourself back to sleep,that's where the diazepam based medicine comes in handy. I have not use Klonopin,I use up aprolozome. I could go on about this if anyone's interested in the conversation.

Guest. I've also studied and printed those case studies to show my doc but unfortunately I live in Japan where certain meds are illegal. I've also found that applying pressure to the area between my scrotum and anus also helps to make it go down faster (sometimes). I've been taking 1mg of melatonin before bed to help get to sleep, but usually wake up around 4-5 hours later and then every 15-30 minutes following that until I just give up and get up. I'm exhausted. Anything else you know, please share.

Thank you for your response, possibly falls under the category of misery loves company. Ha ha, anyway not too much else to offer. I have not tried melatonin but I have some and I will give it a whirl soon. I just get the feeling the first night I try, it's going to be rougher than usual. I have also not tried sleeping in a lounge chair? I do not recall being symptomatic when I do an overnight flight. But then again, I'm usually relatively medicated with a diazepam to help me sleep. The more you take the more you sleep. I play cat and mouse game of it. I'm really not interested in being hooked on diazepam's. So I try to balance a reasonable amount of sleep with the least amount of medication, walking a fine line. Lastly, I've always practice some degree of meditation. During the night I try when I can't sleep to keep my mind clear. Unlike most people that seem to have this condition ,I do not suffer during the day from being tired. Although, I do find my nights a bit grueling.

Haha, agreed! I've yet to try sleeping sitting up because I'm a light sleeper at best. I am usually exhausted during the day so I might try and look into meditation. Do you just focus on thinking of nothing? I'm not sure if this is unique to me, but I also find that my day time erections curve much more upward than they used to. I'm not really interested in diazepam (yet), and i don't think I can even get it over here. Light doses of melatonin aren't too bad so I hear! Keep in touch. My username on here was rezz a few posts back. I'm not sure why I'm a guest again now....

In case you get this twice I don't think my last response posted.
Yes the goal is to think of nothing but It is hard to stop the torrent of thoughts that go through our minds.
I am a scientific evidence-based individual. I have enjoyed the book Waking Up by Sam Harris. He is a PhD in neuroscience and his culled through centuries of information on meditation without the religious aspect. If that suits your philosophical needs, you might enjoy his work. It is been helpful to me.

I have had the same thing happening for the last 3 years. It started when I turned . I have used klonapine ever other night and it has defiantly helped with this condition .

This problem started at the age of 37 for me . It began after taking antibiotics and getting a tetanus shot. I also had very high colesteral and tryglycerides for years . I don't know if these things have anything to do with it. I also had a head injury as a teenager , so I don't know if it is related to some sort of brain damage. I am now 40 years old and this problem has not gone away. I have a very high pressure career , but I don't know if that's the reason. I wake up about 5 times per night and have to get up and walk around or go to the bathroom to get it to go down . If you respond to this post , please mention you age and if you have any of things I mentioned in common. I really would like to figure out the root cause of this problem.