Designed for older men, erectile dysfunction drugs are increasingly being used by recreational users in their 20s, writes Peter Munro.

The 27-year-old sitting in his Brisbane bedroom looks fit and well, with glossy black hair, a snub nose and straight white teeth. He has a cowboy hat on the top shelf and, by his unmade bed, a drawer filled with erectile dysfunction drugs. He is good in bed, he assures me. But then there are those "special occasions" when his best simply won't do.

"If I'm in a long-term relationship and it's a special night, I might take it then," he says. "Or maybe for a one-night stand, where I want to be better than I know I am. If the girl is sexually presumptuous, then I'll take one to match her expectations. If I was out all night drinking and I knew that afterwards I would have to perform, I might pop one."

The 27-year-old, whom I'll call John, won't necessarily tell his companion he has taken Viagra or its competitor, Cialis. "Once or twice I've surprised a girl by how long I go for," he says. "If they ask, I tell them. Some are upset. Others are like, 'Oh, that explains everything.' "

A significant cohort of 20-somethings in their supposed sexual prime are using erectile dysfunction drugs (known as PDE5 inhibitors), often despite having no physical problems getting and staying hard. John says that when he pops that little blue pill, he feels like Popeye on spinach. He insists "the end game" is pleasuring his partner: "You can go all night."

John started taking Viagra when he was 22 and couldn't sustain an erection, which he blamed on the fact he was overweight and watched pornography. "All the fake moaning and different positions are so in your face," he says. "So when you come to real life and it doesn't happen, then it's just not as exciting."

His GP prescribed him four Viagra tablets, which cost about $70 at the time (the price has dropped dramatically since Pfizer's patent for the Viagra drug sildenafil expired in Australia in May). The effect was immediate: "I went from lasting two minutes to 20 minutes."

John has since shed 25 kilograms ("I am doing this low-carb, high-fat thing") and says he no longer struggles sexually. But three years ago he bought 200 tablets purporting to be Viagra and Cialis from a pharmacy in India. He is single and continues to take the pills occasionally. "There is this pressure to perform for women these days," he says. "If you can't make them satisfied, then you feel like you have performed poorly, which increases the pressure and further reduces your performance."

Sydney urological surgeon David Malouf believes that young men taking erectile dysfunction pills are primarily motivated by psychological need. "Sexual function is 90 per cent mental and only 10 per cent physical. It could be because of sexual inexperience or an unsatisfactory experience, and that anxiety starts to impact their ability to achieve and maintain an erection," he says, adding that the spread of pornography online has accentuated that "sense of inadequacy".

Erectile dysfunction medication can help break that cycle of anxiety and performance issues. Malouf warns, however, that young men might develop a psychological dependence on these drugs. Common side-effects include headaches, flushing, nausea, nasal congestion and back pain, and Malouf also warns against buying such drugs online. "You don't know what's in them," he says. "We should be trying to reassure men that there is a huge spectrum of normal, they shouldn't feel they are underperforming and that the first resort is medication."

Joel murray gives five reasons why he might not get an erection: he is drunk; he is high; his partner won't kiss him; he is hungry; his feet are cold. "I have had a guy yell at my dick because it wasn't getting hard," he says. "I was like, 'Dude, that is not helping.' "

Dressed in a jacket and scarf, with blue eyes and a moustache, Murray, 30, from Melbourne's north, is fit, friendly and gay - and more than capable sexually. He calls himself an "adventure seeker" and was already sexually proficient at age 21 when a partner offered him Viagra. The fact he was taking a pill primarily designed for older men did not give him pause. "It was a bit of a thrill," he says. "It was, 'Oh, cool, this drug will make me hard as a rock.' "

Initially, Murray put erectile dysfunction medication in the same category as party drugs. Then, in his mid-20s, he was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C, and worried whether he was still attractive to other men. PDE5s gave him added confidence in the bedroom, he says. "It was either offered to me or I'd offer it to the other guy and we'd both have it," he says. "Now, taking it is kind of a norm."

Surveys of Australia's gay community by the University of NSW show the percentage of PDE5 users aged under 25 has increased in the past decade from 4.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent. Among young men in general, a survey of 1200 undergraduate students in the United States in 2012 found 6 per cent had used PDE5s recreationally in the previous month, in most cases without a prescription.

Frequent recreational use of PDE5s likely enabled the men to experience erections that were firmer and more durable, the study found, but raised unreasonable expectations about their performance and made anything else seem "sub-par". They were also less satisfied with their sexual lives overall - in part because they began to lose confidence in their ability to achieve and hold an erection unaided.

"I can get it up fine, but sometimes you just want that edge," says a 26-year-old from western Sydney whom I'll call Thomas. He has black hair and brown eyes and a gym-toned body. He is married and has been purchasing PDE5s online for about four years, in conjunction with using steroids, which dampen his libido. At the peak of his use, Thomas was taking Cialis three times a week.

"You feel pressure if your missus is asking for it," he says. "You don't want to last two minutes or three minutes or five minutes - you want to go 20 minutes. Your normal isn't enough for you anymore. I don't want it to sound like a wonder drug, but it is."

Thomas recently cut back his use of erectile dysfunction drugs, fearing he was becoming dependent on them to perform. He has been developing his own drug-free techniques for prolonging sex, he says: "If you think positive, it will happen." His wife still doesn't know about the drugs. But can't she tell the difference when he does take them? "I tell her she's looking a lot more beautiful, or that maybe it's the lingerie she is wearing."

Joel Murray has also reduced his use of PDE5s, largely as a result of cutting back on party drugs and casual sex. "Where there's a really strong physical, emotional and psychological attraction, I don't have any issues with erections," he says. "I like using it because of the confidence, but I don't feel like I need it. I can't rely on getting hard to be the determining factor as to whether or not I enjoy myself."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/young-virile-on-viagra-20140915-3fpmt.html#ixzz3DyRmhUeO
writes Peter Munro.

The 27-year-old sitting in his Brisbane bedroom looks fit and well, with glossy black hair, a snub nose and straight white teeth. He has a cowboy hat on the top shelf and, by his unmade bed, a drawer filled with erectile dysfunction drugs. He is good in bed, he assures me. But then there are those "special occasions" when his best simply won't do.

"If I'm in a long-term relationship and it's a special night, I might take it then," he says. "Or maybe for a one-night stand, where I want to be better than I know I am. If the girl is sexually presumptuous, then I'll take one to match her expectations. If I was out all night drinking and I knew that afterwards I would have to perform, I might pop one."

The 27-year-old, whom I'll call John, won't necessarily tell his companion he has taken Viagra or its competitor, Cialis. "Once or twice I've surprised a girl by how long I go for," he says. "If they ask, I tell them. Some are upset. Others are like, 'Oh, that explains everything.' "

A significant cohort of 20-somethings in their supposed sexual prime are using erectile dysfunction drugs (known as PDE5 inhibitors), often despite having no physical problems getting and staying hard. John says that when he pops that little blue pill, he feels like Popeye on spinach. He insists "the end game" is pleasuring his partner: "You can go all night."

John started taking Viagra when he was 22 and couldn't sustain an erection, which he blamed on the fact he was overweight and watched pornography. "All the fake moaning and different positions are so in your face," he says. "So when you come to real life and it doesn't happen, then it's just not as exciting."

His GP prescribed him four Viagra tablets, which cost about $70 at the time (the price has dropped dramatically since Pfizer's patent for the Viagra drug sildenafil expired in Australia in May). The effect was immediate: "I went from lasting two minutes to 20 minutes."

John has since shed 25 kilograms ("I am doing this low-carb, high-fat thing") and says he no longer struggles sexually. But three years ago he bought 200 tablets purporting to be Viagra and Cialis from a pharmacy in India. He is single and continues to take the pills occasionally. "There is this pressure to perform for women these days," he says. "If you can't make them satisfied, then you feel like you have performed poorly, which increases the pressure and further reduces your performance."

Sydney urological surgeon David Malouf believes that young men taking erectile dysfunction pills are primarily motivated by psychological need. "Sexual function is 90 per cent mental and only 10 per cent physical. It could be because of sexual inexperience or an unsatisfactory experience, and that anxiety starts to impact their ability to achieve and maintain an erection," he says, adding that the spread of pornography online has accentuated that "sense of inadequacy".

Erectile dysfunction medication can help break that cycle of anxiety and performance issues. Malouf warns, however, that young men might develop a psychological dependence on these drugs. Common side-effects include headaches, flushing, nausea, nasal congestion and back pain, and Malouf also warns against buying such drugs online. "You don't know what's in them," he says. "We should be trying to reassure men that there is a huge spectrum of normal, they shouldn't feel they are underperforming and that the first resort is medication."

Joel murray gives five reasons why he might not get an erection: he is drunk; he is high; his partner won't kiss him; he is hungry; his feet are cold. "I have had a guy yell at my dick because it wasn't getting hard," he says. "I was like, 'Dude, that is not helping.' "

Dressed in a jacket and scarf, with blue eyes and a moustache, Murray, 30, from Melbourne's north, is fit, friendly and gay - and more than capable sexually. He calls himself an "adventure seeker" and was already sexually proficient at age 21 when a partner offered him Viagra. The fact he was taking a pill primarily designed for older men did not give him pause. "It was a bit of a thrill," he says. "It was, 'Oh, cool, this drug will make me hard as a rock.' "

Initially, Murray put erectile dysfunction medication in the same category as party drugs. Then, in his mid-20s, he was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C, and worried whether he was still attractive to other men. PDE5s gave him added confidence in the bedroom, he says. "It was either offered to me or I'd offer it to the other guy and we'd both have it," he says. "Now, taking it is kind of a norm."

Surveys of Australia's gay community by the University of NSW show the percentage of PDE5 users aged under 25 has increased in the past decade from 4.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent. Among young men in general, a survey of 1200 undergraduate students in the United States in 2012 found 6 per cent had used PDE5s recreationally in the previous month, in most cases without a prescription.

Frequent recreational use of PDE5s likely enabled the men to experience erections that were firmer and more durable, the study found, but raised unreasonable expectations about their performance and made anything else seem "sub-par". They were also less satisfied with their sexual lives overall - in part because they began to lose confidence in their ability to achieve and hold an erection unaided.

"I can get it up fine, but sometimes you just want that edge," says a 26-year-old from western Sydney whom I'll call Thomas. He has black hair and brown eyes and a gym-toned body. He is married and has been purchasing PDE5s online for about four years, in conjunction with using steroids, which dampen his libido. At the peak of his use, Thomas was taking Cialis three times a week.

"You feel pressure if your missus is asking for it," he says. "You don't want to last two minutes or three minutes or five minutes - you want to go 20 minutes. Your normal isn't enough for you anymore. I don't want it to sound like a wonder drug, but it is."

Thomas recently cut back his use of erectile dysfunction drugs, fearing he was becoming dependent on them to perform. He has been developing his own drug-free techniques for prolonging sex, he says: "If you think positive, it will happen." His wife still doesn't know about the drugs. But can't she tell the difference when he does take them? "I tell her she's looking a lot more beautiful, or that maybe it's the lingerie she is wearing."

Joel Murray has also reduced his use of PDE5s, largely as a result of cutting back on party drugs and casual sex. "Where there's a really strong physical, emotional and psychological attraction, I don't have any issues with erections," he says. "I like using it because of the confidence, but I don't feel like I need it. I can't rely on getting hard to be the determining factor as to whether or not I enjoy myself."