Premature ejaculation (PE) is believed by many sexual specialists to be the most common sexual disorder among men. Between one in five men between the ages of 18 and 59 may have suffered PE for a portion of their lives. Despite its prevalence few men seek treatment, which is unfortunate because there are a variety of effective treatments available.
How many men have PE?
It is not well known how many men experience PE frequently or continually. The National Health and Social Life Survey indicates that one of every five U.S. men between the ages of 18 and 59 may have the problem. Other estimates put it even higher with some saying more than a third of men may have PE. Data is sparse but what exists suggests that risk factors for PE can be smoking, drug use, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Some studies even suggest that there may be racial and ethnic differences but these have yet to be confirmed.
The difficulty epidemiologists have in determining how many men experience PE lays in the absence of a universally recognized definition of the problem. Different surveys asked different questions and therefore produced different results. An international consortium of experts defines PE as “persistent or recurrent ejaculation with minimal stimulation before, on, or shortly after penetration, and before the person wishes it, over which the sufferer has little or no voluntary control which causes the sufferer and/or his partner bother or distress.” The American Urological Association treatment guidelines for PE shortened this definition to a more manageable “premature ejaculation is ejaculation that occurs sooner than desired, either before or shortly after penetration, causing distress to either one or both partners.”
The key word in these two definitions is “stress.” Intercourse can be an essential aspect of a relationship and PE can build disappointment and anxiety which put severe stress on a relationship. It can lead to one or the other of the partners in the relationship seeking to minimize or avoid sex. In instances, one partner may regard the other as being selfish. The full consequences of PE on relationships have yet to be adequately studied. One thing is certain. It need not happen.
How does ejaculation occur?
The male reproductive system is far more complex than many might imagine. Only those organs, structures, and tissues involved in ejaculation are described here. When a man becomes sexually stimulated, blood fills spongy tissue in the penis and it becomes erect. Sperm is produced in the testes, and the rest in the epididymis, a small organ that rests atop the testes within the scrotum or sac. A tube known as the vas deferens connects the epididymis to the seminal vesicles that lie behind the bladder. The vesicles produce a fluid, semen, that lubricates the urethra, the channel that runs the length of the penis and serves to empty the bladder. This fluid also provides nutrients for the sperm.
Physical and mental sexual stimuli induce neural stimuli that cause a rapid contraction of reproductive ducts and accessory glands which squeezes the sperm and fluid into the urethra. The bulbospongiosus muscles in the penis contract and expel semen from the penis in a reflex known as orgasm.