Depression, Porn use, and Morning Wood

One of the first identifiers that caused me to believe my sexual health was deteriorating was the loss of waking up with morning erections. It has been nearly 2 years, perhaps even longer that I can remember waking up erect.

I am a fit, active, overall healthy adult male who suffers from mild depression / anxiety. I am being evaluated to see if medication would assist me in combating my poor mental health, but have never previously used antidepressants. I have been trying to identify the root of this disfunction and believe that it may be a result of low testosterone, long-term porn use, depression / anxiety (surplus of cortisol in the brain) or a combination of these factors.

I am curious to know if anyone else on this platform has a history of prolonged porn-use that may have affected their body’s ability to provide morning erections?

Since joining Mojo, I have realized that over the last decade I have seldom ever masturbated without using porn and I’m aware that this can have damaging effects on my ability to be stimulated without a partner- but does anyone meeting this description feel that something like prolonged porn use deteriorated their body’s natural arousal cycle? Would love anyone’s thoughts or experience in this area as I have almost no friends who admit to having this problem, causing me to feel even more isolated in this disfunction.

I can seriously relate to this. I am a very fit 39 year old, who works out regularly.
I’ve suffered with ED for years and I have got through it by secretly using viagra. Because of this I am really in long term relationships, but plenty of short term ones.
I rarely if ever wake up with morning wood. I have been to the doctors to get checked out and my bloods came back fine. Because of this and the strain on the NHS due to covid, they do not want to refer me to a urologist. I have abused porn in the past and over masterbated. I suffer with anxiety and depression and this is now creating a snowball effect making it worse.

So now I have no idea whether my condition is psychological or physiological or a bit of both. Viagra still works well but I’m sick of having to keep spending the money and the stress of timing it correctly. I really do not know what to do as my diet and exercise routine is already good.

I can really relate to the altered arousal cycle. I’m 37, have used porn since a young age (13/14?) and over the years the use has escalated to more and more extreme content.
Now, I have decided to quit using it. I deleted my “stash” ended subscriptions, and have deleted social media from my phone to avoid triggers. I have successfully abstained, but this time it is odd because I don’t even crave the porn. It’s like I’ve flat lined and have no interest in sex partnered or alone with or without porn. I’m in a real funk here lately.