After the breakup of a five-year relationship, James was nervous about dating again. He was 27, healthy, and had a good sex life. But when it came to sleeping with new people, he was experiencing “performance anxiety”. “I was really struggling to get it up,” he says. “I got to this point where I was having sex with lots of people with like a 75 per cent error rate.” James assumed the problem was just nerves. He didn’t seek advice from his GP. Instead, he started self-medicating with sildenafil – better known as Viagra. It worked instantly.
“When you take it, you can actually focus on enjoying the sex and being in the moment,” he says, “as opposed to thinking, ‘Oh my God, my d*** is failing. No! No! Don’t stop! Keep going!’” When he started dating someone new, however, James felt an even greater need to rely on the drug. Wanting to make sure he wasn’t a disappointment, and sensing they were about to have sex, James decided that – just to be sure – he would “double drop” two maximum strength 100mg pills. His new partner, though, wasn’t in the mood, and fell asleep next to him.
