Erectile dysfunction

Nowadays erectile dysfunction is a common problem among men. According to study up to 20% of all men has erectile dysfunction. These numbers are followed by 70% of all cases where men do not treat erectile dysfunction. This disorder is common among the older population. Erectile dysfunction is the inability to get and maintain an erection during the period of sex. This disease has many causes, can be very complex and can have root in psychological, psychical or both causes. Complexity is the consequence of the role of neurons, blood vessels, hormones(mainly testosterone, but not only), muscles.

Symptoms of erectile dysfunction

So to be clear, having impotence one does not represent erectile dysfunction. It is a chronic disease with main symptoms of:

  • the inability of obtaining an erection
  • the inability of keeping an erection
  • and last but not the least reduced sexual desire

Causes of this disease:

Anxiety and depression as the first factor are responsible for around 10 to 20% of all cases. If they are the main reason therapy should include anti-depressives and antibiotics to treat main disease(in our case anxiety or depression) and curing this disease will lead to curing the disease that is directly correlated in our case erectile dysfunction.

The effect of drugs

Today there are many drugs that can lead to impotence. First of all, cardiovascular disease drugs are first on the list. There are two group of drugs that mainly affect erectile dysfunction: beta blockers and thiazides. Doctors who treat patients with both beta blockers and thiazides should inform patients about side effects of these drugs. If that is the case doctor will measure the risk of switching to another cardiovascular drug. These effects of beta blockers are mainly due to blocking of beta receptors of blood vessels in vessels. That leads to vasoconstriction ( narrowing your blood vessels) and less blood in your penis which makes penis soft during the intercourse.

Diseases

Cardiovascular, metabolic, renal are all directly correlated to erectile dysfunction. Cardiovascular diseases that greatly impact the risk of developing impotence are heart failure, atherosclerosis (mainly blood vessels of your penis), high blood pressure. From metabolic disorders diabetes, obesity and high level of cholesterol certainly improve your risk.

Lifestyle

The Cardiovascular system is directly correlated with your lifestyle. If you smoke or drink alcohol excessively or eat junk food you are at great risk of developing many diseases including this one. However on the other hand if you are living fit life with healthy habits you are at lower risk.

Treatments of erectile dysfunction

So the most prescribed group of drugs for the treatment of impotence is PDE5 drugs ( phosphodiesterase type 5). This group includes:

These drugs are very effective and very popular. But you should be warned that they are not very safe, especially if you are combining with other cardiovascular drugs on your own hand. There can be a deadly interaction between these drugs and drugs like nitro-glycerin and other vasodilators. If you are using on your hand you should at least make the break of 24h between using this two types of drugs.

The second type of drugs that are used for erectile dysfunction is testosterone. Because there are many controversies around this compound you should use it only with doctors prescription and laboratory test. If laboratory test shows that you have lack of testosterone in your blood your doctor can prescribe you this hormone.

Natural remedies: Herbs and supplements

So you need to be very careful when you choose these types of products. They can help some men, but in many cases, most of them are not effective and even make your troubles. That is because these products are not very researched and there is of course lack of quality of every product.

Most famous product for impotence in this group is yohimbe. However, there is a lack of evidence to back the statement of its effectiveness in curing ED. Next one is L-arginine. It is a safe product and well tolerated among patients but it is not very effective. There are many dietary supplements on the market that contain both of these ingredients. So the next question will be, when it comes to their effectiveness can they cure ED?

L-arginine is amino acid found mostly in meat and it very important to our body because it helps blood vessels to relax. That is due to transformation L-arginine to Nitric oxide (NO) which is a natural relaxant. This affects all blood vessels including pelvic blood vessels which is essential for normal blood flow to penis and erection. On the other hand, yohimbine is the antagonist of alpha receptors which leads to relaxation. These two effects should sum up and get wanted results.

Clinically now it is proven that this combination can help in treating mild to moderate erectile dysfunction.

Treating this disease is very important for every man. Consequences of untreated disease are lack of sexual desire, losing confidence, emotional damage(including breakups), depression and other. If you experience these symptoms or before you start some of the drugs on your own we recommend you to ask the doctor or pharmacist for help.