Talking to Your Doctor About Erectile Dysfunction

Having Erectile Dysfunction can be an embarrassing and shameful condition to most men. The important thing to remember is that you are not alone. Because of the feelings that go along with this issue a lot of men tend to avoid a trip to the doctor. This will help you understand how to talk to your doctor, what questions to ask, and what information to give.

Self-diagnosing or self-prescribing for Erectile Dysfunction is very dangerous, although, a lot of men will do this in order to avoid the doctor’s office. If you think you have symptoms of ED it is better to go to the doctor and get an actual diagnosis as there could be serious underlying health problems that are actually causing ED. Such problems as diabetes and heart problems would cause ED. Medications can also cause ED, both prescribed and over-the-counter. Other times it could be a simple change in lifestyle that will do the trick. Smoking, drinking and no exercise can contribute to ED.

viagra is a commercial produced medicine conta...

Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes in our embarrassment we forget to ask some important questions in an effort to escape the room as quickly as possible. This is one thing you want to take time to ask, listen and understand. Provide your doctor with as much information as possible. When you first noticed, what medicines you take, and how you would describe your sex drive is good information to start off with. If you are not satisfied with the information that your doctor gave you or you felt it was rushed and uncomfortable, it is alright to see another doctor. You should feel comfortable when discussing this with your doctor.

 

Common Causes of Impotence

If you are impotent and you don’t understand why, there are some things that can cause impotence. Here are some of the common reasons for male impotence. When you know what can cause it, you can do a lot to help to remedy it.

  • Not exercising – The men who are not active usually are going to be impotent.
  • Overweight – Those men that have a high BMI often suffer impotence. You can find out the BMI by Googling it and checking the fat in your body.
  • Depression – This affects your sex life as well as your body and your mind.
  • Stress – Any of the stress that you are suffering from can help to cause impotence.
  • Sickness – If you are sick this can cause you to be impotent. When your body is healthy, it can be raring to go.
  • Atherosclerosis – if you have plaque in your arteries, either from bad eating habits, being overweight, or even from genetics, you are going to find that there’s less blood flowing to your genital.
  • Diabetes – A lot of diabetic men are often impotent
  • Different kinds of drugs – When you’re taking sedatives, antihypertensives  and antidepressants you are often going to find that you are having trouble performing.
  • Medical problems – Hormone imbalance, stroke, and prostate surgery can cause impotence.

These are some of the things that can cause impotence. Some of them you can control, while others can’t. But when you know what causes it, you can do what you can do to change.

Erectile Dysfunction Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure or so the saying goes. It may sound trite but there is something to it. Erectile dysfunction is not something men give a lot of thought to until it actually happens and, sometimes, it is not preventable. However, there are actions to can take before it becomes a problem.

One of the most important steps you can take to prevent erectile dysfunction is to stop smoking cigarettes or not take up if you haven’t yet. Studies have linked tobacco to erectile dysfunction and the more you smoke, the greater the impact. Tobacco accelerates atherosclerosis, which occurs when cholesterol and other fatty material builds up on the walls of arteries, seriously impeding flow of the blood supply. Since a healthy blood flow in essential for erections, the connection is obvious. Of course this is not the only reason to give up smoking as it poses many other serious health risks.

Regular exercise and a healthy diet are essential for optimum sexual performance. Both of these are helpful in improving blood flow throughout the body. Obesity and diabetes are well established as contributors to erectile dysfunction.

Moderate alcohol intake can be beneficial but excessive alcohol intake can lead to trouble getting or maintaining an erection. This is sometimes called “brewer’s droop.” Alcoholism is also known to increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, which in turn leads to erectile dysfunction.

Recreational drug use may also play a part in erectile dysfunction. These include marijuana, cocaine, and heroin to name just three. Some may increase desire and lower inhibitions but all have an impact, to a greater or lesser extent, on performance and lower sperm count.

Psychological factors can cause or exacerbate erectile dysfunction. Depression, stress and anxiety can all make getting or maintaining an erection difficult even when there is no medical cause. That is why emotional and mental health should not be ignored.

Impotence: Doctor’s view

Impotence is also known as erectile dysfunction. Many people want it to discuss with their doctors but other feel hesitated talking or discussing about it. In medical terms professional calls it ED (Erectile dysfunction). Impotence is also described as sexual problems that interfere with sexual intercourse or reproduction system, such as lack of sexual disorder and problems with proper or premature ejaculation. But to clarify the term of impotence which is a bit different from other sexual problems, the professionals gave it the name erectile dysfunction. Your hormones, blood vessels, nerves and muscles must work together and properly to cause an erection. The signal of erection comes through brain and nervous system starts passing up the signals and then it is the work of blood vessels to flow the blood properly to the body part for better erection and when it is not done in a proper manner, person feels sexual problems, and due to this, one can get the result of impotence. Other causes of impotency are bad lifestyle choices, surgery, injury, certain medicines, psychological conditions etc. The diseases that can cause impotency are diabetes, kidney diseases, continual alcoholism, vascular diseases, and neurological diseases.

Many people cannot judge that their improper erection can be a cause of impotence. The person who is going through impotence must consult to his doctor because it is a medical problem and it can be cured. One can take his partner to doctor’s session devised particularly for this problem for a better solution because many doctors say that impotence is easier to treat when both partners are involved in these sessions. Doctors say that impotence is mainly caused by lifestyle choices like use of alcohol, smoking, and other evil wrong doings. There are many treatments for impotence but doctors say that it is better to ask the partner that in what way of treatment he/she is comfortable.

Sexual Issues: Gender View

Sexual issues now a day’s growing with both men and women. The sexual problems with men are erectile dysfunction, impotence, premature ejaculation etc. There are many names of the problems related to men’s sexual issues but these three are major. The erectile dysfunction is also called and known impotence and is also defined as the inability to achieve and or maintain an erection suitable for intercourse. Some physical factors like nerve disorder, blood flow affect it and some psychological factors like stress, depression and anxiety to perform better in sexual intercourse. If one wants to about its sexual problems than there are some blood test, sensory testing, vascular assessment, and for its cure you can take some medical treatment, medication, hormones supplementation, psychological therapies, education and communication. But in last few years awareness of male health is increased. Now men openly discuss and search about their sexual problems.

The main cause of women sexual issue is the lack of satisfaction and confidence to please their partner. The sexual issues especially the sex related problems can be because of health problems and it can be cured by some medication or conversation with the partner. The major factor with any women is that they do not like to talk with their partner or they hesitate to talk about their sexual issues. It has been observed now that women have started discussing about their sexual issues with their partners for better sex life and good health because it is an essential part of human life, it is a natural procedure and no one can deny it. Some more aged men and women hesitate to talk about this topic because they think their age factor is a big reason for it. But experts say that age is not a reason, it can happen at any age time.

Impotence: The psychological view

Impotence is a somewhat broad term which is often referred to as erectile dysfunction and is a problem which can occur by any of the cause which interferes with the sequences of the events which take place during an erection. Some of the most common causes that support impotence, other than health disorders include damage of nerves, diabetes and diseased arteries. Most of the clinical cases of impotence are to be treated with the oral medication or the medicines are too injected through the penis. Moreover to this, the term impotence is also associated to the disorders which interfere in sexual activities and reproduction.

The erection is followed as the brain sends the nerve impulses to the penis as it senses sexual stimulation or the time of arousal of the penis. A touch, a sense to make ready for sexual activity, an erotic thing seen or heard which excites or simply a dream about sex can bring the erection. Thus, the nerve impulses make a heavy blood flow in the penis to make erection. So, healthy nervous and blood vascular system is must for erection, the persons lacking the above requirements can face the problem of impotence or erectile dysfunction. Clotted blood vessels in men and other neural disability due to diabetes can also lead to impotence. Lifestyle factors such as being overweight, regular smoking habit, being alcoholic and physically in-activeness is also contribution to impotence.

The diseases like diabetes, renal disorder or kidney dysfunction, chronic alcoholism, multiple sclerosis, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases and neural disorders tend to possibility of impotency. It can be treated through oral medicines, improvement in life style, regular exercise and sometimes by surgical processes of artery reconstruction and blocking of veins, however the surgical processes are not effective for a long time therefore are rarely done.

Impotence: Diagnosis

The diagnosis of impotence in a person can be done by taking its medical history, the way of living, physical examination and some other additional tests. Diagnosis of impotence involves lifestyle factors as the smoking habit, alcoholism and regular exercise. The ejaculation time, time to sustain the erection during a sexual activity, how often it reaches to climax are the factors which are noted down to diagnose the problem of impotence in a person. Physical examinations include the proper diagnosis of testes and the penis, determination of blood pressure at several stages and checking of reflexes. During the diagnosis of impotence, blood sample is to be taken for the proper check of diabetes, cholesterol level and several other factors which are in association to impotence. This blood test also includes the quantitative analysis of packed cell volume in blood, urinalysis, lipid profile test and measurement of creatinine and the enzymes secreted by the liver.

Involuntary erections can happen to a normal healthy person while sleeping at night and if these nocturnal erections do not occur then there is a physical cause more than a psychological factor involved in causing impotence. However, these types of nocturnal erections are not completely reliable on behalf of impotence but can help up to an extent in diagnosis of impotence. The measurement of testosterone hormone in the blood can be helpful in yielding the information related to the endocrine system which is most necessary in the case of the patients which have reported a decrease in their sexual desires. Trauma to various nerves, arteries or smooth muscles and the fibrous tissues of the penis, lifestyle choices and other psychological disorders are a major cause of impotence in a person. Thus, to take medical history and psychological studies carry much importance to diagnose impotence in a person.

Impotence: A General Discussion

Impotence refers to a disorder which shows the characters like consistent inability to hold on an erection which is sufficient enough for a sexual intercourse or can also be the inability to ejaculate. Impotence is a common problem for men as the risk of it increases with age. The risk to face impotence is for times higher after the age of 60 years than that in the 40s. The persons who are less educated tend to face the impotence more than the educated ones as the previous one would practice a less healthy life than the later ones. Regular exercise can also be helpful to lessen down the risk of impotence in life as the flow of blood to all the body parts become smooth.

There are also some drugs regular use of which can tend to impotency of the patients. But the most common causes to face impotence are surgeries and psychological factors. By the trauma in smooth muscles, arteries or fibrous tissues impotence can be caused. The various diseases which can cause impotence include diabetes, renal disorders, multiple sclerosis or atherosclerosis, cardio vascular diseases and neurological disorders. These are the medical conditions which are a cause to report an average of 70% of the total impotence cases, among which 35 to 50% of men having diabetes face impotence.

Before to take treatment of impotence, one should talk to partner and analyze the way of treatment which suites. Some people can also be treated by quitting smoking habit, regular exercise, losing their excess weight and quitting alcoholism. Medication for treatment of impotence includes oral pills which can solve the problem of erectile dysfunction and are taken before an hour to go for a sexual activity. Some permanent methods to treat impotence include surgeries of artery reconstruction and blocking of veins. Thus, impotence can be treated in several ways.

Viagra: A Drug

Viagra is available in the form of a tablet of several strengths. It is an oral pill which is used in treatment of erectile dysfunction or impotency. Viagra mainly has sildenafil citrate as its major component which is a much effective drug in treatment of erectile dysfunction. Mostly it is prescribed to be taken before an hour to half an hour of a sexual activity. Those who are allergic to Viagra should discard its positive aspects and try to not use it as it can result in a huge problem as it can also result in a heart stroke to them. In most of the cases erectile dysfunction can be safely treated by Viagra, thus most of the men can use Viagra but is to be used under prescription as it is not the best choice for everyone without consulting to a healthcare provider. Normally headache, nasal congestion and dizziness are the few common side effects to be reported and some side effects like fainting and migraine can also be reported rarely.

The strength provided by Viagra is mainly dependant on prescription, medical history and guidelines to take the medicine. Some substitutes of Viagra oral pills as inject able versions are also available in the market. Before having Viagra it is much important to take a prescription by a registered medical practitioner as it provides a safe, accurate and effective treatment of erectile dysfunction and impotency. The medicine can be taken with or without having a meal and should be taken before an hour to have a sexual activity. It is important to take the drug under prescription and also to report its side effects to a doctor as on basis of it the healthcare provider will alter the dosage of Viagra according to need and to fetch the proper sexual satisfaction.

Impotence Just may be all in Your Head

Statue of Confucius on Chongming Island in Sha...
Image via Wikipedia

When faced with the issue of impotence, most men automatically assume that it’s a medical issue and right away reach out for a pharmaceutical solution. While the majority of those are correct in their assumption, for 10-20% of them the causes of their impotence are psychological. This can lead many men astray and not only fail to cure their impotence but possibly make matters worse. Some men are exposing their bodies to drugs when they should instead be making simple lifestyle changes. However, it can be difficult for men to come to the realization that their sexual issues may just be all in their head. To overcome that difficulty it’s best to look at some the psychological causes of impotence.

The biggest and most widely seen psychological cause of impotence is stress. Stress can affect every aspect of a person’s life, including a man’s sexual health. Whether the stress is generated from financial worries, workplace problems or relationship troubles, it directly affects a person’s health from weight gain or loss to high blood pressure. It only makes sense to realize that it also has a negative effect on sexual health and performance. Another external psychological cause is depression. Much like stress, depression can adversely affect a man’s performance in all phases of life.

However, many psychological causes of impotence are directly related to what happens in the bedroom. A common psychological cause of impotence is known as "performance anxiety". The pressure of performing can cause adverse effects. Subsequently, this problem can be exacerbated after previously experiencing impotence. These sexual issues can then lead to low self-esteem, another psychological cause of impotence.

A man’s partner also plays a role in the psychological causes of impotence. For one, a man may experience guilt from the belief that he is not adequately satisfying his partner. Lastly, boredom and indifference may have infected the sex life of a man’s relationship, which can lead to a loss of sex drive.

Enhanced by Zemanta