Do you need to treat erectile dysfunction?

Erectile dysfunction previously known as impotence is a frequent condition in men. Although it is still seen by many as a sign of “male weakness” it is fundamentally wrong. First of all, although erection is a part of normal; sexual function of a man, it doesn’t make a man truly manly, a real man, and so on. So the lack of erection should be viewed only as a medical problem. Besides, erectile dysfunction is rarely caused by the low level of the main sex hormone testosterone. This means that men who suffer from erectile dysfunction have all attributes of a healthy man with good testosterone level, i.e. can grow facial hair, have body hair and are in no way becoming feminine due to lack of erection.

So what causes erectile dysfunction? Can it be treated and prevented? Let’s figure it out.

Short information about erectile dysfunction

What are the causes of erectile dysfunction?

There are multiple reasons that can result in the inability to develop an erection. For convenience, they are divided into two groups: psychogenic and physiological.

Psychogenic causes of erectile dysfunction are any mental disorders, stress, fear, mental exhaustion, and emotional responses that cause a lack of erection when a man is sexually stimulated.

Physiological causes are all causes related to physical health starting from injuries of the penis, spine injuries, and other injuries that affect nerves, bones, or soft tissues in the pelvic area, to the diseases that develop due to unhealthy lifestyles such as obesity accompanied by diabetes, heart diseases, and many others. The negative effects of medicines, for instance, some drugs for blood pressure, antidepressants, hormonal drugs, and others, are also attributed to the physiological or organic causes of impotence.

In young men before 40 years of age, psychogenic erectile dysfunction is more frequent than physiological. It is explained by the fact that they rarely have any chronic conditions and even if they have bad habits their negative effect isn’t accumulated sufficiently so that it can cause impotence. Young men also tend to be more carrier-oriented and be more exposed to stress both at the workplace and at home.

Physiological erectile dysfunction is common in men older than 50. It is not directly an age-related problem but it is likely to develop in older age due to the higher frequency of chronic health conditions and medicines used for their treatment. Besides, if a man generally lives an unhealthy lifestyle, i.e. smokes, abuses alcohol, does not exercise, eats a lot of junk food, and so on, the negative effects accumulate. And by the age of 50-60, the man can start suffering from the consequences even if they weren’t obvious before.

For your convenience, here we gather the potential factors for erectile dysfunction development:

- Sedentary lifestyle;
- Unhealthy diet;
- Tobacco smoking;
- Alcohol abuse;
- Use of drugs without prescriptions (and some prescription drugs that you need for your health conditions);
- Mental stress;
- Physical exhaustion;
- Lack of sleep;
- Untreated mental disorders;
- Obesity;
- Diabetes;
- Cardiovascular diseases;
- Injuries of the spine, pelvic, and others;
- Untreated sexually transmitted infections;
- Hormonal imbalance;
- Tumor of the prostate (including benign and cancerous).

How do you know if you have psychogenic or physiological erectile dysfunction?

Although we have said that psychogenic erectile dysfunction is common in young men and they also rarely have physiological dysfunction, here is a list of symptoms based on which you can better understand the nature of your problem and in what direction you should look to find the solution.
Psychogenic erectile dysfunction is characterized by:

- Erection is present in the morning;
- A man is able to develop an erection during masturbation;
- Erection doesn’t disappear once it is developed until the end of intercourse;
- The inability to develop erection occurs spontaneously and from time to time without gradual development of problems with its development.
- The inability to develop erection is commonly related to stress, exhaustion, negative emotions, and so on.

Physiological erectile dysfunction is characterized by:

- There is no morning erection;
- A man cannot develop an erection during stimulation;
- Even if erection is developed, it can disappear during intercourse;
 - Troubles with erection occur gradually, i.e. at the beginning it takes a longer time to achieve it, and gradually it disappears completely or can disappear during intercourse.
- The inability to develop erection is not related to stress, exhaustion, negative emotions, and so on.

How can you treat erectile dysfunction?

First of all, it is much more reasonable to prevent it than treat. The thing is that when you encounter this problem you need to find out the main reason for erectile dysfunction development. And in case you have many chronic conditions, it could be anything. However, if you have diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases – it is obvious that the reason lies in them. So in order to regain the ability to develop and maintain a stable erection, you must focus on managing your health conditions and improving your lifestyle.

If you only started suffering from erectile dysfunction, do not waste your time and implement healthy lifestyle changes now. Over time, you will see the improvement of your overall health and potency.

As for the treatment with instant results not to deprive yourself of pleasure of intimacy, the best way is to use erection-enhancing drugs such as Tadalafil (we offer a branded drug and generic version Tadacip). It is the safest and most effective drug from the group. It provides a longer-lasting effect than Viagra and has minimum side effects and contraindications for use. The effect of the medication is based on the inhibition of the certain enzyme in the body that doesn’t allow the smooth muscles in the penis to relax.

Once its effect is suppressed, the muscles relax and the penis can be filled in with the blood quickly and freely which is what should occur in healthy erection in arousal. In other words, the medication simply facilitates the natural erection development process. Unfortunately, it is not a permanent solution so you have to take a pill every time you want to engage in intimacy. But it is much safer and less costly than surgery on the penis vessels or prosthesis. Moreover, Tadalafil is suitable both for men with psychogenic and physiological erectile dysfunction.

Post by: Kylie Jansen, General Practitioner, Rotterdam, Netherlands