When a man’s penis could not be hardened enough to penetrate virginal, maybe not enough blood or no blood is pumped into penis muscles to maintain an erection, he is said to have erectile dysfunction. In other words, it is called impotency because such men will lack the capacity to impregnate women. Number one problem of erectile dysfunction is unsatisfactory sex life, others include low self-esteem, embarrassment from sex partners, depression and anxiety.
ED is caused by one or any combination of the following medical problems; smoking, alcoholism or abuse of drugs, neurological diseases, being obese and cardiovascular diseases. In this article, more light will be beamed on the prevalence of ED, it symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment and natural remedies.
Prevalence
Between 7-52 out of 100 men of all ages are affected by ED, though it depends on the group that is studied for research purpose because age is the main factor as far as erectile dysfunction is concerned. It was reported that 50% of older men will experience ED and 1 out of 10 men below 60 years will experience it.
Symptoms
Inability to have or maintain an erection is normal, there comes a problem when it occur frequently or when sexual desire is reduced over a long time.
Causes
When men are affected by ED, the culprit could be any of the following; obesity, sleep disorder, smoking, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis (MS) and high cholesterol. It may be caused by spinal cord injury or effect of surgery to the pelvic area. A side effect of prostate cancer treatment and metabolic syndrome can also cause ED. Furthermore, there are psychological factors that can result to ED, they are relationship problems, excessive stress and persistent depression.
Risk Factors
Diabetes, heart condition, tobacco addiction and obesity constitutes the highest risk factors for erectile dysfunction. Others are prostate surgery, radiotherapy, penis injury, drug abuse or alcoholism, depression, anxiety and blood pressure medication. Additionally, bicyclists are exposed to ED because bicycle seat can cause injury to blood vessels and nerves that help erections.
Treatments
This article is incomplete if treatment of common men’s health problem is not properly discussed. They are so many erection pills in the market, sometimes called oral medications, many of them are effective for treatment of ED, but proper care must be taken in the procurement of these pills. It is important that these medications are approved by food and drug administration of your country. Examples of these pills are Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and Stendra. It is worthy to note that any of these pills must not be used if you are taking medications that contain nitrates, reaction with nitrate can lead to an irreversible and dangerous decline in blood pressure. Other side effects of above pills are back pain, stomach upset, headache, vision impairment and flushing. Though these effects occur in rare conditions or when they are abused.
Another form of erectile dysfunction treatment is Caverject injection, the penis will be injected about 30 minutes before sex. Alternatively, suppositories of the drug can be placed directly in men’s urethra instead of injections. In a case of extremely low testosterone level, testosterone therapy may be necessary. In the manual treatment of ED, a vacuum pump (electric or hand powered) can be employed to draw blood to the penis, then a ring is quickly placed around the base of the penis to maintain the erection.
Surgery should be the last resort in the treatment of erectile dysfunction, it is done to repair blocked vessels that prevent the flow of blood to the penis. However, if the problem is psychological, a visit to counsellor or psychotherapist will be very helpful in this regard.
