Are there any medications that can cause erectile dysfunction as a side effect?

Think of the body as one complex machine. Like any machine, it is the sum of its parts, and it lives and dies by these parts ability to perform. Should one of these parts begin to falter, we introduce medication into the body designed to help that part get back to normal. Medication is a vital part of the road to recovery, allowing the machine that is your body to overcome issues and run efficiently. But, sometimes, introducing medicine to help with one problem only leads to the development of problems elsewhere.

As the body is so complex, introducing foreign elements like medication can often lead to unforeseen complications within the body. A drug designed to clear up your sinuses might affect your sleep schedule, or a pill to improve heart health might cause your hair to fall out. And sometimes, a drug that can help other aspects of the body can lead to erectile issues.

Yes, there are plenty of drugs on the marketplace that have been found to cause erectile dysfunction in some men as a side effect. That’s not to say that any man that takes one of these drugs will experience ED; instead, these side effects only crop up in specific men. Thus, if you find you’ve been struggling with erectile problems since introducing one of the following drugs into your life, consult your doctor:

– Parkinson’s Disease medication (i.e. Akineton, Cogentin, Artane)
– Antihistamines (i.e. Benadryl, Dramamine, Vistaril)
– Antidepressants (i.e. Prozac, Zoloft, Norpramin)
– Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (i.e. Anaprox, Naprelan, Indocin)
– High blood pressure medication (i.e. HydroDIURIL, Maxide, Tenormin)

It’s my first time taking Levitra. How much should I take?

The erectile health medication market is a crowded one, with plenty of pills jockeying to be the one to revive your sex life. When it comes time to pick an erectile dysfunction drug, it’s important to pick the one that will best suit your needs. You’ll need to weigh the pros and cons, you’ll need to consider how long you want the pill to last; there are plenty of tiny factors that will ultimately play a vital role in deciding on the perfect ED drug.

If you’ve decided that Levitra is the best choice for your sexual needs, you may find yourself wondering just how to get the best bang for your buck from this little orange pill. Thankfully, taking Levitra properly isn’t rocket science. To ensure that your first time taking Levitra is a pleasant one, just remember these tips.

For men who are trying Levitra for the first time, experts recommend starting at a dose of 20mg. This is the most commonly prescribed amount, and has been found to be the most efficient in men with mild to severe erectile dysfunction. However, if your ED is classified on the lower end of the severity scale, it might be wise to step down to a 10mg tablet.

When it comes time to pop the pill, you need to be sure your body is ready for it. Like most medications, the effects of Levitra will be slowed if the drug is taken on a full stomach. Be sure to take your pill either on an empty stomach or after a very light meal. Once you’ve consumed the pill, it takes about 30 minutes for the pill to get to work and produce an erection. But remember, Levitra isn’t a miracle pill that can just coax erections out of your body; it simply makes it possible for your body to produce an erection. To achieve the erection, you’ll have to go about it the old fashioned way.

Once taken, Levitra will take effect. From there, the drug will stay in the body for about 4 hours. As such, you’ve got plenty of time to get down to business.

If you keep these tips in mind, your first time with Levitra should be a pleasant one. Just remember to not hang yourself up on the details and just focus on having fun.

Can having a diet rich in leafy greens help prevent erectile dysfunction?

By now, it’s pretty much established that there is no miracle food that is capable of staving off erectile dysfunction single handedly. ED experts have combed the Earth in search of a naturally occurring food that can keep erectile issues at bay, only to come up empty handed time and time again. But that’s not to say that there aren’t certain foods that can help turn the tides against erectile dysfunction.

Case in point: Leafy greens. No, that doesn’t mean you can eat all the iceberg lettuce wedges you want and hold onto your erection. This refers to leafy green veggies such as celery and spinach. This little wonder foods are chock full of nitrates, which have been found to facilitate a healthy erection.

This is because the nitrates found in leafy greens are vasodilators. Vasodilators have been found to open up the blood vessels within the body, which helps to improve blood flow. When these vasodilators go to work, they tend to affect the smallest arteries in the body first, which includes the bundle of arteries that lead into the penis and are responsible for providing the blood necessary for an erection. Thus, the more leafy greens you incorporate into your diet, the better your blood flow, thus improving your chance of avoiding erectile dysfunction.

That’s not to say that subsisting entirely off of spinach will ensure that you’ll never have to worry about ED. Be active, avoid vices such as cigarettes, and eat plenty of the leafy greens, and your erection should be safe for years to come.

Can seasonal depression cause erectile dysfunction?

For many, this is the most wonderful time of the year. For others… not so much. While many associate November and December with happy memories and beloved traditions, there are plenty of people that find the holiday season a big downer. But it isn’t the cold weather that gets these people down; it’s actually a diagnosable mood disorder known as “Seasonal Affective Disorder.” SAD, as its appropriately known, causes the affected to become depressed around this time of the year. Unfortunately, as is often the case with depression, the feelings you can’t shake can often creep into other aspects of your life, including your love life.

Experts believe that SAD is tied the lack of sunlight associated with this time of year. As the sun begins to appear less and less, the body increases the production of the body chemical melatonin, which regulates your sleep cycle and can cause symptoms of depression. When the melatonin levels within the body are in flux, your body will struggle to focus on completing other tasks, including producing an erection.

Depression can hold sway over the brain, causing other important signals to get lost in the rabble. The erection is dependent upon the brain giving it the word on just when its time to get to work. If SAD is directing your thoughts elsewhere, these signals get missed, your erection doesn’t get directions to spring to life, and you find yourself wondering why you can’t achieve an erection.

So, yes, SAD-associated ED is very real. Speak to a mental health expert about how SAD is affecting other aspects of your life, and together you can work up a solution to make sure your love life doesn’t get affected by your feelings for these next couple of months.

Can lower testosterone levels cause erectile dysfunction?

Whenever you’ve looked at an attractive person and pictured what a night together might be like, or whenever you’ve waited until you’ve had the house to yourself and then fired up the computer for some “personal time,” it was your testosterone that was responsible. This little hormone plays a vital role in a man’s body by helping to regulate the sex drive. The testicles secrete it, and it helps to keep everything relating to sex within the body working and in check.

But your testosterone levels aren’t always going to be through the roof. Inevitably your testosterone levels will begin to falter, and your sex drive will feel the effect. The testosterone levels within the body begin drop at 40, with experts finding that a man’s testosterone tends to drop about 1.3% every year after 40.

If you find that sex has suddenly become less interesting, or that you often feel tired, or if your moods have been all over the place, this might be a result of low testosterone levels. In addition to throwing moods and sexual feelings into flux, low testosterone levels can also make it difficult for the body to achieve an erection.

The erection depends upon testosterone, with the hormone alerting the penis when it’s time to get to work. But if your testosterone levels dip, your penis might get the wake up call it needs, which translates into missed erections.

If you’re dealing with low testosterone levels, talk to your doctor about how this issue can properly be addressed. With medication, you should be able to get your testosterone back to a normal level, your sex drive should return, and your erection will be ready to get back to work.

Can frequent drinking contribute to the development of erectile dysfunction?

After a long day at work, sometimes the best solution is to plop down in your favorite chair, throw up your feet, and enjoy a frosty beer. Other times, after plodding through a long weekend, it’s perfectly understandable to want to go out with friends and have a drink or four. Drinking can be a stress reliever, it can be a social activity, but if done too much, it can also spell trouble for your erection.

Like all good things in life, consuming alcohol should be done in moderation. But an overreliance on booze can lead to issues within the sheets. While men have certainly heard of temporary erectile issues developing from having one too many to drink, consistently drinking too much can move that ED from “temporary” to “permanent.”

This is due to the fact that constant drinking reeks havoc on your liver. The liver is a power organ within the body, playing a vital role in the metabolic process of the body. This means the liver helps to regulate blood clotting, along with being responsible for getting rid of old or damaged blood cells to clear the way for new, healthy cells.

But when damaged by alcohol, the liver’s functions go into flux, which negatively affects the blood cells of the body, allowing damaged blood cells to hang around and impede the flow of blood. Additionally, a damaged liver can lead to hormone distribution within the body getting thrown into whack. These hormones help to alert the brain when its time to put the sexual organs to work, and when they are affected, the brain ends up not getting the proper signals, leading to missed erections.

This isn’t an issue that only a small amount of heavy drinkers suffer from, either. Surveys have found that alcohol dependent men have a 60 to 70 percent chance of suffering from sexual issues.

Either cut down or the drinking or cut out the drinking all together, and your sexual prowess should recover. But depending upon alcohol will only lead to issues down the line.

How can I prevent premature ejaculation?

Have you recently found that you’re struggling to last in bed? As hard as it can be to admit to yourself, this could mean that you have developed premature ejaculation. This doesn’t mean that your sick or that you should panic; oftentimes, premature ejaculation can develop as a result of a mental hang-up, such as overexcitement or anxiety. What’s important to remember is that it happens.

What’s also important is to figure out a way around it. If left unchecked, you may find yourself craving sex less and less, and your partner may not take this newfound approach to sex well. There are plenty of exercises and creams available on the market that can help a man to last longer, but if you’re interested in an at-home remedy, experts agree that there is a simple way of prolonging your bedroom time.

Masturbate. Yes, while old wives’ tales spread the word that masturbating too much can lead to hairy palms and blindness, the truth is that masturbation could actually help to save your sex life. You see, masturbation can help you to regain control over your ejaculatory reflex. With premature ejaculation, this reflex is essentially on a hair trigger and will be ready to fire at the slightest provocation.

So masturbate around three to five times a week. By doing this, you’ll teach your body to become accustomed to sexual sensitivity and stimulation. To take it step further, try and control your orgasms when masturbating. If you can bring yourself back from the point of no return, lasting longer in bed should be a breeze.

Through masturbation you can get a hold on your self-control. As your body learns to process these feelings and deal with them, you should see your performance time in bed getting better, and you should be back to lasting as long as you want in no time.

Can a Vitamin D deficiency lead to erectile dysfunction?

While your body may function like a well oiled machine, there a plenty of outside forces that help it to stay that way. If you’ve ever been to a doctor, you may have been questioned on your vitamin D levels. This isn’t just a throwaway question, designed to leave you wondering just how much Vitamin D you get. Health experts agree that a healthy intake of Vitamin D helps to promote calcium absorption, bone growth, and artery health. It’s that last point that ties into erectile dysfunction. If you suffer from a vitamin D deficiency, you are putting your body at risk of developing ED.

You see, when the body is getting the vitamin D it needs, this keeps your arteries strong and hard working, allowing blood to efficiently reach the various parts of the body that depend on it. But when your vitamin D levels drop, you can develop atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a process in which the arteries in the body begin to build up with plaque, leading to the artery walls hardening. This build up essentially halves the workable space in your arteries, causing blood output to slow, which translates into blood struggling to reach your extremities, including your penis.

Thus, without this little fat-soluble vitamin, your body will struggle to produce erections, and will begin to encounter other, possibly more deadly issues relating to the heart and blood flow. Thankfully, vitamin D deficiency is easy to overcome. Simply speak to your doctor about your issue, and work together to determine which vitamin D supplements would work best for you. By sticking to a daily vitamin D regiment, your arteries should clear up, blood flow should get back to normal, and your erection should be back in fighting shape in no time.

Can spousal jealousy lead to erectile dysfunction?

When you find yourself in a long-term relationship, it’s easy to think of your significant other as both a friend and a partner. This means plenty of nights alone snuggled up on the couch or quite nights of reading books in bed, finding happiness in just the two of you. But even the strongest of relationships need some time apart, and this means getting out and about and getting together with friends. But this apart time can sometimes lead to feelings of jealousy developing. One partner may feel as though the other partner is losing commitment to the relationship, or perhaps they might feel that the partner is spending too much time with a flirty friend. Whatever the case may be, this jealousy can bubble up and can actually lead to the development of erectile issues.

This isn’t just a coincidental connection, either. The erection is dependent upon signals from the brain on when its time to wake up and get to work. If these signals should get lost in a jumble of feelings of jealousy and thoughts of possible infidelity, your erection won’t get its cue, leading to a missed erection. When your mind is preoccupied with jealousy, your erection will pay the price.

In fact, even spending too much time with your partners friends can lead to problems in the bedroom. A study of 3,000 men between the ages of 57 to 85 polled them on how much time their significant other spent with friends they considered “theirs.” The higher the amount of time spent translated into rising chances of erectile dysfunction, with the study finding that men who considered their partner too close to their friends were 92 percent more likely to develop erectile issues.

If you feel as though jealousy is to blame for your recent erectile woes, get to the root of the issue. Talk to your partner, approach the problem as a couple, and you should be able to stamp out these feelings and regain your erection.

Could my recent weight gain be responsible for my erectile dysfunction?

Everyone wants to look their best, but sometimes life gets in the way. Maybe you’ve been opting for sweets more often, or maybe you just haven’t had time to hit the gym. Whatever the case may be, these little bumps in the road have translated into an expanding waistline. Sure, it’s made you a little body conscious, but it’s nothing to panic over. That is, until you find yourself struggling in the bedroom. Suddenly, your little guy doesn’t want to stand at attention. Besides the recent weight, you live a healthy life and make good decisions. Could it be that your newfound weight is responsible for your erectile woes?

Odds are, if you’ve packed on some pounds and you’re struggling in bed, your weight gain is the culprit. Extensive research has found that as your body weight rises, so too does your chances of developing ED. If your weight should reach “obese” levels, experts say that you are now two and a half times more likely to develop erectile dysfunction than a man with normal weight.

But just how is your weight connected to your erection? It boils down to two aspects: cholesterol and testosterone. As your weight climbs, so too does your cholesterol. As your cholesterol rises, it begins to set up shop on the walls of your blood vessels. These cholesterol deposits will then impede blood flow, making it harder for the body to supply blood to your organs, including your penis. Additionally, weight gain is tied to a drop in testosterone. As your waist grows, your testosterone levels shrink, and testosterone is a vital hormone for regulating sexual function. With low testosterone, your body will struggle to get invested in sex and you’ll struggle to produce an erection.

The connection between weight gain and erectile issues is very real. Thankfully, it is an issue that can be overcome by making positive life choices. Lose the weight, eat health, and get active, and you should drop a pants size and regain your sex life at the same time.