Category: Erectile Dysfunction

If you’re in a loving, committed relationship with a loving, committed person, it may feel as if you can talk about anything with them. But when erectile dysfunction rears it’s ugly head, you clam up. Here is a person who knows you better than anyone else, but you can’t bring yourself to talk about your problem. This is understandable. When you’re sexually active with your partner and you suddenly find yourself unable to perform, it can be embarrassing. You may feel guilt over not being able to satisfy your partner, or anger that you can’t perform like you used to. To conquer ED, you’re going to have to do it as a team. Here’s how to talk to your partner about your erectile dysfunction.

Find a Comfortable Way To Approach the Subject: This isn’t something you can just blurt out. This is a big topic, and it needs to be approached appropriately. Practice how you’ll break it to your partner in your alone time, and then choose a time and place that feels comfortable.

Be Open: Don’t tap dance around the subject. Be honest and direct. This problem affects your partner too, so they deserve to know the whole truth.

Don’t Let Your Emotions Rule You: If your erectile dysfunction has led to problems in the bedroom, both parties may feel a little emotional. Talk calmly and honestly about your problem, but don’t allow anger and blame to slip into the conversation. You’re in this together.

When things get hot and heavy in the sheets and you finally find yourself unable to perform, it’s a scary feeling. But worry not! A missed erection once in a blue moon should not be a cause for alarm. If you’re attempting to determine if you have erectile dysfunction or if you’re just the victim of once off bad luck, keep an eye out for these tell tale symptoms.

Low testosterone: If you constantly feel fatigued, find yourself unable to put on muscle, and your sex drive has taken a dip, you may be suffering from low testosterone. Lowered testosterone levels can lead to erectile dysfunction.

Trouble urinating: If you find yourself dribbling constantly after urination and struggle to produce a steady stream of urine, this could be a sign of prostate cancer, which typically leads to erectile dysfunction. Unfortunately, prostate cancer is notoriously difficult to screen for. So if you find struggling when urinating, see a doctor and get checked.

Frequency of erections: Erectile dysfunction can be caused by a variety of things. Take note of when you can achieve an erection, because it may shed some insight into your problem. For example, if you can achieve an erection in the early morning or when masturbating, your erectile dysfunction may be psychological in nature.

Viagra is trumpeted as the erection miracle drug, responsible for stronger, longer lasting erections, hours of marathon sex, and instantaneous libido. But Viagra is just medication, not a miracle drug. Viagra is specifically designed to help men who struggle to achieve an erection. It is not intended for use by men looking for a quick erection pick-me-up, nor will it help your sex life. 

Viagra helps your body to coax your erection out by opening your arteries and increasing blood flow. While it helps you to achieve an erection, this erection will not be instantaneous. You’ll have to get that erection the old fashioned way: Sexual stimulation. Engage in some light foreplay with your partner to get your body excited, and your erection should pop up in no time.

Viagra will help you to achieve an erection, but it will not improve your libido in any way, shape, or form. Once an erection has been achieved, Viagra’s job is done. It’s your job to keep it up.

Viagra will not help you to last longer in bed. The erection caused by Viagra is just like your regular erection, only brought on thanks to a little help. Using Viagra, you’ll last just as long between the sheets as you normally do.

So don’t pop a Viagra as a quick sexual aid if you don’t need it. It won’t do you any good, and there may come a day when you actually need it.

It’s a fact of life: As you grow older, your body is going to change. One of the most feared changes that a man’s body will eventually undergo is the loss of erections. Your erection requires steady blood flow to function, and the body struggles to quickly and efficiently pump blood to certain areas of the body as you age.

But what is the magic number for inevitable erectile problems? According to a study conducted in 2003 for the Annals of Internal Medicine, ED becomes increasingly common in men over the age of 50. In fact, a whopping 26% of men surveyed reported first experiencing erectile dysfunction between the ages of 50 and 59.

While healthy living and good life choices can delay this problem, ED will eventually rear it’s ugly head for all older men. For the same study, a staggering 40% of men between 60 and 69 reported struggling with erectile problems.

To ensure you won’t have to worry about ED for many years, start taking precautions now. Exercise regularly, eat well, and avoid living a sedentary lifestyle. By taking care of your body, you can live many happy erectile dysfunction free years. When ED does finally strike, you’ll be well into your golden years.

Viagra is often seen as a miracle pill, returning once stagnant erections to life in mere seconds, allowing you to last for hours between sheets, and giving you the libido of a 18 year old man. While this certainly paints an idealized picture of Viagra, the simple fact is that Viagra is just a simple pill. As a pill, you need to follow certain guidelines when taking it to ensure you get the most mileage out of it. Here are some simply tips to remember when taking Viagra to ensure you get the most bang for your buck.

Take your time: Viagra is not instantaneous. Take it about an hour before sexual activity to ensure it has ample time to distribute throughout your body.

 Set the mood: Viagra is not an aphrodisiac. To get it’s effects, you need to get stimulated, so light some candles and engage in some foreplay. Once you are sufficiently stimulated, you should see Viagra start to work it’s magic.

Watch what you eat: Like all medication, Viagra works quicker when you take it on an empty stomach. If you pop the pill after enjoying a high fat meal, you’ll find it may take Viagra a little longer to kick in.

You’re finding it hard to get motivated in the morning. You don’t feel any desire to see your friends. You really want to be alone. If you’re feeling like this, it’s possible that you’re suffering from depression. Depression can make you feel as if nothing is worth doing, and can put a serious damper on your life. If your depression is severe enough, you may even find your erection suffering, too.

Studies have found that 35 to 47 percent of people who reported suffering from depression also encountered problems in their sex life, while a whopping 61 of severely depressed men polled reported having sexual problems.

When you’re depressed, it can be hard to get sexually aroused. This is because your erection depends upon signals from chemicals in your brain. Depression causes these chemicals get out of balance, causing the signal for sexual desire to get jumbled.

To fight depression-induced erectile dysfunction, talk to a mental health expert about possibly taking antidepressants. Therapy may also prove helpful in helping you to overcome your depression. If you can defeat your depression, you should see your erection return to normal, too.

When you’re fighting erectile dysfunction, you want all the help you can get. One of the easiest ways of regaining your erection is to make positive changes to your diet, i.e. cutting down on fatty foods and enjoying more healthy, natural foods. But when you’re changing your diet, there are a few foods that have been found to actually help your erection. Here’s some food you should consider stocking up on.

Leafy greens: Leafy green veggies such as celery and spinach are chock full of nitrates, which have been found to facilitate healthy blood flow. That’s because nitrates are vasodilators, which help to open up blood vessels and improve the flow of blood in the body. When blood can flow easily, it can reach your penis easier and improve your ability to achieve an erection.

Dark chocolate: While dark chocolate won’t do your waistline any favors, it has been found to improve your circulation. This is because dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids, a naturally occurring antioxidant that helps the body to repair cell damage, lower blood pressure, and decrease cholesterol.

Pistachios: These little nuts are bursting with protein, and loading up on protein has been found to help men fight their erection problems. Pistachios contain a protein known as arginine, which has been found to help relax blood vessels. Relaxed blood vessels means improved blood flow, which means better erections.

When it’s time to work out, you’ve got routines for everything. You’ve got exercises for your abs, your core, and your delts, but what about your erection? Yes, kegel exercises can help you to strengthen vital pelvic muscles, helping you to achieve better, strong erection. If you struggle with erectile dysfunction, these exercises could even help to bring your erection back to life.

Kegel exercises are designed to strengthen your pelvic floor. These exercises primarily tone your bulbocavernosus muscle. This pelvic muscle is responsible for three important jobs: it allows blood to flow to the penis during erection, it pumps semen during ejaculation, and it helps to empty the urethra after urination. By building this vital muscle, you can improve your erection, fight premature ejaculation, and combat urinary incontinence.

Kegel exercises are done by squeezing and relaxing your pelvic muscles. To determine what muscles you will be working on, stop your stream in the middle of urination. Feel those clenching muscles in your groin? Those are the muscles your kegel exercises will be targeting.

To perform a rep of kegel exercises, squeeze this muscle group, hold it for 5 seconds, and then relax. When just starting out, repeat this process 10 to 20 times, and do it once a day. As it gets easier, do them two to three times a day. As you get better at kegels, you’ll find you can do them just about anywhere. Incorporate this exercise into your daily routine, and you could see your erection return to it’s former glory.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ICD-9 stands for International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, which is the current global system of codes used to classify diagnoses and causes of death. Beginning Oct. 1, 2015, ICD-10 codes will replace ICD-9 codes, which will become obsolete.

The ICD-9 code for “erectile dysfunction, organic” is 607.84. Other related diagnoses, which also fall under the 607.84 code, include “impotence of organic origin,” “organic impotence,” and “impotence, s/p prostatectomy, urethral.” Replacing 607.84 under ICD-10 will be N529, defined as “male erectile dysfunction, unspecified.”

The ICD-9 code for “erectile dysfunction, non-organic” is 302.72. Other definitions that fall under the 302.72 code are “erectile dysfunction, psychogenic” and “psychosexual dysfunction with inhibited sexual excitement.” Under ICD-10, the 302.72 code will be replaced with F5221 for “male erectile disorder” or F528 for “other sexual dysfunction not due to a substance or known physiological condition.”

There is no single answer to this question, because what works best for some men with ED doesn’t necessarily work as well for others. And for some, the use of any of the PDE5-inhibiting drugs may be inappropriate because of underlying health conditions or because of possible conflicts with other medications they are taking.

All of the PDE5 inhibitors — Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Staxyn, and Stendra — work in pretty much the same way, although there are some slight differences in how quickly they take effect and some more significant differences in how long they are effective.

If you’re looking for a longer-lasting oral ED drug, your best bet is probably Cialis for Use as Needed, which can be effective for as long as 36 hours, earning it the nickname of the “weekend pill.”

Other medications include those used in penile injection and MUSE therapies. Injected into the erectile tissue of the penis or absorbed through the linings of the urethra, these medications include alprostadil, papaverine, and phenolamine.