Introduction To Erectile Dysfunction Treatment

Erectile dysfunction is becoming more and more common as time goes by. Research shows that by age 50, almost half of men report some level of trouble achieving an erection. And while the number of men who experience persistent erectile dysfunction is slightly lower, these numbers are extremely concerning. 

Yet the really good news about erectile dysfunction is that it is not an incurable disease, nor is it a mysterious condition that no one understands. We have a very clear picture of what the underlying causes of erectile dysfunction are.

Truly understanding erectile dysfunction leads us to the realisation that it is not, in the truest sense, a medical condition. Instead, the full picture reveals a ‘wellness disorder’ that yields to similar understandings that we apply to areas like fitness. But this may need a little bit more explaining to be fully understood, which is where this blog comes in.

Erectile Dysfunction – Wellness Disorder Or True Disease?

There is a difference between a true disease (which is a medical condition) and a wellness issue. For example, if you have Maria or a flu virus, these are very definite disease states in the body that often respond extremely well to a classic medical approach. Similarly, if you have a broken leg or a raging bacterial infection, a medical approach to care is extremely potent and, in fact, pretty wonderful. 

Meanwhile, what about if you have a general lack of fitness, or your work is a bit stressful, and it is impacting your sleep?  These are not true medical conditions in that they are more about our general well-being and a need for lifestyle change than they are a need for antibiotics or surgery. Standard issue erectile dysfunction is most definitely in this group, as it relates to general well-being rather than any specific disease or injury process that needs to be fixed by a doctor.

The causes of erectile dysfunction are now very clear. There is no doubt that science will uncover many more revelations and understandings. We now know what the causes of erectile dysfunction are, and they are essentially all lifestyle and/or self-care-related.

So What Are The True Causes Of Erectile Dysfunction?

Cardiovascular Health & Erectile Dysfunction 

One of the more surprising and concerning discoveries that have been made about erectile dysfunction in recent decades is that it predicts the onset of cardiovascular disease. In other words, if you have erectile dysfunction, it is quite probable that you also have early-stage cardiovascular disease. From one perspective, this is surprising. From another, perhaps it is not.

It is common knowledge that a healthy erection is a function of healthy blood flow. During an erection, a copious amount of blood must be channelled into the penis. So it stands to reason that if you do not have a healthy cardiovascular system, one of the symptoms you might suffer is erectile dysfunction.

An easy way to understand this connection is through a plumbing metaphor. Water flow through the taps in a house depends on the pressure in the mains. If your erections aren’t connected to a healthy high-pressure system in the heart, lungs and blood vessels, then the pressure of the fluid flowing to the penis will be compromised. You could have extremely strong blood flow potential within the penis itself, but if it is not connected to a healthy high-pressure cardio system, there won’t be enough blood getting to where it needs to go.

Understanding this means we can easily see that this major underlying cause of erectile dysfunction is not a medical issue; it is a health and fitness issue. In the same way that there is no pill for a lack of fitness, there is no pill for a lack of truly healthy blood flow within the connections the heart has to the penis. Admittedly, some drugs can fake this for a brief period of time, but they do not truly resolve the issue.

Muscle Weakness & Erectile Dysfunction 

One of the most important yet seldom talked about factors behind erectile dysfunction is that a healthy erection is maintained by the strength of the muscles in the pelvic floor because these muscles are responsible for trapping blood inside the penis.

At the base of the penis, there is a muscle called ischiocavernosus, and its job is to contract powerfully during arousal and trap the blood that has flowed into the old boy. If this muscle is not strong or does not contract fully, the blood will simply return straight to the cardiovascular system, leaving the penis just as fast as it arrived, which leads to a very half-hearted erection.

Like all muscles,, the ischiocavernosus can be strengthened with the right types of exercise performed with the right intensity and frequency. This is the best possible news for men suffering from erectile dysfunction. If you do the exercises, it is highly probable that they will have a meaningful effect on your erectile dysfunction over time.

So, as was the case with cardiovascular health, we find that yet another of the underlying causes behind erectile dysfunction is not in a medical issue but a health and fitness issue. There is no pill or surgical procedure that can restore strength to a muscle, and therefore, the muscle weakness behind erectile dysfunction is not, in the truest sense, a medical issue.

Stress & Erectile Dysfunction 

Some will not be at all surprised to learn that stress is a factor determining many erectile dysfunction cases. And no doubt there are those of us who will be surprised to learn this and others who might even be sceptical. Yet a fast-growing number of men realise that stress plays a key role in determining health.

The fact is there is a very substantial amount of research that has shown the profound connections between elevated stress levels and erectile dysfunction. Researchers have done years of work on this and there is now no doubt that this is the case. What is less clear is the exact mechanism behind how stress causes erectile dysfunction.

 It stands to reason that if your body systems are in some persistent level of fight-or-flight, sex is a lower priority than immediate survival. So, in the same way, that our digestive systems shut down when we are stressed because the body sends blood to the muscles, stress may simply mean the body doesn’t think it’s a good time to procreate.

This brings us to the question of whether you believe that stress and mental health are medical issues or not. There are those of us who are happy to go to our doctors and receive antidepressants for our emotional and mental health struggles. Others believe that these issues should be dealt with, by dealing with and facing up to the underlying problems, using self-care therapies and lifestyle change. Either way, a strong case can be made for there being a lot more to dealing with stress than just taking pills. So, we can at least say that the stress component of erectile dysfunction is not necessarily medical. While acknowledging that some of us are happy for it to be.

It is worth noting here that just because researchers show a strong connection between stress and erectile dysfunction, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is the case for you personally. We are all different. The research just prompts us to give careful consideration to whether our erectile dysfunction is at least partly caused by stress.

Alcohol & Erectile Dysfunction 

We didn’t need medical researchers to tell us that alcohol significantly contributes to the erectile dysfunction issue, but they did all the same. So, the well of experiential knowledge, as well as all the scientific knowledge, have confirmed beyond any doubt that alcohol causes erectile dysfunction. And yet, a huge number of men still drink alcohol, even though it has this effect on such an important part of life. And what is more, the stress of worrying about your sexual performance can even lead to drinking even more. A painful irony.

Another fact revealed by common knowledge is that there is no medical treatment for alcoholism. Which is to say you can’t take a pill and make your addictions go away, if only. So, if you struggle both with alcohol consumption and erectile dysfunction, the question is, where do you turn and the answer is most likely not to your doctor but to a therapist who can help with addiction. Or, in the case of moderate alcohol consumption, at least someone who can help you manage stress better and reduce your intake of alcohol. In either case, once again, we see that the real causes of erectile dysfunction don’t fall in the classic medical arena.

Poor Penile Bloodflow 

The business end of all erections is the penis itself and the blood flow therein. So, of course, the most obvious target of any erectile dysfunction treatment is the intrinsic blood flow of the penis itself.

The corpus cavernosa of the penis is a modified blood vessel-like structure which can expand and hold a significant amount of blood. If the intrinsic health and strength of this tissue is compromised, it can have a seriously depleting effect on the strength and duration of erections.

The fantastic news about this is that we now know that soundwaves can trigger regeneration of corpus cavernosa tissue in the penis. This therapy, known as shockwave therapy, has been shown to trigger a process known as neoangiogenesis, which essentially means the growth of blood vessels.

Using shockwave therapy with a physiotherapist to restore blood flow in the corpus tissues in the penis is a very promising way to treat direct dysfunction without nasty drugs or implants. And that’s not only a blessing; it points to yet another cause of erectile dysfunction that doesn’t lend itself to the classic medical approach. We do not have any drugs that can regenerate blood vessels.

When you do need a doctor

All of this being said,  there are most definitely times when we should seek the advice of medical practitioners when we have erectile dysfunction. This is in the smaller proportion of erectile dysfunction cases that are secondary to some primary disease. In other words, erectile dysfunction can be a symptom of something like diabetes or by drug side effects; in these instances, it is essential to consult your medical doctors so that they can work through the ‘primary disease’ issues that are causing the secondary erectile dysfunction.

Conclusion 

Imagine a world where nobody was willing to exercise or eat right to manage their well-being. Instead, they persistently called their doctors, demanding treatment for their lack of fitness and weight gain.

Imagine a World where instead of meditating, exercising and talking to therapists. The only way we were willing to approach our mental health was to take pills that numb our internal pain. 

Imagine a world where people with diabetes and heart disease eight as much sugar as they wanted and expected their doctors to fix the health problems they were. 

Sadly, all this might not be too difficult to visualise.

A wisdom-based approach to erectile dysfunction dictates that we look closely at our health and well-being and be Man enough to face up to the often difficult changes that our body wishes for us to make. If we wish to recruit our doctors in a supporting role, that’s fine, but asking them to fix us is a fool’s errand.