Adopt a healthy lifestyle to minimize your risk of developing erectile dysfunction in the first place. However, should you develop ED symptoms, three tiers of treatment options should help you to at least temporarily regain erectile function.
Introduction
Erectile dysfunction is increasingly regarded as an early warning sign of coronary artery and peripheral vascular disease, according to the British Association of Urological Surgeons. ED usually precedes the onset of more serious vascular disease by 8 to 10 years, according to the association.
While data varies from one study to another, there can be little doubt that ED is widespread. One study maintains that nearly 40 percent of American men suffer from some degree of ED by the age of 40. Yet another study contends that the prevalence of ED in noninstitutionalized men between the ages of 40 and 79 is 52 percent.
What can you do to avoid becoming another statistic in the growing pathology of male impotence, with its obvious implications for future cardiac and vascular health?
As it turns out, you have a wide array of options. If you’re not suffering from any symptoms of ED at all or only very infrequent instances of impotence, lifestyle modifications could very well be sufficient to keep ED at bay.
For those who already have been diagnosed with full-blown ED, there are three primary tiers of treatment, which are characterized by BAUS as first line, second line, and third line. This blog post will review each of these tiers of treatment in detail.
Behind the Lines: Prevention
All men who care about both their love lives and their overall health should adopt lifestyle habits that are conducive to optimal erectile function. Even if you’re already suffering from some degree of male impotence, such behavioral changes can help build a foundation for better overall health in the future.
The central pillars in a healthy lifestyle are a heart-healthy diet and physical activity. Avoid fast food, increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, minimize your consumption of red meat, and source a bigger share of your protein needs from beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds.
A regular exercise regimen is also important. If you’ve not been active until now, start slow and ask your doctor to help you customize a program of physical activity that is a good fit for you. Even brisk walking for 30 minutes daily can increase your heart rate and improve blood flow, which is essential for healthy erectile function.
Limit your alcohol intake to a drink or two daily, at the very most. If you can reduce your alcohol consumption even further, do so. If you’re a smoker, get whatever help you need to kick the habit. Smoking interferes with normal blood flow and can lead to early-onset ED.
If you’re overweight, take common-sense steps to shed those excess pounds. Avoid fad diets or diet pills. Instead ask your doctor to help you map out an eating plan that will lead to weight loss.
If you suspect — or your doctor indicates — that your erection problems are of psychological origin, you’ll probably benefit from counseling with a therapist to help identify the issues that are causing your impotence.
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First Line Treatments
The 1998 introduction of Viagra revolutionized the treatment of ED worldwide. Pfizer’s little blue pill was the first in a class of drugs known as PDE5 inhibitors, which sideline an enzyme known as phosphodiesterase-5 to optimize blood flow to the penis. Thus, these drugs are designed to treat the biggest cause of ED — insufficient blood flow to the penis.
Beginning in 2003, Viagra was joined by other drugs of similar design. In the order they were introduced, these medications are Levitra, Cialis, Staxyn, and Stendra.
It was not until December 2017 that generic equivalents of PDE5 inhibitors became available to U.S. consumers. The first to market was sildenafil citrate, the generic equivalent of Viagra.
By the fall of 2018, the generic equivalents of Cialis and Levitra — namely, tadalafil and vardenafil — went on sale to U.S. consumers. No generic version of Stendra is yet available.
The most common side effects caused by PDE5 inhibitors include abnormal vision, back pain, dizziness, flushing, headache, indigestion, muscle aches, and nasal congestion. While 11 to 12 percent of those who take PDE5 inhibitors experience one or more of these side effects, only about 3 percent quit using the drugs.
These first line treatments are effective for 65 to 70 percent of the men who take them. That, however, leaves 30 to 35 percent who find PDE5 inhibitors ineffective. They are then forced to seek other means of treatment.
Second Line Treatments
Second line treatments include vacuum erection assistance devices (VEDs), penile injection therapy, and MUSE (medical urethral system for erection).
- VEDs vary in sophistication, but all work on the same principle. A plastic cylinder is placed over the flaccid penis. All air from within the cylinder is pumped out, either by hand or by a battery-operated pump. Once a vacuum has been created, the penis becomes engorged with blood, creating an erection. At that point, a constriction ring is slipped from the base of the cylinder onto the base of the penis, thus trapping the blood inside. When sexual activity is complete, the ring is removed from the base of the penis, allowing blood to flow back out of the penis.
- Penile injection therapy involves the injection of a vasodilating drug — usually alprostadil — into the shaft of the penis. Within minutes, an erection results.
- MUSE is actually a variation on penile injection therapy. Instead of an injection, however, a pellet of alprostadil is introduced into the penis through the urethral opening at its tip. The alprostadil temporarily increases blood flow to the penis, making it easier to get and keep an erection.
Third Line Treatments
When all else fails, the final line of treatment involves the surgical implantation of a prosthesis within the shaft of the penis. The most basic of these implants are known as malleable implants, semi-rigid rods within the penis that can be pushed down and out of the way when not in use and then up into place to facilitate sexual intercourse.
More sophisticated are the so-called inflatable implants, which consist of hollow tubing within the penis, a reservoir of fluid implanted under the skin of the lower abdomen, and a pump. When the time is right for sex, fluid is pumped from the reservoir into the hollow tubing in the penis, thus creating the semblance of erection. When sex is completed, the fluid is pumped out of the penis and back into the reservoir.
Ordering ED Drugs Online
If first line treatment for ED works for you, you might find that you can save both time and money by ordering your Viagra or other ED drug from eDrugstore.com, a longtime online prescription drug service.
Its prices include not just the drugs themselves but a host of added-value services as well. These include free shipping and a complimentary consultation service that matches up customers online with physicians licensed to practice in their state. If the doctor decides a customer is an appropriate candidate for an ED drug, a prescription will be authorized. To learn more, visit eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.
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