ED Tops List of UK’s Most Embarrassing Disorders

A survey of more than 2,000 adults living in the United Kingdom asked if they had suffered from any of 10 particularly embarrassing ailments. They included:

1. erectile dysfunction
2. acne
3. bad breath
4. incontinence,
5. sexually transmitted diseases
6. flatulence or irritable bowel syndrome
7. snoring
8. constipation or diarrhea
9. smelly feet, athlete’s foot or bunions
10. worms

London has erectile dysfunction (and seven other problems)

The study also looked at which areas of the UK were most prevalent for each of the 10 ailments.

Londoners didn’t just lead in one or two categories, such as acne or erectile dysfunction. That particular region ranked first for 8 out of 10 of the embarrassing disorders!

Only two categories—incontinence and constipation/diarrhea—went to another area: Northern Ireland.

The good news

Despite all these scary stats (6.21 million people in the UK have worms?), there is some good news.

Anyone living in the region who sees that they’re not alone in their ailment—whether for snoring, bunions, erectile dysfunction or bad breath—will know they’re not alone. It may give them just the boost they need to seek medical attention.

 The bad news

Men in London don’t just rank at the top for erectile dysfunction. They’re also 72% more likely to ignore the problem compared to men in other regions of the UK.

While that’s obviously bad for their sex life—(they could simply take Cialis or another erectile dysfunction drug!)—it could also be bad for other parts of their body.

Men who don’t address the initial cause of their erectile dysfunction may be ignoring contributing health factors, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, sleep disorders, prostate issues and alcoholism, among others.

They could also be missing out on getting a diagnosis and treatment for psychological causes of erectile dysfunction, such as anxiety, depression or stress.