Gain invaluable insights and resources for managing chronic health conditions with confidence and resilience. From autoimmune disorders to diabetes, learn practical strategies, coping mechanisms, and community support to thrive despite health challenges.
The words "erectile dysfunction", or simply ED, can be deeply unsettling for an adult man. Society places significant emphasis on sexual performance and virility. Often they are linked closely to one's identity, self-esteem, and confidence. As a result, even a single instance of sexual difficulty can trigger anxiety about potential issues. Beyond personal fears, erectile dysfunction can strain family ties, leading to feelings of inadequacy and frustration that affect communication and intimacy within a relationship. This strain can lead to emotional distance and misunderstanding, impacting the overall harmony and support within the family unit.
One instance of poor performance in the bedroom does not necessarily mean that you have erectile dysfunction. If you ran a marathon the same morning or if you drank with your friends till 4am in the morning, and the night ended poorly for you - don’t be too harsh on yourself the next day, trying to google the medications for ED on your phone.
At the same time, you should not disregard the problem completely, especially if it comes back repeatedly. If this is an ongoing problem, there can be multiple reasons for that, as we have discussed in one of our previous posts. In short, problems with your physical or mental health can significantly contribute or even cause ED.
If this problem is affecting your relationships with your spouse and penetrates other aspects of your life - you might have ED. Keep on reading to discover the main symptoms of ED and what to do if you have them.
Considering ED is a urologic disease, there are a number of resources you can use to educate yourself on the topic, ranging from the websites of the NHS and NIH to the websites of clinics that deal with it often, such as Mayo Clinic.
According to these resources, ED is the inability to get and maintain the erection sufficient for sexual intercourse.
This definition is quite easy to understand, but it doesn’t address the causes behind it. Erectile dysfunction can be triggered by a variety of factors, including high blood pressure, poor diet, hormonal problems, mental health and emotional issues, the use of certain medications, and poor lifestyle, amongst others.
Due to these numerous causes, ED is relatively prevalent, affecting more than 40% of men in Arab Countries, which amounts to more than 90 million men.
Of course the severity of ED symptoms can vary among individuals. There are 3 main criteria to assess whether you should talk to a doctor regarding your condition:
Let’s talk about each of the above in more detail.
One of the most common symptoms of erectile dysfunction is the inability to get a full erection. What this means is that you might have some sort of erection, but it is not hard enough for penetration and sexual acts.
To understand what causes this symptom, let’s look at the anatomy of the male reproductive organ first. Your penis contains various blood vessels (arteries and veins) and three chambers: two that are called corpora cavernosa, that have a lot of small caves for blood to stay in(as the name suggests) and one that have almost a sponge-like texture, called corpus spongiosum.
When you become excited about your partner (but sometimes it can happen spontaneously), your brain causes release of some substances that make those blood vessels in that part of your body wider. More blood then comes to those chambers that we mentioned, and becomes locked there. That is what causes your member to be erect.
Now whilst some people think of an erection as being fully on or fully off, in real life this is not quite the case. You can think about erection almost in the same way as about opening the tap in your bathroom: whilst there are two extreme positions where the water flow is blocked completely and when it is going in full steam, there are a lot of variations in between.
Due to different reasons, your blood flow to the penis might not be “at full steam”, which can cause the erections to be softer than desired.
If this is something that you experience, you might want to talk to a doctor and do some blood tests to find any risk factors for ED. If you have a history of diabetes and high blood pressure in your family, you might want to check those too. Overall, a lot of the causes of softer erections can be addressed with healthier lifestyle choices, but it never hurts to talk to a doctor first.
The inability to maintain your erection during the act is another frequent symptom of ED. Having a full erection but losing it during sex might be even more frustrating then the inability to get it.
Being able to start the act, but not being able to finish it can be daunting and can cause anxiety, but a lot of the times the reasons for that are psychological. This can lead to a vicious circle: you have performance anxiety, you cannot orgasm, you stress out even more, and then it all starts again.
If you cannot get an orgasm before you lose your erection, you might want to talk to your GP to see if they can help you to find ways to relax during the act. If it does not help, you might want to do some tests to check if there are physiological reasons behind this.
This symptom can have many shapes and forms, but overall it is about either having less sex than you used to until recently, and/or not having the interest to have it at all.
Potentially, the two symptoms we discussed above can lead to low libido, as a man sometimes would want to avoid failure in bed based on previous experiences, which could lead to performance anxiety and problems with self-esteem.
At the same time, one of the causes of low libido might be changes in your hormone levels. Low testosterone levels are directly linked to decreased sexual desire and motivation. And this in turn can affect man’s confidence, relationships and family ties.
In order to treat this symptom of ED, it is best to do a blood test to check your hormone levels, to exclude physiological reasons for your condition.
Apart from aforementioned symptoms, there might be other things that can cause discomfort in your sexual life, including painful erections or problems with ejaculation. Those might be caused by serious underlying conditions such as prostate cancer, and you should seek medical help as soon as possible if this happens to you.
Just as with any health conditions, a good start to address them would be to talk to a healthcare professional as we suggested a few times above. Nowadays with all the technological advances, it is especially easy and affordable. There are discreet ways to have a conversation with a doctor online, without the need of a hospital visit.
Generally, the doctors’ advice usually falls within one or more of the following buckets:
Often easier said than done, lifestyle changes can improve your reproductive health significantly. Having more and better sleep, exercising regularly, reducing the levels of stress and adhering to a healthier diet are just some of the things that you can do to improve your erections.
Heart diseases and high blood pressure, clogged blood vessels, diabetes and obesity - all of these and many more conditions can lead to the symptoms of ED. You need to check with your doctor to exclude these as the causes of your condition.
To break down the vicious circle of anxiety that might cause ED, you might want to talk to a mental health specialist. They can advise you some techniques and exercises to be able to relax better during the act.
There are a plethora of drugs that can help you get and maintain a better erection. The most known medication is probably Viagra and its generics, but it is not the only one. And some of them are available over the counter, so you do not need a prescription to get them (but it is always good to check with your doctor before taking anything though)
We have to say though, that the best way to tackle erectile dysfunction in a comprehensive way, is to ask help from a specialist first.
To briefly summarize what we spoke about above, here’s a short list of points we discussed:
Overall, remember that you are not alone and with proactive approach you can address ED, leading to healthier relationships.
.png)
