Treating Erectile Dysfunction With Drugs

The Effects On You And Your Partner

All three of the well-known drugs used for treating erectile dysfunction work by blocking an enzyme called PDE5, an enzyme which stops erections by destroying nitric oxide in the tissues of the penis.

The drugs are very successful and have made a huge difference to the treatment of erection problems - but none of them, Viagra included, will not increase libido, so if you have no pre-existing desire, then an erection isn't going to magically appear and enable you to have sex.

What Viagra, Cialis and Levitra will do is to enable you to develop an erection when you are aroused and when you are getting sexual stimulation.

Other pages of background information on erectile dysfunction

[ Home ] [ Expectations around treatment ] [ Treatment of ED - You and Your Partner ] [ Effects Of Various Aspects Of The Treatment of ED ] [ How To Stop Erectile Dysfunction Ruining Your Relationship ] [ How to Talk To Your Partner ] [ Partner's role in curing erectile dysfunction ] [ Talking with your partner about erectile dysfunction ] [ The effects of ED on men ]

As you may well imagine, this makes Viagra a drug of choice for sexual performance enhancement rather than necessarily being taken for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. It has also become a popular drug to take with other recreational drugs - some of which increase desire but lessen the ability to get an erection - alcohol being the most noticeable of these.

Viagra has given hope to a large number of men who would otherwise not perhaps have been very visible - those who cannot get an erection but otherwise have normal sexual desires.

One reason sales of Viagra are so high, observes sex commentator Susie Bright, is that men see it as a wonder drug which will produce great sex - maybe the sort of sex they think they should have been having all along. She observes that these are often young men (not just older men hoping to recapture their long-lost youth) who are unexpectedly finding that sex isn't the wonderful experience they hoped for and desired.

And they're somewhat humiliated and disappointed that their penises don't always get erect on demand, so they're using Viagra to improve their performance. Not only are they disappointed with how sex is working for them, they also know that if they don't get an erection, in the climate of sexual relationships today, their female partners will be very disappointed, even angry.

Of all three of these drugs developed to treat erectile dysfunction, to remedy erection problems caused by difficulties with blood flow, Viagra has the longest track record for good safety and a high level of effectiveness. However, its effectiveness is much less when you take it after eating, since food slows down its absorption. A romantic evening out followed by dinner suddenly doesn't seem like such a good idea!

You're best advised to wait for a whole three hours after ingesting food before you take it. One drug which overcomes this particular problem is Cialis - so this leaves room for more sexual spontaneity - because it may remain active in the body for up to forty eight hours, therefore giving room for sex without forethought and planning!

Note that Viagra, while it has a good record in helping men with erectile dysfunction, does have side effects. Some men complain of headaches, flushing of the face, a blocked nose, and a bluish tint to their vision.

Viagra takes about forty minutes to work. Cialis takes about an hour to produce an erection, and some men experience a general sense of aching around the back muscles. Levitra produces erections within thirty minutes, so its the quickest of all, but again can cause vision disturbance. (These are purely temporary.)

Men with erection problems once used vacuum pumps to get an erection, and this therapy is still a good non-drug alternative, except that it may look to your partner (and maybe you) slightly comical or embarrassing - and you certainly couldn't do it with a date you'd just met, unless she was very tolerant and understanding!

Vacuum therapy involves using a pump and cylinder which creates a vacuum around the penis, producing an erection by sucking blood into it. The pump is then taken away and the cylinder removed, leaving an elastic ring at the base of the penis, which holds the blood in by occluding the veins leaving the penis - this maintains a firm erection for up to half an hour.

Impotence: Partial erectile dysfunction (ED) is not being able to develop or maintain an erection sufficiently hard or rigid for intercourse. Complete erectile dysfunction (ED) is not being able to get an erection at all, under any circumstances, and situational erectile dysfunction is not being able to get an erection with a sexual partner. Impotence - erectile dysfunction - isn't the same as low desire.

If sex hasn't been particularly wonderful for a while, the chances are you're going to have some knock-on effect on your erections, which may not be as numerous or as hard as they used to be, and they may even be non-existent. Men can easily lose their sex drive and their erections when things are not going well in a relationship. However, with the right sexual stimulus and the right partner, the erections will return.

Some men men find they can get an erection and have normal levels of sexual desire and arousal, but they lose their erection as soon as they try to penetrate their partner's vagina. This is often due to performance anxiety, particularly for fist timers, and this type of erectile dysfunction disappears with age and experience.

Then again, it's a sad fact that an untoned and slack vagina can cause a man to lose his erection - no friction, you see! Masturbation may begin to look more attractive here, since a hand is much more able to get a grip than a middle-aged vagina! Late night sex after alcohol and food may also produce less firm erections than you'd get on awakening in the morning.

As you may well imagine, an unhealthy lifestyle with too much smoking, too little exercise, and various prescription drugs can reduce the reliability of your erections. One interesting approach is to change how you feel about not having an erection.

For example, you might just stop worrying about it. There are plenty of ways to have sex without an erection, and you may well find that an approach which takes the pressure off the need to have penetration helps enormously.

If you do get an erection, don't use it initially until you are confident that you are going to remain erect! Then, experiment with brief stabs at vaginal penetration by getting your female partner to climb on top, have one or two thrusts and then ask her to dismount.

This kind of brief sex can lead to full intercourse when you are confident that your erections will stay firm. It's usual to try these non-drug treatment approaches to erection difficulties before trying Viagra or a vacuum pump. If you are a young man, the first step if you have erectile dysfunction is to check if you get an early-morning erection or to see if you can masturbate normally.

If you can't, get an appointment with your doctor and if necessary ask for a referral to a urologist. If you're able to get erections with masturbation or on awakening in the morning, it's likely your erectile dysfunction isn't caused by physical problems.;