Treating the Causes of Erection Problems and Impotence

How to tell if you have a physical problem - and how to treat it

The most obvious clue that your erection problems don't have a physical basis is the fact that you can get an erection when you masturbate. But this is not always a reliable guide, for some impotent men can get night-time erections even when they cannot get erect during masturbation. There is a simple way to test for night-time erections - stick a string of postage stamps (not the self adhesive kind!) around your flaccid penis - by joining the ends together. If the stamps have snapped by morning, it's a fair bet that your penis was erect in the night. Either night-time or morning erections suggest you have no physical problems, no matter what else is happening to your penis.

If you find that your erections are unpredictable, that they come and go at random, and that you don't respond to oral sex (provided you do actually like fellatio!), and you get better erections when you are not lying down, there may be a significant chance you have a physical problem. Seeking the opinion of a good urologist may be very helpful. But, no matter what his diagnosis, under no circumstances let him talk you into having penile implants before you have seen a sex therapist and worked on the emotional/psychological aspects of your impotence.

The Andropause - when your testosterone decreases and you start to suffer from erectile dysfunction.

The andropause is what happens to men around mid life, just as the female menopause happens to women. The main cause is a decline in testosterone - which can produce the following changes at any ages between thirty and seventy years of age.

Symptoms of the male mid-life crisis and the andropause
Your penis may seem to be smaller than it was before
You don't get erections when you want them
Your sex drive has diminished
You experience muscular aches and pains, especially in the morning
You seem to be exhausted physically and depressed emotionally
Your skin is dry and flaky
You have emotional ups and downs, and are grumpy and irritable with no good reason
You think of yourself as a failure, or lacking in achievement and your self-esteem diminishes
You lack energy and enthusiasm
You start questioning your purpose and what you have done in life
Your testicles may become smaller
You have hot sweats at night
Your temperature control system is out of control, you go hot and cold

If any of this sounds like it might apply to you, read this data on the andropause, on this link.

Solutions to physically based impotence

First and foremost, try Viagra. This drug has revolutionized the treatment of erectile problems, and it works in the majority of men. It works on the enzymes that control the muscles that allow blood in and out of the penis during an erection. Although there are a number of minor side effects, it seems to be helpful to a huge proportion of the men who try it. You cannot take Viagra if you have heart problems or you are taking certain types of heart medication: check with your doctor!

Second, try the Rejoyn sleeve. This fits over the penis and provides a degree of firmness which may allow you to insert you penis into your partner's vagina. This company also makes a small vacuum device which allows you to create the conditions in which blood is more likely to flow into your penis. You can then use a constricting band around the base of the penis to hold blood inside it, and keep a degree of rigidity. By the way, I am not sure that the figures they quote for the success rate of Viagra are correct. Certainly in milder cases of ED I believe Viagra can be almost 100% effective.

Third, try the vacuum device mentioned above. You can read more about this here. This device, though it may sound quite clinical and unromantic, has a high success rate, and it seems to gain wide acceptance by both men and their partners. Still, I suppose not having an erection is pretty unromantic at times, too.

Young men and erection problems