Although impotency is often thought of as a condition caused by old age, it is in fact something that can be caused by a wide range of conditions, so much so that it is estimated that around 20 million men in the USA alone will suffer from impotency at some time in their life.
The condition (which is known medically as Erectile Dysfunction or ED) is defined as the inability to achieve or maintain an erection of the penis in order to enjoy satisfactory sexual intercourse.
There are many reasons why such a condition might exist, but every cause can be classified under one of two headings. On the one hand, psychogenic impotence caused by mental or emotional factors, and on the other hand organic impotence, due to a physical cause, condition or bodily malfunction.
One of the most common reasons for impotence is the natural advance of the years - which clearly represents an organic impotence problem, because no-one has (as yet) found a way to successfully prevent ageing.
However, impotency can also be a result of the effects of stress (either physical or mental), excessive tiredness, depression (sometimes brought on by an inability to perform sexually) or overconsumption of either alcohol or tobacco. Recreational drugs can be another potential cause.
It is also widely acknowledged that some men will suffer impotency as a result of the side-effects of pharmaceutical drugs that they are taking as a treatment for entirely unrelated medical conditions.
All of these causes tend to be of a temporary nature, because in all these situations, the cause of the condition can be isolated - and that means it can be treated as appropriate.
However, not every cause of impotency is going to be quite as temporary, as it can often be an unfortunate side-effect of more serious medical problems such as kidney disease, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, high blood pressure or a hormonal imbalance.
In any situation where the cause of impotence is physical (and especially in older men who are inevitably more likely to suffer from organic impotence), it is absolutely essential that a full medical evaluation is sought before any kind of impotence treatment (whether natural or drug based) is embarked upon. This evaluation should include a detailed cardiac assessment, measurements of both blood pressure and lipids, blood sugar tests, and a full assessment of current lifestyle.
In this ‘current lifestyle’ assessment, it is likely that your healthcare professional will look at and advise upon such considerations as weight control, sleep quality management, diet improvement and other similar lifestyle changes that could help to elevate your ability to achieve or maintain an erection.
The fact is, there are many poor health or lifestyle choices that we all make which can eventually increase the chances of suffering Erectile Dysfunction. These poor choices will adversely affect your overall body condition, and deteriorating sexual performance is often the result. For example, if you are seriously overweight, the chances of suffering ED are significantly increased, and too much smoking or drinking is certainly not going to help. This is all exactly the kind of information your medical practitioner needs.
Armed with this information, it is likely that your doctor will be able to isolate the cause of your problem, and in most cases, something can be done to reverse it.
If you have a medical problem that causes impotency, or your condition has been caused as a side effect of a medication that you are already taking, then it is sensible to consult your doctor to discover the cause of the problem.
After that, however, you may have a decision to make, because it is highly likely that your healthcare professional is going to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs of some description to deal with your problem, and you have to decide whether they are something that you are happy to take.
For example, if you are already on some kind of medication for another condition that is causing your ED problem, your doctor is likely to prescribe an alternative medication to deal with the original problem, an alternative that they believe will not cause impotency. Knowing that chemical-based pharmaceuticals almost always have side-effects of one form or another, is switching from one such drug to another something that you want to take a chance on?
Alternatively, if the cause of your impotency is a recognized medical or mental condition for which you have not already received treatment, do you want to begin that treatment by taking pharmaceutical drugs?
For example, imagine that your impotence problem is caused by depression, and your doctor therefore wants to prescribe antidepressants. The following screenshot shows a handful of the most common types of antidepressant drugs.
Look at the side-effects of these drugs, and consider whether they are something that you would want to live with:
Of course, there are medical situations that cannot be adequately dealt with by using anything less than serious medical intervention, and that inevitably means that there are times when natural treatments are not going to be enough. However, given the evident ‘horror show’ of possible side-effects from pharmaceutical antidepressant treatments, there is definitely a strong argument for seeking out natural cures before turning to pharmaceutical drugs only after establishing that natural remedies do not work.
We will consider these natural cures later, but for the time being, the important thing to appreciate is that almost every pharmaceutical drug comes with side-effects. Even the ‘wonder drugs’ that are used to treat impotence directly are no exception to this rule.