Overview: Erectile dysfunction is a persistent difficulty in achieving and maintaining an erection sufficient to have sex.
It is a common type of male sexual dysfunction which makes men unable to get or keep an erection firm enough for satisfactory sexual intercourse. It can have a profound negative impact on the quality of life and results in unsatisfactory sex life for his partner. erectile dysfunction can cause stress, affect your self-confidence, and leads to relationship problems.
ED becomes more common as you get older, But it’s not a natural part of aging. Erectile dysfunction may indicate that you have a damaged nerve, or clogged blood vessels.
Major symptoms of ED:
Here are some major symptoms that indicate that you may have erectile dysfunction :
Erectile Dysfunction – Symptoms and causes
- Reduce sex drive: lower sex drive means low testosterone- which is a male sex hormone that helps in the development of male reproductive tissues (-testes and prostate) that leads to erectile dysfunction.
- Urinary hesitancy: Erectile dysfunction and urinary hesitancy are correlated, getting up many times during the night to urinate, may associate with erectile dysfunction.
- Premature ejaculation: PE is a clear symptom of erectile dysfunction, ejaculation happens sooner than his partner would like to have during sex.
- Nocturia: It is positively associated with ED. Poor sleep quality restricts the oxygen, testosterone, and oxygen both are important for a healthy erection.
- Enlarge lymph nodes: Having enlarged or swollen lymph nodes near reproductive organs indicate erectile dysfunction.
- Low libido: libido is a sexual desire, low libido can lead to a vicious cycle of physical and emotional side effects including the inability to maintain an erection.
- Difficulty in maintaining an erection during sexual activities.
- Reduce interest in sex.
Major causes of ED:
Erectile dysfunction is caused by many factors. Some major factors are given below:
Physical causes:
- Heart diseases: cause erection dysfunction. It includes;
- Atherosclerosis: Clogging or hardening of arteries causes heart attack and reduces blood flow to the penis that leads to erectile dysfunction.
- High cholesterol: High level of cholesterol build up on vessels which causes them to narrow and slow down the blood flow to the penis that would cause no erection at all.
- High blood pressure: HBP can damage your arteries by causing them to become thicker or even to brust also restrict blood flow towards the penis.
- Diabetes: a condition having a high blood glucose level that causes long term health problems.Type-2 diabetes affects patients’ lives emotionally and creates a problem with maintaining an erection.
Psychological causes:
- Stress: Stress causes the release of brain chemicals that can keep an erection from even getting started.
- Anxiety: It causes mental distraction when personal sexual expectations are not met, it leads to erectile dysfunction.
- Fear: A fear of sexual failure negatively leads to ED.
- Medications: Antidepressants, anti-ulcer drugs, diuretics, and muscle relaxants are major medications that cause erectile dysfunction.Other drugs like :
- Alcohol
- Cocaine
- Marijuana
- Barbiturates
- Nicotine
Intake of all these drugs suppresses the central nervous system and serious damage to blood vessels that lead to erectile dysfunction.
