Although commonly linked to age, erectile dysfunction (ED) can be caused by a number of things, including stress, anxiety and depression, obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, a hormone imbalance, diabetes, sleeping disorders, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, kidney disease, relationship problems, damage to the groin or pelvic area, specific health conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease or peyronie’s disease, or as a side effect of taking another medication.
Depending on the cause of the problem, you may be able to improve the situation by reducing your stress levels, losing weight, giving up smoking, lowering your alcohol consumption or seeking relationship counselling, for example. However, in some cases, medical intervention is required. In this blog we look at some options including vitamins and medications.
Although erectile dysfunction is often a recurring problem that needs to be monitored and frequently treated to reverse its effects, there are some cases where it can be cured, based on the cause. For example, if it’s caused by your lifestyle, it could help to reduce your alcohol intake, cut down on smoking or eating healthier. If it’s a result of stress and anxiety, you could consider getting counselling to get to the root of the problem.
Affecting around a third of men at some point in their lives, erectile dysfunction is often considered as a natural problem for men in their later years. If you’re beginning to experience symptoms of ED, there are a few changes you should look at making to your lifestyle before considering taking any form of medication.
Potential solutions include:
If all of the above tips don’t work in relieving your ED, you may want to consider taking something to treat it. There are several medications that are designed to remedy the effects of ED, but you may also consider attempting to cater to a deficiency by taking vitamin tablets.
Vitamin tablets aren’t likely to be as effective as medication, but they’re worth considering as they can be a suitable solution in minor cases of ED.
Examples of vitamins that work to treat ED include:
There are several options to choose from when it comes to ED medicines and it can be difficult to know which one to pick. Erectile dysfunction medications include sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), vardenafil (Levitra) and avanafil (Spedra), with all four coming from the family of PDE5 inhibitors, which are capable of increasing blood flow and relaxing muscles in target areas of the body.
All four carry the same potential side effects such as dizziness, feeling sick, hot flushes and headaches, but they have the benefit of being somewhere between 60 and 70 per cent effective. From these four erectile dysfunction drugs, sildenafil and tadalafil are the most popular and commonly prescribed, while proving safe to take for most men. Between the two, research suggests that sildenafil is three per cent more effective. However, it’s perfectly natural to find one of sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil or avanafil to be preferable based on how well it works on your erectile dysfunction and personal preference.
It would be advisable to try sildenafil first and use it eight times over the course of several days to gauge whether it’s the right treatment for you. If it doesn’t have the desired effect, leave a suitable gap of 24 hours and consider trying one of the other PDE5 inhibitors. If you’re still unsuccessful with treating your ED, you should seek medical advice from a healthcare professional.
Whilst all of our content is written and reviewed by healthcare professionals, it is not intended to be substituted for or used as medical advice. If you have any questions or concerns about your health, please speak to your doctor.