Dean Edell: First Erectile Dysfunction, a problem that's both common and complicated; common because we estimate 52% of men between the ages of 40 and 70 experience it; complicated, because it really occurs in isolation and can be a warning that something else is wrong.
High blood pressure, high blood sugar, smoking, if you are a man, these red flags can hit you in the heart and below the belt.
Jeffrey Brady: Hyper tension, smoking, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, all of those would be high risk factors for Erectile Dysfunction.
Dean Edell: ED is more common than you might think. According to studies, 40% of men in their 40s experience a Erectile Dysfunction. That number increases as men age to 50% of men in their 50s, 60% of men in their 60s and to 70% of men in their 70s.
Anthony Douglas: If your blood vessels aren't functioning, you are not going to have a normal erection.
Dean Edell: Often it's ED that brings men with other hidden problems or comorbidities to the doctor.
Anthony Douglas: Usually it's the only way to get them in office is if they have something wrong sexually and we discover that sure enough that a lot of them are diagnosed with diabetes, a lot of them are diagnosed with underlying high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Dean Edell: All of these conditions can affect sexual function.
Randall Meacham: We know that among men that have diabetes, there is a tremendous problem with vascular supply to many of their organs.
Frank Costa: In patients with cardiovascular disease or hyper tension, there is some increased risk of plaque forming in the arteries and so that the blood flow to the sexual organs are also compromised.
Dean Edell: Finding the right treatment can be tricky.
Jeffrey Brady: Some of the antihypertensives have more of a likelihood of creating Erectile Dysfunction, so can we work with the primary physician, shift their medicines, to see if they have an antihypertensive, it doesn't have the side effect of Erectile Dysfunction.
Dean Edell: Treating hyper tension may not reverse ED, but can help down the road.
Jeffrey Brady: There is significant benefit to treating and controlling hyper tensions to maintain the erectile function you have.
Dean Edell: Then there are the ED drugs.
Male Speaker: Levitra and Cialis are in the same classification as the Viagra.
Dean Edell: All three drugs can play a key role in ED treatment. Patients with the ED related to prostate cancer have a different problem altogether.
Walter Hayes: They feel like you are not a man anymore.
Dean Edell: Walter Hayes has battled kidney, lung and prostate cancer which left him.
Walter Hayes: Completely and totally impotent.
Jeffrey Brady: Typically those who had a radical prostate detecting, where the prostate is removed for cancer, often times have nerve damage.
Dean Edell: And some men fear the cancer treatment because of that side effect.
Walter Hayes: My motto is dead man can't have sex. If the prostate cancer is taken care at first and we will fix you up with something else.
Dean Edell: That something else.
Jeffrey Brady: The pump the device here.
Dean Edell: Can come in several forms.
Jeffrey Brady: Currently, we are using either vacuum or action devices, injection therapy or penile prosthesis or combinations of oral therapies and there is other options.
Dean Edell: Walter has an implant.
Walter Hayes: That probably is one of the best things I have ever done in my life because I got my life back.
Dean Edell: And he has advice for men suffering from Erectile Dysfunction no matter the cause.
Walter Hayes: If you have still got libido and your interest in intimacy, with today science, you don't have to give it up, you don't have to think it's all over, it's not.
Dean Edell: And be mindful, ED not only effects a man, but his spouse or partner too.
Jeffrey Brady: He doesn't want to be put in that position to fail again, so he will avoid the intimacy. She doesn't want to put him in that same position as well. Both parties are now trying to avoid intimacy. You certainly have a couple who doesn't just have a physical problem, but also has an emotional problem.
Dean Edell: Fearing that, takes more than a pill or implant, it takes time.
Walter Hayes: You got to take it slow with your partner. With most couples I find, it's have been years since they have had intimacy and you can't jump off the chandelier the first night.
Dean Edell: Is there a way for men to prevent ED or keep it from getting worse?
Jeffrey Brady: If you are smoker, stop smoking, maintain adequate weight and healthy diet, exercise at least three to four times, all those things that are good for your heart are really good for your erections.
Dean Edell: Two new drugs are now being tested. One works to protect and to regenerate nerves of men who have undergone prostate removal. The other works on the body's central nervous system rather than on the vascular system. The second drug is also being tested to treat female sexual dysfunction.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services