Erectile Dysfunction

Here are some treatment options starting with self help: Share your concerns - it is particularly important that you communicate with your partner by being open and honest and asking for their support.

The lines of communication need to be opened.

Start by placing less emphasis on intercourse and more on developing other forms of sexual intimacy.

Spending time cuddling, kissing, licking and massaging can still be pleasurable and will help keep you emotionally close to your partner.

Sex therapy - many men could benefit from a course of counseling or therapy.

Sex therapy is particularly necessary if the ED has psychological causes which cannot actually be cured with physical treatments.

Sex therapy can help to restore self esteem and sexual confidence.

Involve your partner in sex therapy too.

Practice a healthy lifestyle by cutting down on the drinking and quitting the smoking.

Take moderate-intensity exercise - brisk walking for example - for half an hour on most days of the week.

Eat a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables and low in fat.

Reduce the stresses in your life.

In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have been developing ED treatments as they h...

Last year, the Archives of Internal Medicine reported on a study of nearly 4,000 Canadian men that showed men with The link between erectile health and heart health has triggered a new push in the medical community to use the "Viagra visit" - the time when a man asks his doctor for an erectile-dysfunction drug - as a way to screen men for heart disease.

Teaching a man that erectile function is linked to cardiovascular health, diabetes and weight gain can help motivate him to make healthy lifestyle changes.

"Sexual health is the portal to men's health," says Ridwan Shabsigh, associate professor of urology at Columbia University in New York.

Two major health issues for men - stress and depression - exact a serious physical toll on men but are currently ignored by many doctors who treat men.

New research shows there may be major differences in the male stress reaction compared with the female stress response.

The typical stress response is called "fight or flight" - a physical reaction to danger that helps the body rapidly mobilize energy, delivering gluc...

The study results, published in the June 1, 2007 issue of the peer-reviewed journal CANCER, represent data from the first two years of the study.

Those years, Litwin said, are when most of the negative impacts surface and resolve.

Seed implantation, also known as brachytherapy, has been touted in marketing campaigns as the best of the three options with the shortest recovery time and the fewest sexual dysfunction side effects, Litwin said.

"These campaigns say 'Get your seed implants on Monday, play golf on Tuesday' and that's just not true," said Litwin, a professor of urology and health services.

"Men need to have the most accurate information when making vital decisions about what type to treatment they'll get..

They need facts, not hype." The study found that brachytherapy patients often experience obstructive and irritating urinary symptoms such as frequency of urination and feeling an urgent need to urinate.

They also reported bowel dysfunction such as frequency and urgency, diarrhea and pain with stool.

External beam radiation patients suffered from urinary irritation and bowel dysfunction similar to brachytherapy patients.

Surgery patients more often reported incontinence symptoms such as urine leakage when coughing or sneezing as well as sexual dysfunction, although this was mitigated when the surgeon was able to spare the patient's erectile nerves.

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