IMPOTENCE

Impotence or erectile dysfunction was once regarded as a man's worst nightmare. Given the advances in medicine and nutrition research, however, it is no longer a scary thing. Impotence can be treated -- sometimes without drugs. So before you invest in costly and sometimes dangerous chemical drugs, you may want to consider natural treatments for impotence.

There are two forms of impotence: primary and secondary. Men with primary impotence have never had sufficient erections for satisfactory intercourse. This form of impotence is rare and often caused by extreme psychological conditions, such as intense fear of intimacy, extreme feelings of guilt and severe anxiety.

Secondary impotence, defined as the loss of erectile function after a period of normal function, is more common. Men with secondary impotence are typically able to engage in intercourse only 25% of the time. This form of erection typically comes on gradually and is usually more easily treated than primary impotence.

What causes impotence?

Although men who have reached middle age and older are more likely to be impotent than younger men, impotence can strike at any adult age. It is estimated to affect between 10 and 15 million men in the United States alone. The main causes of impotence are:

Diseases

It is estimated that over 70% of all serious impotence cases are the result of diabetes, kidney diseases, multiple sclerosis, endocrine disorders, vascular diseases, and high blood pressure, as well as neurological diseases. It is estimated that between 50 and 60% of diabetic men are impotent.

It's important to realize that impotence may be a symptom of a more serious problem with your health -- so if you're impotent, seek professional medical help immediately.

Medication

Prescribed drugs used to treat high blood pressure, ulcer, depression, prostate cancer, as well as drugs to prevent baldness or aid in dieting, can have side effects that include impotence. In this case, the impotence lasts as long as you are taking the drugs.

Surgery

Surgery on the spinal cord, prostate, bladder, or pelvis can lead to impotence by damaging essential nerves, tissues, muscles, or arteries needed.

Cigarette smoking, alcohol & narcotic use

One of the most underestimated causes of impotence is actually cigarette smoking (as if you need yet another reason to quit). It is ironic that even though cigarette smoking projects an aura of coolness or sexiness for some, in reality it is anything but.

The same goes for alcohol and narcotics such as heroin and cocaine (almost 100% of men who use cocaine regularly are impotent). If you use these recreational drugs, however, you have bigger health problems than just impotence.

Hormonal imbalance

As testosterone and other male sex hormone levels start to drop after reaching middle age, it is believed that low testosterone level is the culprit of most intermittent impotence problems, especially in older men. Furthermore, studies have shown that lack of testosterone leads to a range of other sexual performance problems, including premature ejaculation and low sex drive.

Psychological factors

It is estimated that about 10 to 20% of impotence cases are the direct result of some sort of psychological factors, such as low self-esteem, depression, and especially stress and anxiety (general and performance anxieties). Here, all the plumbing is okay, but the otherwise healthy man is unable to achieve an erection.

The man's comfort level is also often a factor, especially in maintaining an erection. Boredom, marital problems, or negative feelings against your partner may contribute toward an impotence problem.

Impotence caused by psychological factors is often temporary: it lasts as long as the underlying factor is still there. If you suspect this may be the cause, you can perform a simple test to see if impotence is just in your mind.

Test yourself: the stamp test

So, how do you distinguish between impotence caused by problems with your body and that caused by psychological factors? A lowly, regular stamp can help.

Turns out that during sleep, a man often gets multiple erections throughout the night. This involuntary erection means that everything is fine with the nerves, muscles and arteries involved in the erection process, and signals that the cause of impotence lies elsewhere.

To determine this, a man can simply wet and "affix" a small stamp on his flaccid penis before going to bed. If the stamp is no longer in place by morning, it means that a nocturnal erection occurred.

Treat impotence without generic drugs

The pump

A vacuum device, composed of a plastic cylinder, pump, and elastic ring or band, can be used to affect an erection.

The way it works is as follows: the cylinder is placed onto the penis and the pump is then used to draw air out of the cylinder. The vacuum forces blood into the penis, which in turn causes an erection. Once an erection is achieved, the man places the elastic ring on the base of the penis, which keeps blood from draining from the penis back into the body. The ring remains on the penis until intercourse is finished.

This device works quite well, although some men complained about the discomfort of the elastic ring, in addition to the hassle of, well, pumping up.

Herbs

Although they are often dismissed as ineffective solutions to impotence, more and more clinical research studies have found that herbs can help impotent men.

Some of the most popular herbs available on the market today include epimedium, maca, ginkgo biloba, and others. Although they are generally safe and free of side effects (unlike chemical drugs), it is important to know that the quality of their extraction and preparation processes vary widely.

One of the most promising herbs is the purified extract of epimedium. To date, its effects on treating impotence and other sexual dysfunctions have been extensively studied.

Epimedium has been used as traditional medicine to treat sexual dysfunction and male infertility in Europe and Asia for many decades, before improvement in scientific extraction techniques allowed identification of its active ingredient called protodioscin.

More than nine clinical studies performed by six universities and academic hospitals on this purified extract have confirmed the herb's beneficial effect. These studies showed that epimedium helps treat impotence caused by low testosterone level or an imbalance in the body's level of sex hormones. The active ingredient of epimedium acts as a natural precursor to these hormones, and is converted into its final forms by the body's own natural enzymes.

Other studies have suggested that epimedium also acts by increasing the level of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a naturally occurring substance in the body believed to be important for a healthy sex drive.

In all, these studies proved that epimedium works very well in curing sexual dysfunctions and maximizing sexual performance when taken regularly (it does not work immediately, however; epimedium shows positive effects only after two to three months). No known side effects are linked with this herb.

A note of caution: although there are many epimedium extracts available over the counter today, almost all of these have been found not to contain any significant amount of the active ingredient.