Erectile Dysfunction: Medical Information

Causes Of Erectile Dysfunction

Erectile Dysfunction occures when a blood flow to your penis decreases for any reason. The most common causes of erectile dysfunction cause blood vessels hardering or narrowing, or affect blood pressure. The common causes of erectile dysfunction include:

• High sugar level in blood (diabetes mellitus)
• High cholesterol level in blood (atherosclerosis)
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Heart disease
• Aging
• Overweight or obesity
• Low testosterone level in blood
• Smoking
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Some prescription medications (see below)
• Depression
• Anxiety, stress
• Problems in relations with your partner
• Nerve damage, spinal cord damage
• Neurologic conditions

Although male sex hormone testosterone plays an important role in erectile function, low testosterone level in blood is diagnosed as a cause of erectile dysfunction only in 5 per cent of ED cases. Low testosterone itself is usually diagnosed as a complication of diabetes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis or heart disease.

ED & Prescription Medications

Erectile dysfunction can be caused by prescription medications that you take to treat diabetes, depression, prostate cancer, weight loss medicines and many others. Well-explored drugs which are known to cause erectile dysfunction, include:

• Medications used to treat high blood pressure: Inderal (propranolol), Lopid (gemfibrozil), diuretics (Aldactone (spironolactone), furosemide)
• Prostate cancer treatments (Casodex, Eulexin)
• Antidepressants
• Antibiotics: Reglan (metoclopramide), antihistamines (Cipro)
• Pain relief medications: Indocin (indomethacin)
• Weight loss medications
• Sleep disorders treatments: Elavil (amitriptyline)

Talk to your health provider if you experience erectile dysfunction while taking prescription medications. You can ask to take you off the prescribed medication and to take a different one.