If you have erectile dysfunction, you may be at more risk of heart disease than you know. My friend Jonathan Wright, MD told me years ago to ask male patients about their sex lives. Poor function, it seems, is a harbinger of future vascular events. Now conventional medicine is catching up.
Researchers studied a large population of men over 54 years of age. They were evaluated for erectile dysfunction and the researchers compared it to the participants development of vascular disease.
Normal men who developed erectile dysfunction during their time in the study had a 25% increased risk of vascular disease. For men who either started out with erectile dysfunction, or developed it during the five-year follow up, the increased risk of vascular disease was a whopping 45%. The researchers said the association was equivalent to smoking or having a family history of heart attack.
Its normal to lose virility as we age. I do not have the same prowess as when I was 18, nor would I expect to. But I definitely want all my body parts working until I am ready to depart the earth.
Erectile dysfunction is a major problem. I know just from being a doctor. But considering the 40 or so ads that manage to break through my e-mail Spam filter each day for Viagra and other erectile-dysfunction drugs, and all the TV commercials for those same drugs, it appears the problem must be pandemic.
I am convinced that in many men, erectile dysfunction is a harbinger for vascular events. It could be an early sign that your vessels are diseased. Perhaps your level of testosterone is too low. Testosterone is definitely heart protecting and restoring. Perhaps it is a subtle warning of metabolic syndrome (glucose intolerance/diabetes).
Whatever the mechanism, if you have erectile dysfunction, I suggest that you go to your integrative physician to have your vascular risk factors checked. Your erectile dysfunction may be your early warning system. Its one thing to have erectile dysfunction. Its another to have heart dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction is bad enough. Stop it there.
Ref: Journal of the American Medical Association, December 21, 2005.