What every adult needs to know about Impotence

Sexual impotence is perhaps the most poorly understood and mismanaged of all medical disorders. Here are some facts about male impotence (erectile dysfunction), which will broaden your perspective and help you find ways to cope with it.

What it is -Impotency is the consistent inability to sustain an erection sufficient for sexual intercourse.

What causes it -
Male impotency occurs due to psychological and physical reasons given below----

PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES- Psychological male impotence (erectile dysfunction) that is completely due to psychological causes usually occurs suddenly. A man feels pressure to attain or maintain an erection. This pressure can result in the man becoming anxious and nervous during a sexual encounter. This occurs because stress increases the body's production of catecholamines such as adrenaline and non-adrenaline, which are erection inhibitors. This sets up a vicious cycle in that once the man has experienced psychological impotence failure he becomes more anxious, creating more stress and producing even more catecholoamines, and the psychological impotence condition worsens.
The following are some of the common causes of psychological impotence
• Stress
• Worry about poor sexual performance
• Conflict between a man and his partner
• Depression
• Fear of intimacy
• Embarrassment
• Anxiety
• Ignorance
PHYSICAL CAUSES- What most of us don't know is that, the majority of impotence cases are physical in nature, not psychological. Erectile dysfunction is often a symptom of an underlying physical condition or a side effect of medication - another important reason to see your doctor.
On the other hand, male impotence (erectile dysfunction) caused by physical conditions will usually develop gradually over many years.
The following are some of the common causes of physical impotence
• Use of medicines like anti-hypertensives.
• Hormonal deficiency caused by disease like diabetes or injury, Liver disease, usually caused by alcoholism,
• Circulation problems (arteriosclerosis, anaemia, or vascular surgery,
• Neurological problems (injury, trauma, disease),
• Urological procedures like prostatectomy, orchiectomy, radiation therapy, penile implants (orprostheses) that are not functioning properly
• Diabetes
• Hormonal imbalance
• Smoking- A recent study at the New England Research Institute in Watertown, Massachusetts, found that impotence was
equally common among smokers and non-smokers in general. However among men with certain health problems, those who smoked were much more likely to have potency problems. For example, 56 percent of smokers with heart disease were completely impotent compared with only 21 percent of non-smokers with the disease.
• Alcoholism- Excessive alcohol consumption disrupts hormone levels and can lead to nerve damage. This type of impotence may be reversible or permanent depending on the severity of the nerve damage. Some clinical studies suggest about 25 percent of all alcoholics become impotent -- even after they stop drinking.

How to get help -To accurately diagnose the problem and whether the cause is physical or psychological, you should see your doctor. Alternatively you could also go to UROLOGIST (a physicians specialized in disorders of kidneys, bladder, prostate, penis and urethra). Usually, the doctor will give the patient a complete physical examination to determine if his hormone levels are normal if the blood vessels, nerves and tissues of his penis are working properly. Further a nocturnal penile tumescence test can also be done.
Men usually have erections while they are sleeping. It is normal for men to have between two and six erections every night. Men who don't have erections during sleep usually have a physical cause for erectile dysfunction. On the other hand, men who have erections during sleep are generally diagnosed as having erectile dysfunction that stems from psychological causes. Because of this difference, the monitoring of erections during sleep has become an important method of distinguishing physical vs. psychological causes of erectile dysfunction.

To help prevent impotence
Eat a low- fat diet
Don't smoke
Drink only in moderation
Exercise regularly.