It’s been a while since I’ve done a video on erectile dysfunction,
and there have been some advances in the field, so I’ve decided to do an update.
If you’re struggling with ED, then stick around. Help might be just around the corner.
The real problem is that this is a difficult subject for a lot of us guys to talk about.
Especially us older guys, who come from a generation where talking about anything
as personal and intimate as ED was just, well…embarrassing.
But here’s the thing. ED isn’t something that just randomly strikes a few guys.
It’s something that a lot of guy suffer from.
And the older you are, the more likely it is that you’re one of those guys.
If you’re over 50, then you’ve got about a 50/50 chance of getting it.
If you’re over 70, then the odds are stacked against you, with about 70% of guys who are over 70 suffering from ED.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
ED especially age-related ED, has been the subject of intense study for a number of decades now,
and there are a lot of different paths to recovery available.
And today, we’re gonna go over most of them.
Alright, before we get started, let’s briefly go over the mechanics of an erection.
And let’s start by taking a look at the anatomy of the penis.
First off, you’ve got arteries and veins. There are six primary arteries.
The two biggest arteries are located right in the center of the two primary erectile tissue areas,
called the corpus cavernosum.
There’s another body of erectile tissue called the corpus spongiosum,
and it has two smaller arteries located inside of it.
There’s also a couple of arteries located along the top of the penis, but I believe that these are less involved in an erection.
These arteries are where the blood enters the penis, inflates the erectile tissue and causes an erection.
There’s also a couple of veins, and they’re both located along the top of the penis,
along side the dorsal arteries. This is where the blood leaves the penis, deflating your erection.
The only other structure that really important here is the urethra.
This is where the seminal fluid flows when you ejaculate.
Alright, so all erections start with some type of stimulus.
This can be either some type of direct stimulation, like fondling,
or it can be something that’s more emotional or intellectual, like a fantasy or thoughts of a loved one.
Either way, once the stimulation occurs,
the first thing that happens is that the stimulus causes the endothelial tissue in your arteries to secrete nitric oxide,
which in turn causes an increase in a chemical compound called cyclic guanosine monophosphate,
or cyclic GMP.
This causes the smooth muscles in the arteries of the erectile tissue to relax, allowing the blood to rush in.
This is what causes an erection.
The erectile tissue filling up with blood and increasing the volume of your penis by as much as 6 times.
This sudden swelling also causes the dorsal veins to collapse,
trapping the blood inside of the erectile tissue and sustaining your erection.
But the cyclic GMP that’s allowing the blood to rush in is countered by an enzyme called
phosphodiesterase type 5, or PDE5. PDE5 breaks down the cyclic GMP.
As long as the stimulation is ongoing, new cyclic GMP is being created as fast as the PDE5 is breaking it down,
and you can continue to sustain an erection.
But when arousal ends, as with ejaculation, the endothelial cells stop producing nitric oxide,
cyclic GMP production drops off, and the PDE5 takes over.
When that happens, all the cyclic GMP is broken down by the PDE5,
the arteries collapse and the dorsal veins re-inflate, allowing the blood to drain from the penis
…and that’s the end of your erection.
Now, that’ what happens when you’re young and healthy and your equipment is working like it’s supposed to.
But as you age, problems develop.
Now, just like there are two different types of stimulation, there are a couple of different categories of problems.
If you’re problem is emotional, if it’s connected to emotional trauma that you’re suffered,
if it’s in any way connected to your mental health, then it’s probably a libido problem.
Your libido is the amount of sexual desire that you’re able to generate.
If you can’t generate much desire, you’re unlikely to achieve liftoff.
On the other hand, if you’re problem is functional, then it could be related to the fact that as we get older,
most of us suffer a pretty serious decline in our production of nitric oxide.
But it could also be the result of an overall decline in the health of your cardiovascular system.
Erectile dysfunction can be an early warning system for your heart health.
Because of the many tiny arteries located in the erectile tissue,
if you’re developing chronic problems with your cardiovascular system,
this is one of the first places it’ll show up, long before a heart attack or a stroke.
Another cause of ED can be low testosterone.
Testosterone is the male hormone, and it controls a huge number of factors that determine everything
from our masculinity, our energy levels, our health, our muscle mass…and our reproductive system.
If you’ve got low T, then you’re gonna experience problems with getting wood.
And unfortunately, for a lot of guys, as we age our production of testosterone can go into the toilet.
Fortunately, there are a lot of different ways to treat ED.
And the first that I want to talk about is lifestyle.
Now, when I was talking about the causes of ED, I probably should have mentioned lifestyle first.
There are any number of lifestyle choices that can have a negative impact on your ability to get wood.
Things like alcohol consumption, smoking, too much stress, not getting enough sleep,
not getting enough exercise and eating junk food.
So if you’re got ED, I’d start with taking a good look at your lifestyle.
I’ve said it before: getting more exercise, eating clean, whole foods and supplementing is the foundation for just about everything.
But while we’re here, let’s talk about hormones.
Because lifestyle choices can also have a big impact on testosterone levels.
Naturally optimizing your hormone levels is all about lifestyle.
You can certainly do testosterone replacement therapy,
but I got great results in boosting my testosterone production just by improving my lifestyle choices.
But here’s the thing. Chances are that your ED isn’t caused by just one thing.
It’s more likely the result of a combination of things.
And for a lot of guys, it’s the decline in nitric oxide production.
When I was talking about the mechanics of an erection, it all started with nitric oxide.
Without it, liftoff just ain’t happening.
And it’s been documented that nitric oxide production goes into decline with age.
But it doesn’t have too. There’s an exercise that you can do that will stimulate nitric oxide production.
In fact, it was designed specifically to do just that.
And it’s called, appropriately enough, the nitric oxide dump, N.O.D. or NOD.
The exercise only takes about 2 or 3 minutes to do, but you need to do it 3 times a day.
I’ve done a couple videos on NOD, and I’ll put links to them in the description.
I mentioned nitric oxide first because it has a huge impact on whether or not most ED meds like viagra or cialis work.
The Big 3, viagra, cialis and lavetra are all PDE5 blockers.
If you’ll recall from my earlier discussion, erections end when PDE5 takes over,
because it degrades cyclic GMP, which causes the arteries in the erectile tissue to open up.
So, the big 3 are more about sustaining an erection than they are about getting one in the first place.
Although, if the cyclic GMP is being destroyed faster than it’s being created, it’s gonna be difficult to even get wood.
However, even if your NO production is low, if the PDE5 is prevented from degrading it, eventually you’ll achieve liftoff.
But if you’re not producing sufficient nitric oxide to stimulate the production of cyclic GMP in the first place,
there’s really nothing for the PDE5 to degrade…so blocking it won’t make any difference.
I think that’s why the big 3 don’t work for so many men.
So if it was me, and viagra didn’t really have much effect on my ED,
I think I would assume that I had a problem with nitric oxide production, and I’d probably start doing NODs.
Now, if nitric oxide production is NOT a problem for you,
or it you’ve improved NO production to the point where it’s no longer a problem,
THEN there’s a much better chance that you’ll have great results with the big 3.
So, let’s talk about them. They serve slightly different purposes.
Viagra and Levitra are for the more spontaneous situations,
if you can call take a drug and waiting for it to take effect, spontaneous.
Viagra and Levitra are absorbed and cleared more quickly by the body.
Both take effect within about an hour, but the effects only last for 6 to 8 hours.
Cialis is for situations where a little more planning is called for.
It takes a little longer to be absorbed by the body, about 2 hours, but it can last for up to 36 hours.
So if you’re planning a romantic weekend, you’d want to go with Cialis.
The problem is that these drugs can be expensive.
It’s not unusual to see pharmacies charging $45 to $65 a pill.
I’ve had to fill prescriptions 2 or 3 pills at a time. But I found a solution.
I found a few ways to get these drugs much cheaper, and I did a video on how.
I’ll link to it in the description. And here’s a clue: GoodRX.
If you’re problem isn’t that you can’t get an erection, it’s that you have a hard time sustaining one,
than another solution is a constriction device, better know as a cock ring.
These devices can restrict the flow of blood out of the dorsal vein, which is the cause of detumescence,
which is when your erection deflates.. But they can also restrict everything else.
They can restrict the arteries that carry blood into the erectile tissue and they can restrict the urethra, making for a painful ejaculation.
Now there are some restriction devices that have been designed to only restrict the dorsal vein and not the arteries or the urethra.
Now I want to talk briefly about some therapies that have gotten great results for some guys.
But, they’re expensive. I’m talking about ShockWave therapy and the P-Shot.
Without getting too technical,
ShockWave therapy involves breaking up damaged tissues with sound waves,
and the P-Shot is an injection of Platelet-Rich Plasma into the penis, which promotes healing.
I’ve done a video on the P-Shot and I’ll link to it.
I don’t think I’ve ever done one on ShockWave therapy. Maybe I should do one.
By the way, I’ve never done either, so I can’t vouch for either of these therapies.
Now, there are also some other treatments for ED that I’m not really going to go into here,
things like surgery, implants, and injections of ED drugs directly into the penis…
and unlike the P-Shot, I’m talking here about shooting up every time you need wood.
The are also some herbal remedies like Panax Ginseng, Rhodiola Rosea, DHEA,
Ashwaganda, and Maca…and, while it’s not an herb, acupuncture.
And the things is, I’ve tried all of those but I didn’t really get good results.
But that’s just me, you might have a completely different experience and I’ve heard from a lot of men who did.
Now, there is one herb called Cnidium, and I heard about it in a talk by Dave Asprey.
It apparently both increases nitric oxide output and blocks PDE5.
OK, so what if your problem isn’t your equipment, what if it’s your desire for sexual activity, your libido.
Well, gotta solution for that too.
I want to talk next about a peptide called PT-141, also known as bremelanotide.
Now, I’ve also done a video on PT-141, and there’ll be a link in the description,
and that’s actually my most popular video ever.
PT-141 is an anologue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, or MSH.
And one of the things that MSH does is that it can have a very beneficial impact your sexual drive.
It can flat out make you very, very horny.
Now, PT-141 is a peptide, which is simply a short-chain amino acid.
But here’s the thing, it has to be injected,
but we’re talking about a subcutaneous injection, like an insulin injection…
NOT an injection directly into your penis.
Now, it’s been approved by the FDA for treating lack of sex drive in woman,
and it’s sold under the brandname Vyleesi, and it’s very expensive.
It comes in a pack of 6 auto injectors, but even with GoodRX, it comes to a little over $4,000.
You heard me right, $4,000 for 6 auto injectors of 0.3 ml each.
OK, so some of you might consider this a little sketchy.
PT-141 is available from a number of sources as a freeze-dried powder
that has to be reconstituted with bacteriostatic water, and is then available for injection.
It’s much, much cheaper…I’ve found it on the internet for anywhere from about $40 to $60 for a 10 mg. vial.
Now I’ve seen it a lot lower that that and I’ve seen it a lot more expensive, but that about the average price.
Here’s the thing, a lot of the labs that sell it do under the heading of “for laboratory and research use only.
Not intended for human use.”
Be that as it may, I know a lot of guys who are buying it from these labs and using it on themselves.
And a lot of them report great results. Some of them report no results.
I, personally, got outstanding results.
Usually, from the reports that I’ve been getting, an average dose is around .2 to .4 mg.
If you’re interested in PT-141, I suggest you go check out the video that I’ve linked in the description,
there’s a lot more information on it there.
OK, that’s about it for this video on erectile dysfunction.
There are a few more solutions, but these are the primary ones,
and they’re the one’s that I use to help me achieve liftoff.
If you’d like to know more, then check out this playlist.
That’s it for me, I’m outta here. I’ll catch ya next week.