Erectile Dysfunction, No Longer Impotence

Technically, there's little difference between impotence and erectile dysfunction. The former word has largely been abandoned, more as a result of the belief that changing a word can change attitudes than because of any medical difference. Still, 'impotence' may refer, in some contexts, to a more short-lived inability to achieve or sustain erection.

But whatever phrase is used, erectile dysfunction is real and today almost always treatable with few side effects. It may result from underlying physical conditions, such as diabetes or urological surgery. It may stem from deep-seated psychological problems, such as clinical depression.

Fortunately, diagnosis of ED is fairly straightforward in the majority of cases. As a symptom that presents itself with tragic obviousness, it can hardly be missed. The underlying cause can be more difficult to ferret out, since so many conditions can cause it. But even so, a physician may move rapidly to treating it, once a safe method has been established.

Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are the three popular drug treatments and they all work in similar ways. There are certain possible drug interactions so physicians will be careful to prescribe one of these PDE-5 inhibitors only when they're confident it will do no harm.

In other cases, when blood flow isn't the problem, a prosthetic implant may be a more appropriate approach. These, too, have possible side effects and doctors will only use this method after careful consideration of the risks.

When psychological issues are at the bottom of ED in a particular case, the approach will typically involve a regimen of psychological treatments. That may involve rooting out underlying depression or it may simply be developing strategies for coping with the condition.

Part of the process of treatment will, ideally, in almost all cases involve the sexual partner. In rare cases, a man will want ED treatments even when he has no prospect of sexual encounters. His self-esteem may be impacted by the condition, or he may have plans for a renewed sex life and want to get ahead of the problem. But in the usual case, a partner is already present. He or she needs to be part of the program.

Honest communication, with oneself, one's physician and one's sexual partner will create the smoothest possible path to recovery. It will help achieve the best outcome with the least difficulty.

But whatever the cause and whichever treatment is selected, the results today can be satisfactory in 90% or more of cases. Erectile dysfunction need no longer be impotence. Or, more accurately, if impotence is taken to mean just a short-lived interruption of the ability to achieve erection, then ED is nothing but impotence. Every post-pubescent male will have experienced that at some point and it can be treated as the minor annoyance it is, nothing more.