In the final 13 years of his life, the notorious Giacomo Casanova suffered from impotence. We don’t know what caused it. Perhaps he did not respond to sexual stimuli as strongly as in his youth, but his embarrassing condition may have been caused by advanced sclerosis.
While men usually don’t realise it, erectile dysfunction is one of the first symptoms of deteriorating health. This might be the sign of an advancing ischaemic heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, sclerosis or kidney disease.
Clogged arteries
Cardiologists explain that sclerosis is a disease affecting the arteries located in various places in our body. In addition to coronary arteries (which supply blood to the heart muscle), it can attack the penile arteries, causing them to narrow. As they become less patent, the blood flow is obstructed and erectile dysfunction ensues.
Problems with erection usually occur earlier than heart attacks, as the penile vessels have a smaller diameter. The same sclerosis-induced narrowing of arteries obstructs the blood flow to the penis more than to the heart muscle. Also, the adipose tissue induces hormone imbalance that affects penile function.
It is estimated that in many men erectile dysfunction precedes chest pain, which is a sign of coronary sclerosis, by two years. The risk of a heart attack is particularly high in men who suffer from both erectile dysfunction and depression.
A study performed on 2 thousand men by Elisa Bandini from the University of Florence warns specifically against this triad of diseases – impotence, depression and ischaemic heart disease.
Be a man, make the decision
The patient’s unhealthy lifestyle is the most common cause of all these disorders. Nothing has changed in this respect since the ancient times, when rich Romans, who engaged in gluttony and heavy drinking, where the group most affected by erectile dysfunction. It is the same in contemporary times – there is nothing more effective in turning off your sexual life than obesity, lack of physical exercise and diabetes.
As many as 200 million men suffer from erectile dysfunction across the world. A whopping 40 percent are nicotine addicts, but this comes as no surprise, since smoking is one of the main factors contributing to sclerosis.
Despite the scale of the issue, men are reluctant to speak about problems in the bedroom. In most cases they finally decide to consult a doctor after two to four years, when the disease is already very advanced. Sometimes even after a heart attack. This shows that erectile dysfunction is still a taboo subject.
“Men don’t want to talk about this kind of disorder, as this is strongly connected with their emotions and male self-esteem. So it is very important to educate them, but also their partners and physicians about erectile dysfunction and the dangers related to it. Men need to 'act like men’ and, if they encounter any such problems, go see a urologist or sexologist," said Prof. Zbigniew Lew Starowicz.
The risk of death
Time is working against you. Australian research shows that the risk of hospitalisation due to diseases of the circulatory system and the risk of death (from various causes) increased in direct proportion to the severity of erectile dysfunction.
Men who had not been diagnosed with any cardiovascular disease, but had problems with erection ended up in hospital in 1/3 more cases. The risk of death was nearly twice as high. Men with an already diagnosed cardiovascular disease and severe erectile dysfunction were hospitalised 64% more frequently and the risk of death was 137% higher.
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