DeadSynapse

Hello and thank you for those who have posted.

I have a lengthy post that may shed some light on ED for a few of you out there. The first part is a philosophical rant, the second: a scientific discussion.

Part one
My educational background is biochemistry and biology, and recently I have been searching all legitimate scientific outlets for information regarding the pathology and treatment of this condition. Let me preface the following by stating a basic biochemical principle: all physiological and psychological realities of a given organism (including us humans) are governed by a complex mosaic of chemical interactions. The fact that we are here alive, and reading these messages means that 99.9% of the endless processes in our bodies are functioning correctly, so let’s be thankful for that! Now, considering that we are a highly organized conglomeration of chemicals, in those of us with ED some specific aspects of this homeostasis have been disrupted. Why? And in exactly which ways? The possibilities are endless. Nature can be quite cruel, and frankly some of us got the short straw when it came to the genetics of sexual reproduction. And this will shake most of us with ED, especially young men, to our absolute core. Young men especially have a fundamental drive, a libido so to say, that results in unparalleled energy, creativity, physical well-being, and productivity. I am a firm believer that this energy is driven by sexual forces. Even with the bastardization of sex with birth control, our primal reason for existence is still reproduction. With this in mind, once a young man realizes that his ability to reproduce is limited, his conscious and subconscious mind makes the grim conclusion that the fundamental reason for existence appears difficult to achieve, and the body is further driven away from equilibrium. I don’t think that I would be making an outlandish statement in proposing that that many older men who have had fulfilled their sexual desires in this life for decades are less bothered by ED. It is rather unfortunate, but it hasn’t ruined their life because that intense psychological libido stage is over and they have decades of satisfaction over which to reminisce. But my final point is that ED is especially serious in young men. There needs to be a better and more accessible treatment protocol for young men with this issue. After reading these boards (which represents a tiny subset of men with this problem), I am realizing that there must be thousands and thousands of young men who need help.

Part two
But there is much hope for us young sufferers. Science and innovation is a beautiful thing. However, the fact of the matter is that impotence has received very little medical attention until recently. Case in point: Viagra, the wonder drug and godsend of impotence treatments, was never intended to treat ED. It was a heart and blood pressure drug that happened to give life to dormant penises. Last night I stumbled upon two very interesting and important scientific studies regarding sildenafil (Viagra) that I will discuss later.

As we all know by now, Nitric oxide (NO) is the chief chemical responsible for erections. It is the end product of a complex series of neural and enzymatic pathways. The disruption of any of these pathways for any reason would absolutely result in erectile dysfunction. I am perplexed by the cases of ED in healthy young men that seem to have no discernable origin, and I have suspicion that they are related to a disease pathology related to the synthesis/ and or mobilization of NO. I believe that a consistent lack of the vasodilator NO in the bloodstream, especially at night, has serious effects on male reproductive abilities, and is probably responsible for high blood pressure too, as the two tend to occur simultaneously. Nighttime erections are clearly linked to normal erectile functioning. I am under the impression that lengthy erections at night deliver essential nutrients to the blood vessels in the penis that maintain penile tissue and the cardiovascular system in optimal health. This is why patients with sleep apnea who lack REM sleep, and hence nitric oxide vasodilation, tend to have high blood pressure and sexual dysfunction. So we have now established the possible importance of NO in our ED problems

Now for the sildenafil studies. If you’ve been skimming, please pay attention right now. Sildenafil works by maintaining elevated levels of nitric oxide in the blood stream. I’m not going to explain exactly how, but the concept is PDE5 enzyme inhibition, and it works beautifully. The first study I came across discovered that Sildenafil injections, and hence higher NO concentrations, in mammals causes significant increases in oxytocin levels, a chemical that is known to increase male-female bonding such as cuddling, AND is crucial in sexual arousal; in rat studies, injections of oxytocin results in spontaneous erections. Researchers are now reevaluating their initial statements about how Viagra does not increase sexual desire. It now appears that the chemical can work on sexual pathways that we do not even understand. The main point that I extract from this study is that the role of NO in sexual functioning is most likely underestimated and probably has many effects on sexual and overall cardiovascular health.

The second sildenafil study that really caught my interest consisted of a manipulation of the dosing of Viagra. Normally, it is consumed on an “as needed” basis. A very smart researcher decided to compare the results of patients using Viagra “as needed” to patients taking a full 50mg dose every night before bedtime. The study duration was 6 months. What were the results? In some patients who took a full dose before bed every night, and therefore had consistent nighttime erections, the result was a REVERSAL of their ED. That’s right, a REVERSAL. The extensive periods of nighttime NO vasodilation somehow rejuvenated their erectile tissue and possibly worked on those unknown pathways.

So here’s my plan. Once I can secure a 6 month supply of levitra, I am going to take it every night before bed and see if I can jumpstart my erectile tissue again. Furthermore, I personally would like to band together a statistically significant group of men under 30 years of age who have ED of unexplainable origin to test my theory on NO disease pathology. If we get good results, we might have stumbled on a better way of treating ED. I know there are plenty of guys just like me, but I just need them to come out of the woodwork so we can try this.

Thanks for the read. Contact me with questions or post on this thread as I have become quite knowledgeable on the subject of ED in the past few days.