Fortune (in the form of preventive health) favors the bold
Men have a certain barometer when it comes to their health: their sexual function. If something doesn’t feel right but the sex is good—they’ll usually just wait to see if the problem goes away. But if there’s one instance of impotency—they’re calling the doctor’s office the next morning. And that’s exactly what you, or the men in your life, should do.
Men who are impotent but otherwise healthy showed early signs of atherosclerosis in their coronary arteries, according to a study out of Sweden. Other risk factors for heart disease have also been linked to the presence of impotence, such as high blood pressure and a higher incidence of abdominal fat.
Granted, the mere fact that you experience impotence does not necessarily mean you have heart disease. Impotence has a variety of causes, whether it stems from a psychological or a neurological concern. But the most common cause is a lack of blood circulation in the penis, resulting in either a partial erection or none at all.
As people sometimes say, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”: If you’re having a circulatory problem that is related to atherosclerosis in one area, chances are very high that it’s a systemic problem.
This is not “hot-off-the-press” news. The connection between impotence and heart disease has been recognized for a couple of decades, but only recently has it been studied. What I’m more concerned about is whether or not you (or the men in your life) and your doctor are talking about it.
So if you’re a man experiencing impotence (or know someone who is), take heed: The sooner you bring it up with your doctor, the sooner you can take a proactive approach and get the problem treated.
And, of course, if your impotence does have a correlation with heart disease, the sooner you make heart-healthy changes, the better. My feeling on heart disease is this: Once the horse is out of the barn, so to speak, you pretty much live your life managing the problem to prevent it from getting worse. The harmful changes brought on by heart disease start taking place in the body many years before you actually develop chest-pain symptoms or have a heart attack.
The biggest stumbling block to early treatment of impotence is that no one may want to talk about it—neither you nor your doctor. It may be embarrassing for you to discuss, but bite the bullet and do it. If you can’t discuss this with your doctor, with whom can you discuss it? If it’s a case of comfort level with your present doctor—I strongly recommend you look for another doctor that you’re more comfortable with.
