Fear can be overcome

One of the most common causes of erectile dysfunction is performance anxiety. Put simply, as men age, they begin to lose confidence that the erections of their youth will continue. It only takes one or two failures to get an erection hard enough for penetration and the worry starts to build. Soon, the worry becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. The anxiety takes over and erections fade away.

If you asked men to identify all their phobias, fear of sexual failure would obviously be high on the list. So much male self-esteem is wrapped up in the ability to be successful in the bedroom. But there's also a widespread fear of spiders. Rightly or wrongly, many men find the presence of a spider disconcerting if not actually frightening. This despite the fact that, in the northern hemisphere, almost all the varieties of spiders are completely harmless. It seems to have something to do with the number of legs and the speed of the creatures.

This is the time to start talking about Brazil. Not only has it hit the headlines because Rio has been selected as the venue for the Olympics in 2016, it's also the home of Phoneutria nigriventer, better known as the wandering spider. For those of you who like statistics, this is one of the most venomous spiders in the world and it's responsible for the deaths of many (no-one actually does a reliable count of the fatalities). However, there's a very good reason for overcoming your fear of this spider. When it sinks its fangs dripping with venom into a man, it not only puts the victim on the road to possible death unless treated, it also causes a long-lasting erection. In theory, this could make it a very pleasurable way to die except the erection apparently grows painful over time.

Attracted by news of this spider, US scientists have been injecting the venom into rats. There's now clear clinical evidence that an active component of the venom relaxes blood vessels. This makes it a potential life-saving drug to reduce high blood pressure and, as a side effect, also treat erectile dysfunction. Pharmaceutical companies are therefore lining up to investigate this venom. The reason for the interest is that it's a completely different chemical from levitra and the other drugs currently used to treat erectile dysfunction. The idea of developing a completely different class of drugs from a natural source makes this a very attractive commercial venture.

Until the development work is completed and FDA approval won, men will just have to struggle on with levitra. After all, it only produces six hours of sexual responsiveness from the "as needed" version taken by men with a wide range of different physical and psychological problems. In other words, levitra effectively has the erectile dysfunction market sewn up and it will take something phenomenal from the spider to beat it. But the potential applications to treat diseases of blood vessels, high blood pressure and heart disease may make the spiders the overall winners. It is possible that overcoming the fear of spiders may really pay health and stock dividends in the long run.

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What are the main psychological causes of erectile dysfunction?

The pharmaceutical industry tries to sell you a basic idea - the idea that everything that goes wrong with you can be cured if you buy the right pill. Unfortunately this has never been, and never will be, true. The human mind is a complicated piece of equipment and, if there is a psychological problem, ordinary pills are useless.

In the case of erectile dysfunction (ED), there are a number of different psychological and relationship issues that may have to be resolved before normal sexual activity can be resumed. Yet, the average doctor will concentrate on the biology and ignore the psychology. There are two reasons for this. There are impressive lab tests that justify fee income and can produce black-and-white results in ruling in, or eliminating, diseases and disorders.

This can take money while making everyone in the healthcare industry look professionally competent. Secondly, many doctors are embarrassed if they have to start talking to their patients about sex. It burns up time and, unless the doctor has specific expertise, often produces poor outcomes (except, of course, in the size of the bill).

The last thirty years has seen a steady sexual revolution. You see this in a greater acceptance of feminism and the notion of gender equality. The woman's right to choose also shows in the increasing use of oral contraceptives. Before the ED medications came on the market, counselors talked couples through their relationship problems. When the little blue pill appeared, everything when back to biology. Except the drugs do not cure relationship problems. Rightly or wrongly, many men have fixed ideas about how sex is supposed to happen. If something disturbs this, "my way or the highway" approach, this loss of control causes stress and ED appears. Often, the men affected are failing to match up to myths. They are the victims of misinformation.

Put simply, if men are not getting any satisfaction out of sex with their partners, they will avoid situations where sex can occur. The stress will be increased if there is another possible partner, or the men are interested in fetishes but afraid to mention them, or worried about their sexual orientation. A man who has lost interest in sex with his partner, for whatever reason, will find drugs of little help. But, if the underlying relationship is sound, the best of the three ED drugs to take is levitra.

It may well be necessary for the couple to go through therapy to resolve their personal issues but, with the support of medication, sexual activity may be restarted. This will require courage because, probably for the first time, the man will have to talk openly about his life, his work, his fears and how he thinks his sex life should run. Hopefully, his partner will be supportive during this time. It is counterproductive to be demanding and expect that, if you buy levitra, everything will be better. Sex is more than producing an erection. It is about your mood and confidence in the relationship. Getting into that mood is the challenge.

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The truth is here

Perhaps we were all misinformed. Was there really a report that the Earth was round? Did it come out about the same time as that mad suggestion the Earth goes round the sun? It gets so confusing about what is true and what is theory. Science is supposed to be ahead of the game but. . . All of which brings me to a key fact about the effectiveness of medical treatment.

Since the beginning of time, a significant part of every successful treatment has been the so-called placebo effect. This is where the patient so strongly believes the treatment will work that any treatment will be successful. Even though the patient is given a completely inactive pill, liquid to drink or cream to rub on to the affected area, the patient is still cured. It is the classic demonstration of mind over matter. People simply will themselves better.

For example, acupuncture is used as an anaesthetic for major surgery in China. Patients lie with their eyes open and needles sticking into them while surgeons cut them open. They talk about the weather with the nurses. In the West, there is recent research showing acupuncture to be successful even though needles are stuck into the wrong points in the body. All it takes is a strong enough belief that the acupuncture will be effective.

This is a simple way of saying a society must trust its doctors. If physicians are to command respect and so inspire confidence in the treatments they prescribe, they must be seen to be in touch with the latest science. Their words must be full of truth. If they seem out-of-date or behind the times, why should we trust them when they tell us to favor a particular treatment? People vote with their feet. When it comes to something important, we all choose to see the people who are thought to be the best in their field of expertise. We want the best. This makes the most recent pronouncement of the American College of Physicians all the more worrying. This October, they felt sufficiently certain of the science to be able to issue a general advisory notice to all their members. From now on, ACP members are to act on the basis that erectile dysfunction should be treated with viagra.

So, all you poor patients can relax now. You no longer have to wrestle with your consciences as ACP members prescribe vacuum tubes and hormone injections for your ED. All that uncertainty whether to follow this advice has gone. Your doctor will now officially be allowed to prescribe a little blue pill to resolve your problem. Have all these leaders in scientific thought been hiding under a rock for the last ten years? What are they thinking? How can it inspire confidence in the medical profession to make a formal announcement today about something patently obvious to the rest of the world for the last ten years? This is an incredible moment in time. Ladies and gentlemen, the truth has finally come in from the cold. It's official. Buy viagra with confidence. It is better than all the old hormone treatments and other silly pieces of equipment that occasionally appeared in the bedroom. Pop a pill and your ED is gone!

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Are men and women the same when it comes to pain?

In these more modern times of sexual equality, it may not be politically correct to talk about differences between men and women. Unfortunately, the medical profession cannot ignore the increasing volume of scientific evidence that there are important differences, particularly when it comes to pain management. In this, it is important to distinguish between biological sex and gender. There are visual tests for the presence or absence of reproductive organs, and lab tests for chromosomes that help to say whether this is a man or woman. Gender, on the other hand, is a list of the social roles society defines for people. This can be complicated when people choose to act or behave in ways considered more appropriate for the opposite sex. As an example of the problem, you only have to look at the complaints that Caster Semenya is not a woman. How can this muscular person from South Africa suddenly beat the word record for the 800m by one second and be a woman?

The last decade has seen a rapid rise in the volume of research into gender differences in the response to pain. There is clear evidence that women are more likely to consult a doctor about pain and to take drugs to relieve that pain. As a result, the national statistics show more women than men suffering from the more common medical conditions causing pain such as arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, etc. In tests involving healthy volunteers, women are more likely to report higher levels of pain than men. This applies regardless of the other factors of age, race, ethnicity and religion. Interestingly, brain scans have shown that pain affects different parts of the brain. In women, the limbic area which also affects emotions is stimulated more than in men.

The speculation is that the differences in brain activity flow from early human development. Men were the stronger group with responsibility to fight to defend the community. This means being prepared to accept pain. Women were expected to respond to danger by nurturing and protecting the young, running away if necessary. Today, men remain less willing to admit to feeling pain and are reluctant to seek medical help. It does not matter whether this is a biological or gender difference, the statistical evidence for this unwillingness to seek help is absolutely clear. But, equally clear is that tramadol relieves the pain of both a macho man and an emotional woman. Even though there may be gender differences, the biological effect of tramadol is the same on a human body. It relieves moderate to severe pain. So, perhaps it is time for all men suffering in silence to overcome the cultural conditioning that threatens their self-esteem if they admit to pain. Once you have clearance from your local healthcare provider that there are no problems in you taking this drug, go online and buy tramadol from the privacy of your own home. This relieves the pain and preserves your image.

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