Professor Dr. Hasibur Rahman (Dermatologist)
You may be feeling like you’re not satisfied with your sex life and performance.For males, this could mean erectile dysfunction, impotence, premature ejaculation, low desire, For women, it can include arousal or desire difficulties, pain, or orgasm problems.
What are sexual problems in men?
Sexual health is an important part of a man’s life, no matter his age, civil status, or sexual orientation. It is also an important part of a couple’s foundation and contributes to the quality of life.
The definition of sexual dysfunction is the inability to have a satisfactory sexual relationship.
What is the physiology of sexual function?
Sexual activity involves coordination between various systems of the body. Hormones and neurological pathways must be in sync for sexual desire to be present. Blood vessels, nerves, and penile integrity must all be present for an adequate erection and its maintenance during the sexual relation. Muscles and nerves coordinate ejaculation and it is achieved when the physiological passage way for sperm (from the testicles to the urethra) is present.
What is the treatment for sexual problems in men?
The treatment plan depends greatly on the precise cause of the problem. If the cause is psychological, help from a psychiatrist or psychologist can help. The indicated therapy in this case will be cognitive behavioral therapy. Sometimes the treatment will include couples therapy. If the cause of the diminished libido is pharmacological, you can consult your physician and ask if he or she can suggest a medicine without sexual side effects. (It is of note that there won’t always be other medication options.) Sometimes, hormonal replacement will be suggested. Talk to your doctor about any changes in libido you have experienced.
What are the different types of sexual dysfunction in men?
Types of sexual dysfunction include disorders involving sexual desire or libido, erection, ejaculation, and orgasm. They will be described separately, but understand that some medical conditions can affect two or more disorders at the same time.
What is low libido?
The definition of low libido is when sexual desire is diminished or absent.
Sexual desire problems affect approximately 5% to 15% of men in the general population. Libido is mainly a hormonal and brain phenomenon. Sexual desire requires normal levels of testosterone (male hormone) in the blood and a certain attraction for the partner in question.
What are the risk factors for low libido?
The risk factors for low libido in men include:
Age because testosterone concentration will decrease over the years
Alcohol consumption
Malnourishment
Smoking
Drug consumption
Conditions requiring medication that lowers testosterone, depression, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), pain, and prostate cancer
What causes low libido?
Many causes have been identified as contributing to the diminished of sexual desire. They include:
Medications (SSRIs, anti-androgens, 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, opioid analgesics)
Alcoholism
Depression
Fatigue
Hypoactive sexual disorder
Recreational drugs
Relationship problems
Other sexual dysfunction (fear of humiliation)
Sexual aversion disorder
Systemic illness
Testosterone deficiency
Stress
Lack of time
History of sexual abuse
Hormonal problems such as hyperthyroidism
What are the symptoms of low libido?
The person that lacks sexual desire won’t want to initiate the sexual relation. If the act is initiated, low libido can also present itself as the inability to attain an erection. If the patient experiences a first episode of erectile dysfunction without any previous sexual symptoms and adequate nocturnal erection, the cause is probably psychogenic and the problem is not the erection. It is also important to specify if the low libido is new in onset or if one has always felt this way about sexual relations.
What is erectile dysfunction?
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the inability to acquire or maintain a satisfactory erection. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction varies according to the patient’s age. About 18% of men from 50 to 59 years of age will suffer from erectile dysfunction and 37% of those aged 70 to 75 years will, too.
There are three types of erections — those caused by tactile stimulation, those caused by mental stimulation, and those that men experience while sleeping. This classification can be important when the cause of erectile dysfunction is yet to be determined.
In order to have an erection, men need stimuli; they need blood arriving from the arteries and a veins capable of locking the blood in place. Each of the numerous steps in this system can fail making erectile dysfunction a complex problem for investigation.
What are the risk factors for erectile dysfunction?
The risk factors for erectile dysfunction include:
Obesity
Smoking
Diabetes
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Cardiovascular disease
Medication use
Obstructive sleep apnea
Restless leg syndrome
Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)
Peyronie’s disease
Prostate cancer treatment
What causes erectile dysfunction?
There are numerous potential causes of erectile dysfunction.
Neurologic causes include:
Stroke
Spinal cord or back injury
Multiple sclerosis
Dementia
Pelvic trauma
Prostate surgery (even with nerve-sparing surgeries it can take up to 24 months to regain normal sexual function)
Priapism
Nervous system tumor
Epilepsy
Diabetic neuropathy
Vascular causes include:
Arteriovenous fistula
Diabetes
Atherosclerosis
Congenital anomaly
Hormonal causes include:
Low testosterone (The patient can achieve an erection but it won’t always be turgid enough for vaginal penetration.)
Hyperprolactinemia
Hyperthyroidism
Hypothyroidism
Cushing’s disease
Addison’s disease
Pharmacological causes include:
Antidepressants (mainly SSRIs)
Antihypertensive- beta blockers
Anti-histamine: H1 blockers
H2 blockers
Spironolactone
Sympathetic blockers (clonidine, guanethidine, or methyldopa)
Thiazide diuretics
Ketoconazole
Cimetidine
Penile dysfunction causes include:
Peyronie’s disease
Psychiatric causes include:
Loss of feeling toward the other person
Stress
Fear of non-performance
Functional causes include:
Bicycling irritating the nerves and tissue of the penis
What are the symptoms of erectile dysfunction?
Erectile dysfunction will cause the penis to be unable to acquire or maintain a satisfactory erection. It is important to specify to the doctor the rapidity of onset, the presence of nocturnal erections, and the quality of the erection if it can be attained but not maintained. The quality of an erection can be judged according to the rigidity and the functionality (Is the penis erect enough to allow for vaginal penetration?).
Erectile dysfunction with sudden onset and no previous history of sexual dysfunction suggests a psychogenic cause, unless there was a previous surgery or a genital trauma.
The loss of nocturnal erections will suggest a neurologic or vascular cause.
Investigations for Erectile Dysfunction ?