Kids Health Blog

The Christian Medical College and Hospital has been conducting a study on the relationship of cardiac dysfunction to sexual dysfunction (especially erectile dysfunction), and some telling results have emerged. While it has been long known that some conditions related to cardiac dysfunction can cause erectile dysfunction, the exact nature and strength of the link could only be guessed at. Now, medicine nows a bit more about a very important subject in human health.

New Numbers

The study has revealed some really compelling statistics:

• 20% of erectile dysfunction and ejaculation dysfunction sufferers also have heart and artery diseases
• 30% of erectile dysfunction patients are high risk for cardiac and coronary failure (e.g., heart attack)
• 70% of patients with cardiac disorders have erectile and ejaculation dysfunction

The Research Subjects

The patients in the study were all from India: Punjab, Jammu, Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh. The average age of the patients was above 30 years.

The Goal of the Study

Obviously, the study wanted to find the exact numbers for the relationship between these conditions. However, it also aims to educate doctors and raise the awareness in the public and the medical community.

There is concern that doctors often treat erectile dysfunction without making their patients aware of the serious health risks, such as high blood pressure and heart attack, that they likely are playing with. The doctors conducing this research emphasize that they would like to see the medical community insisting on treating patients with ED more seriously, rather than just throwing medications at the problem. This is not to say that ED medications are bad-far from it, they are necessary and even useful in treating heart disease and high blood pressure-but they are just part of the solution for most people.

Is it really a chicken-egg situation?

A statistical link does not necessarily mean that there is a cause and effect relationship. In this case, this means that heart conditions do not necessarily cause erectile dysfunction. Rather, they could both be caused by similar things, like blood pressure disorders, high cholesterol, obesity, and lack of exercise. However, while this seems effectively the same thing-because proper diet and exercise are the best ways to cure both the underlying conditions and the symptoms-it explains why medical treatment for heart disease does not fix ED. In fact, prescription drugs for high blood pressure and cholesterol may actually cause or worsen erectile dysfunction.

Suggesting a Solution

People with sexual dysfunction and who have or are high risk for heart and artery disorders are advised to make changes to their diet and exercise routines, as well as lifestyle choices like limiting stress and anxiety. Doctors and dietitians advocate vegetable-based diets high in vegetable protein (nuts, beans, legumes, whole grains) and dietary fiber (fresh fruits and vegetables). Meat intake (such as beef, chicken, and pork) should be kept at an absolute minimum if one is unwilling to eliminate it from the diet completely.

20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day is recommended.

For ED, Cialis is regarded as the best treatment option for over 80% of cases. Cialis is available cheaply from trusted online pharmacies

Arachnophobes beware, a new treatment’s emerging, and you’re not going to like it.

Phoneutria nigriventer, also known as Brazilian wandering spiders, armed spiders, or the harmless sounding banana spiders, are large spiders native to South America. Their ranking in the Guinness World Records as the most venomous spider in the world belies their cute nickname, which they share in common with a harmless species of spider.

As if a spider the size of your hand wasn’t scary enough, they also really pack a punch.

While most news involving Brazilian wandering spiders is related to deaths of agriculture workers in South America, one of the side effects of their venom has been turned into a potentially positive effect, which has been drawing plenty of headlines.

Their venom may cure erectile dysfunction.

Don’t get bitten just yet!

In case you were planning on jetting out to a Brazilian plantation and finding one of these guys, you should know that while erections are one of the effects of the venom, the other effects are loss of muscle control, breathing problems, and suffocation. People who are bitten and injected with the powerful neurotoxin experience intense pain and inflammation, and usually die if untreated.

Venom, Priapism, and ED

The venom is also notorious for causing priapism, which is the condition of having a painful, dangerous erect penis (in the case of males) or clitoris (for females). These are no laughing matter; priapism should be treated as emergencies and require immediate medical attention.

Priapism, if not properly treated, can result in impaired erectile function (ED) in the best cases and gangrene leading to penis removal in the worst cases.

This is the condition that prompts those warnings about 4-hour erections in many ED pharmaceutical treatments.

Under no circumstances should you intentionally be bitten by a spider. It will not cure anything.

New Studies Showing Promise

Research about the effects of the neurotoxin on erections is ongoing, but the results have been looking surprisingly positive. While the venom alone is not a solution for anything, one compound within the neurotoxin might actually be helpful to humans suffering impotence.

Kenia Nunces, a scientist with the Medical College of Georgia, explained to MSNBC that they have been studying the toxin to see which part of the venom causes erections.

What did they find?

PxTx2-6.

When tested on lab rats-who we can assume didn’t just wake up with ED themselves one day but were given it-erections were normalized, according to Nunes.

How the Venom Might Be Used

It is highly unlikely that this will be a first treatment option for most people. For those who have erectile dysfunction due to high cholesterol, blood pressure issues, lack of exercise, obesity, smoking, or drinking, the best medical solution is to modify your behavior-using therapy if necessary-and diet and exercise. Of course, Cialis can be included in that regimen.

Cialis is also a first treatment option for people whose erectile dysfunction is caused by any number of disorders, including Diabetes, Neuralgia, and Anxiety Disorders.

Still, for the less than 20% of people who Cialis does not work for, this research provides hope.