| Posted April 3, 2014 | By William Tissot, M.D. | Categorized under Men's Health |

If you suffer from erectile dysfunction, also known as ED, it could be a warning sign that you have heart disease.

That's not meant to alarm you, but to help you realize that erectile dysfunction could be an indicator of many other, more dangerous health problems.

One of the causes of ED can be high cholesterol. Cholesterol can be deposited in the form of plaque in the arteries in your heart and in the genitals. Like the arteries in your heart, those in the genital area are very small and can be the first affected if there is blockage. We need working blood vessels to get an erection and if you aren't getting good blood flow, it's difficult to obtain and maintain a functional erection.

Other common medical causes of ED include high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking. All of these conditions cause vascular disease, and like high cholesterol, it restricts blood flow. Although I don't personally treat men for these conditions, I do talk to them about the importance of making sure their blood pressure, sugar intake and cholesterol are controlled and about smoking cessation. I encourage them to visit a primary care doctor, who can help manage the diseases that cause ED.

If you have ED, it is important to see your doctor, so he/she can screen you for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

It's a mental thing

In addition to medical causes of ED, there are also psychological causes.

A bad sexual experience in a man's past can cause ED. You could just be tired one night, but then that inability to perform stays with you and affects you the next time. Other psychological causes include nerves and pressure.

I see the psychological causes more in the younger, healthier men, and the medical causes more in older men.  

Talk to your doctor

The main thing that keeps men with ED from coming to their physician is embarrassment. I see one to two men a day with ED, so it's normal for me. But for ‘Mr. Smith' to come in here and talk about it - that takes courage. Coming in, admitting that you have a problem and seeking help are the biggest obstacles men have to overcome.

It's time to talk to your doctor about ED when it starts to bother you and your partner.

It happens

Erectile dysfunction is common. I have been in practice more than seven years and I've seen it pretty consistently throughout my career. It has become a bit more prominent with patient-focused advertising by the drug companies that make the ED drugs. These ads may be helping ease the awkwardness for men.

In addition, once a man realizes his buddy also deals with it, then it becomes a bit easier to make that appointment to discuss ED.

Little blue pill

I do have men who come to me just wanting a prescription for the ‘magic pill.' However, I do my best to educate them about the diseases that could be causing their ED as well as discuss the treatments for ED. These include pills, urethral suppositories, vacuum pumps, penile injections and surgically placed prosthesis.

Just like heart disease, erectile dysfunction is very difficult to reverse once you have it. So don't let a seemingly embarrassing subject keep you from taking control of your health.