Heart and Penis Are Tightly Connected
While some men think that the most important cardiac function is blood transfer to penis, this connection appears to be much more complicated. Understanding of tight interrelation between heart and male sexual organ may save patient’s life.
Erectile function is the most important chain between sex and heart. From 10 to 50 mln of American and Canadian men suffer from impotency.
But first of all, it should be remembered that appreciable erectile dysfunction is a sign of hidden cardiac disorder. ED occurrence may place in jeopardy man’s sexual life. It may also signify a bigger threat to the overall life. Over the period of five years, men suffering from erectile dysfunction have enhanced risk of apoplectic attack occurrence (by 50 per cent) and necessity to hospitalization due to cardiac disease.
This risk is higher in men under 50 years of age, since erectile dysfunction is a troubling sign of bad heart health of younger men. The more serious ED, the higher risk of cardiac disorder development.
ED is a bad symptom in men with diagnosed atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Half of men with ischemic heart disease either already have or will experience the development of erectile dysfunction. They also have the worst prognosis than men without ED. Thus, erectile dysfunction and ischemic heart disease go hand-in-hand.
Connection between erection and heart health includes atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction of blood cells from medical point of view. Atherosclerosis is a cardiac issue which influences arteries in the whole organism either in penis or in kidneys, brain, feet and heart. One of the first stages of atherosclerosis which occurs before forming of blocking plaques is abnormal function of endothelial cells covering inner part of arteries and helping to control blood circulation to enlarge and contract artery. Like heart pumps blood, erection of penis depends on normal functioning of these cells and arteries regulating it.
Erection is a vascular process. In order to make erection happen, penis arteries must vasodilate (enlarge) and provide additional blood stream to sexual organ. This can happen only if endothelium functions properly. The most common cause of failed erection or occurred erection without any possibility to last long is endothelial dysfunction (arteries do not vasodilate). In case penis arteries are damaged by this early stage of atherosclerosis, there are chances that cardiac arteries are affected by atherosclerosis as well.
Although main mechanism of arteries damage or dysfunction is similar, it causes erectile dysfunction before the symptoms of ischemic heart disease occur. Why does it happen? Penis arteries are smaller (one millimeter in comparison with three-five millimeters of heart); therefore, in order to improve blood circulation, better endothelial functioning and fewer plaques are required. Besides, as opposed to heart, penis with reduced blood supply cannot create new arteries. In average, erectile dysfunction is three years ahead of ischemic heart disease. The point is that erectile dysfunction very often serves as a warning of impending cardiac disorder. A man suffering from ED may be considered to be a patient of cardiologist.
Risk Factors
In order to expose the problem at an early stage, a man should pay attention to the following factors:
- Elderly age;
- Smoking;
- Obesity;
- Diabetes;
- High arterial blood pressure;
- Hypodynamia;
- High level of cholesterol;
- Depression.
Lifestyle reduces risk factors to a minimum, decreases chances of erectile dysfunction development and of ischemic heart disease as well. And to the contrary, non-beneficial profile of risk factors for heart also has bad forecasts for penis functioning. In order to estimate man’s erectile function and related risk factors, a doctor will conduct medical examination. He will assign routine blood tests including fasting lipid profile blood test and blood sugar level test. Further testing is generally not required. As opposed to some physicians, Canadian Health&Care Mall canadianhealthcaremallrx.com doesn’t recommend a stress test for all men suffering from ED. Stress test is to be performed only if a patient has particular cardiac symptoms, such as pains in chest, neck, back or hand, and respiratory distress.
The most important solution for heart’s health and fully-realized sexual life lies in optimization of risk factors. But what is you have ED already? Research studies of men suffering from overweight with ED have shown that change of harmful lifestyle lead to improvement of sexual function. Men were randomized in a group which performed a detailed program of weight reduction and physical activities, or in a group which was given only general information about necessity of sound food and physical training. Within the period of two years, men who conducted healthy lifestyle have lost in average 15kg and had overall improvement of risk factors including decrease of inflammatory process and better cholesterol level. Erectile dysfunction has been changed as well: one third of all participants have experienced the total loss of ED. Program required certain obligations: participants had to train around three hours a week.
As to medications for erectile dysfunction, their intake is of small significance for cardiac therapy. These medications should be taken along with change of lifestyle. There are three medicinal products available for ED treatment: Viagra (sildenafil), Levitra (vardenafil), and Cialis (tadalafil). They are one of the most popular medications in the world.
Related article about ED meds: Top 5 Best-Selling ED Drugs at Canadian Health&Care Mall
Viagra history symbolizes the connection between cardiac disorders and erectile dysfunction. In the mid of 1980-s, researchers tried to discover a medication which could reduce chest pains in patients and improve blood circulation in coronary arteries. In 1989 they noticed that sildenafil citrate (later called Viagra) was perspective in lab examinations. A big medical trial has shown that Viagra was really effective and caused insignificant coronary blood stream, but it didn’t lead to improvement of cardiac symptoms. But many participants discovered an interesting side-effect of Viagra, and instead of being cardiac medicine, Viagra became the first medication approved for ED treatment in 1998.
Nowadays, when men’s hearts and risk factors are estimated, Levitra, Cialis and Viagra are prescribed as the remedies of the first line to treat ED. Their active substances block protein which splits guanosine monophosphate (an important vasodilatory agent of penis arteries). When the splitting protein gets blocked, penis arteries are able to relax, blood supply increases and erection occurs. These medicines do not treat endothelial dysfunction and early atherosclerosis preventing from normal erection; they just give possibility to avoid this issue.
Men taking nitrates (nitroglycerin) for relieving chest pain cannot co-administer it with ED medicines. Like ED remedies, nitrates cause vasodilation of arteries and veins; and combination of these medicines may result in dangerous arterial blood pressure drop. Men using Viagra and Levitra must not take nitrates within at least 24 hours after last-taken dose, whereas men administering Cialis must wait for 48 hours before taking nitrates.
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