Dysfunction And Disease

[tutsiwarrior]

following on from Cool Water Place's dysfunction thread, I got to thinking...is there any connection between erectile/ejaculation dysfunction and cancer/prostate problems and etc? I have become progressively dysfunctional over the past year or so...I'm 56 y.o. My sex life has been prolific...10 years ago in a brothel in Jakarta I could enjoy the comforts of three women in succession on a Sunday afternoon. Now...nothing.

Except for an episode recently in Vietnam...she got me going 3 times per day when previously I couldn't get it up. But that was a unique arrangement as we would hunker down in a hotel room for 2-3 nights and not show our faces except to get clean towels from the housekeepers...no short time action at all. But all that was an anomaly. I'm back at home now and back to status quo ante.

I really don't want to see a doctor as I drink too much and have diabetes...I expect after an examination to hear the usual 'stop it now or you have 6 months to live'...Is there any general advice that people can offer regarding dysfunction and disease?

thanks from tutsi, the miserable, the dysfunctional and lamentable...

[Ijustwannateach]

Well, diabetes makes your blood kind of "sugar-coated," which makes it harder for the blood to flow in the smaller capillaries under the same amount of pressure (because the "coated" blood can't slip and fold the way normal blood cells can). That's why the eyes and the feet are usually first to go (are there problems in those areas as well?)- because the tiniest capillaries are there to supply blood.

I'd imagine that any disease (such as diabetes as I just mentioned) which affects circulation would also affect erectile ability.

"Steven"

[tutsiwarrior]

yeah, but...I've had diabetes for 6 years now and just recently have got the dysfunction problem...maybe the sugar coated blood problem is a cumulative one?

[John K]

Well before anyone answers what the other possibilities may be, just go and get a compete physical. The doctor can do a quick check of your prostate to see if it is enlarged. All it takes is a tube of KY and a latex glove. The exam takes about 10 seconds. Being over 50 you should be doing yearly exams and paying particular attention to any family history. Once you rule out any physical problems all that is left is mental.

If the doctor just hands you some Viagra without doing an exam don’t go back to that doctor. There could be some problems that require your immediate attention. Many problems can be cured in the early stages, but left untreated the same problems could be fatal.

As a ‘very’ general rule of thumb, men who have had a gradual increasing problems getting erect the problem tended to be more physical than mental. I can say that around 1 year is the break point. That can vary about 6 months either way depending on how sexually active the person is. This is by no means scientific but just from memory from my records. If you smoke it is physical without a doubt. That is non recoverable damage.

As far as the sugar coating I don’t know the answer to that, but I have had some clients talk about some herbal treatment that acts like Draino. I don’t know what it is called but the way it was described to me was like a clot buster. The clients did not use it for ED but it was more like a preventative treatment as they has previously suffered strokes. My recommendation is it is best to as a doctor in that field about the lasting effects of untreated diabetes.

[tutsiwarrior]

I do a blood glucose check about once per week...(test strips are hard to find in rural Thailand) and regularly inject 40 units of insulin per day. The readings are within the acceptable range so my self administered treatment seems to be doing the trick.

There's no gettin' away from a prostate exam though, I suppose. My maternal grandfather developed prostate problems when he was close to 80...no other family history that I know of. I just hate the thought of a full medical and the usual high cholesterol, liver problems and other horror events that the doctor shall threaten me with. But, I guess in this case with dysfunction it's worth getting things checked out...

I'm not afraid of death...just not ready to die yet...and what a way to go; checkin' out and not being able to get it up...jeeeze...

[sbk]

tutsi, excessive drinking can also affect sexual performance, try cutting back.

You know what my husband says? "Mean old men die hard". So, going by that maxim, you have many years left in you yet

Love ya tutsi, now stop stressing and get to a doctor.

[John K]

It almost sounds like there is more going on than you are telling us. A bit like someone who suspects they are HIV positive or has some other serious condition and does not want to deal with the emotions of knowing for sure. Trust me when I say the anxiety related to that contributes to your ED.

Test strips, just tell the place you get them that you will need x amount per month and if they would not mind stocking them for you. Other options are see if the manufacture will mail them to you. They have such a service in the USA for people who will require medical supplies long term. I have a friend who just arrived about 6 weeks ago and he started insulin while here. He said things are about 15% cheaper in Thailand. If you are on 40 units per day, it sounds like if you could lose 15 kilos you may not need it at all.

An interesting story on cholesterol, I have a friend back in the states who was dealing with his reading being over 230. He was following his doctors advice on diet but was having little success. Then his wife who is a Filipina met another Filipina who hit things off well. As a result they were often invited to dinner over their new friends house. The food was not what you would call something a doctor would recommend. There were a lot of Polish foods and often live lobster was on the menu. Everything was fresh and as nature provided, whole milk, butter, bread and so on. After about 4 months of that he got checked and he had a cholesterol reading under 170. The thing he was amazed at was some of the foods were said to raise your readings. He was about 50 at the time.

If you drink too much I am not going to say stop, continue, or modify your consumption. Just understand that it is a bit of a trade off as sbk says. Once your subconscious sorts that out you will make changes and not even realize it. Thus you wont feel deprived of drinking and be oblivious to changes you made to improve your sexual performance. Often little things like this find their way into hypnotherapy for ED, but that is not the case fore everyone. I don’t even need to mention it directly in suggestions because the subconscious already knows it contributes and sets about making changes. I had one client who for the longest time would drink 3 or 4 beers a day. He stopped completely and did not even miss it. He was coming to me for another issue and his subconscious made the connection that drinking was contributing to his problem. Then his subconscious set priorities and that was that. The only hypnotic suggestion I gave was “you already know what contributes, and you know what you need to change.” I never once said you should stop drinking. Only when using a conscious approach do people feel that they are being deprived of something.

[Sheryl]

A man your age should certainly have regular prostate checks (manual exam & PSA blood test) but prostate problems don't usually present as difficulty getting an erection. Treatment of prostate cancer can cause such problems, which is all the more reason to get regular exams so that any problem can be caught early enough to avoid surgery.

The most common physical causes are circulatory problems and excessive alcohol intake. As a diabetic you are highly prone to circulatory mpairment and this can happen even if your blood sugar is well controlled. Likewise if your cholesterol is high, or there is any hardening of the arteries, these will reduce blood flow. Remember that an erection is basically a filling up of blood; any decrease in circulation will affect performance.

The various ED drugs work specifically by increasing circulation, and therefore are most effective for problems caused by same. Unfortunately, they are also most dangerous for men with related conditions such as heart disease. In other words, the men most likely to benefit from them are also the ment most likely to suffer serious adverse reactions from them. (I realize a lot of men with no circulatory impairment at all use these drugs...but in these cases it is likely more of a placebo effect).

There is no getting around the need to see a doctor and have a complete physical, during which you could ask about whether you can safely use ED drugs. There is also no getting around the need to reduce your alcohol intake. As one ages the same amount of alcohol that you tolerated in your youth will cause problems, sexual and otherwise.

You don't sound like you value your health too much but you aopparently do value your sexual perfromance. What you need to understand is that at your age they are inextricably linked. In order to maximize sexual perfromance you must attend to your health.

The docs may tell you things you don't like hearing, but...they happen to be true, and ignoring them won't make them less so.

Of course, you also need to understand that a middle-aged insulin dependent diabetic is not ever going to have the same level of sexual performance as a young man. You can almost certainly improve on your current situation but not to your 25 year old level. I mention this because unrealistic expectations can create perfromance anxiety which in turn makes the problem worse.

One way to look at it is that while quantity decreases with age, quality can increase due to experience and (hopefully) maturity. For it do so, one usually needs to move into serious relationships as opposed to more causual or commercial encounters.

[John K]

Yes don’t get me wrong about the prostate. Sheryl is correct on that. I only talked about it because you made mention. Sexually it is more related to an orgasm and not an erection. Don’t let the fear of going to a doctor for a checkup and possibly finding bad news stop you. The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies. There is no substitution for a physical exam.

[Tolley]

I would add that any man over 50 should really take a prostate formula like Saw Palmetto as a prevenitive measure against enlarged prostate.

It is extremely common and easily preventable with herbal supplementation.

[tutsiwarrior]

thanks everyone for your kind advice...the reason for my concern is that the dysfunction is recent and I haven't changed my diet (except for sugar), sex or drinking habits since I was diagnosed with diabetes 6 years ago...leads me to believe that there is a recent physical development that's the contributing factor.

(sigh)...looks like there's no gettin' around a full check up...probably have to head down to the Smoke to find a reliable service. We got a hospital here in town with full lab facilities but I don't trust them much. Anyone know of a place private or otherwise in BKK where I can get looked after as a walk in patient? Probably need to see an endocrinologist to deal with the diabetes angle.

PM me if anyone has any info...cheers

[John K]

Well if you want to do one stop shopping then go to BNH on Convent on a Friday or Saturday. Friday evenings and Saturday mornings the have a clinic for diabetes. Just make an appointment for a complete physical. Then stop and see the doctor about diabetes as a walk in. Then when you are finished Pat Pong is walking distance if your up to it.

[tutsiwarrior]

Well if you want to do one stop shopping then go to BNH on Convent on a Friday or Saturday. Friday evenings and Saturday mornings the have a clinic for diabetes. Just make an appointment for a complete physical. Then stop and see the doctor about diabetes as a walk in. Then when you are finished Pat Pong is walking distance if your up to it.

'UP to it'?...that was the reason for the whole thread...

[Ijustwannateach]

I think Sheryl's pretty much hit the nail on the head. Your sexual health will be a reflection of both your physical and mental health- as it always is. If you value the one, you have to value the others. And you have to accept that age will slow everything down, and shoot for quality rather than quantity. Good luck...

"Steven"

[tutsiwarrior]

I think Sheryl's pretty much hit the nail on the head. Your sexual health will be a reflection of both your physical and mental health- as it always is. If you value the one, you have to value the others. And you have to accept that age will slow everything down, and shoot for quality rather than quantity. Good luck...

"Steven"

yeah...I've been thinking about that angle, also the thread re: RIP andyflech. I'm in the business that he was in and someone speculated that the related stress could have contributed to his health problems. I've just come off three years of assignments in Vietnam and the Middle East with difficult clients and impossibly demanding work loads. I was a wreck when I finally made it home. But now after two months rest my skin is clearing up, I can sleep for at least 6 hours soundly, I've got my appetite back and my bowel movements are normal again. The dysfunction may or may not respond to a more relaxed lifestyle...we shall see...

[John K]

That does sound like a bit of stress both physical and mental. You may want to just think about spending a whole day at a holistic spa too. It will polish off any remaining rough edges. Sauna, massage and the works (including a lot of pampering) would do you good.

[tutsiwarrior]

That does sound like a bit of stress both physical and mental. You may want to just think about spending a whole day at a holistic spa too. It will polish off any remaining rough edges. Sauna, massage and the works (including a lot of pampering) would do you good.

sounds good...but here at home I am in the bosom of my wife's family and get all the massages and pampering I need...all I haveta do is position myself near the womenfolk and there's someone kneading my shoulders, coaxing me to lay down so the entire assembly can go to work on me.

I was just downstairs and the stepdaughter and three of the nieces positioned themselves comfortably around me and went to sleep; afternoon nap...it's hard to describe the relaxing effect of being surrounded by little angels asleep. This has all contributed to my recovery after oocupational shell shock and three years at war...

no sauna though...

Edited November 5, 2006 by tutsiwarrior