Erectile Dysfunction (ED)
- Diabetes (high blood sugar)
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Atherosclerosis (hardening of the
arteries)
- Stress, anxiety or depression
- Alcohol and tobacco use
- Some prescription medications,
such as antidepressants, pain medicine and medicine for high blood
pressure
- Fatigue
- Brain or spinal-cord injuries
- Hypogonadism (which leads to lower
testosterone levels)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson's disease
- Radiation therapy to the testicles
- Stroke
- Some types of prostate or bladder
surgery
- Obtaining full erections at some
times, such as when asleep (when the mind and psychological issues, if
any, are less present), tends to suggest the physical structures are
functionally working. However, the opposite case, a lack of
nocturnal erections, does not imply the opposite, since a significant
proportion of sexually functional men do not routinely get nocturnal
erections or wet dreams.
- Obtaining erections which are
neither rigid nor full (lazy erection), or are lost more rapidly
than would be expected (often before or during penetration), can be a sign
of a failure of the mechanism which keeps blood held in the penis, and may
signify an underlying clinical condition, often cardiovascular in origin.
- Other factors leading to erectile
dysfunction are diabetes mellitus (causing neuropathy) or hypogonadism
(decreased testosterone levels due to disease affecting the testicles or
the pituitary gland).