Recovering from Erectile Dysfunction

*this article is an abridged excerpt from my book, Fuck Portion Control which contains extensive insight into the workings of the human body and how to achieve healthy outcomes through simple and accessible means.

I was almost fourteen-years old when I gathered the courage to draw my first penis. I was alone at my desk during a rare moment of privacy in our bustling household. Out of fear I drew the penis fairly small in the middle of a blank white sheet of paper in case anyone barged in so that I could quickly cover it with one hand. The penis was beautiful, not exactly like my own but more like one I might like to see, perhaps that of an older boy with more experience. Drawing it made me feel more whole, less of a freak for having one and wanting to use it. Though the risk of being disciplined for such artwork was immense the drawing was too precious to throw away, so I placed it deep within a larger stack of drawings.

One day afterward I came home from school and sat down at my desk to draw. Shuffling through my papers I pulled out my prized drawing for a quick look. Newly scrawled below the image was written the word Gross! rendered in permanent blue ink and underlined as if to avoid any chance of misperception. I was mortified. The penis wasn’t even very big, or veiny or hairy. It was just a nice penis, and my one small space of privacy, my artwork, had been violated, defaced, and used as a tool to humiliate me. I crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash.

That whichever of my parents decided to reprimand me for such an inanely harmless act through indirect and shaming aggression rather than an open discussion of sexuality was just one example of how my joy and hope for life was buried under a mountain of guilt and shame with intentions of molding me into some kind of respectable young man. Yet such despotic standards of sexuality which were rampant throughout my conservative upbringing did nothing to subdue my over-powered sexual development and interest, but it did ultimately contribute to attempted suicide, alcoholism, and a limited ability to connect to others.

I first experienced erectile dysfunction around the age of twenty. This is a very young age to suffer something like this and it confounded my struggle to be happy and healthy, playing into the ridiculous reward/punishment ideology of my rearing. I only enjoyed about two years of sexual activity with partners which were unencumbered by fears of underperforming, not to mention that my idea of sex was mostly an activity rather than an expression of love, my emotional connection to others long severed by the dissociative personality I developed to protect myself from a lifetime of heartache.

Early on my problem wasn’t serious, occurring only if I was especially spent or anxious. It began while on my own, at times finding no energy to bring myself to orgasm even when I had not been very active. I also suffered from a strange sensation that can only be described as a frequent need to urinate even when there was no urine to be passed, which I attempted to discuss with doctors with no success, and realized recently was the prostate under stress due to a compromised metabolic rate, and that many other men also quietly suffer this condition which can be relieved through the same therapies which are discussed here and the whole of my book. Of course, the initial guilt and shame I felt said that I had arrived at this miserable situation precisely because of my overactive sex drive and use of pornography and being homosexual, so I abided the condition, failing to recognize it as a defect in my health and not in my character or value as a person. By the age of twenty-eight I was starting to have alarming difficulties with libido and sexual health. Easily winded during sex, sweating excessively, or losing erections from the simplest interruption or overexertion I tried to be strong and to be okay in spite of my increasingly difficult issues, which I now realize was down-playing my own suffering, minimizing my self worth, and failure to understand the seriousness of my situation.

I asked my doctor for help. He didn’t understand what I was trying to tell him and scheduled me for testicular imaging to check for cancer. As had happened to me countless times the medical profession failed to assist in any helpful way and so I gave up, accepting with embarrassment the increasingly premature inability of my body to work normally. Later a partner had easy access to erectile dysfunction pills like generic Viagra and Cialis (and also put me on finasteride). They made sex fun again and I got my own prescription, but it only lasted a hot minute because taking them too often, or at full dose, left me with stuffy sinuses and a puffy face, especially under my eyes, and more prone to exhaustion generally. I also noticed an increase in my apparent aging, and my health began to decline more severely during this time. Never did I consider that this was unnatural and that someone my age should not be suffering erectile dysfunction, let alone being given erectile aids by unconcerned doctors who should have instead promoted and educated young men on healthy lifestyles. Eventually I developed thyroid cancer and it was impossible to have sex even with myself, and boner pills no longer helped with erections but made my other symptoms more excruciating.

To talk about erectile dysfunction we must also talk about the problems which lead up to it, the most obvious of which usually manifests as an overactive sex drive which, sadly, is usually regarded as a defect of moral character and something which can be controlled, and often also incorrectly regarded as an addiction. I have seen countless men and women errantly regard their issues surrounding sex as a mark against their character and value as a person, ideas which ultimately neuter their ability (pun intended) to connect not only to other people but also to themselves and to find resolution, at best this issue dulls our ability to withdraw satisfaction from relationships, at worst it leads to the breakup of relationships or even more serious problems such as criminal sexual behavior. But an overactive sex drive is simply caused by the chronic excess of a regulatory molecule in our body called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a mediator of stress reactions, facilitating the increased delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the systems of the body in part by dilating blood vessels. Nitric oxide is increased during physical activity, sexual arousal, and during injury. A healthy metabolism only releases as much nitric oxide as is needed to accomplish any task for which it is necessary because excess nitric oxide also suppresses mitochondrial activity, and mitochondria are the power centers of our cells. But when a healthy metabolism begins to be overtaxed by demands of a stressful environment, nutritional or caloric insufficiency, or contamination from environmental toxins the systems which turn down or regulate nitric oxide begin to stop, because the factors which stimulate nitric oxide start to remain on more than they are off, thus allowing nitric oxide to flow unceasingly, and because nitric oxide in turn stimulates the release of things like luteinizing hormone, which in turn participates in the regulation of sex hormones, the sex drive consequently increases.

There is nothing wrong with an active libido, except that in the case of excess nitric oxide it is often associated also with suffering due to external stresses such as strained relationships or failure to live up to unrealistic expectations and the vague burden upon a person’s psyche caused by resultant stress hormones which seem to only be relieved by successful sexual activity (because other normally therapeutic approaches to reducing stress will not necessarily lower excess nitric oxide). Because sexual activity during chronic excess nitric oxide is accompanied by an increase in other stress hormones sex during this state then becomes unfulfilling and merely medicates the discomfort caused by the excess nitric oxide in the first place, which is why such sex fails to promote bonds within a relationship or contributes negatively to feelings of self-worth, not because of the sex act but because of the stress hormones which inhibit the benefits of sexual activity. In our ancestors the kind of stress which elevates nitric oxide in this way would usually only have originated during times of famine, disease, and competition, stresses which were associated with an increased chance of death, so the biological purpose of increased sex drive during chronically elevated nitric oxide is meant to promote the mating act to increase the chances of insemination and thus production of offspring before the expiration of the adult rather than the promotion of love and social bonds. But it still has that physiological purpose in us today, and now we easily experience conditions which produce this situation due to poor diets, inadequate lifestyles, inappropriate social pressures, or contamination with industrial toxic chemicals which, by disrupting the endocrine system, exacerbate stress responses and exaggerate nitric oxide excretion. Because in humans the sex response is also social and bonding, when directed toward loved ones (or oneself) it promotes some reduction in stress, but unless the underlying metabolic conditions are addressed this situation will not change and will eventually lead to other health problems such as erectile dysfunction. To be clear, the idea that this needs to be changed at all has nothing to do with sexual activity but only because excessive nitric oxide further destroys sexual function and general health and the associated stress hormones make a person more susceptible to negative feelings which may include shame, resentment, or guilt surrounding sexual activities, and the impetus for sex becomes associated with unpleasantness rather than joy or happiness as it does for those without such health issues.

In environments such as the one in which I grew up where stress was unceasing and outlets for sexual fulfillment used as tactics for control this has an effect of increasing sexual impulsivity, not lessening it, as well as promoting a deterioration of mental health. My penis has no concept of morals (I mean this literally, not figuratively, as decisions I make with my penis are always morally oriented). The penis should work whether or not the rational mind does. Boners (or libido in general, though I do not have the experience to write from a female perspective) do not actually work the way we generally understand them or how we hear it from media and pharmaceutical companies looking to make money off our erectile dysfunction, and sexual health does not start with the reproductive organs, nor does it end with them, and focusing on them is demoralizing and distracting. Instead, sexual health is a mirror of the body overall. Unhealthy bodies have deficiencies with sex. Healthy bodies do not. But unlike hair, which falls out or grays at even moderate stress, the reproductive system will continue working even when health is very, very poor because reproduction is crucial for the survival of species it is also one of the last traits to succumb to ill health, so a working sex drive does not necessarily mean a person is healthy. When erections finally fail it is because of serious metabolic decline and should rightly be of concern especially if it happens earlier than is expected as this is a sign of more serious health issues (or more to come), because the conditions which would cause erectile or arousal dysfunction in younger men and women are also those which promote the development of more serious things like cancer, diabetes, etc. Because of nitric oxide’s role in sex, pharmaceuticals target it for production of erectile dysfunction medication. Viagra and Cialis work by increasing the amount of nitric oxide in a person’s body, by a huge margin. This increases the effect of it on sexual arousal, and enables erections in even the most physically compromised. The problem is that nitric oxide is a stress hormone. Its role is not to facilitate arousal but to guarantee it. Sexual function is one of the last metabolic processes to be lost because the body has many methods to keep sexual functions operating as long as is possible, even at the expense of the individual, to ensure a greater chance for reproduction. But the use of erection aids can compound overall issues and accelerate the aging process by elevating levels of nitric oxide even further. Most men who use erectile aids with regularity show premature and advanced aging, faster greying hair, severely thinning skin, and reduction in muscle mass. Like many metabolic processes, nitric oxide has its rightful place, but it does not mean it can be promoted without consequence. Nitric oxide boosters are also used in pre-workout products, but being a substance of stress the negative effects of nitric oxide eventually have health consequences for those who are even young and healthy, most especially because nitric oxide suffocates mitochondria, which are needed to maintain the qualities of youth and health. The long histories of ancient and contemporary practices of abstaining from sex (based on many theories ranging from the retention of sperm to retention of metaphysical energy) while sometimes based on observable developments in health due to abstinence do not result from an abstinence from sex but instead the abatement of nitric oxide. Especially since it is entirely possible to limit excess nitric oxide production while thus maintaining erectile function and a healthy sex life it is misguided to engage in such practices, even futile, as nitric oxide production is defined by the state of health and the diet, and not by sexual activity, as a person who remains abstinent will still develop and suffer from chronically excessive nitric oxide due to far more influential factors such as diet than their sexual activity, and the excess elevation of nitric oxide during and from sexual activity is not caused by sex but by the other environmental factors like diet, stress, or environmental contaminants.

Instead, the natural molecule for erection and arousal rehabilitation is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide relaxes blood vessels the same way nitric oxide does, although not in such an extreme manner, and comes with health restorative effects rather than detrimental ones, and then nitric oxide fills in the difference between what is achieved by carbon dioxide and what is needed for full sexual arousal. Paying attention to breathing during sex will reveal an increasing shallowness of breath as the body grows nearer to orgasm. Holding the breath naturally increases levels of carbon dioxide, and this is how the body manually increases it during sex, by preventing its ventilation. Nearing orgasm men actually hold their breath, unconsciously, an instinct which helps complete sexual performance because for a moment it drives the level of carbon dioxide through the roof. In metabolically compromised individuals who cannot generate enough carbon dioxide this means much more nitric oxide is produced to compensate, and this in turn creates a metabolic deficit since nitric oxide causes stress. Because nitric oxide also reduces formation of carbon dioxide by suppressing the metabolic rate of cells, this results in a worsening of erectile problems rather than the reverse, since carbon dioxide is needed to sustain true arousal. The increasing elevation of nitric oxide through deterioration of the metabolism eventually causes failure of the libido altogether, which is why an overactive sex drive precedes erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction occurs when the metabolism is such that carbon dioxide production is so insufficient that arousal can no longer be achieved, no matter the amount of nitric oxide. Because such problems are viewed by self-pitying ideology as evidence of wrongdoing or deficiency of moral resolve, many men and women feel shame for biological responses which are a natural part of our existence, especially when those functions fail, but which functions are intended to fulfill our moral obligations as social and reproductive creatures and not in opposition to them, and this stress furthercompounds the problem instead of assisting it, adding to the stress which depresses the metabolic rate in the first place.

Considering that excess nitric oxide causes sexual impulsivity, “sex addition,” is not really a thing. We cannot be addicted to that which is required for life. One cannot be addicted to air, or water, to love, to a person, or even to sugar. The impulse that a so-called sex addict feels is actually this biological response to severely excessive nitric oxide and it strongly promotes sexual activity on purpose rather than in defect. If the goal is to get well it is unhelpful to consider sexuality outside the context of biology, because it is the rules of biology, not ideology, which define its function. Reducing major sources of stress both social, environmental, and nutritional as discussed in this article and throughout the entirety of my book reduces fixation on sex, sexual impulsivity, and excessive sex drive because all stress stimulates the excess production of nitric oxide or contributes to conditions which cause excess. Reducing chronically elevated nitric oxide while also improving the metabolic rate then makes sex something fun and restorative instead of a necessity or associated with feelings of guilt, shame, or the inability to bond with a partner. In healthy individuals without excess stress the completion of sexual activity results in emotional bonding with the object of their affection (or oneself), because of the way certain hormones and neurotransmitters interact and imprint upon the body and mind can either promote or impair this bonding response. But an unhealthy person’s body has outsized levels of stress hormones, like cortisol and prolactin, which have a place in sexual function but in excess exact an outsized effect on endocrinological and neurological function, preventing the usual restorative and enmeshing effect of sexual activity. Even self-sex can result in unpleasant and demoralizing results when excess stress hormones cause outsized deficits on metabolic function and depress those which are healthy. Healing the endocrinological function removes these unwanted and unpleasant effects and restores the healthful, moral function of sex which is to promote love, whether it is with oneself or with a partner.

One of the biggest factors in the failure of erection or libido is the decline of physical sensation. This not only creates problems of satisfaction, anticipation, and self-esteem but also destroys the reinforcing physical stimulus of the sex act. When we are young our nervous systems are on pointe, conducting stimuli to the brain without any inhibition. This happens because our cellular health is more or less running as it should and cellular respiration is the norm rather than the exception. Over time the nervous system begins to deteriorate from excess stress, aging, a poor diet, or contaminants such as bad fats and toxic chemicals or heavy metals. Bad fats like soy cause neurological deterioration because they are unstable in the high heat, high oxygen environment of nerve cells and thus cause the formation of highly toxic products such as lipid peroxides which in turn promote excess nitric oxide and stress hormones. You can imagine the energy which is conducted along the nervous system, which not only has its own metabolism but also the duty to move electricity from one cell to the next. Electricity generates heat, and just like wires in a house the nervous system is subject to intense wear and tear if the components are not made of the most sufficient elements. When bad fats contaminate nerve cells they impair the cell’s ability to run. This decrease in metabolic rate also causes the cell to swell with extra water which in turn lowers the conductivity of the cell (this is inflammation). This swelling and impairment of conductivity then dampens the potent neurological impulses of physical sex. Toxic metals like aluminum can also interrupt this conduction pathway. Aluminum impairs the conduction of physical stimulus for a number of reasons. It reduces the metabolic rate of cells and thus increases water content, it is also a poor facilitator for the nervous impulse, which I don’t entirely understand but is probably the same reason for aluminum’s specific heat property, which is a measure of how much energy it takes to raise the temperature of a substance, which for aluminum is quite different when compared to other metals which promote health. The presence of aluminum essentially muffles neurological conductivity (which is why it is also implicated in Alzheimer’s disease), and can be elevated in the body for a number of reasons, most especially because aluminum is ubiquitous in our environment, and care should be taken to avoid exposure to aluminum containing preservatives, medicines, household products, as well as that which occurs in reactions during cooking with cheap aluminum cookware. Restaurants commonly use inexpensive aluminum pans which react to acidic foods and thus imparts aluminum into food. Aluminum also occurs in excess in non-organic food through the use of industrial fertilizers, and the use of glyphosate in agricultural products also increases the uptake of aluminum by plants and when they are eaten by us. Our mind, which is also a sexual organ, does not require the nerves emanating from the sex organs for sexual arousal, so reduced conductivity from the sex organs due to neurological deterioration thus motivates an increased use of novel, mental stimulants such as pornography or incidents of infidelity in order to satisfy impulses stimulated by excess nitric oxide. Left only with mental stimulation because of the deterioration of the nervous system, sufferers of libido problems thus often only enjoy or can even engage in sex if the mental capacity is strongly engaged. As an aside, the repetitious use of one hand position while whacking off accustoms the brain to expect this during sex, and many men mistake the lessened intensity of intercourse for effects of pornography use when really the brain is just expecting the same death grip and technique used in masturbation required by a dulled nervous system. If you have this issue, the next time you watch porn jack off with a different hand using a different technique. You will find the very same difficulty to orgasm that you have during sex. The fix to this is easy, by only using this unfamiliar hand position to masturbate to orgasm it stimulates the brain to break out from the expectation of the familiar, and then going into a sexual encounter will have a new, heightened and enjoyable quality, especially if efforts are undertaken to improve the health of the nervous system, which is indicated by the practice of measuring and elevating your metabolic rate as discussed throughout my book.

The occurrence of circumcision also greatly compounds such problems because the removal of nerve endings and scarring of the sex organ further eliminates the physical response, accelerating the decline of nerve cells required to facilitate sexual health and the bonding impulse it creates. Even in long term relationships physical satisfaction has an undeniable role in the support and maintenance of the bond between couples. When this tool is absent because of circumcision or arousal impairment, the sex act not only fails to support physical bonds but can actively undermine pair bonding because the absence of physical satisfaction generates feelings of failure, inadequacy, and frustration in one or both partners. The only solution then for any type of satisfaction for the natural sex drive is found only in mental stimulation such as is enabled through pornography or novel sex partners and activities. This is why pornography use does not cause sex problems, since physically healthy individuals can engage both in pornography use and also partner sex without difficulty. It is only when the physical capacity of the nervous system to conduct sexual stimulus fails that the sexual response becomes impaired. Circumcision or certain environmental factors can also cause a problem called soft glans, where the glans of the penis fails to tumesce during arousal. The glans has a separate arterial system than the shaft of the penis which runs along the dorsal side of the male anatomy. This artery can be damaged by circumcision. The glans can also become stiff and rigid during metabolic disease, because the cells of the glans fail to regenerate properly, become fibrotic and calcified, a trend which is also exacerbated by circumcision and the absent protection of the foreskin, no longer able to swell with blood. A properly working glans should engorge as wide or wider than the shaft and be quite prominent at the end of the penis. Men can still achieve full erections while having a soft glans, and in such cases the sexual function of the penis is limited and unable to perform the full stimulatory function for both the male and his partner, making sex less enjoyable and satisfying and orgasm difficult to achieve, especially if accompanied by other metabolic issues. I am convinced that rates of circumcision are the major driving factor in high rates of divorce. There is a direct correlation in the aging of circumcised individuals (aging being a promoter of circumcision damage) and the prevalence of divorce in those populations versus other populations who are not circumcised. Circumcision is a mutilation of God-given body parts, parts which have a necessary biological purpose or else they would not be there, and I cannot fathom how when asked to remove a piece of their child’s body any parent could possibly respond with yes. The only correct answer is no. The reproductive organs are not meant to be carved up, and any person who believes that circumcision is beneficial for anyone does not consider how the removal of the system which supports pair bonding can do anything but harm the person and prevent their ability to bond with a mate. Males deprived of their full sexual functioning later find themselves impotent in regard to sexual prowess with a chosen partner, increasing the shame and guilt which are associated by the failure to fulfill and embody the stereotype roles in which they find themselves. Not understanding their situation, some reach for those salves which will assuage them of these shortcomings, which is the mental stimulation provided by pornography, or the virility-affirming engagement in adultery as their only options to have a satisfying life. If circumcision is part of the challenge to achieving healthy sexual function you need not despair. Keeping the metabolic rate healthy can maintain the ability of nerve cells to function, in spite of the scaring and mutilation of the reproductive organs. While I wish I were not circumcised, I have been able to regain an intensity of feeling that hadn’t happened since or is even better than when I was a teenager, and in spite of all my severe health problems. Chronic scar tissue such as occurs on circumcision is still living tissue, and it is only when advanced aging or metabolic disease takes root that those cells are finally keratinized and lose function. Until then a robust metabolic rate as supported by my book will promote the metabolic health of even compromised sex function. Active healing of scarred tissue (meaning it is improved metabolically, and not that it necessarily vanishes) and trauma to the penis such as occurs in erectile dysfunction will be cured by therapies such as is discussed in my book in the chapters on GABA and niacin therapy, in addition to specific factors necessary for the function of the libido. GABA therapy is especially effective at reversing soft glans, but before addressing those the metabolic rate, the health of the gut and diet must first be improved.

Sometimes during sex there is a discrepancy between solo performance and that with a partner, where erections are possible until there is another actual person involved. This is often referred to by the term performance anxiety, but is not about performance at all. A man may be perfectly confident going in to an encounter and still meet boner failure. The same thing occurs with women but because they have no obvious biological mechanism required for the successful completion of sexual intercourse their performance anxiety is not readily noticeable but does still occur and is characterized by a reduction in feelings of arousal or reduced or eliminated sexual pleasure when sex is engaged. This so called performance anxiety happens because in a reduced state of health the physical body is more susceptible to the effects of stress hormones. As soon as another person enters the picture, or physical activity is engaged, anxiety or even normal excitement and physical activity in the metabolically compromised individual releases stress hormones which are meant to improve physical endurance but in the metabolically ill person have an outsized action on the body which knocks out testosterone and stamina by reducing blood volume as water from the blood plasma, which is already reduced in such states, is caused to escape into surrounding body tissues in preparation for increased physical exertion, but this drop in blood pressure from already insufficient blood volume means neither is sufficient to thus sustain erection or arousal which is entirely facilitated through blood pressure (this is true for women as well), and so erections which start well will quickly deflate or fail to maintain for sufficient amounts of time. Improving the metabolic rate overall as discussed throughout my book will reduce susceptibility to these hormones and improve the ability to maintain blood volume, but certain nutrients like boron, sodium, and calcium (and so vitamin D) help maintain blood pressure, as well as the consumption of adequate carbohydrates and calories. This failure in blood volume is also profoundly promoted by bad fats in the diet or which are released from tissue storage by stress hormones, as these fats amplify the stress response, which is another reason why these fats are so harmful not only to erectile function but also long term health. A diet which avoids bad fats is the first step in restoring erectile ability, and stable fatty acids such as the type which are in butter and coconut oil help promote physical performance, but since most bodies already contain some bad fats (and our body can also synthesize them) therapies in my book are extremely helpful for restoring long term status of blood pressure and volume and thus erectile ability. The chapter on GABA therapy goes into great detail on the intricacies of blood pressure and blood volume and ways to promote both, which even includes the use of things like progesterone to sustain healthy blood volume and thus facilitate robust and youthful arousal quality and endurance and avoid conditions like so-called performance anxiety.

More than carbon dioxide levels, the largest problem of erectile dysfunction is, obviously, a deficit of testosterone. Deficits in testosterone are easily caused by nutritional or caloric insufficiency, because many nutrients are required for testosterone production. Testosterone can also be lost through conversion to estrogen in a process called aromatization. Aromatization is a natural process in metabolism, and some conversion of testosterone to estrogen is necessary for being alive. But after reaching adulthood (or earlier if metabolic issues are present, as was my case) the process tends to increase the aromatization of testosterone to estrogen because estrogen is a hormone vital to healing and repair, but aromatization is accelerated by stresses of nutrition, calorie and carbohydrate deprivation, fasting, excessive exercise, emotional stress, and environmental contamination by endocrine disrupting products. A man can continue to have high testosterone even with high conversion rates to estrogen, and in fact the body attempts to compensate for a high estrogen conversion by subsequently increasing testosterone production, if it can, but which in turn results in even more aromatization to estrogen. A demonstration of this phenomenon can be seen after a night of heavy drinking, as alcohol is estrogenic and lowers testosterone the body responds with a rebound of testosterone the next day and drinkers often wake feeling sexually aroused or with larger erections than usual. But this is a stress response, not a healthy one, and anyone who takes excessive alcohol for long will eventually find sexual ability depleted, especially if other worrying conditions underly the state of health. These factors cause similar problems in women but women do not need the levels of testosterone that men do, and women also have hormones such as progesterone which protect against excess estrogen. The most prominent promoter of aromatization is the type of fat in the diet. A diet (and thus a body) composed of largely good fats like butter or coconut oil is almost impervious to excess estrogens, even environmental contaminants (within reason) while a body composed of even a small amount of bad fats reacts strongly to such promoters of aromatization. When eaten these fats cause a profound reduction in cellular respiration which is required for excellent erections. Inhibited thyroid function also increases metabolites and enzymes which accelerate the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. If excess weight, lethargy, and other symptoms associated with hypothyroidism accompany erectile dysfunction it can be extremely therapeutic to take thyroid hormone (T3), since doing so can immediately raise thyroid function and thus carbon dioxide. Often, thyroid hormone can be enough to restore erection and libido, though efforts to heal the underlying condition of hypothyroidism must also be addressed if a real recovery is to be made, as discussed in my book in the chapter on curing hypothyroidism. Hormone replacement can sometimes work to some degree to restore erectile dysfunction, but is more risky than eating healthy and using particular nutrients to promote natural testosterone function as outlined in my book because once introduced into an already compromised body testosterone is much more likely to convert to estrogen anyway, because the depressed metabolic rate can’t prevent its aromatization, and so while taking testosterone can sometimes help it can also cause its own problems. Such interventions also negate the inspiration to make real and healthy changes which would otherwise restore health. Hormone supplementation would, however, be especially helpful if the diet is modified to support a high rate of respiration and thus prevent aromatization, replete with all the nutrients and factors required to raise the metabolic rate and inhibit aromatization.

Many medications can lower testosterone and contribute to erectile dysfunction and even premature aging. Such medications as Finasteride, which is shown to come with a heightened risk of depression and metabolic disease, and mood stabilizers are likely to worsen or catalyze erectile difficulties because they alter the normal function of the endocrine system. A persistent theory of hair loss described as an excess of the active form of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) causes many men to attempt lowering that hormone through medical intervention. But this hormone is also necessary for sexual performance and results in evisceration of male characteristics such as erection quality, or enlargement of the nipples and dormant breast tissue. The good news is that DHT is not the cause of hair loss, which I have found instead to be the interruption of the kynurenine pathway and formation of NAD by omega-3 fats as discussed in the chapter on curing hair loss in my book. Though DHT is vital for erections, erections are not the only important characteristic of male sexuality. Males have more and coarser hair, deeper voices, bigger frames. These characteristics are all governed by these hormones which create erections. There is no scenario where a man has only erectile dysfunction and not a deflation of other male characteristics. Perhaps there is excess weight gain or decreased muscle tone, or a reduction or absence of muscle mass. There could be hair loss, declining posture, smaller testicles. These too will reverse and improve once the diet and environment promote a healthy endocrine and hormonal state.

Erectile dysfunction is actually quite easy to reverse, and as erection and arousal is one of the last youthful qualities to be lost during metabolic decline it is also the first to return. There is no reason to persist with erection difficulties, and doing so is usually just a consequence of naivety or willful ignorance. Improving health through the restoration of a good diet as discussed in my book with some additional specific but simple nutritional and metabolic aids is easy to do and can easily restore or enhance your ability to bone (or prevent its loss in the first place). For more information on recovering from erectile dysfunction as well as other conditions such as thyroid disease, problems with weight gain, insomnia, and even cancer and restoring hair loss you can get a copy of my book. Often, the entire point of having sex with other people is to develop a close relationship, but if you’re finding it difficult to win a partner you might like to read my article on getting laid and falling in love. Stressful eating habits such as dieting and excessive working out often cause problems with libido due to insufficient nutrition and expression of stress hormones, and you can read about how these kinds of stressful diets can ruin your health.