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20620809 tn?1504362969

What do you think about natural remedies for erectile dysfunction?

Has anyone tried natural erectile dysfunction remedies? There's a few of them. https://www.healthline.com/health/erectile-dysfunction/ed-natural-treatments

1.Panax ginseng
2.Rhodiola rosea
3.DHEA
4.L-arginine
5. Acupuncture
6.Yohimbe (** not recommended by The American Urological Society due to side effects so not sure why it is on the list!  Wouldn't try).

Ever heard of these?  I have, obviously, heard of acupuncture but wow, where do they put the needles for this?  But it says that 39% have improvement when using acupuncture.

Of this list, panex ginseng has the most research and looks promising. They call it the herbal Viagra.  I think herbs are really medications and need to be taken with the same kind of thoughtful analysis as medications at the pharmacy.  Talking to my doctor before any of this would be my personal first step.  

Any other ideas to add to the list?  
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Avatar universal
Sorry, GR, just saw this now (7 wks later) - for some reason it was in my Spam mail...

Anyway, never heard of acupuncture as a treatment for ED, but who knows - ??! The others I'm familiar with.

There are basically two categories of 'natural' or herbal supplements that may help w/ ED issues. One category are those that may help boost Testosterone, the other helps w/ blood flow. I think in most cases the ones that help blood flow are more effective for ED issues, unless you know for sure you're suffering from Low-T.

DHEA is a precursor to Testosterone in the body & may boost it a bit, but you have to be careful - some of it may also get converted to Estrogens, which obviously as males we DON'T want (man-boobs, etc.). I tried it quite a few years ago, not so much for ED (I was OK in that area) but had started working out & wanted more muscle gain & thought a T-boost might help. Also figured if it gave me a bit of a boost in the bedroom, I'd be OK with that  - LOL !!  Unfortunately, it also gave me oily skin, caused mood swings & I think caused my prostate to enlarge, due to some of the "T" being converted to DHT in the body, so I quit using it & would  advise to go very low-dose with it or avoid it altogether. I was diagnosed w/ Prostate Cancer & had surgery in Jul, 2018 & that has had a detrimental effect on sexual function. I've had some recovery but it's not close to what it was before. Now I'm wondering if screwing around with my hormone levels many years ago may have triggered the cancer to grow faster (PCa is very dependent on Testosterone). So be very careful with any type of T-boosters...

Ginseng may help in both areas, may boost T just a bit but also seems to help w/ blood flow. There are several varieties of Ginseng, the one that seems to work for this is Chinese Red Ginseng.

Rhodiola seems to be a general body 'tonic', so might indirectly help w/ ED issues...

L-Arginine results in Nitric Oxide ('NO') release & this is directly responsible for opening up arteries that allow the penis to fill w/ blood. ED meds like Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, etc. work by inhibiting an enzyme that breaks down NO, so that it stays active longer & the concentration increases somewhat, facilitating better erections. However, the effect of L-Arginine is fairly short-lived - but, there's another Amino Acid, L-Citrulline, which has a better & longer-lasting effect. It does the same thing - boosts NO production, and is longer-lasting. It's a bit hard to find, tho - Vitamin Shoppe has it, a little pricey, might find a better deal online, worth a look...

Many years ago, I tried Yohimbe - at that time, I had no ED issues, but as guys, we're kind of 'competitive' by nature. If you play softball, you wanna hit more HRs, if you play Golf, you wanna drive it farther & score lower. Same thing in the bedroom - we think we need to be bigger, harder, last longer & shoot further, so I tried Yohimbe, it did actually seem to make me harder, but the downside was, the orgasm itself was less pleasurable & I ejaculated noticeably less, so any gains from the 'hardness' standpoint were more than offset by the loss on the 'pleasure' side. Plus, it gave me a headache & stomach upset, so just wasn't very conducive to good sex. I guess if someone cdn't get it up at all & Yohimbe helped w/ that, it might be worth a try, but for me, it wasn't worth it.

It's said that an Indian herb, Ashwagandha, may help with erections, it is also used for its calming effect & as a sleep aid...

Maca root is also said to be of some help - I can't recall if it affects T or blood flow, maybe both to some degree...

One that I also tried some years ago was Mucuna Pruriens - it contains L-Dopa, which was used to help Parkinson's patients & older males taking it found they were getting erections again. If I took it at night, I'd sometimes wake up with quite a stiff erection - but the downside is, this also affects hormone production so this might not be a good thing to mess with.

Again, I do wonder if some of my 'experiments' with T-boosting over the years may have sped-up development of my prostate cancer, which was already fairly well advanced by the time it was discovered (I had no symptoms other than mild BPH - prostate enlargement). The surgery was not able to get it all - it had already spread outside the gland itself. I definitely cannot risk anything w/ T-boosting properties at this point - in fact, the Dr's actually want me to go on Lupron, which would shut down T-production entirely, to slow the progression of the disease. I'm trying to avoid that, tho - the side-effects are pretty bad - loss of muscle, weight gain (esp. around the middle), possible Gynecomastia (so-called 'man-boobs'), depression, hot flashes, etc...

So there ya have it - hope this is of some help...
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3 Comments
Thank you, man!  That is excellent information and I really appreciate it.  I am sorry about the prostate cancer diagnosis.  Steering clear of T-boosting based on this.  Ginseng andAshwagandha (could use help with sleep as well) seem good jumping off points for me.  

I appreciate all of the great info here!  
By the way, where are things at with your cancer?
Hi, GR - glad that was of some help! I had a recent scan in Dec that showed what appear to be 2 lymph nodes that are metastatic. I will have one of them (near kidney) treated w/ radiation starting Jan 28, 13 treatments daily, 5 days/wk (off weekends), concluding Feb 13. Side effects shd be minimal, maybe a little fatigue. I’ll see my Oncologist Feb 18 & we’ll see if the treatments helped. The Radiation Oncologist (diff Dr., but they work tgthr) thinks the other one (near the bladder) is more ‘iffy’ & wants to wait & see if it continues to grow, if so then we’ll treat it as well. Ultimately, the reg Oncologist wants me to do hormone therapy (drop my T down to ZERO), which (as you can imagine!) has a number of very negative side effects - loss of muscle, weight gain (especially around the middle), hot flashes, depression, sleep disturbances, total loss of libido & pretty much total ED (already struggling w/ that since the surgery (nerve damage), but slowly improving), so I’m trying to avoid that as long as possible. Thx for asking, hope you’re doing well !!

The ones you mention shd be safe to try, also L-Citrulline shd be safe & may be one of the better things to increase blood flow, so try it if you can find it (also look online) at a decent price. Because it facilitates blood flow, it may also lower blood pressure a bit, which can be a good thing. As an older guy, my BP has been trending higher even though I work out & am in good shape. The only guys I wdn’t recommend it for would be those either w/ naturally low BP or those on a BP-lowering med, then your BP could drop too low...
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