Attention men, no more excuses. You can no longer say “but I didn’t know”. Not after the Men’s Health Awareness 2020 campaign for the prevention of intimate and reproductive health problems for men held earlier this year! The initiative, like every year, aimed to turn the spotlight on male health problems, pushing men to do more prevention. From kidney stones to erectile dysfunction, to infertility, to prostate disorders, here are ten simple rules to follow to prevent disease and boost your health.
Drink water
Drink water Drink an adequate amount of water regularly. It is advisable to drink at least 1.5 liters of water at regular intervals throughout the day. Choose a mineral water, light, low in sodium and diuretic, which can facilitate kidney function, allowing the elimination of waste and excess fluids.
Attention to what you eat
It is advisable to limit the consumption of animal fats, beer, coffee, sausages, spices, pepper, chili, alcohol and spirits. Better to favor foods containing antioxidant substances such as vitamin A (carrots, apricots, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes), vitamin C (currants, kiwis, citrus fruits, strawberries, blueberries, cauliflower, peppers), vitamin E (olive oil, vegetable oils, wheat germ), selenium (meat, nuts, egg yolk), zinc (red meat, nuts, liver).
Prevention from the cradle
Check the normal conformation and development of the genital system in your baby. Check if your baby has the testicles in place and the glans exposed.
Visit urologist
Make a urological examination in the various stages of life: puberty, adulthood and old age. Take an example from the female world: prevention is done at all ages.
In the bathroom
Pay attention to how many times you urinate and if you feel burning. The increase in urination frequency and the presence of burning are the first signs of bladder and prostate infection.
To become a dad
Remember, in married life, that infertility depends in 50% of cases on the male. It is advisable to perform an examination of the seminal fluid in anticipation of a desired pregnancy, because any alterations can highlight pathologies that are resolvable, if treated in time.
Watch out for losses
Pay attention to any involuntary loss of urine: it is important not to neglect even the slightest episode of urinary incontinence, whether during exercise or at rest.
Urinalysis
Always consult a urologist if you see blood in the urine: even a single episode of blood in the urine (hematuria) can be an early symptom of serious pathologies of the urogenital system.
After the age of 50
After the age of 50, take a blood test at least once a year to check PSA and testosterone: PSA is a prostate specific marker useful for the early diagnosis of cancer; testosterone is the main male hormone and numerous pathologies are linked to it (decreased sexual desire and alterations linked to the metabolic syndrome, such as diabetes, cardiovascular pathologies, obesity and hyperlipidemia).
Between the sheets
Maintain a healthy sex life at all ages: regular sexual activity contributes to maintaining a good psycho-physical balance, and with the men’s sexual health assistance of the e-service at Trust pharmacy, it is extremely easy and affordable. Why do some individuals suffer from this sexual disorder and what therapies are currently available?
Erectile dysfunction is the inability to obtain or maintain an erection until the end of sexual intercourse. It is the first sexual disorder in importance and impact on the male psyche, but it is the second in frequency after premature ejaculation.
The disorder can arise:
from a psychological block, such as performance anxiety. Those who suffer from this disorder experience the relationship as an exam to be passed and the fear of failure itself becomes the reason for the disorder;
- from a compromised circulatory system:
- from problems with diabetes, cholesterol, weight;
- due to hormonal disorders (drop in testosterone production);
- from smoking.
Man experiences difficulty in having and / or maintaining an erection. It can be accompanied by premature ejaculation and decreased desire.
Erectile dysfunction, if neglected and not treated, can become chronic and therefore become a real cause for anxiety, depression and insecurity. It can cause serious problems for the couple and it is not only with a drug, often taken without the knowledge of the partner, that the situation can be resolved. This is why communication and transparency are fundamental, even with one’s partner who is often involved in therapy so as to become an accomplice and friend, and not an obstacle or a cause for anxiety. Sharing discomfort helps strengthen couple bonds.
The first step is to talk to your family doctor or to an andrologist, urologist or endocrinologist. We must not close in on ourselves: nowadays there are many valid means that help solve this problem which is much more widespread than we think. And it does not resolve itself, on the contrary it can only get worse.
Since the arteries of the penis are narrower than those that run through the heart, difficulty in getting an erection can be a wake-up call for cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, erectile dysfunction is closely linked to stress, anxiety and depression – all the risk factors for heart health.
The first treatment against the “flop” under the sheets was sildenafil (Viagra), an active ingredient that appeared in 1998 and has always been one of the best-selling drugs in our country. A sale that increased significantly in 2013, when generic pills also arrived on the market, today about fifteen.
Viagra and generic drugs: is there a difference?
As for the active ingredient, there is no difference, while they may differ in the excipients and bioavailability and, therefore, in the concentrations of the drug in the blood. The big difference is in price and it is significant. From the very beginning, in fact, the diffusion of sildenafil has been limited exactly because of its low accessibility: with a therapy of two original sildenafil pills per week you get to $80 per month and for an elderly person who receives the minimum pension it is out of reach . With generic drugs the costs have been significantly reduced. The medicine, in fact, is included among the class C drugs, that is, it requires a prescription from the general practitioner and is charged to the patient. It is for this reason that generics have been very successful in treating erectile dysfunction: in other fields, patients always prefer the original drug.
Erection Problems: tadalafil, vardenafil, avanafil, or sildenafil?
These four active ingredients must be divided into two groups. Vardenafil, avanafil and sildenafil can be defined as short acting, that is, short-lasting because they do not last more than 12 hours in the blood. Tadalafil on the other hand has a duration of 18 hours and this makes its effect more prolonged (therefore it is long acting). For this reason, when it came out on the pharmaceutical market, it was superficially called “the weekend pill”, but it too, like the other three, is an excellent remedy for erectile dysfunction. The choice between the three types of pills is up to the specialist or family doctor depending on the person and what is causing the problem.
Difference between the three short acting pills
“The differences, albeit very subtle, concern the absorption into the blood and the activity exerted on some types of receptors of the three active ingredients. For this reason the choice depends a lot on the person who will take them: there are patients who react better to one active ingredient rather than another and therefore find greater effectiveness. All three are excellent “fuels” to remedy erectile dysfunction problems, the rest is a matter of personal acceptability”.
Can someone with diabetes take these pills?
For those with diabetes ED drugs are particularly suitable and effective, as long as the person does not also suffer from diabetes heart disease. The real problem for those suffering from diabetes is that the disease itself, after many years, can limit the effect of the active ingredients of these pills.
Erection problems and cardiovascular problems
Let’s not forget that sildenafil was discovered by chance while active drugs were being tested for ischemic heart disease, therefore coronary vasodilators. The researchers found that sildenafil worked well not so much as a cardiac vasodilator, but as a vasodilator in the genitals. This dispels any kind of doubt for people with heart problems. The important thing is that the patient does not have severe documented cardiac arrhythmias. This is why it is important that a person never takes a medicine without first consulting their doctor: no one can make a diagnosis on their own.
Sexual problems in patients with MS
In multiple sclerosis patients, sildenafil has no particular side effects, on the contrary: some studies of recent years seem to suggest beneficial effects of the substance on the disease itself. However, it may be indicated to start with a mild dosage and preferably do it in the presence of specialists in a hospital setting, so that we can intervene in case of problems.
If a person has undergone prostate operation, is it still safe to use ED drugs? There are no risks, indeed it is recommended to take them. After a prostate operation – especially if there has been a nerve injury to the erection – a re-education of the corpora cavernosa must always be started with the administration of this type of active ingredients.
Erectile dysfunction: what if these pills do not work?
If oral drugs against impotence do not work, it is usually due to psycho-physiological reasons, that is, when there is a continuous adrenaline rush in the blood that keeps the cavernous bodies closed. If a person is having an erection, also thanks to these pills and begins to be anxious (even just a disturbing thought, an alarm is enough), a stimulation of adrenaline is created in his blood which closes the corpora cavernosa, generating a deficit in sexual performance or total loss of erection. If the adrenaline rush due to anxiety begins even before intercourse and erection, no phenomenon will occur even if you have taken one of these pills. In other cases, the non-functioning of the active ingredients may be due to severe forms of arteriosclerosis, for example in heavy smokers.
Do not let the disease sneak up on you – make sure that you get tested regularly, improve your lifestyle habits, and in case of health problems, troubleshoot and seek help immediately – with the digitalization of healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, taking a better care of your health has become ridiculously simple!