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Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is often symptomatic of another illness or condition, which in itself needs to be diagnosed and treated as a matter of priority. Some of these conditions, if left undiagnosed and untreated could even be life threatening. Diabetes is one such condition.

The actual cause of erectile dysfunction through Diabetes is quite complex and relates to various changes that take place in the body over a period of time. These changes are in relation to the functions of nerves, blood vessels, and muscles and occur as a direct result of high blood sugar.

In order to gain an erection, men need good healthy blood vessels and nerves, so if these have been damaged through the diabetes, it becomes more likely that erectile dysfunction will appear. It doesn’t matter if the man’s testosterone levels are high, or even if he has a strong libido, harm to the blood vessels and nerves that feed the blood supply the penis will result in erectile dysfunction.

Diabetic men of 50 years of age and over have a 60% chance of acquiring ED. For diabetic men of 70 and over, this statistic jumps to a staggering 95%. It is further believed that men who suffer from diabetes develop erectile dysfunction some 10 to 15 years earlier than men who are not diabetics.

There are a number of other factors that can have a bearing on ED for diabetic men, and just like their non-diabetic counterparts, these factors include: obesity; smoking; life style (lack of appropriate exercise); surgery, and medications including antidepressants and some hypertension medications.

There are also a number of psychological factors (again shared in common with non-diabetics) than can also have a bearing on the causes of ED, and these include: depression; low self esteem; anxiety, and paranoia regarding poor sexual performance.

If you are a man suffering from ED brought about by Diabetes, you should be aware that the damage being done to your blood vessels and nerves can effect your heart and other organs as well as your penis.

Fortunately, there are supplements on the market that will minimize this damage. Along with lifestyle changes, these changes can have a profound effect on your erectile dysfunction, your overall health, and your quality of life.

The discipline of Internal Medicine originated in Germany and became popular in the United States in the early 20th century. The term is derived from ‘Innere Medizin’, denoting physicians who treated patients using their knowledge of laboratory science. Today, The American College of Physicians is the prime society for internal medicine globally.

Internal medicine doctors or internists primarily deal with adult patients and pay more attention to medicine for adults. They are associated with a patient’s right from teenage to old age and have a special residency-training period of three years on preventing and treating diseases that afflict adults. They work together with other medical specialists such as surgeons or pediatricians. Their ability to go about solving a health problem by looking at it from a number of angles is well known.

Internalists are equipped to handle simple as well as complicated health problems. They are good at deciphering diagnostic problems and dealing with multiple illnesses that occur simultaneously. They also educate their patients on general well being and advise them on preventive measures, substance abuse, women’s health, mental well being and so on. As you can see, they are a highly trained group of medical practitioners.

Internal medicine doctors practice general internal medicine or further specialize other areas of internal medicine. There are 13 subspecialties from which they choose. Specialization is called fellowship. Some of the subspecialties are cardiology, gastroenterology, adolescent medicine, rheumatology (arthritis), and oncology. In the United States, The American Board of Internal Medicine and American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine certify internists.

Metabolic syndrome can be described as a cluster of factors that put a person at risk for developing cardiovascular disease. The generally agreed upon factors are as follows:

Increased waist size – 40 inches for men; 35 inches for women.

High Blood Pressure – greater than or equal to 130 mm Hg systolic (top number) or greater than or equal to 85 mg Hg diastolic (lower number) or taking medication for high blood pressure.

High triglycerides greater than 150 mg/dL or taking medication for high triglycerides.

Low HDL good cholesterol – less than 40 mg/dL for men less than 50 mg/dL for women or taking medication for low HDL.

High blood sugar – greater than or equal to 100 mg/dL or taking medication for blood sugar.

A person is considered to have metabolic syndrome if he or she has three or more of these factors. If you have metabolic syndrome your chances of developing atherosclerosis (clogging and hardening of the arteries) are very good. In other words your risk of heart disease increases with the possibility of having a heart attack or a stroke or heart failure.

Also the chances of developing type 2 diabetes – diabetes mellitus – increase.

In the past two decades the number of persons having metabolic syndrome has increased dramatically. The suggested reasons are: the increased serving sizes (people eat more) and the expanded number of prepared foods high in salt, simple sugars, saturated fats. If you couple this with the sedentary life style of sitting before a big-screen television instead of getting out and exercising, you can explain the abdominal obesity and the consequent insulin resistance that leads to diabetes.

High cholesterol and high blood sugar are close relatives like two brothers or two sisters. Obesity and lack of exercise can lead to heart disease complications or diabetes or both.

So the way to prevent metabolic syndrome or get out of it, if you think you meet the factors presented above, is: eat less – get your eating under control; lose weight. Eat heart-friendly foods – lots of fruits and vegetables, and small 4-ounce portions of meat or fish. Avoid fatty, fast foods and sugary drinks.

Start an exercise program – 30 minutes a day for five or more days a week – do some aerobic exercises. But check with your medical doctor first before starting a regular exercise program.

This new, life-style plan, is basically the same as one would follow to lower his or her cholesterol. In a few months your cholesterol levels should improve, your waist size should shrink, and most of all you’ll be removed from the hazards attached to being in the metabolic syndrome.

Consider the metabolic syndrome as an accident waiting to happen and that accident could be a heart attack.

Tom Cruise’s criticism three years ago of a fellow colleague taking an antidepressant to overcome her postpartum depression, came to mind when his interview with Oprah Winfrey was telecast a few days ago.

Back in 2005, Tom didn’t mince words when he described the antidepressants as “dangerous” and “mind altering”, that they simply “masked the (real) problem”. In the video below (NBC’s TODAY show), Tom is not able to counter with strong logic or solid evidence, Matt Lauer’s contention that the fellow colleague, Brooke Shields, had indeed benefited from the dose of Paxil to overcome her PPD. “If antidepressants work for Brook Shields, (then) why is it not okay (for her and everybody else to continue following this route of medical intervention)?” is Lauer’s punch line. Tom resorts to hemming and hawing to that.

Tom’s words had stung both Brooke Shields and the general public then. Hot exchanges through the media gave an expectedly different color to the whole issue. That he eventually backed off and apologized to everyone, is not the point here.

Very ironically, while Tom was hemming and hawing and generally facing the flak for his provocative comments on the use of antidepressants (the TODAY show was telecast in June 2005), around the same time the FDA was releasing the result of its “…analyses of short-term (4 to 16 weeks) placebo-controlled trials of 9 antidepressant drugs (SSRIs and others) in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or other psychiatric disorders (a total of 24 trials involving over 4,400 patients)…” The result of the analyses had been unequivocal: “… a greater risk of adverse events representing suicidal thinking or behavior (suicidality) during the first few months of treatment in those receiving antidepressants. The average risk of such events in patients receiving antidepressants was 4%, twice the placebo risk of 2%.”

The drum roll has been crescendoing since the FDA report. The pharma industry these days is still trying to come to terms with a new fatwah that makes it mandatory for makers of all antidepressant medications to “update the existing black box warning on their products’ labeling to include warnings about increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior, known as suicidality, in young adults ages 18 to 24 during initial treatment.” (Here is a post on this subject.) Also now in place is a new, “suicide rating” that companies will have to put on every new drug before releasing in the market.



Suicidality. A new word has been quietly brought into coinage. To describe suicidal thinking and behavior. In order to make matters complete in the book of vocabulary, pray what should its antonym be? Optimality? Cheerfulity? Or Zestforlifeivity?

Tom must be feeling vindicated. Let Lauer invite him to the show now! Tom would arm himself with all the latest evidence and prove that he indeed is Top Gun. If there is one group of people who can turn the spotlight on issues that matter the most, it is the celebrities. But he appeared mellowed in the Oprah show this time around. There was none of the effervescence and head-over-heels-display-of-love of the courting-Katie days. Boy, haven’t we aged! The fires appear to have ebbed, which is sad. He could have played with aplomb, a more active role in spreading awareness about indiscriminate antidepressant drug prescription. May be somebody can talk to Katie about rekindling the fires. It will do us all good.

Osteoarthritis pain relief is a very common desire, with more than 16 million people suffering from this debilitating disease. Because symptoms tend to develop and worsen over time, individuals who have pain and stiffness caused by degeneration of the joints are constantly seeking better ways to manage their pain. In recent years, more and more of these individuals have been turning to natural products to provide a safer, gentler and less costly alternative to more traditional forms of treatment.

Osteoarthritis is the term given to a condition resulting from the breakdown of the protective layer of cartilage which surrounds the joints. Whether as the result of an injury or just the result of routine wear and tear, the cartilage wears away, causing the bones of the joints to rub against each other, resulting in pain and even malformation of the bones. Osteoarthritis treatment can range from prescription medicine to exercise to surgical intervention. Topical analgesics can offer temporary relief from pain, but have proven ineffective for tong term relief.

Treating Arthritis With Natural Alternatives

Natural remedies for arthritis, which can contain anti-inflammatories and even antioxidants, can ease swelling and promote development of new cartilage. Rather than just treat the pain itself, these products target the cause of pain and provide the most thorough approach to treating arthritis symptoms. In terms of osteoarthritis pain relief, nothing has proven more complete, and more successful, than a comprehensive natural course of treatment.

Proven ingredients such as glucosamine and chondroitin, which help repair damaged joints; manganese and other antioxidants, which remove harmful free radicals and combat the signs of aging; and ginger extract and other anti-inflammatories provide a new, more thorough form of osteoarthritis treatment. With ingredients like these combined in carefully measured amounts, these new products eliminate the need to take several different supplements, thereby reducing the threat of dangerous results from pill interactions and reducing overall cost.

No matter what course of treatment you choose, maintaining a healthy, balanced diet and getting proper exercise are also important steps when it comes to osteoarthritis pain relief. Since stress on the joints is a main factor in osteoarthritis, ridding yourself of excess weight can significantly help in reducing symptoms. Reducing fat intake and eating foods rich in sulfur, which helps to repair and rebuild cartilage, can also help the body to heal itself without the use of potentially harmful prescription medicines.

While exercise can cause some wear and tear on the body, being inactive can be just as detrimental if not more so. Therefore, some level of exercise is recommended as part of a successful osteoarthritis treatment program. Swimming, walking, low impact aerobics and range of motion exercises can all help to improve overall health and reduce pain and stiffness.

Healing At The Source of the Problem

The key to successful treatment of osteoarthritis symptoms is enabling the body to heal itself by addressing the underlying cause of pain and stiffness. This has never been easier than it is with the availability of natural remedies for osteoarthritis pain relief. These treatments should not be considered, however, without first consulting your doctor. Since each product works differently for each person, it will be up to you and your doctor to determine which is right for you.

Osteoarthritis can be a fact of life for many of us. There isn’t much you can do to avoid it, but you don’t have to live with debilitating symptoms. Natural remedies made from botanicals and other similar ingredients can offer a safe, gentle alternative to help your body heal itself from the inside out. Talk to your doctor today and find out which product will work best for you. Don’t let pain become a way of life for you…make the natural choice and live your life pain free!

Causes of nerve pain are numerous but the main ones include:

-Damaged and/or compressed nerves due to a traumatic event such as a fall,
-Nerve damage following surgery,
-Sciatica,
-Plantar fasciitis or foot pain in general,
-Fibromyalgia, pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons,
-Nerve damage caused by drug abuse,
-Post-herpetic Neuralgia (PHN), the onset pain from the Shingles Rash,
-Diabetes, neuropathy and neuropathic pain.

To get pain relief, you have several options, but none of them work all the time, and most are not without risk to your body one way or the other. The body has the unique ability to adjust to most medications, in that, over time given sustained use; it requires more and more of the same pain relief medicine to achieve the same level of pain relief.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney diseases reports that over the counter NSAIDS such as aspirin, ibuprofen and the like may temporarily ease your pain but their use is not without risk to other areas of your body. Any product with capsaicin as an ingredient may offer temporary pain relief. Certain depressants such as amitriptyline, imipramine, or nortriptyline are sometimes effective. Clinical trials indicate that Mexiletine is effective in treating pain. Codeine can be used for a short time to relieve pain, but it can be very addictive. Homeopathic Drugs and Applications can be very effective. Alternative medicines such as Menastil, EZ Pain Relief and Heartland are topically applied. Other pain treatments… Acupuncture Electrical stimulation devices (TENS) Hypnosis Biofeedback

Special Note: The American Medical Association does not accept homeopathy, but it doesn’t reject it either. “The AMA encourages doctors to become aware of alternative therapies and use them when and where appropriate,” says AMA spokesman Jim Fox. “Even professionals who practice homeopathy warn that nothing in medicine–either conventional or alternative–is absolute”, states Mr. Fox.

The key to dealing with your pain is understanding the root cause of pain. ALL pain, is due to nerve damage agitation, no exceptions. The level of nerve agitation and resultant pain is directly related to the inflammation present in the painful area which reduces the level of blood and oxygen flow into the
infected area.

The most effective pain relief medications, cause the nerve ends to relax and allow the blood and oxygen to flow back into the infected area to effectively cut-off the signals to the spinal cord and therefore to the brain resulting in pain relief. You still have the problem, you just do not feel it as much.

Non-narcotic, non-addictive, all natural pain relief medications are available from The Centre for Pain Relief. Check out their website to determine if one of their products can help you with your painful condition.

As time goes by and millions of more people turn to antidepressant drugs to ‘escape’ the anxiety, stress and depression that modern life can sometimes cause, alarming horror stories about antidepressant use are piling up. The SSRI or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor was introduced as a ‘miracle’ drug that would greatly reduce the side effects of the previous class of tricyclic antidepressants with little or no downside. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies are not telling the whole story. These drugs can be dangerous for some people in ways that most people have no idea about. Not surprising really when you realize they work the same way that cocaine does.

One of the little known things about antidepressants is that the process in which SSRI drugs function in order to increase the levels of serotonin is remarkably similar to the way that cocaine works. In selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the drugs function by preventing existing serotonin from exiting the brain by crossing the brain/blood barrier. This creates a ‘backlog’ of serotonin in the brain and as new serotonin is produced it is simply added to the ‘old’ serotonin that is being prevented from leaving the brain. The theory is that since serotonin is one of the primary neurotransmitters responsible for the ‘feel good’ emotion of happiness and satiety that this is a good thing.

The same holds true for the other feel good neurotransmitters of dopamine and norepinephrine. There’s only one problem. The substance that causes dopamine to be kept in the brain and to not cross the blood/brain barrier so to increase levels of dopamine in the brain is…you guessed it…cocaine. Our experience with cocaine however shows that there is a distinct downside of having all this ‘old’ dopamine circulating in the brain along with the new. At a certain point, the brain simply stops making fresh dopamine causing the famous cocaine ‘crash’. Could the same be true of Serotonin? Is it really ‘good’ to have old serotonin and new serotonin circulating in the brain together, especially for long periods like months and years? Perhaps this is why some people have an opposite reaction to antidepressants and end up more depressed than they began after a short while.

The truth is that scientists willingly admit that they don’t truly understand many of the implications of ssri and similar drugs on the human brain. The studies initially submitted to the FDA only followed patients for very short periods. No long term studies that delved into the safety or efficacy of patients were ever done on people taking these drugs for months and years. Now, after almost 2 decades and millions of users later it is coming out that there are many adverse side effects and even life changing and personality altering reactions that were never known or disclosed when these medications first became legal.

You won’t find many of these adverse or dangerous outcomes listed on the back of your medicine bottle. But is it any wonder why? Would you expect to see negative reviews in a brochure printed up by a car manufacturer about their newest car? Would you purchase a home without doing any research on if the homebuilder or town was any good? Of course not. But this is exactly what doctors and patients do every day by simply accepting the limited warnings, usually physical and not mental, that are on the inserts in antidepressant medications. To find out unbiased and very revealing stories and experiences from people that have actually been on the drugs and know first hand one should search the internet for the numerous sites that people use to tell their real life stories on these drugs. One such site is www.sedatednation.com where we are building a community that tells the real story and not just the ‘corporate line’ about antidepressant and other mood altering drugs.

There we were. Getting ready for a special night when it was quickly discovered that the birth control most commonly used was running low. The next day, guess what was on the shopping list? Trojan condoms.

Now, I’m not one to brag, but I am part of the 90% of men that are just ‘average’. Unfortunately I am excluded from getting the Trojan Magnum condoms. It’s not that I’m ashamed of fitting in to the majority of the population, its that when I buy them, and my significant other is with me, I am reminded that she knows there is a larger size. Perhaps she wonders. Or, maybe it’s just me.

Usually what people do once they are at the store is bury these items deep within the shopping cart and try to ignore when the cashier scans the item. However, more often than not I see this happen: The cashier scans the condoms, then the KY jelly, and then looks at me and my girl. Subconsciously, maybe. But I seem to always notice it. I know what they’re thinking, and they know what I’m doing.

I can only imagine what the cashier’s face looks like when they scan the Magnum condoms. It’s probably followed by a congratulatory eyebrow-raise toward the guy.

It just seems that whenever I buy condoms I’m more conscious of people looking in my cart. There are a lot of embarrassing things to buy, condoms are just one of them. It doesn’t help that condoms are placed in a high-traffic area highly under surveillance by numerous cameras. The embarrassing nature of buying condoms is probably why they are stolen so much.

A study published in January, 2006 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine claims that women who use birth control pills may suffer from long term side effects. Possible side effects include decreased desire and arousal, decreased lubrication, and increased sex-related pain.

Researchers studied a group of 124 women, all of whom had previously suffered from some degree of sexual dysfunction. 69 of the women continued using the pill, 39 were discontinued users, and 23 had never used it.

The research team analysed blood samples taken from women who had discontinued use of the pill six months earlier, and found that they had significantly less available testosterone. This would make them more prone to suffer from side effects such as decreased sexual desire and less frequent arousal.

Increased globulin levels means less testosterone

According to study leader Dr. Claudia Panzer of Boston University, the women who were currently taking the pill had as much as four times the level of testosterone-binding globulin in their blood as those not taking the pill. This is what reduces the amount of testosterone the body has at its disposal.

But the study found that after six months of not taking the pill, globulin levels were still roughly twice as high in those who had taken the pill, compared to those who had not. And eleven women who were tested after more than 11 months still reported having almost twice the globulin level as the group that had not taken the pill.

These observations were surprising, the authors said, “as the effect of oral contraceptives on sex hormone-binding globulin levels should have subsided.” The findings are even more interesting, the study noted, because these women also received transdermal testosterone therapy, which should have decreased sex hormone-binding globulin levels.

All patients were offered a transdermal testosterone gel to improve their sexual function, but even with this therapy globulin levels were much higher than in those who had not taken the pill.

The report noted that earlier research has shown that increases in sex hormone-binding globulin levels from using birth control pills result in a 40% to 60% decrease in free testosterone levels.

Long term impact

The researchers speculated that the synthetic estrogens in oral contraceptives may trigger more permanent changes in the way the genes function, leading to much longer lasting reductions in the amounts of testosterone available to the body.

So a therapy meant to enhance sexual experience may actually make it less enjoyable for many women.

The researchers were unwilling to draw hard and fast conclusions, saying only that more research is needed. The most important question left hanging is “whether sex hormone-binding globulin changes induced by oral contraceptives may or may not be completely reversible after discontinuation of oral contraceptive use and whether this leads to long-term sexual, metabolic, and mental health changes in women.”

At a bare minimum, doctors should make women more aware of these possible side effects, and they should be more diligent about watching for them. They should also be less eager to opt for the easy answer, and be more open to less invasive methods of birth control such as condoms.

Cnidium is known in China as She Chuang Zi and is a popular herb worldwide renowned for its health benefits and acts as a sexual tonic. Cnidium works so well as a libido enhancer, as it performs many of the same functions of prescription drugs without any side affects.

Cnidium seeds come from a plant, which grows throughout China.

Cnidium seed contains several compounds including coumarins, osthol, imperatorin, glucides and hepatoprotective sesquiterpenes.

Cnidium seeds are one of the most effective natural remedies used to increase sexual potency, boost
libido and to treat impotence.

1. Nitric Oxide

Many people who want to increase libido concentrate on testosterone levels – but its nitric oxide which most men lack. Don’t know what it is? Well you won’t get an erection, unless you get enough of it.

Nitric oxide allows the blood vessels to relax and allow sufficient blood to flow into the penis to get an erection. Nitric oxide decreases naturally with age and just like prescription drugs, Cnidium helps increase nitric oxide production – its importance is such, that if you don’t get enough nitric oxide, you will never get an erection. So it’s vital you’re getting enough!

2. Inhibits PDE-5.

Prescription drugs inhibit PDE-5, this enables an erection to be maintained for longer period of time and Cnidium does the same only naturally.

Cnidium is one of the best natural libido enhancers you can use to cure low libido and is increasingly being used in the West to combat impotence and you can find it in most good Chinese health shops and as a supplement.

A perfect Combination with These Herbs

While this is a great libido enhancer it is not a one pill fix all solution – you need to get a cocktail of herbs that can affect your overall sexual wellbeing both in mind and in body – this works very well when combined with these other 3 powerful herbs all from China:

Ginseng, Ginkgo Biloba and Epimedium Grandiflorum Extract – “Horny Goat Weed” -

These 3 herbs combined with Cnidium give an overall boost to the body – but also to the mind, helping to lift mood and decrease stress – a known passion killer. You don’t have to buy all the above individually, many companies are offering blends of these and other libido boosters, all in one convenient formulation.

Natural libido boosters work, because they help heal and repair body functions. The body has an immense capacity to recover and renew and it can do this with your sex drive – if it’s given the right fuel.

Providing you have no serious health problems, the above can work wonders for your sex drive and increase your libido naturally.