Patient's question:
Can impotence be cured? What medications should I take? I've had impotence for a year, but I didn't want to go to the doctor because of embarrassment. Now it's very serious, and we can't have a normal sex life. I finally realized how serious the problem is. Can I be hospitalized? Is it necessary?Doctor's answer:
Hello: Many men cannot determine whether they have erectile dysfunction, but in fact, they can judge the nature of erectile dysfunction based on nocturnal penile erections. Normal men of all ages can experience reflexive erections during nighttime sleep. During adolescence, the average number of nightly erections is about 6, each lasting 20-30 minutes; young and middle-aged adults have an average of about 4 nightly erections; healthy elderly over 65 years old can still have a total of 1-1.5 hours of erections per night. Even children often experience penile erections during sleep.Clearly, nocturnal penile reflexive erections are unrelated to sexual stimulation and are not affected by psychological factors. Therefore, they can be used to differentiate whether erectile dysfunction is caused by psychological factors or by medical conditions. If an erectile dysfunction patient has no nocturnal erections or the degree of erection is below the normal range for their age group, it may indicate a medical condition, requiring further investigation to identify the root cause. If an erectile dysfunction patient has normal nocturnal erections, it is unlikely to be caused by a medical condition but rather by psychological factors. Here are several methods for self-assessing nocturnal penile erections:
(1) Stamp Test: Wrap four stamps around the penis, stick the overlapping parts together to form a ring, and then go to sleep. In the morning, check if the stamp has torn. If it has, it indicates nocturnal erections. If the overlapping part comes apart due to poor adhesion, it is not meaningful.
(2) Penile Circumference Measurement: There is a commercially available tape measure (usually paper-based) with one end connected to a square buckle. Before going to bed, wrap it around the penis, and let one end protrude from the buckle. First, record the baseline circumference of the penis in its flaccid state, and then check the data the next morning to see if there is any change.