Erectile Dysfunction – Diagnosis

Transcript

I always like to do blood tests for erectile dysfunction, really to see if we could find a cause. As important as it is to treat the symptoms of erectile dysfunction, identifying a cause is important as well. Because a lot of guys will have an identifiable and reversible cause that could ultimately keep them off erectile dysfunction pills, for example. So the blood test is one of the things we look for when you test your hemoglobin A1C. We want to see what your sugar levels are to assess whether or not you have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Next, one of the blood tests what we look for is your lipid levels. We want to see whether or not cholesterol is something that could be causing some erectile dysfunction. Increased cholesterol levels could cause arterial blockage and in doing so, decrease blood flow to the penis. Another thing the blood test looks for is your hormones. The hormone imbalances could really cause erectile dysfunction as well. One important hormone is testosterone, but it’s not just testosterone. It’s the interplay between testosterone and estrogen that could really adjust and inhibit your ability to have a good erection. The blood test really is an important aspect of the diagnosis of erectile dysfunction, because we’d be able to find and identify the cause of your ED and find an appropriate and potentially reversible treatment for it.