ERECTION PROBLEMS: MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS)
This disease, which seems to favor younger people as its victims, makes the nervous system degenerate. Small lesions attack the spinal cord and the brain and other parts of the nervous system which are essential to erection. Some male MS patients completely lose the ability to get an erection. Sometimes, men with MS can get erections, but they disappear before they can be enjoyed. Also, men with MS may find they can’t ejaculate, and for some, sexual desire also decreases or disappears. In some men, the disease causes numbness in the penis. Some researchers think that only one in four male MS patients develops erection problems from the disease; others think almost half of them do.
Sometimes, erection problems go hand-in-hand with other signs of the disease; at other times impotence is the first sign that something is wrong. For example, Brian, an engineer, was 43 years old when he first noticed a change. “I was unable to get an erection, even with candlelight, wine, a romantic setting, the whole bit. Sometimes it just wasn’t there. “Over a period of three years this distressing condition went from being an occasional problem to a chronic one.
At first, Brian couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He was filled with fear. “I just got very paranoid and embarrassed. I was afraid there was something wrong with me. I couldn’t tell anyone about it, except my wife. But mostly we avoided the subject. And I avoided being intimate with her. She knew that failure would just depress me more.”
After several months, Brian noticed he had problems walking. “I got very weak and collapsed. Finally I went to a doctor who suspected MS and confirmed the diagnosis. Actually, I felt relief at just knowing what was wrong.”
Brian was faced with the enormous challenge of coping and adjusting to the debilitating changes that go along with MS. But, although Brian made it plain to his doctors for several years that he also wanted help with his erection problem, he didn’t receive any, The doctors he consulted did not seem eager to deal with the issue. “Their attitude seemed to be ‘Sorry about that, Jack, the impotence is just a side effect of MS.’”
Luckily, Brian found out about penile implants and was able to have the operation. Although the MS has taken its toll, Brian is glad that once again, at least sometimes, he can make love with his wife.
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