Jason sat in front of me on the sofa. He had spent most of the time looking at the floor and answering my questions. He had warmed up a little bit over the course of the session, but he was still clearly uncomfortable. He was 29, tall, athletic, and seemed to be the picture of health. At the end of every session I ask the patient if they have any questions for me. He lifted his head, looked at me and said, “Am I the youngest patient you’ve ever had here?”
I assured him that there were many young men we see who are still in their teens. I asked him why he was worried about being the youngest patient. He said he felt like he was such a loser because all the people he knows who struggle with getting erections are old men. He said, “Just look at the commercials; all guys are in their 50s and 60s.”
This a very common misperception about sexual function problems; young men aren’t supposed to have real erectile dysfunction. If they do it’s all in their head. This belief pervades even the medical field. I had a patient in his 30s tell me that his doctor said, “It’s all in your head, just relax.”
I was interviewed by the Guardian newspaper of London last year about this very topic. ED in young men has been reported as high as 30%. The most conservative studies put it at 11%. It depends who you talk to but there are a million different causes. Some people look to blame porn, some people blame too much sex, some people blame environmental toxins, the list goes on.
The fact is, any time a body part is not working normally, it is a medical problem. It’s really easy to just assume there is no way a young man could have a medical issue that can cause erectile dysfunction, but this is a dangerous assumption. I have seen dozens of young men who have medical conditions we discovered because their first symptom was erectile dysfunction. If they had just assumed it was “all in their head,” they could have missed some significant health issue that left untreated, could have become a major problem.
Erectile dysfunction affects men of all ages. It is not just an old man’s condition. Don’t be embarrassed, don’t be ashamed, and don’t procrastinate seeking medical help.
If you’re experiencing erectile dysfunction, contact us for a free phone consultation to learn how we can help.
