An inability to get or maintain an erection and heart problems are directly related. The worsening of erectile dysfunction can actually lead to heart disease and vice versa. How does this happen?
Both of these conditions have direct links to high blood pressure. So does this mean you can treat heart disease and erectile dysfunction by treating high blood pressure? The answer could be yes only if you reduce blood pressure using natural methods that do not produce significant adverse effects.
Erectile Dysfunction Due To Arterial Blockage
The Nobel Prize-winning research on the nitric-acid-free radical that led to the development of Viagra taught us that the inner lining of blood vessels uses nitric oxide to cause the surrounding smooth muscles to relax.1 This, in turn, dilates the vessels, reduces blood pressure, and increases blood flow, which dramatically reduces erectile dysfunctions.
The most common type of cardiovascular disease (CVD) – where plaque deposits partially block large arteries – causes high blood pressure through these blockages. Let’s explain how this works in simpler words.
Imagine that you’re watering your garden and the hose is fully extended and is switched on. The water falls two feet short of a rosebush that you need to water. What do you do? You instinctively cover a bit of the end of the hose with your thumb, and suddenly, the water easily reaches the rosebush.
If the blockage is removed, the pressure will be reduced. This principle works whether it is the thumb that is moved or the arterial blockages that are removed from the arteries.
What Causes The Partial Artery Blockage?
More than atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, or CVD, this condition should be referred to as chronic scurvy. This is because the “disease” that causes erectile dysfunction is not the plaque deposits but what’s underneath the plaque deposits – the weakened and damaged artery walls.
Since the arteries are a high-pressure system, with enough damage, they will not be able to “contain the blood.” This might lead to a leakage of blood, which can quickly turn lethal.
How To Treat Arterial Damage?
Arterial blockages need to be removed carefully and naturally. Any adverse effects from unwise approaches to this problem might result in problems far worse than erectile dysfunction.
When your arteries weaken, your body needs to get into repair mode. Here, it needs to repair and create collagen fibers that strengthen the tissues throughout your body. This process requires a few nutrients and the problem is resolved only if you’re not deficient. Unfortunately, one critical nutrient is often unavailable in sufficient quantity, thus causing a backlog of repairs.
[pullquote]Most of us are deficient in vitamin C, which is required to create strong collagen fibers.[/pullquote]
Most commonly, that critical nutrient is vitamin C, a deficiency of which causes scurvy, a bleeding disease. Blood vessels disintegrate when the collagen in the blood vessels are not repaired/replaced due to the deficiency, causing scurvy.
The difference between scurvy and chronic scurvy is merely how quickly the disease develops. Scurvy results from getting almost no vitamin C for several months. Chronic scurvy results from getting insufficient amounts of vitamin C for years or, more likely, decades. The slower progression allows the body to mount a secondary response.
Your Body’s Plan B
When arterial extreme damage results in bleeding, your body has a “Plan B.” It coats the inside of the artery wall to protect it from the possibility of the lethal bleeding. That coating, of course, is the plaque deposit, which we prefer to call “nature’s perfect band-aid.”
[pullquote]To remove plaque deposits, it’s important to repair the underlying artery wall first.[/pullquote]
The plaque deposits that cardiologists everywhere are so worried about are actually purposely placed to save your life. You can, therefore, see why the healthiest way to treat this is to let your body remove what is no longer necessary on its own.
The earliest public pronouncement of this disease model that we are aware of was in 1991, when Linus Pauling and Mathias Rath MD found and concluded that there was a connection between vitamin C and CVD.2
Nutrients That Help Treat Erectile Dysfunction
1. For Arterial Repairs
If you flood the body with all the nutrients it needs to catch up with the backlog of arterial repairs, the plaque deposits will gradually remove themselves, reducing blood pressure and erectile dysfunction. Here is a short list of nutrients that are helpful in repairing arterial walls:
- Vitamin C – At least 1 gram 3 or 4 times per day
- Copper – 2 mg per day (if you are a vegetarian, you can skip this)
- Zinc – 30 mg per day
- Foods containing sulfur – Onions, kale, mustard greens, garlic, etc.
2. With L-Arginine
L-arginine, also described as the “poor man’s Viagra,” is what your body uses to make its own nitric oxide. Although not quite as effective as Viagra, it has fewer side effects. It is a marvelous addition to the list of supplements for a cardiology patient because it lowers blood pressure, is a conditional anti-coagulant (making it much safer than aspirin or prescription blood-thinners), and makes the arteries resistant to damage from plaque deposits. However, it does promote viral infections.
If you are going to use L-arginine, you need to optimize your immune system. Here is a list of supplements that can help:
- Vitamin D3
- Selenium
- Iodine
- Vitamin C
- L-Lysine
- Vitamin E (full spectrum, all 4 tocopherols and all 4 tocotrienols)
- Copper
- Zinc
- Sulfur (either organic sulfur supplement or sulfur-containing foods)
Can Cholesterol Meds Cause Erectile Dysfunction?
Heart patients are frequently recommended cholesterol-reducing strategies. While these are successful, the lowered cholesterol levels reduce the production of testosterone in the body. Having low testosterone can easily be tied to the idea of erectile dysfunction, but the connection to cardiology patients is actually easier to understand.3
If you understand that cholesterol is not the problem here, you might be able to see your way to stopping cholesterol-reduction meds. Although these meds are not the only problem, they are probably a part of the problem.
In Conclusion
Erectile dysfunction is not always caused by these factors. But the remedies discussed here either have no adverse effects or effects that are easily prevented. These are safe for you to try with little or no risk. What has been described here might improve your heart disease and erectile dysfunction among other problems you weren’t even intending to address.
References
