In some cultures, men who have sexual difficulties rely on traditional remedies. These substances are called aphrodisiacs – the word coming from Aphrodite who, in ancient Greece, was the Goddess of Love – and they are believed to improve sexual desire and performance. Examples range from herbs, the powdered horns of large animals to preparations made from beetles and insects. In the majority of cases, these have no physical effect on the body but, because they are recommended by respected authority figures in the local society, the affected men usually find them effective. This goes to prove the general rule that, if the mind is willing, the body responds. The medical profession calls this the “placebo effect”.

There are three prescription only medications on the market to treat erectile dysfunction. Chemically, they all rely on the same basic active ingredients and work in the same way. Recently, the American College of Physicians asked the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to find out whether there was any evidence to show that one was more effective than the other two. There have only been four clinical trials making a direct comparison between the three and 122 trials studying the drugs individually. The conclusion was that the three drugs are broadly similar in their levels of effectiveness and safety. But the majority of men preferred one of the drugs because, in one form, it produces thirty-six hours of sexual potency. In the once-daily form, men taking the drug have levels of response broadly the same as “normal” men who have not been affected by erectile dysfunction. Thus, in terms of convenience and effect, an increasing majority of men prefer to buy cialis. However, this system of recommendation and sale by word-of-mouth, is exactly the same as the process for selling oysters as an aphrodisiac. Merely suggesting that oysters give you great sex sells them. It’s the same with drugs. If men are recommended one drug and they have a good experience with it, they may never try the others. Trusting the product to give a known result creates buying habits. In this instance, unlike oysters, cialis has a very precise physical effect which gives sexual responsiveness. Comparing it to an aphrodisiac for marketing purposes is fair. Otherwise, you can trust cialis to work, no matter what others may tell you.

The casual use of drugs may not be in your interests in this instance. Although the main drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction (viagra, cialis and levitra)are safe and effective in all but the exceptional cases, the fact of erectile dysfunction, particularly in men over the age of 40 years, may be a first symptom of more serious medical problems. Even though you may not have any other symptoms, you will be safer if you have a full medical check-up. Why safer, you ask. The way your body produces an erection relies on the walls of the arteries leading into the penis dilating when you are sexually stimulated. This allows more blood to flow into the penis and inflates it into an erection. If something prevents the arteries from dilating, there is no erection. These arteries are about one-quarter the diameter of the primary arteries leading to the heart but, putting it simply, arteries are arteries. If you have a problem with the narrow ones now, you may have a problem with the wider ones in about four or five years time. There are many reasons why the arteries may not dilate but the more worrying involve a hardening process when platelets are deposited from the blood. Left untreated, this leads to arteriosclerosis and potentially serious heart problems. All doctors were sent a medical advisory in 2006 which instructed them to deal with all men reporting erectile dysfunction as actual heart patients until the contrary is proved.