Erectile Dysfunction and Testosterone Levels

Featuring Dr. Stacy Elliott, MD

Duration: 1 minute, 50 seconds

Men can have difficulties with their sexual function when they have changes to their testosterone level.

Testosterone is necessary in order for men to have normal sexual function and it even helps with some of the oral medications for erection. So, when your testosterone levels begin to fall, the first thing you will note is that your sexual drive diminishes.

The second thing is you may have a delay or more difficulty reaching orgasm. The third thing is your morning or rapid eye movements sleep - erections - REM sleep erections will be affected because they’re more sensitive to testosterone than your daytime or your visually-induced sexual erections.

So, as your testosterone levels fall from normal levels the first thing you will see is a drop in sexual drive, maybe a delay in orgasm, then you will lose your morning or REM sleep erections, and then finally your visually-induced or erotic erections. This is what happens as levels fall.

For example, if you’re on hormone medication for prostate cancer, this is the progression you’ll see, or if you slowly lose your testosterone levels – even some athletes do this – that’s the progression that you will see.

If you have more questions around your testosterone level, the first person you should see is your physician to measure those levels and to take your symptom complex to be sure that’s really what you have.

You can either be replaced with testosterone, or maybe it’s part of your other medical condition such as metabolic syndrome, or diabetes, or something else that needs to be looked at and have your levels returned back to normal.

Presenter: Dr. Stacy Elliott, Psychiatrist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychiatrist