The most common blood pressure medications today for men are the ACE inhibitors — and these may be causing men sexual problems.
Two prominent scientists recently reported that one out of five cases of ED are from medications, and Antihypertensive drugs represent one of the most implicated classes”.
The most common drugs for high blood pressure, or hypertension, today are the ACE inhibitors. These include enalapril (Vasotec), lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril) and ramipril (Altace).
Men have been asking for a while if these drugs cause ED, and they ask the same thing about the rest.
I have helped over 21,262 men recover from ED, and I can tell you that an exceptionally high number of men with ED are taking one or more blood pressure medications.
Since erections are created by filling blood vessels, it’s not surprising that high blood pressure medications may disrupt erections.
They’ve all been wonderful studies showing how ACE inhibitors consistently lower blood pressure.
But now side effects of these blood pressure medicines in men have been reported
Here’s an excellent study showing exactly why ACE inhibitors are so bad for men.
It turns out that the ACE inhibitors lower DHEA which is important in producing testosterone and estrogen.
But ACE inhibitors also lower the production of many downstream male hormones, called androgens.
Male health isn’t just a matter of testosterone
Other male hormones have important roles as well.
All of these other male hormones are generally called androgens. They include DHT, androsterone, DHEA and many others.
And you need all of them — not just testosterone.
DHEA levels drop as men age. And low DHEA levels often mean poor erections and low libido in men.
And it turns out that the ACE inhibitors lower DHEA and all the hormones downstream from DHEA.
USERS OF ACE INHIBITORS HAD SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER SERUM DHEA AND ALSO TENDED TO HAVE LOWER SERUM ANDROSTENEDIONE AND ANDROST-5-ENE-3Β,17Β-DIOL.
That means that many of the male androgens necessary for powerful erections are absent when you take ACE inhibitors.
Who knew?
Well, a lot of people knew.
It was obvious from day one when ACE inhibitors were being tested that the interfered with male erections.
So, what do you do now, especially if you are on ACE inhibitors?
First, you might want to talk to Dr. about getting off of the ACE inhibitor.
You can try one of the older and even better drugs.
Some of the older blood pressure medications work just as well or better than ACE inhibitors.
And they don’t have the same erection destroying properties as ACE inhibitors do.
Plus, your blood pressure may be saving your life.
New studies show men live LONGER with HIGHER blood pressure
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009898110002688
The Effect of Antihypertensive Drugs on Erectile Function: A Proposed Management Algorithm
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1524-6175.2005.05285.x/asset/j.1524-6175.2005.05285.x.pdf;jsessionid=1BC57D15436FDA04B5E3600F1914353C.f02t03?v=1&t=j0e6r2ev&s=0cb864c724007ec4ba45975a812184478ac14f4a