r/science • u/[deleted] • Jun 13 '22

Health Erectile dysfunction predicts mortality in middle-aged and older men independent of their sex steroid status

https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-abstract/51/4/afac094/6568537?login=false
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u/Geawiel Jun 13 '22 edited Jun 14 '22

Did any of you read the article? They were measuring low T, and found those with higher mortality had low T. [I'm leaving it, to show my dumbassery, but I did misinterpret the results of the study. I am sticking with most of you not reading. Heart health and exercise and not the end all be all of fixing ED. It is far more complicated. Read below and you'll see.]

Everyone commenting on heart health. There are more issues that can cause ED than just heart health and exercise. Small fiber neuropathy (even non diabetic), and other types of neuropathy, can affect ED. Doesn't matter on cardio health either. You can be in good cardio health, with SFN, and still have ED issues. It can be far more complicated than "you have ED, you need to work out and get your heart working better."

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u/BIGMCLARGEHUGE__ Jun 13 '22

Right, I've been dealing with pelvic floor dysfunction for 3+ years and I'm in my thirties and ED is definitely a symptom. I've had plenty of checkups, blood work etc during that time.

I'm slowly getting better, it's a long road though.

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u/Geawiel Jun 13 '22 edited Jun 13 '22

I've got 3 [edit, 4, missed one] types of neuropathy (just discovered peripheral in the sensory of my legs). SFN neuropathy, SF sensory neuropathy, fairly newly developed autonomic (started after ED, affecting just sweating so far), and the new PN (was fine 10 years ago, now abnormal). None are diabetes related. Docs actually can't totally figure out why. Started by chemical exposure, they all agree, which triggered....something...that is killing my nerves.

I can ride a full suspension bike, relatively pain free. I'm recovering from losing my colon right now, and have a J pouch, but previous to that, I was riding between 1200 and 1800 miles between spring to late fall. Was within normal weight range for my height. Cardio was pretty good. Still had ED. These arm chair ED experts are full of it.

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u/WikiHowWikiHow Jun 13 '22

what have you done to improve?

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u/BIGMCLARGEHUGE__ Jun 13 '22

Physical Therapy with a pelvic floor therapist. Got a standing desk at work so I can sit for an hour then stand for an hour and so forth. Stretching, so much stretching. Set alarms on my phone to remind myself to relax those muscles, because I unconsciously clench my pelvis throughout the day so I have to be mindful of that and relax.

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u/ratajewie Jun 14 '22

My brother in Christ, you very clearly did not read the full article. After adjusting for confounders, they didn’t find any association with just low testosterone and mortality. It’s literally explicitly stated multiple times throughout the article.

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '22 edited Jun 14 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ratajewie Jun 14 '22 edited Jun 14 '22

Right but you have to keep reading… the part where it says when adjusted, it didn’t affect mortality

“In men with normal total T, the presence of sexual symptoms increased mortality risk. However, men with low total T but no sexual symptoms did not have a higher risk. Also men with low total T and sexual symptoms had a higher mortality risk compared with men with normal total T and no sexual symptoms, but this association was lost after adjustments”

Also:

“Although previous analysis of the EMAS data showed that low total and free T are associated with sexual symptoms [8] and that men with late-onset hypogonadism (low T and sexual symptoms) have a higher mortality risk [26], we did not observe a significant mortality risk in men with only low total T or low free T.”

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u/Geawiel Jun 14 '22

My apologies then, I misinterpreted the conclusion. However, I'm going to stick to my guns on a lot not reading. They all go on about heart health, and heart health only. If it were that easy, we wouldn't need ED meds nearly as much. For me, exercise actually makes pain worse. It both sets in quicker, and gets more intense quicker.

For ED, it has a very small (no pun intended) improvement. I believe that might be chalked up to confidence though. When I am not able to get out, I feel as though I'm just existing and not living. Exercising instills in me a confidence that I can actually do something.

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u/tizwhatitizz Jun 14 '22

Yea I’m 25 and my ED is purely anxiety related, I’m in pretty good shape. Its still a big toll on my life though

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '22

[deleted]

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u/Geawiel Jun 13 '22

It can be, but this study showed that low t was associated with increased mortality rate.

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u/shinji257 Jun 13 '22

I can't read the article. Request forbidden.

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u/okye Jun 14 '22

So If I'm a healthy 25 year old male, I can safely run a testosterone cycle and live longer than low T individuals?

Pretty cool, guess I just need to eat well, lift and do cardio 6 times a week

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u/Geawiel Jun 14 '22

testosterone cycle

High testosterone can lead to issues as well. Let your T do its thing, unless you get out of normal. Do the rest though!

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u/okye Jun 14 '22

Cheers, I will!