What Causes Erectile Dysfunction In A 42 Year Old Man?

Posted on Thu, 10 Mar 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 Answered on

Wed, 18 May 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I am 42 years old medically fit guy with no ailments. I am suddenly not able to hold on to my erection for long for the last one week. Is there a problem with m

Answered by Dr. Swarnava Dattagupta (4 minutes later)

hello.
there are many causes of erectile dysfunction.
psychological causes like anxiety, tension etc, excess intake of alcohol, smoking and obesity etc are most common causes.
relax, do not worry and take care of the other causes mentioned above.
it is mostly temporary and will be alright gradually on ruling out the causes.

reply with thanks.
regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Swarnava Dattagupta (5 hours later)

I do not drink nor smoke doc plus i work out regularly. Do not have bp or diabities nor any other health ailment. This had happened out of the blue and has kind of shocked me . I am not able to relate to the reason for this. Infact a week prior to that i had a perfectly long enjoyable intercourse with my wife. I also understand that worrying is not the solutuon to the problem but its palying on my mind a lot and effecting me .. How do i counter this doc.. Please let me know

Answered by Dr. Swarnava Dattagupta (16 hours later)

Brief Answer:
follow as advised

Detailed Answer:
Hello.
Welcome to HCM.
Sorry for the late reply.

Erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation are common problems and when there is no underlying medical ailment, these are purely temporary.
Anxiety and tension are still the commonest causes of these.
The treatment is primarily relaxation and avoiding anxiety. Many people get positive results from this only.
Alongwith, drug treatment will include mild antidepressants like paroxetine, fluoxetine when premature ejaculation is the problem; and sildenafil, tadalafil etc when even getting an erection is difficult.

So keep calm, relax and take medicines only when required. Dont worry, this is temporary.

Hope this was useful.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee