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The #1 Lie About ED: Why Pills Won’t Fix the Real Problem
Episode 33512th December 2025 • Sexual Health For Men • Dr. Anne Truong
00:00:00 00:22:23

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What if the real cause behind your erectile dysfunction has been overlooked all along?

In this powerful episode, I challenge the myths you've been told and take a closer look at what’s really going on beneath the surface. You’ll get a sneak peek into the hidden, physical causes of ED that most doctors never talk about, and why it’s not just “in your head.” Whether you’ve tried pills, advice, or even given up hope, this episode offers a fresh perspective that could completely shift the way you think about your health and performance.

Curious what your body’s been trying to tell you? Hit play and find out what you’ve been missing.

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Resources mentioned:

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Curious about how you can boost your bedroom game and build lasting confidence? Check out the course at getwoodnow.com and start your journey to feeling like yourself again!

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If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more and get more tips, subscribe to The Modern Man newsletter for exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox! https://dranne.co/themodernman

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For all links and resources mentioned on the show and where to subscribe to the podcast, please visit https://truongrehab.com/erectile-dysfunction-causes-treatments

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Want to regain control of your sex life? It’s time to reverse the effects of ED on your life. Join the Modern Man Club and embark on your journey to complete recovery and community.

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Reveal the FREE treatment most men ignore that solves thousands of erectile dysfunction cases every year, plus the 5 biggest mistakes you must avoid if you want to say goodbye to your ED. Uncover it all in my free eBook, available to download now.

https://dranne.co/ebook

Transcripts

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This podcast is for you, the Modern Man. I'm Dr Anne Truong,

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your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and best

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selling author of the book, Erectile Dysfunction Fix. I'll

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do a deep dive into sexual health and performance and how

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it affects men of all ages and backgrounds. So let's get

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started, and be sure to visit my website at

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sexualhealthformenpodcast.com for more information and

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resources from the show. See you on the inside.

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Hello there, Modern Man. Have you ever been told your ED is

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just in your head. I'm Dr Anne Truong. I'm a medical doctor

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who's helped over 7000 men restore sexual function

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naturally. My own husband struggled with ED, and what I

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discovered changed his life and thousand others. Today, I'll

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show you the real reason behind ED and why it's not your fault.

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This will save you years of frustration, fail attempts at

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solution and even money. So stay tuned to the end.

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The reality is, ED is largely a physical problem which is good

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for you, and once you understand the real mechanism driving it,

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the actual biological breakdown happening in your body, you'll

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finally understand why generic advice has not worked, the pill

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has not worked, and what real solution actually need to

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address. So I'm a physician specializing in sexual medicine

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and regenerative medicine, and I spent over 25 years studying the

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actual physiology behind ED. Today, we're going real deep on

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the real root causes that most men never hear about. So let's

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start by debunking the myth that got us here for decades.

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Medicine categorized ED into two bins, psychological or mental,

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or physical, as if ED is one or the other. However, this binary

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thinking led to a massive blind spot. When doctor couldn't find

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an obvious cause, they'll tell men, oh, it's just in your head

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or relationship stress, the patient believed that he start

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doubting himself, and the actual physical breakdown goes

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untreated.

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So here's what the research now clearly shows in a comprehensive

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analysis of nearly 2000 ED patient, 86% had a primary

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physical cause causing the breakdown. 86% have primary

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physical cause that cause ED. Only 14% have purely psychogenic

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causes. And get this, even those men with pure psychological ED

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often develop identical severity core scores to those men with

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organic ED. Why is this? Because when you live with dysfunction,

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anxiety become a physical stressor that makes the problem

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worse, and the mind and the body aren't separate system. They're

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together and integrated. But the originating cause in the vast

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majority of cases is biological or physical. So the takeaway, if

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you have ED, something in your body is broken. It's not in your

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mind. So this is a theory. This is what peer review research

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published in journal, in nature, Journal in Sexual Medicines and

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circulation consistently demonstrate that ED is a

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vascular event. First, it comes from blood flow, essentially. It

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may trigger psychological consequences, but it originates

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in physiology, or the physical causes.

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Number two, let's talk about the nitric oxide system. To

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understand ED, you need to understand the molecule that

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makes erection possible, nitric oxide (NO). Nitric oxide, it's a

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signal and molecule. It's not something you eat or supplement

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easily. You could take it from the supplement or supplement

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called arugula, because it is in its pure form, but it's produced

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through the body if you eat through beats, and it's primary

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function, erection. So here's how it works in a healthy man,

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when you're sexually stimulated, again, erection starts in the

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head. The nerves in your penis release acetylcholine, which

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then trigger the cells lining the penis artery the endothelial

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cell to produce nitric oxide. Nitric oxide then binds to an

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enzyme called soluble guanylyl cyclase, which then kind of

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stimulate cyclic GMP. And cyclic GMP is the actual worker

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molecule, it relaxes the smooth muscle and the corpus cavinosa,

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which is the smooth muscle of the penis, the spongy tissue

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that then fills up with blood during an erection. As that

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smooth muscle relaxes the arteries or the blood vessel

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open up, blood rushes into the penis. The pressure in the penis

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increases, the vein collapse, trapping the blood inside the

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penis, and you get a rigid erection. This entire sequence

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depends on adequate nitric oxide production. So what happens when

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you don't have enough nitric oxide? Well, the smooth muscle

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doesn't relax, the artery doesn't open up, the blood

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doesn't rush in, no erection or weak incomplete erection. But

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here's the problem, dozen of condition and lifestyle factor

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destroy this capacity for you to make nitric oxide. All right,

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let me break this down for you. Number one, endothelial

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dysfunction. The endothelium is a cell that line the inside of

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your blood vessel. Imagine like a pipe like this, and they line

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the inside of it. This is what makes nitric oxide. These cells

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become damaged with aging, high blood pressure, high

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cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and inflammation, such as

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oxidative stress. These cells, one day become dysfunctional.

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They cannot make nitric oxide anymore, especially oxidative

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stress. Oxidative stress means your body has too many free

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radical or poor inflammation from poor diet, smoking stress,

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they attack and destroy your nitric oxide molecule. That's

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why you're producing less nitric oxide than before. Another thing

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is insulin resistance. This is huge. When your cells become

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resistant to insulin, insulin essentially drive its hormone

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that drive blood sugar that floats in your blood vessel into

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the cell. When insulin become resistant, several things

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happen. So what happens is that with insulin resistance, this

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activation fails, so simultaneously, inflammation

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increase, which then damage the endothelium and decrease nitric

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oxide.

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Men, struggling to stay hard? Most of the time it comes down

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to poor blood flow. That's why I put together the Good Morning

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Wood smoothie, a nutrient packed blend designed to restore blood

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flow naturally. My patient often notice improvement in just a few

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weeks when they take this part of their daily routine. Click

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the link below to get the recipe and start boosting your blood

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flow and firmness today, or go to goodmorningwoodsmoothie.com.

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Inflammation. You can measure inflammation by a high CRP or C

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reactive protein interleukin or even other molecules such as TNF

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alpha, but these inflammatory markers actively damage

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endothelial cells, again, reducing nitric oxide and no

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erection. So when someone tells you ED is in your head, what

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they're actually missing is that you have a biochemical breakdown

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in nitric oxide production or even availability. That's a

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physical problem, a real problem, one that require

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addressing oxide

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take this nitric oxide, it will give you more nitric oxide even

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when your enzyme is not working well. Know that as you age, once

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you get over 40, your nitric oxide production decreases by

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50%. So even if your nitric oxide system is working, you

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still need adequate blood flow to the penis. That's where blood

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flow or vascular insufficiency comes in your penis arteries are

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small, about one to two millimeter in diameter. They're

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like a size of an ant. They are fed by larger arteries that

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branch off of the groin arteries. So those larger

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arteries are narrow or stiffen, which then happens with

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conditions like atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, chronic

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inflammation. Your penis then doesn't get enough blood flow in

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there. This is called arterial insufficientness, and it's one

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of the most common form of ED.

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So here's a clinical metric, researcher measure something

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called peak systolic velocity. It's a speed of blood flow in

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your penis during arousal. If that velocity dropped below 25

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centimeters per second, you have a significant arterial

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insufficiency. Your arteries become too narrow, too stiff,

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not enough blood getting in. So now what causes the artery to

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narrow? A condition called atherosclerosis, plaque buildup

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in your arteries. The same way that plaque buildup in your

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heart. This happens when you have high cholesterol, diabetes,

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high blood pressure, smoking, overweight and eating a poor

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diet. So the plaque narrows the artery. So think of the arteries

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like a pipe, and the plaque is like a gunk that gets stuck on

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the side of the pipe, so it narrows the opening of the pipe,

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so less blood is flowing in. Are you following me on that? Great,

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because this is what happens. It starts first in your penis

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artery. Because penis is so small, it's only one to two

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millimeter, which is like a size of an ant and the arteries in

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your heart is about three to four millimeter. Okay, so if

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your ED is almost like a warning sign of poor blood flow. Here's

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the thing, the lining your arteries become non functional,

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blood doesn't flow smoothly, and plaque starts to stick, and it

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gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And then after that,

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your arteries become stiffer, so it doesn't become flexible at

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all.

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But here's something most men don't know about. You also need

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to work properly as well. Outflow from the penis. So for

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the erection to be maintained, the vein that brings out the

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blood out of the penis need to be compressed by the increased

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pressure in the corpus cavernosum. So if this venous

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tone is impaired or if the smooth muscle on those vein

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doesn't respond properly, the blood leaks out. So then you no

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longer have a rigid erection. This is called venous leak. So

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if you have artery which is incoming blood that comes in, is

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be insufficient. Then you have venous leak, which is blood

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going out is insufficient. Well, that's a double whammy, so

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sometimes you may need to have a Doppler ultrasound to identify

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is it inflow or outflow problem there? Okay, so I just want to

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mention that at this point.

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But here's something critical that changes how you should view

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your ED your penis arteries are significantly smaller, and

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therefore your ED is really a warning sign, guys, that you're

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going to have some heart issues in about seven to 10 years. Keep

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that in mind. Don't ignore ED. So Ed isn't just a sexual

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problem. It's a warning sign. Treat it properly by addressing

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the root cause of it, you're gonna save your heart and you're

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gonna live longer. Alright?

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likely

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pre compared

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So other causes of ED and what's called metabolic dysfunction,

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and what it means is that it's a metabolic syndrome that

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to mention is that testosterone also play a role in erection.

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However, testosterone is often blamed for ED, but here's what

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the research shows, most men don't have ED problem because of

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low testosterone alone. Hypogonadism, or true

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testosterone deficiency, is a rare cause of ED. However,

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testosterone influences erectile function through multiple

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mechanism, which is nitric oxide production is regulated by

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testosterone as well. Penile nerve function is also

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maintained by testosterone, and the vascular health or the

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endothelium, also is controlled by testosterone. Even

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psychological arousal, testosterone plays a huge part

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in desire, motivation, which then trigger the whole erection

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cascade. So while low testosterone isn't usually the

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primary cause, it is often a contributing cause, and

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addressing it can improve outcome when combined with other

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treatment for blood flow. What's important is to know that ED is

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caused by vascular, hormone, inflammation, and now we're talk

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about nerve. The erection function also depends upon the

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nerve signaling as well. If the nerve has to travel all the way

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from your brain down to. To your penis. Condition that affect

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your nerves are diabetes and a nerve injuries such as spinal

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cord, no injury pelvic surgery, like prostate surgery or bladder

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surgery or rectal surgery can lead to Ed, and even peripheral

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neuropathy can lead to ED as well. So interestingly, research

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shows that improve vascular health, or blood vessel health,

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often improve nerve dysfunction that causes ED because the nerve

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and the blood vessel are co dependent on one another. So

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essentially, if you improve your blood flow, you also will

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improve your nerve as well, too.

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And don't forget the psychological layer. So I'm not

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dismissing psychology. The mind and body connection is real and

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powerful. But here's accurate picture. Psychological stress

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and anxiety don't usually cause ED in men with healthy blood

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flow, healthy metabolic system. Instead, they often emerge as a

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consequence of ED. So a man experiences ED once, and then

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have anxiety about it, which increases

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decrease blood flow. Now he has a genuine performance anxiety

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problem layer on top of his original blood flow and

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metabolic problem. Do you follow me with this? So it really do

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tie together. So if performance anxiety is a real complicating

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factor, but it's rarely, rarely a root cause in men over 40. But

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here's what's critical, if you treat the anxiety but don't want

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dress underlying vascular blood flow or hormone problem, your ED

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will persist. You might feel better, but the physical part

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still remains.

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So that's why the common scenario for ED is usually mix a

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combination of physical and psychological, and you need to

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treat both. And that's why treating the root cause matters?

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Because when you restore proper blood flow and metabolic

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function, the psychological component often resolved on its

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own as well. Other risk factor, you know, I want to mention too

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is smoking, poor diet, diet that's high in fat, high in

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sugar, and then sedentary lifestyle, no exercise, and then

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increase body fat or obesity and uncontrolled high blood pressure

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and uncontrolled blood sugar and chronic stress and sleep

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deprivation. Don't forget alcohol abuse. Drinking more

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than 14 drinks a week is not good as well, too.

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Okay, Modern Man. If you're struggling with weak erection,

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low energy, the food you eat could be the big part of the

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problem. One of the best research pathways to boost

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circulation, support healthy testosterone and improve sexual

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performance is the Mediterranean diet. It's packed with food that

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open up your blood vessel, lower inflammation, and fuel your

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hormone, naturally. I've seen men notice real improvement in

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both energy and erection within weeks when they shift to this

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style of eating. So check out the Mediterranean diet link

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right here below, and get that as soon as you can. Stronger

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testosterone and better erection.

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So the critical insight is, most men ED is reversible. I want to

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say that again, reversible, by addressing these modifiable

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factors, you're not stuck. Your body can heal with the right

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intervention. So this is what I did for my husband. I used the

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Get Hard System to address the six system between the brain,

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the hormone, the nerve, the blood vessels and the muscle to

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treat his ED. That is our Get Hard System. And I've been doing

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this for a long time, I've seen thousands of patients. I've seen

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them improve by us treating the root cause. Okay, so when you

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treat the root cause, you take care of the problem permanently,

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and then you get restored function again. That's the

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reason why I created the Get Hard System to treat ED at his

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root function. Find out if you're a candidate for the Get

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Hard System to restore erection again and kill ed at his root

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cause. Check down the link down below, right here, on how to

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work with me to get out of that. And also check there's an eBook

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that I wrote the five mistakes men with ED make because don't

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make those mistakes. Just know that ED is reversible when it's

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treated early, and that you don't have to live with it.

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There are natural alternative that will get you out of ED. And

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you are not broken, right? There is nothing shameful about this.

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Address this head, we are here to help you.

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Having said that, guys, I will see you next episode. Make sure

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you subscribe to our channel. That will make my day if you do

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so. Thank you so much.

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Okay, Modern Man, you are not alone and you don't have to

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suffer anymore. ED can feel isolating, frustrating, and even

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defeating. The endless guessing, the quiet shame, the weight of

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not feeling like yourself is exhausting. But here's the

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truth, you are not broken. You are not alone. You don't have to

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figure this out alone anymore. The Get Wood Now Boost Program

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is your step by step, path to sexual confidence and

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restoration. No more suffering in silence, no more trial and

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error, just real solution, real result and the confidence you

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deserve. It's time to take back your power on your term. Let's

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get this journey started together. Check out the course

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at getwoodnow.com. I'll see you there.

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Thanks for listening to the Sexual Health for Men Podcast.

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If you love this episode, then please take a screenshot on your

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phone and post it on Facebook, Instagram, or wherever you post,

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and be sure to tag me and let me know why you like this episode

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and what you like to hear in the future. That will help me know

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what's great for you and I would love to give you the most

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incredible free gift designed to help you improve performance

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quickly. Go to my website at sexualhealthformenpodcast.com to

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get the book, The Five Common Costly Mistakes Men Make When

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Facing ED. I would appreciate if you subscribe, leave a review on

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Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. And just know that you

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can have sexual vitality for life. I appreciate you until

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next time.

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