Determining the Causes of Erectile Dysfunction: Can Medications be a Double-Sided Sword?

Like other medical problems, diagnosing the causes of erectile dysfunction requires a series of tests, as well as trial and error. The possibility that side effects to a patient's medications may be one of the causes of erectile dysfunction is discussed often in published articles. Physicians are aware that in order to diagnose a physiological problem, the simplest causes for the problem should be considered and eliminated first. Therefore, the physician should review a patient's list of medications as first protocol. This article lists some of the more common causes of erectile dysfunction and provides a list of drugs that are linked to erectile dysfunction. Compounding pharmacists should be involved in the treatment of this physiological/psychological condition to offer private consultations and alternative medications to those patients who can't or shouldn't take certain manufactured drugs that may cause erectile dysfunction or, because of certain risks, drugs that are sold to treat erectile dysfunction.