 |
- Natural Supplements for
Erection Problems
|
- But before you go sticking needles into your penis,
you might try some of these herbal approaches.
Velvet
bean (Mucuna, various species). Years ago, while working in
Panama, I was told by more than one informant that the seeds of the velvet or ox-eye bean
(in Spanish, ojo de buey) were aphrodisiac. That was before I knew that these seeds
can contain as much L-dopa as velvet beans, and perhaps more. The mucuna is our best food
source of the compound L-dopa, which is often used to treat Parkinson's disease. Large
amounts of L-dopa may cause priapism, a painful, persistent erection that has nothing to
do with sexual arousal. |
| Ginkgo
(Ginkgo biloba). Ginkgo is best known for improving blood flow through the
brain. But it also seems to boost blood flow into the penis, thus aiding iffy erections.
In several small studies, physicians have obtained very good results with 60 to 240
milligrams daily of a standardized ginkgo extract. In one nine-month study, 78 percent of
men with impotence due to atherosclerotic clogging of the penile artery reported
significant improvement without side effects. People
normally think of atherosclerosis as a disease that clogs the blood vessels that supply
the heart, thereby leading to heart attacks. This same disease can also clog the blood
vessels that supply the penis and lead to erection problems. In another six-month study,
half of the men being treated with ginkgo regained their erections. The active compounds
are too dilute in ginkgo leaves to do much good, so standardized extracts concentrate it:
A 50:1 extract means that 50 pounds of leaves were used to produce 1 pound of extract. You
can try 60 to 240 milligrams a day, but don't go any higher than that. In large amounts,
ginkgo may cause diarrhea, irritability and restlessness. And do give it time to work. In
about six months, you'll know whether it's going to do the trick. |
| Yohimbe
(Pausinystalia yohimbe). For at least ten years, I have maintained that if
there is a real herbal erection enhancer, yohimbe is it. I based this on centuries of
folklore about the African tree bark and a few small clinical trials that showed that the
herb produced erections in about half of men with psychological impotence and about 40
percent with physical erection problems. Unfortunately,
the side effects were a little unnerving, including anxiety, increased heart rate,
elevated blood pressure, flushing, hallucinations and headache. This is not an herb that
you want to mess around with. But then the drug companies got into the act. They figured
out how to extract the active compound and eventually won approval for yohimbine
hydrochloride (Yocon, Yohimex) as a prescription medication. After one month, 14 percent
of men taking it reported restoration of full and sustained erections, 20 percent reported
partial responses, and 65 percent reported no improvement. Still, one-third improved,
which isn't bad.
Generally, I advocate taking a whole herb rather
than a pharmaceutical derivative, but this is an exception to my rule. Compared with the
raw herb, the prescription drug causes fewer side effects, and those are generally benign.
If I had erection difficulties, I might ask my doctor to put me on yohimbine. |
|
- Stiff Drinks for Better
Performance
- I do a lot of traveling in Latin
America, and the herbal formulas I find there--and people's faith in them--never cease to
amaze me.
When it comes to enhancing men's
sexual potency, there is a very long list of herbs with a reputation for delivering. I
find a couple of alcoholic beverages made from herbal formulas added to a wine or rum base
to be particularly intriguing.
One is siete raices. In
English this translates to "seven roots," which is rather odd, because the drink
is made from seven dried barks. The other is rompe calzon--"bust your
britches." The name comes from its folklore reputation for producing erections large
enough to strain trouser material. (I'm not making this up.)
There is only anecdotal evidence
that rompe calzon stimulates erotic interest, but those anecdotes sure sell a lot
of this brew in Latin American countries. I confess that I've tried it myself and haven't
found it all that stimulating.
You won't be able to buy either of
these formulas in the states, but one ingredient common to both may be available here.
Clavohuasca (Tynnanthus panurensis) is an aromatic vine that is often found
climbing to the forest canopy in Amazonian Peru, where I lead my Rainforest Pharmacy
Workshops.
One traveler in my first Physician's
Workshop, an acclaimed herbalist himself, says he has empirical evidence that tincture of
clavohuasca, a rather pleasant and warming liqueur, sexually excites both the male and
female of the human species--namely him and his wife.
I know of only one herb shop in the
United States that carries tincture of clavohuasca, Smile Herb Shop in College Park,
Maryland, so I'm assuming that it's imported and can be found in other herb shops. If
you're anxious to give it a try, you might have to search for it--but you'd have to work a
whole lot harder to get your hands on either siete raices or rompe calzon. |
