Gay Men's Support Group to discuss ED

via sdgln, by SDGLN staff

Gay men with erectile dysfunction (ED) will meet Saturday, March 10, in Southern California to talk about their common experiences and find ways to connect around impotence.

Gay men have long faced homophobia when seeking care for problems common to both gay and straight men.

Many gay-focused national nonprofits have long histories of helping gay men with diseases such as prostate cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Now, for the first time, gay men will be meeting to discuss ED among men who enjoy sex with men.

“Gay men experience health issues from their unique perspective, but, health care professionals continue to ignore this, causing needless harm to thousands upon thousands of gay men who experience erectile dysfunction,” said Darryl Mitteldorf, LCSW, executive director of the national men’s cancer survivor nonprofit organization, Malecare Cancer Support, which is involved in the meeting.

“Malecare wants all gay men to find the help they need, from men who care about them and we are proud that one of our support group leaders, Dennis Bogorad, has developed a supportive meeting focused on erectile dysfunction,” Mitteldorf said.

This social gathering will offer single gay men with erectile dysfunction a chance to meet other gay men with erectile dysfunction.

It will be a chance for men to mix and mingle in a no stress environment, share experiences, make new friends or maybe meet the love of their life.

“This is one silent sexual issue both gay and straight men share in common," said Bogorad, a film producer who volunteers as leader of the gay men with prostate cancer support group that is co-sponsored by Malecare Cancer Support and the Cancer Support Community at the Benjamin Center in Los Angeles.

Gay men are best supported by each other, in a gay friendly atmosphere, organizers said.

Erectile dysfunction may be caused by many different diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, HIV, antidepressants, prostate issues, physical injury, aging and more.

Although the cause may vary, the life changes resulting from ED can challenge the quality of life for many gay men.

Unfortunately, caregivers, medical professionals and advertisements present treatment options and social remedies almost always from a heterosexual point of view.

Success with this first gay men and erectile dysfunction event will likely lead to similar events throughout the United States.


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Mark S. King:The Hard Facts on Erectile Dysfunction: Pills, Pumps and Prosthetics

via Mark S. King's My Fabulous Disease

Every treatment and factoid on erectile dysfunction is here: pills, pumps and prosthetics (oh my!). Mostly, though, just hearing Nelson repeatedly say “erectile” in his adorable Venezuelan accent is worth the ten minutes it takes to watch this video.

Death of Gay Activist Reignites Debate About Poppers

via EDGE Boston, by Killan Melloy

The death of a GLBT equality advocate has reportedly been attributed to a mix of poppers and a drug for erectile dysfunction.

Gregg Barrett, a longtime volunteer with gay organizations such as the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, Atlanta’s AIDS Walk, and Atlanta Pride, had been visiting a friend when he combined poppers with Levitra, reported the Georgia Voice on June 11. The next morning, Barrett was dead, having apparently succumbed while sleeping. The article said that Levitra advises against using the drug together with poppers.


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Study shows clear association between use of multiple drugs and risk of HIV for gay men

via Aidsmap, by Michael Carter

The use of poppers, stimulant drugs such as cocaine, and erectile dysfunction drugs, significantly increases the risk of HIV infection for gay men, especially when used together, according to an article published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. “It is increasingly clear that combination sex drug usage contributes significantly to the spread of HIV infection among vulnerable MSM [men who have sex with men]”, comment the investigators...

... “Noninjection substance use that commonly accompanies unprotected anal sex with multiple partners remains a potent predictor of HIV seroconversion among men who have sex with men…the time seems long past to design and evaluate interventions that will disentangle the conjoined epidemics of substance use and high-risk sex in this population”, conclude the investigators.

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Read more LifeLube posts about poppers.

Cluster of multi-drug resistant HIV transmissions in Seattle

via Aidsmap

...All these seven patients, as well as the two treatment-experienced patients, were gay men aged in their 20s – 40s. They all reported the use of methamphetamine and sex with multiple, mostly anonymous partners. Many of the men also reported the use of other recreational drugs as well as treatments for erectile dysfunction. At the time of HIV infection, many of the men were also infected with a bacterial sexually transmitted infection.

Investigators in Seattle have reported a cluster of nine HIV infections involving resistance to multiple drugs from all the three main classes of antiretrovirals. The report is published in the October 1^st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Seven of the nine men were newly diagnosed with HIV, the other two men had chronic HIV infection and were receiving antiretroviral therapy. One of these cases appears to involve superinfection during antiretroviral therapy that had been suppressing viral load to undetectable levels.

All nine cases involved gay men with high risk sexual activity. None of the men experienced rapid HIV disease progression and one patient initiated a carefully selected antiretroviral regimen that suppressed his viral load to undetectable levels. Nevertheless, the investigators note that the strain of drug-resistant HIV infecting the men was very “fit” and highly transmissible.

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Men who smoke risk erectile dysfunction

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Otherwise healthy men who smoke risk developing erectile dysfunction -- and the more cigarettes they smoke, the greater the risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study.

Erectile dysfunction is the consistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. In a study of 4,763 Chinese men aged 35 to 74 years who were free of blood vessel disease and who reported that they had been sexually active within the last 6 months, the researchers found a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes smoked and the likelihood of erectile dysfunction.

"The association between cigarette smoking and erectile dysfunction was found in earlier studies," said first author Dr. Jiang He of Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans. "However, most of those studies were conducted in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and cardiovascular disease. What distinguishes this study is that it is the first to find this association among healthy men."

Overall, men who smoked had a 41-percent greater risk of erectile dysfunction than men who did not, the team reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

And there was a clear "dose-response" relationship, meaning that the more the men smoked, the higher was their risk of erectile dysfunction. Compared with non-smokers, men who smoked up to 10 cigarettes per day had a 27-percent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction ; those who smoked 11 to 20 butts a day had a 45-percent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction; and those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily had a-65 percent greater chance of suffering erectile dysfunction.

The investigators estimate that 22.7 percent of erectile all dysfunction cases among healthy Chinese men - or 11.8 million cases -- might be caused by cigarette smoking.

And even when cigarette smokers quit, their risk of developing erectile dysfunction did not decrease. The risk of erectile dysfunction was statistically about the same for former cigarette smokers as for current cigarette smokers, the authors found.

"This study really has a strong message for young men," He said. "It may get their attention if they know that smoking is associated with erectile dysfunction -- even in the healthy population."

"So the message is: Don't start."

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, October 1, 2007.