What should you do when an erection doesn’t go down?
What are the potential dangerous consequences of taking too much Viagra? We will talk about a condition called “priapism”. If you have an erection that lasts for more than four hours in the absence of sexual stimulation or after sexual stimulation has ended, then you suffer from priapism.
Named after the Greek god Priapus – a minor rustic fertility god marked by his oversized, permanent erection – the most common form of priapism is the low flow or ischemic priapism, characterized by blood not being able to leave the penis. This can be caused by taking medications such as Viagra or Cialis, penile injections, cocaine consumption, or suffering from some underlying medical conditions such as sickle cell anemia.
It’s very important to treat priapism as soon as possible before it can cause serious complications. If the blood in the penis doesn’t circulate, it can result in tissue death and lead to permanent erectile dysfunction.
Here are some of the things that you can do at home to treat priapism and avoid a visit to the emergency room.
1. Try Sudafed (Pseudoephedrine)
You can get Sudafed at your local pharmacy, but you may find this medicine difficult to purchase because Pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in Sudafed, is one of the components used in the making of methamphetamines.
2. Put ice on it
Ice will help constrict the blood vessels in your penis, which hopefully will allow the blood to flow and the erection to go down.
If these two things don’t work out for you, get yourself to the emergency room as soon as possible before it’s too late.
What will the urologist or emergency physician do to treat priapism, so you know what to expect?
The first thing they will try to do is a procedure called “aspiration”. The excess blood is aspirated from the penis using a small needle in order to relieve pain and try to stop the erection. This procedure isn’t always successful, and when this happens, doctors have to move on to the next step, which is the injection of Phenylephrine.
Phenylephrine is a vasoconstrictor and what it does is, it causes the blood vessels in the penis to narrow so that no more blood goes into the penis and allows the blood that is already in there to flow out.
If this procedure doesn’t work, doctors will then try something a little bit more invasive. They will try to create a pathway between the corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum (glans). A scalpel will be put through the glans all the way to the corpora in order to create that connection and allow the blood to flow out.
If you want more information about priapism and how it is treated, as well as information about other reproductive and sexual health issues, please, speak directly to your doctor.
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