It’s during the “best” moments that things hit rock bottom for John. Now 30, he first experienced “the internal panic” at university. The girl he was cavorting with had started telling him not to worry before he realised what was going wrong. “I guess I was struggling,” he says. “Out of nowhere, she tells me that this guy her friend is seeing ‘has it all the time’. She diagnosed me, there and then. It was the absolute worst thing to hear. I fancied her a lot. I couldn’t stop panicking. Then I really couldn’t get it up.”
The frisson fizzled out. They didn’t have sex, and he never saw her in a romantic capacity again. That was in 2009, when he was barely out of his teens. A decade later, John, who requested that we don’t use his real name, still carries the shame. “It’s not something you really go to the doctor for. Why would you? They’ll only give you Viagra, which I can get myself. And who wants to talk about it?”
Who, indeed? But experts believe that John is just one figure in a crowded room of men suffering in silence. Erectile dysfunction (ED), once considered an older man’s malady, is reportedly skyrocketing among millennials. Researchers claim that one in four new ED patients are now under 40, and a recent study by Co-Op Pharmacy found that, out of 2000 men surveyed, half of those in their thirties had difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection – more than men in their forties or fifties.
And just like John, many of those men who do have ED give up on treatment entirely, as they aren’t aware of what options they actually have.
Thankfully, that’s where men’s health platform Mosh comes in: the online service caters to men suffering with erectile dysfunction (as well as a bunch of other men’s health issues) by offering discreet, online consultations with medical experts and delivering affordable, clinical treatment to your door. Led by Urologic and Prosthetic Surgeon Dr. Christopher Love, all the doctors on the platform are 100% independent – meaning that your doctor has no incentive to pressure you into an expensive or unnecessary treatment plan.
“Depending on the cause of the erectile dysfunction, things may not always be able to be returned to normal, but there are always ways of helping, or restoring, the man’s erections,” explains Dr. Christopher Love. “At the outset I want men to know why they have ED and how that might be related to their general health, both physical and mental health, but also to understand there are a range of treatment options.”
Treatment options
There are a host of clinically-proven oral medications to treat ED that are effective in most men, however finding the right fit is a whole different ball game.
At men’s health platform Mosh, the team’s doctors and nurses can evaluate your situation and treatment program without meeting in-person – they do this by asking questions to evaluate your symptoms to make sure it’s safe and appropriate to prescribe ED medication. They’ll then use your answers to diagnose your condition and create a bespoke treatment plan just for you.
Once you’ve been given the best treatment option, Mosh‘s subscription-based service means you will get a new set of medications delivered every 3 months from registered Australian pharmacies. The plan includes nurse follow-ups, educational support material, and ongoing medical support, including recommendations/referrals to other specialists, at no extra cost.
“Online platforms like Mosh offer a wonderful opportunity to bring quality medical care to a broader section of the population, particularly in “difficult” or “embarrassing” areas like ED, explains Dr. Love. “This form of medical consultation and treatment will grow and expand, and, I believe, become a very viable alternative to the traditional medical consultation. It was important to me that, using Mosh, patients were getting the right and most up-to-date advice, and being educated about all the choices available to them. In the area of ED there has been a tendency, in traditional GP consultations, to not really discuss things, or understand the individuals needs and expectations, and offer erection pills without outlining treatment options if they don’t work.”
As for other options, there’s always surgery (urology surgeons can place a penile prosthetic implant into the penis), alternative medical treatments like penile injections (a medication that can increase blood flow when injected into the penis or when inserted as a suppository into the opening at the tip of the penis) or shockwave treatment (non-invasive low-intensity sound waves are passed through the erectile tissue to help with blood flow).
Ready to get harder? Find out more here.
