It’s a sad fact of modern life that rheumatism in all its many forms is increasingly common. As an inflammatory disease, it’s most likely to affect the joints and connective tissue, and it resists most forms of treatment, i.e. it slowly reduces mobility and causes chronic pain. In some forms such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), the damage goes beyond the joints with organs affected as well. It’s estimated that RA affects about 1% of the world’s population and it most often appears between the ages of 40 and 50. You will understand that 1% is about 670 million people and then you reduce that number to favor older people. Under normal circumstances, we would just tolerate the loss of mobility but there is a more serious problem. RA accelerates the onset of artherosclerosis, and there is very clear evidence to show a significant increase in the rate of people affected by strokes and heart attacks. Even with the full range of modern medicine brought to bear, RA reduces life expectancy. Worse, in its earliest phase, it is most likely to cause erectile dysfunction. With the damage to the arteries apparent in the smaller vessels first, the failure to produce an erection often demonstrates the presence of artherosclerosis.

In the Annual Scientific Meeting run by the American College of Rheumatology this year, a research team from St. James’s Hospital, Dublin reported their findings of a very strong link between RA and erectile dysfunction. The recommendation is that the use of erectile dysfunction as a harbinger should be expanded. The current best practice has all primary care physicians react to patients reporting erectile dysfunction as actual heart patients. The full range of diagnostic tools should be used to identify those most as risk of cardiovascular disease and preventative treatment begun in all proven cases. Dr. Sheane is proposing the tests should be expanded to include all tests for the rheumatic diseases in general, and RA in particular. Even though the treatments currently available cannot prevent the development of rheumatism, they can slow it down. More importantly, it gives people a breathing space in which to plan life when mobility is reduced.

One slight reservation lies in the nature of the research project. It was observational only, i.e. it was research conducted by questionnaire and physical examination with participants interviewed sequentially as they attended rheumatology clinics. It was not a full clinical trial. Nevertheless, the figures are disconcerting. Just under 70% of the patients interviewed had erectile dysfunction. This is rather higher than the incidence of erectile dysfunction in the general population. So here comes the bad news. Cialis is a remarkably effective drug, but it is not a treatment for rheumatic diseases. With RA being particularly aggressive, cialis on its own will only slow down the loss of sexual potency. This is not to say the situation is hopeless. There are a combination of treatments that can reduce the damage to the blood vessels. More importantly, a team from Boston has recently confirmed that sexual activity three or more times every week prolongs the sex life well beyond ordinary limits. Sexual activity also releases endorphins which improve mobility and reduce pain. Sex helps you live a better life with rheumatism.