Erectile dysfunction medications have certainly become one of the most advertised type of drugs in the recent years. Just check any magazine, late night ad block or even your e-mail spam box - you'll find tons of ED drug ads there. Even the entire phenomenon of online drug sales is largely due to the advent of ED drugs in the late 1990's since these drugs were the ones aggressively advertised in the Internet. Seems that everyone is already well aware of the fact that ED is treatable and there's a selection of prescription drugs to use for restoring sexual functions no matter how severe the condition may be. And this has created one of the most widespread misconceptions about male impotence we face today - ED drugs will do the trick no matter what.

The truth is that erectile dysfunction drugs definitely serve their purpose but their purpose is not to completely eliminate erectile dysfunction in a user. Their purpose is to minimize the manifestation of the condition for a certain period of time. The best analogy in medicine would be painkillers. When you use a painkiller drug you don't heal the condition causing pain, do you? It only allows you to relieve pain for some time in order to get adequate treatment for the problem at cause. The same applies to drugs like Viagra - they only provide relief for a brief period of time allowing you to have strong and durable erections, but if you want to get rid of ED you'll have to get straight to the cause and eliminate it. There are many possible causes behind each case of male impotence and the patient may be completely unaware of them until things get complicated. So as in the case of pain, once you start experiencing problems with erection you should go to the doctor as soon as possible in order to receive adequate treatment. Otherwise it may too late to do something about ED if the problem causing it starts to impact other aspects of general health.

Of course, it would be wrong to deny the significance of erectile dysfunction drugs compared to other forms of treatment. Before ED drugs were approved by the FDA there have been many potions, treatments, exotic foods and other forms of treatment claimed to be the real cure for male impotence. But besides the widespread aphrodisiacs that only increase libido and can't restore proper erectile functions, there were no real treatment options available until the late 1990's.

The mechanism of action behind erectile dysfunction makes them quite effective yet limited in use at the same time. All ED drugs currently available on the market are PDE-5 inhibitors, which stimulate the blood flow to the penis upon sexual excitement resulting in firm erections. Such a mechanism is quite helpful in most cases of ED when the causes are physiological and deal with poor blood circulation. However, when the cause is psychological or there are more factors involved such a method isn't that effective like it's supposed to be. That's why before using any ED drugs you should consult with your doctor, go through a medical exam and only then opt for a prescription. Getting these drugs with the weakest sign of ED isn't the smartest option.