There you are with a hot woman who is all over you and you really want to get busy, but there’s a problem - for some reason mission control has aborted the launch. The first impulse is to panic - this is your manhood we’re talking about. If you can’t get it up, what does that say about you?

Absolutely nothing! Your body goes through cycles and there are just times where things may not work the way you want them to. Any number of things can cause temporary problems with getting an erection - fatigue, too much sexual activity (yes, there is such a thing - at least as far as your penis is concerned), stress, etc..

What defines you as a man in your date’s eyes is not the erectile problem, it’s how YOU react to it. If you freak out, get embarrassed, or otherwise handle it as a huge problem, THAT’S what’s going to turn-off your date. If you treat it as a temporary issue (which it usually is as long as you don’t let it become a big problem in your own mind), and just do other things to enjoy the encounter, everything will be fine.

Let me share a true-life example with you. I was on a first date with a very hot lady and she was date number 5 for the week (all of which had resulted in sex lasting 1 to 2 hours per encounter, so I’m guessing that fatigue was a factor). As the clothes were coming off, I realized something was wrong. I was into it, but my body was not. I started to freak out - this had never happened before. But then I realized that it would only be an issue if I let it be an issue.

So, I calmed myself down, and proceeded to do everything else I do in situations where I find myself in the company of a hot, naked woman. She eventually noticed that I didn’t have an erection and she - APOLOGIZED! She thought I wasn’t really into it and I was just being nice! I reassured her that it was simply a matter of fatigue - I mentioned how much sex I’d had that week even though I didn’t intend to, and she calmed down (despite inadvertently telling her I’d been with 4 other women that week - which is usually NOT the best move!) and we went back to enjoying ourselves. We became regular sex buddies after that and always had a great time.

The point here is that if I had made an issue of it and freaked out, chances are that would have been the first and last date with a woman I found to be extremely hot. Simply by staying calm and proceeding to have a good time, the date was salvaged and it lead to a regular hook-up situation.

Now I want to discuss some options (besides the prescription ED drugs) for those of you with chronic erectile dysfunction.

ED can be a result of other health problems (such as diabetes) and/or a result of medications being taken for other health problems (such as anti-depressants). Obviously in such cases, you either have to compensate with ED drugs - if they don’t interact with other medications you may be taking, and/or managing your other health problems as well as possible through a combination of lifestyle and medical treatment.

But many cases of ED occur without any particular explanation, at least within the realm of conventional medicine. In some cases, abnormal spinal function in the low back (with or without back pain) can result in ED because the nerves to the genitals arise in the lumbar spine and problems in this area can interfere with normal nerve supply. Since the nerves are like the electric wires that control the organs, if the nerve signals aren’t flowing, it’s kind of like shutting the power off to the organs - which means even though you’re turned on, your penis may not be. To be evaluated for possible spinal causes of ED, I recommend you see a doctor of chiropractic or a doctor of osteopathy.

Along a similar line, acupuncture may be helpful in getting rid of ED. Don’t worry, they don’t stick needles in your penis (to get that, you have to find someone on Alt.com)! Acupuncture is all about the flow of energy in the body. The needles are a means of re-balancing energy flow, and by re-distributing the flow of energy in your body, oftentimes the underlying causes of ED can be eliminated.

Because ED is largely an issue of blood flow, anything you can do to improve circulation will likely help. The two most important things you can do to improve your circulation are to stop smoking if you smoke, and to get regular exercise. Just about any type of exercise will help, as long as it gets your heart rate up and gets the circulation moving.

There are various herbal supplements on the market being sold as remedies for ED. Some herbs, such as ginkgo biloba and ginseng do increase circulation and may help to some degree with ED. Other herbs, such as yohimbe supposedly work through improving male sex hormone production. I tried yohimbe for a few weeks at one point and the only difference I noticed from it was a mild stomach ache for a few hours after I took it. I wasn’t having any erection problems when I started taking yohimbe - I was taking it to try to help my body keep up with the demands I was placing on it. You might get better results than I did, but I didn’t notice any particular benefit.

Of course, if all else fails you can always resort to the ED drugs like Viagra or Levitra. They do have their side-effects and not all men can take them, but they are a good stand-by if you can’t solve your ED any other way. I suggest at least trying the other recommendations to see if you can find a more natural solution to the problem though.

Good luck!