Your NHS journey

Who's who?

Meet the team whose help will be on offer:

1. The GP

   Your GP is likely to be your first port of call and may take responsibility for your treatment – or may refer you to a specialist.

2. A counsellor

   If you and your GP decide your ED is at least partly due to psychological causes, you may be advised to see a psychosexual counsellor or a cognitive behaviour therapist.

3. Hospital specialist

   You may be referred to a Hospital Specialist if your ED is linked with a serious condition. If you’re not already under the case of one. Alternatively, depending on your particular condition, you may be referred to an endocrinologist – a doctor who specialises in diagnosing and treating hormone imbalances.

4. The pharmacist

   If you need to take medication for your ED, your pharmacist can be a very useful source of information for you when it comes to wanting to know how best to take your medicine.

5. NHS Direct

   NHS Direct is a 24-hour helpline which gives you access to confidential healthcare advice and information, provided by a nurse. You can contact NHS Direct on 0845 4647. If you prefer, you can visit NHS Direct online at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

Seeing your GP

Explaining the problem to your GP is the first step to finding an answer and starting treatment for your ED. Try to overcome any embarrassment you may have about speaking to your doctor - remember, it's a very common condition and the GP will have treated many men before you with the same problem. If your normal doctor is a woman and you don't feel comfortable talking about your most personal problems with her, you can ask to see a male doctor - this is what a lot of men do and your GP practice will be used to such requests.

There's no test specifically for ED but your doctor will ask a series of simple questions to help establish what's causing your ED and what treatments may help.

Your GP is also likely to test you for risk factors for heart disease including high blood pressure, diabetes and raised cholesterol. Your testosterone levels may be tested to see if there's a hormonal influence on your ED.

Depending on what all these tests show, your doctor will tailor treatment to your particular needs and refer you for counseling if appropriate.

Don't forget...

It's very important to see your GP rather than try to 'go it alone' - by buying ED treatments online, for example. Skipping the doctor may cause you to miss a potentially serious underlying health condition that may be linked to your ED, such as heart disease. Instead of finding out too late, get checked out by your GP who's equipped to diagnose and treat any such condition.

Prescription-only medicine. Only safe from your GP.

While it may be tempting to acquire ED medicines through websites, emails, friends even - talking to a doctor is the only way to make sure your medicine is real, rather than counterfeit.

Every legitimate medicine contains an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and this is what makes the medicine work. Counterfeit medicines have been found to contain no API at all, not enough API to make the medicine effective and even an API that is for a completely different illness or condition. Worst still, they have been found to contain harmful, highly toxic or ineffective ingredients such as:

• Boric acid
• Lead-based road paint
• Talcum powder
• Floor wax
• Rat poison

Don't lose out on a proper diagnosis

Furthermore, buying prescription-only medicine without having seen a healthcare professional means you may not have a proper diagnosis of your ED. A serious underlying condition like heart disease may go undetected, for example.

Going it alone isn't worth the risk

At best you may be wasting money, at worst you may be jeopardising your health. Don't forget, the only way to treat ED effectively is with the professional help of your doctor.