Let food be thy medicine.
NSAIDs (tmi?)
Writing this: the tiny bit about Ibuprofen, I wanted to set a URL to its informative page located on Wikipedia. While doing so, I went to read up on it while at it.
Having been victim of side effects before, without knowing it, I went straight to its side effects list, where I came across Erectile Dysfunction risk. In short, in my writing: ED. Yes, I'm a victim of side effects again. Compared to the English version of Wikipedia 'our' Dutch version is very poor on useful information. Go figure. There is a lot more people speaking and writing English then Dutch. I wish I had looked up information on Ibuprofen on the English site way sooner. Then again, the study results are from 2005, so I'm not sure what I would have found out prior to that date. I'm just happy I did so now.
I have ED. To be honest, it's pretty comforting. Though I can imagine it doesn't seem that way when you don't have it. It's like you had sex a moment ago, no need to go straight at it again, with ED I experience it as a constant. Not having to go at it. At all. Everything is fine. If not great. My ED started around 2005. At the time I thought it was caused by a major turn off, which I had from a girl I was sexting with a lot.
Of course it caused some awkward moments. At first, just on my own, masturbating didn't go as I was used to anymore. I could live with that. I thought it were the years counting for a while, after all, I wasn't getting any younger. I was in my early 30s though.
I bailed out of a probable future relationship overseas, I didn't want this to become a confrontation of any kind.
Then, I was about to have sex one day. Both pretty drunk: I totally failed at it. While knowing better, I blamed alcohol.
Of course, later on I was about to have sex again. Since it was a first date, I thought to have a valid excuse of not going all the way. For my job I came to a city overseas where it was heaven for my colleagues, plenty of girls available. My colleagues had the time of their lives, I just wasn't interested. That's when I started to get worried a little. This was not me. I used to be of the kind dragging coworkers to naughty bars to have a good time.
Back home, late 2008 or early 2009, I visited my general practitioner. As good as it got, I tried explaining my situation. He gave me the impression he thought it was funny. I decided to leave it at that, I thought it was a lost cause. I prefer being single anyway. When I'm in a relationship I miss being single more then I miss a relationship when single. And that way I thought about relationships long before impotency hit me. I remember making this exact statement in 1998.
Anyway, back to Ibuprofen and ED. Summer 2002 I had a major tooth ache, Paracetamol hardly did a thing against the pain.
take two,
sleep for about two hours after kicking in,
repeat.
The dentist I called on Monday morning could not help me before the next day, his assistant advised me to take Ibuprofen, also an over the counter painkiller. I never had heard of it before. Magic. The tooth ache simply vanished, I nearly cancelled my next day appointment.
A root canal treatment later, my problem at hand was solved.
But, I had other teeth being weak. I had an antipathy against dentists like mad, I preferred my newly discovered Ibuprofen above dental works. My first tooth giving in was a wisdom tooth, shortly after I had my root canal treatment.
This was summer 2002. Having had head aches very often, caused by alcohol abuse at the time, my crappy teeth and most likely my undiagnosed MS, it's safe to say I was using Ibuprofen all the time, in combination with Paracetamol. Even after I finally found an awesome dentist. Now because of the head aches caused by my MS, I kicked my alcohol abuse long before. Around 2005 actually, shortly before ED hit me.
Since my last hospitalization because of MS, I minimized my Ibuprofen intake, because of a bad vibe I got from a nurse when I told her I was using it. Also, I had been put on a new drug: Tysabri.
Shortly after my release I started noticing morning woodies. I thought it was caused by my new medication of Tysabri, but now I seem to be wrong about that.
All the time, since my MS diagnosis, I had thought my ED was caused by MS. Google if you like, Wikipedia hasn't got too much information on this very subject. I minimized my Ibuprofen intake, until I started to get gall bladder issues, it was going to have to be removed. I had a Gallstone. I didn't pay attention, but I noticed my morning woodies hardly showed up again. As I speak now, it has been about two months since I lost my Gall Bladder, and about a month since I actively minimized painkiller intake. My painkillers being:
The last two being NSAIDs, with, of course, their shared side effects.
Still, I'll keep using them when I think I'm in need, but now I think twice before gobbling them down as if they were M&Ms. I either throw away what's left in my cabinet, or give it away. I gave it away.
Considered my past usage I had quite a stock of Ibuprofen, my cleaning lady owns it now. She has been warned. All there's left now is one strip of Diclofenac, in case of emergency. At least now I know the cost of using it, I expect to throw it it out on expiration date: October 2015.
Since recently I have morning woods on nearly daily basis, but I find it annoying pretty much of the time. At least my ED seems to fade, though I don't know if I'm happy with that. I'm not looking forward to be eager to jump somebody again.
I'll see. I've been using NSAIDs for eleven years straight, I wonder what more is to be expected now that I've quit, more or less.