How to Handle Impotence as an Older Adult

Impotence is also sometime referred to as erectile dysfunction. It is a man's inability to achieve an erection or the inability to maintain the erection long enough to have sexual intercourse with a partner. Most men will experience it at some point in their life, with the likelihood getting higher as they get older.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Keep communication lines open with your partner. Sometimes when an older man experiences impotence he withdraws from his partner. Communicating with your partner about the problem will allow you both to work towards a solution.
2. Rule out medications as the cause. If you have recently started taking a new medication, suspect the medication of causing the problem and talk to your doctor. Some medications can cause impotence. Your doctor might be able to change your medications.
3. See your doctor to make sure that the impotence isn't a side effect of a more serious health condition. If you doctor give you a clean bill of health, then you can focus on solving the problem of impotence.
4. Quit smoking. The likelihood of experiencing problems with impotence is greater in men who smoke cigarettes.
5. Cut back on or eliminate alcohol. Alcohol consumption often interferes in a man's inability to have or maintain an erection. If an older man is unable to have an erection one night from alcohol consumption, the fear of it occurring again can sometimes contribute to an ongoing problem with impotence.
6. Adjust your sexual expectations of yourself. It often takes an older man longer to get an erection. Understand that you are aging and with the aging process comes changes in your sexual self as well.
7. Realize there are solutions if the problem in ongoing. If you have ruled out everything else and the problem of impotence still remains, there are things that you can do. Talk to your doctor, he may suggest you try a medication for erectile dysfunction. Or he may recommend a penile implant or other device to help you achieve and maintain erections.