THE VIRILITY SOLUTION: MODERN METHODESOF CURES
Penile injection therapy came about by chance. In 1980, the French physician Ronald Virag reported that during surgery on the penis, he inadvertently injected an anesthetized patient in the wrong part of the penis with papaverine, a nitrogen-containing substance derived from the opium poppy. The resulting relaxation of the smooth muscle of the penile arterial walls created an unexpected two-hour erection. The mistake by Virag set in motion serious research into the use of injectable medication for relief of ED.
At around the same time, Giles Brindley a British physiologist and research scientist, found that when the drug phenoxybenzamine was injected directly into the corpora cavernosa of the penis, an erection could be produced within a few minutes. Still, even though it was a powerful substance, phenoxybenzamine had serious side effects, including cardiac arrhythmia, nausea, and hyperventilation. Additionally, it was found to be carcinogenic in test animals.
In 1984, in Paris, a New York urologist, Dr. Adrian Zorgniotti, presented his first case studies of self-injection using a dual combination of papaverine and phentolamine. The latter drug interrupts the passage of neurotransmitters, which then causes relaxation of the smooth muscles of the penis. Two years later, Japanese researchers presented evidence that injections of prostaglandin E-l produced powerful erections. Finally, modern medicine had injectable drugs that, used either alone or in combination, were able to give a man an erection whenever he wanted one. Slowly, news of the favorable results with the injectable medication began to spread within the small international community of urologists who were treating ED. Most began utilizing all three—papaverine, phentolamine, and prostaglandin E-l—in what was referred to as “tri-mix.”
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Men’s Health
THE VIRILITY SOLUTION: FOLK MEDECINE
Folk medicine has always been applied whenever a man’s virility showed signs of waning. A seemingly endless succession of herbal potions, drugs, and mechanical devices has been employed over the centuries, from crushed rhinoceros horn and pulverized antelope, deer, and horse testicles, to parings of human nails. In times of desperation, a piece of bone was actually eased into the urethra to stiffen the penis.
The mandrake plant, a member of the nightshade family, was used extensively in medieval Europe, northern Africa, and Asia as both a painkiller and a cure for ED. It is even mentioned in the Old Testament, under the name “dudaim,” as the stimulant used by Jacob. Stemless, with bell-shaped flowers, the plant’s long and thick root, which often divides into two sections, resembles the lower male torso. It contains many alkaloids of medicinal value, making it one of the most discussed plants in medical literature, as well as the subject of myth and superstition. Alkaloids are a diverse group of nitrogen-containing substances produced by plants that have powerful effects on body function; some of the more common alkaloids include atropine, morphine, quinine, and codeine.
And then there was food. Throughout history, edibles, especially those phallic in shape, were employed as virility boosters. Asparagus, bananas, carrots, and cucumbers stood out in this category. Some indigenous tribes in coastal areas traditionally rubbed long, slender fish against their penises in the hope that they would become similarly long and hard.
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Men’s Health
