What medications cause ED?

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Many common medicines can interfere with erections, and the NIH's kidney and urology institute names the list directly: ED can be a side effect of many prescription and over-the-counter medicines, including antidepressants, appetite suppressants, antihistamines, blood pressure medicines and diuretics, plus chemotherapy and prostate-hormone drugs. The mechanisms vary: blood pressure drugs can reduce the blood flow erections depend on; antidepressants, especially SSRIs, blunt the nerve signaling; antihistamines and anticholinergics interfere with the same nerve pathways. The context to hold onto: ED is usually multifactorial, and the NIDDK lists the big drivers as diseases affecting blood vessels, nerves, and hormones, like atherosclerosis, high blood pressure itself, diabetes, and low testosterone, plus mental health and lifestyle factors, so a new medicine is one suspect among several, though a clear start-date correlation is a strong clue. What to do, and the order matters: never stop a blood pressure or antidepressant drug on your own, since the untreated condition is worse for both health and erections than the side effect; bring it up plainly with the prescriber, who hears this weekly, because alternatives exist within almost every family, like different antidepressants or different blood pressure classes; and treat persistent ED as a health signal worth a full check, since the blood vessel disease behind it can be an early warning for the heart.

What medications cause ED?

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