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Whoever thought that spider venom could could be the answer for erectile dysfunction, however, emergency room visits in Brazil with victims of spider bites displaying priapism, or unrelenting and painful erections, got doctors thinking.

Some research has led to the isolation of an alternative way to help men attain and sustain an erection.

Viagra, Levitra and other ED drugs on the market work by inhibiting an enzyme called PDE5. To get an erection, a man’s body must release nitric oxide, which relaxes the smooth muscle around the arteries of the penis, allowing for his blood vessels to dilate.

The nitric oxide is a first step in a series of chemical reactions that allow this muscle relaxation to take place. One step in the series is cGMP, a signaling molecule that acts to keep the muscles relaxed. PDE5 degrades cGMP. That’s a good thing for ensuring that erections don’t last forever, but too much PDE5 can mean an erection doesn’t happen at all. By blocking the enzyme, PDE5 inhibitors solve the problem.

The spider toxin works differently. Instead of affecting PDE5, the compound seems to trigger nitric oxide release, acting directly to relax the smooth muscles. Because about 30 percent of patients don’t respond to PDE5 inhibitors, the toxin could provide an alternative to ED treatments currently on the market, Nunes said.

When Viagra hit the scene it was like a miracle drug for men suffering from erectile dysfunction. Men who were unable to achieve or maintain an erection due to medical issues were now able to due so. This tiny little blue pill not only gives many men their sex life back, it consequently boosts their self esteem. One of the biggest complaints men have, however, is that sex cannot be spontaneous. Sex must coincide with taking a pill.

Well, a new treatment is on the horizon that unlike lasting for several hours like Viagra, will last for months. This is the biggest attraction of the drug, you only need 2 injections a year. Lead researcher Arnold Melman says the initial research proves that this is a safe and effective treatment for male impotence.

newsmax.com’s Health Alert

Rather than damaging a man?s sexual performance, a good, stiff drink actually improves a man?s sexual prowess in the bedroom. Australian researchers found that men who drink report as many as 30 percent fewer problems than those who didn?t drink at all.

Dr. Kew-Kim Chew, of Western Australia?s Keogh Institute for Medical Research told London?s Sunday Telegraph that men who drank within safe, moderate guidelines seemed to have the best erectile function. In Chew?s study of 1,580 Australian men, even binge drinkers functioned better sexually than those who never drank.

?We found that, compared to those who have never touched alcohol, many people do benefit from some alcohol, including some people who drink outside the guidelines,? Chew said.

The study found that low risk drinkers – those who consumed up to twenty drinks a week spread over five days – had the fewest sexual problems. Those who drank on weekends only and those who were binge drinkers suffered lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who drank only one day a week or drank none at all. Men who performed the poorest were heavy drinkers who had stopped drinking and those who smoked or had heart disease.

Newsmax.com HealthAlert Feb.3,2009