Erectile dysfunction could save your life, in more ways than one
There's more than one reason to jump for joy. (photo: cartoonstock.com)
Over 50 million men – 50 million – in United States and Canada have erectile dysfunction so it is obviously not a minor problem. It’s a big problem – and it gives a whole other meaning to “size matters.” ED is a disease like diabetes or hypertension or coronary artery disease and just like these diseases, it can have a serious impact on your emotional and physical health. The good news is that ED might be telling you about other important conditions in the rest of your body. Doctors are now saying that ED can be a sign of other potentially life threatening diseases such as coronary artery disease, a condition for which early detection is crucial. Therefore, the fact that you can’t get it up should get you up off your ass and doing something about the rest of your health.
Blockage is blockage and wherever it happens it is serious.
A talk with your doctor about ED could lead to discovering these other critical health threats because what’s going on down there could be going on elsewhere. Dr. John Ludlow, a urologist, explains: “Most men have two very small blood vessels that supply blood to the penis. These blood vessels are about one-third as large as the blood vessels that supply the blood to the heart. These small blood vessels can become clogged as a result of atherosclerosis or high blood pressure. If these blood vessels become clogged then blood can’t get to the penis and this results in erectile dysfunction. What physicians have discovered and written about in hundreds of medical journal articles is that a man who has erectile dysfunction from clogged penile arteries is at an increased risk of clogged heart arteries, which puts him at risk for a heart attack which could be fatal.” So you can see the connection. It’s not just about your sex life; it could be about your life.
You're 1 in 50 million, get over it!
Apparently, many men don’t like to discuss their ED problem because they’re too embarrassed – get over it, you’re one in 50 million – and with an overly “accepting” wife the problem can be ignored for too long. That’s a mistake. Not only because it undermines the joy in an active sex life but, more importantly, it ignores a greater risk in your heart’s life.
Hopefully this news will motivate many more men to talk to their doctor about ED as part of a broader discussion about your blood pressure, cholesterol levels and heart condition – after all, your heart and your erectile are connected in more ways than one.
“People are the worst”
Coming 2026
My personal history is the stuff they write books about. And that's what I am doing. The working title, "Chains of My Father: Marry White."
"The ghostly image of the tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." - Barack Obama
This perspicacious line from the Prologue of Barack Obama's "Dream from My Father" wrenched my aspiration into action. I started writing, furiously. Unlike Obama's perspective, my pain had been for the opposite reason: I was not seen by whites as a "tragic mulatto," rather I lived every day of my childhood hoping whites were not "searching my eyes for some telltale sign" that I WAS mulatto. This is my story.
It's historical fiction because I cannot find enough records to substantiate all facets of the story. I've combed the genealogy, traveled to my father and grandmothers' birthplace, walked the graveyards, searched the churches and ... well, all the facts aren't there. I have written three books based on the genealogy of other families but my ancestors emerged from a journey that left too few records – slavery.
My paternal, great grandmother was a "freed slave." My grandmother, Amelia, was born to a mixed race slave named Mary (we do not know her last name) and a white, French plantation owner, the Count de Poullain, in Grenada, West Indies. Amelia was raised in the "Big House" and in adulthood, in an attempt to escape her black heritage disowned her mother, telling her, "Get out and never come back." Amelia, as a mother of twelve children, enshrined into the family commandments, "Marry white." Many did, including my father. My mother was a lovely, white, Anglo-Saxon protestant born in England. They met in Canada where my dad studied and became a doctor.
It has taken five generations for the descendants of Mary to free themselves from the stigma of their black heritage but today my children embrace it. Unfortunately, the past 250 years have been a wasteland of bigotry, racism and bullying. But, on closer look, we see not only the brutality, fear, violence, and murder but also the self-respect, dignity, love, kindness, perseverance and indomitable spirit.
As of the spring of 2025, the depth of historic perspective and the sweeping inspiration of oppressed people has created a two-volume duology of which I have only arrived at the middle of the 19th century. 1840 is the year my great grandfather was born, the beginning of Volume II, and he's pushing me to make sure our story is published by the summer of 2026.
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