Men in Wales have clocked up nearly half a million prescriptions from GPs for erectile dysfunction medications such as Viagra in only two years, new figures reveal.
In total, men requiring treatment for impotence problems were handed a
staggering 444,423 prescriptions for such issues during 2012 and 2013.
This works out at one prescription for every three males over the age of
18 registered with GPs, according to statistics from the Wales health
board.
It was found that Betsi Cadwaladr
University Health Board dispensed the largest amount of prescriptions at
89,577, whilst the lowest total number of scripts – just 17,507 – was
dispensed in Powys.
Treatments for erectile dysfunction have cost the NHS in Wales
millions of pounds and came in a variety of different means, such as
tablets, capsules, injections and even urethral sticks.
For instance, Hywel Dda University Health Board faced a bill that
came to in excess of £1.9m for the 57,325 prescriptions dispensed during
January 2012 and November 2013.
Dr Noelle Robertson, a consultant clinical psychologist, argues more
men with bedroom problems are now willing to seek help compared to
previous times.
She says: “We talk in a more open way about sex – we have programmes
on television like Embarrassing Bodies, so there’s perhaps a context
where it’s more acceptable to present to your GP with difficulties. It’s
not necessarily that the problem has grown bigger but perhaps that it
has been under-reported and people have been reluctant to come forward
in the past.”
Dr Robertson, employed as a senior lecturer at the University of
Leicester, explained some of the factors that contribute to erectile
dysfunction: “One of the major issues is performance anxiety. A common
trigger for erectile problems can be transient ones like excessive use
of alcohol or drugs so you get a failure on one occasion and then you
become anxious at your failure. So it’s almost like the fear of the lack
of performance – that can be quite marked.”
Other factors include the change in the dynamic of a couple’s
relationship such as childbirth and parenthood, stress, job losses and
bereavement, says Dr Robertson. She added that physical ailments that
are linked to impotence problems include diabetes, chronic illness and
neurological conditions.
Wales on Sunday’s relationship guru Sarah Symonds offered her
thoughts, commenting: “We are a nation obsessed with sex, whether it’s
Wales or the whole of the UK. If we are not talking about it we are
watching it on TV – how to do it, why aren’t we doing it – and I think
this is a knock-on effect of society.”
www.medical-specialists.co.uk
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