Erectile Dysfunction and Epilepsy

Problems with sex and sexual dysfunction can happen to many men, but it is more common in men diagnosed with epilepsy than men without it. As many as 66% of people with epilepsy have changes in libido and problems with sexual activity because of their seizures.

Symptoms include loss of interest in sex, difficulty in getting and maintaining erections and problems with fertility. The loss of interest in sex can be caused by a number of reasons, here are a few examples.

Firstly, your own feelings about how epilepsy affects you might make you to avoid and over time, lose interest in sex. Or your lack of libido might be caused by you worrying about how your partner feels about your epilepsy.

Sometimes prescribed epilepsy medications may lead to you having less interest in sex, or you may have lower testosterone levels than normal. Some epilepsy medicines might make happen include Dilantin (phenytoin), Tegretol (carbamazepine), Phenobarbital, Primidone Oxcarbazepine, and Topiramate.

If you are taking any of these medications and you believe they are having an effect on your sex life you should initially seek advice from your GP or epilepsy specialist.

Changes In Body Systems

In order to have a satisfactory erection a man needs a healthy blood flow through the penis, men with epilepsy often have a smaller increase in genital blood flow during  sexual arousal.

‘Little blue pills’ are often taken by men wishing to have erections as these cause a greater blood flow through the penis, but a study published in the British Medical Journal showed that Viagra has caused seizures in people with no previous history of epilepsy some hours after using the pills for the first time.

The alternative to ‘little blue pills’ is shockwave therapy. This treatment allows you to have spontaneous erections without having to wait for the pills to work and will enable you to have satisfactory long lasting rigid erections that enable you to enjoyable penetrative sexual intercourse. If you wish to try this, we suggest you have a consultation with a member of our clinical team to discuss your condition and how it is troubling your sex life.

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