From erectile dysfunction to happy chappy
by Sue Kira, Naturopath & Clinical Nutritionist
Client name and identifying information changed
Damien, who was about 45 years old, first came to see me for weight issues and he suspected an underactive thyroid, which on testing, showed he had a sub-clinical underactive thyroid. Sub-clinical means that thyroid levels are on the border of needing drugs, but not to the level that a doctor would medicate.
Damien was exercising a little by walking but couldn’t do much more as his energy was so poor. He was stressed with what he called his ‘home life’. At that point I wasn’t aware that the home stress was due to his erectile issues.
We started a program for his thyroid which included foods high in selenium, zinc, B vitamins, anti-oxidants, tyrosine and iodine. I also asked him to remove foods that were not good for his thyroid such as gluten foods, dairy products, sugar and alcohol.
After a few weeks on the thyroid diet he said he had lots more energy, was losing the extra weight and had started weight training at a gym. His thyroid markers in the follow-up blood tests had also improved.
It was then he mentioned that his erectile dysfunction was getting better but wished to improve it further.
I told him that a lot of what he had been doing with his diet and exercise for his thyroid would have helped him to regain erectile function, but he could boost it further by including some different food types.
He added chilli to his fish meals and replaced chicken meals with turkey and pork dishes. He was already eating pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for his zinc, but also added oysters. He chose to eat smoked oysters which I said wouldn’t be a healthy option long-term due to the unhealthy smoke ingredients, but he said he couldn’t eat them raw.
I gave him some cooked recipe versions that he used which really boosted his zinc levels that were previously unresponsive. This was probably because he only ate a few pepita seeds a day.
After an additional month on the adjusted diet, he emailed me to say that he didn’t think he needed a follow up appointment as all was going well with the ‘old fella’ (what a strange name for a penis) and his weight was better than ever. His actual kilo/pounds weight was higher but it was all muscle now instead of flab.