In a recent Newsletter we published a personal story of one man's journey to treatment for erectile dysfunction. We have received a very useful update on available treatments from the Lead Urology Nurse Specialist at the Churchill Hospital. She writes:

The doses of injection treatment start at 2.5 micrograms and can in stages be increased to 40micrograms. Initially the test dose patients would administer in clinic is 2.5micrograms with the aim of ensuring that a prolonged erection is not induced. We advise patients to gently administer the injection for their comfort and they will stay in the department until any effects of the treatment have subsided. Therefore if anyone is planning to learn injection therapy they must be prepared to be in the department for an hour or so.

Since this gentleman has written his story, Injection therapy has currently become available again in two forms. Firstly Caverject Powder, which he refers to comes with a vial containing the Alprostadil (the drug which induces the erection), syringe and two needles and Secondly Caverject dual Chamber, which is a pen like device with the syringe already filled with the Alprosadil. This is a much quicker and easier design to prepare.

He mentions in the “story” the unfortunate issue that patient’s general practitioners are restricted to prescribing the maximum of four doses a month. Further doses can be obtained by a private prescription from the GP, however we would strongly recommend that if patients do obtain a private prescription, it is advisable that they “shop around” the chemists as they can charge an extra  50percent for dispensing the items, some chemists will charge this amount.

We would like to highlight that in general we do not have any medical or nursing staff present as we understand that this can be embarrassing for patients attending the clinic, however we do welcome patients to bring their partners with them for support if they wish.