THE VIRILITY SOLUTION: NATURAL REMEDY
Natural remedy for ED used since the 1870s included the leaves of the damiana plant (Turnera diffusa), a small shrub found in desert areas. An herbal tincture made from the plant’s tannin and volatile oils became popular in the southwest United States and Mexico as a sexual enhancer. It’s believed that the damiana irritates the urethra slightly, thereby expanding the sensitivity of the penis.
Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), originally named Jamestown weed, was regularly used by Native Americans as an erection builder. A tall, highly poisonous plant that is also a member of the nightshade family, its seeds were powdered, mixed with butter, and eaten; for added measure, the mixture was smeared on the genitals. The recipe was certainly time-honored: jimsonweed is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as well as two works by Shakespeare: Romeo and fuliet and Antony and Cleopatra. Over the years, this flowering plant has acquired many other names, including locoweed, devil’s apple, devil’s weed, angel tulip, and stinkweed. It’s readily absorbed through all mucous membranes and excreted mainly by the kidneys. All parts of the jimsonweed are toxic; as little as one-half teaspoon of the seeds has been reported to cause death from cardiac and pulmonary arrest.
In this century, a major theme emerged from what little ongoing ED research was taking place. Sigmund Freud, along with his fellow psychiatrists, emphasized the contribution of psychogenic factors, often childhood experiences, that led to ED. With a psychiatrist’s help, the patient would recall these traumatic episodes in the belief that their acknowledgment would resolve any erectile problems. Unfortunately, this process, long and arduous, could go on lor years, while the man in question still suffered from ED. This powerful concept, which influenced both the definition of the problem and its treatment, was regarded as gospel until as recently as the 1980s.
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