Circulation, Mind, and Medicine: Rethinking Erectyle Dysfunction with Dr. Jordan Barber

In this 167th episode, I’m joined by Dr. Jordan Barber, Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with over 20 years in clinical practice. He is the co-author of "Thinking in Chinese Medicine: A Patient's Guide to Acupuncture" (2026) and "Realigning Medicine: Building an Authentic, Fulfilling, and Thriving Healthcare Practice" (2025).Our focus today is on an important but often sidelined issue:erectile dysfunction. I hear about ED frequently from patients, usually as an aside to another medical concern — why is that? We’ll define ED and its varying levels, separate myths from facts, and explore distinctions between performance anxiety, behavioral causes like problematic pornography use, and physical drivers. We’ll discuss whether ED always comes down to circulation, how Chinese Medicine frames theproblem (circulation, hormones, mood, metabolic disease, etc.), and what conventional medicine offers — including how PDE5 inhibitors (Viagra/Cialis) work by upregulating eNOS to improve blood flow, and where concerns about iNOSfit in.We’ll also cover practical strategies: diet, lifestyle, TCMapproaches, and when a condition may be advanced enough that different interventions are needed. Dr. Barber will share insights from his books — including the idea that symptoms are expressions of the body’s adaptation within a network of relationships — and preview findings from his dry needling vs. TCM acupuncture research. Stick around: the dry needling conversation deserves its own deep dive, and we’ll tee that up for a future episode.Contact info:Website:  https://drbarberclinic.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbarberlac/Thinking in Chinese Medicine Book:  https://www.thinkinginchinesemedicine.com/Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Chinese-Medicine-Patients-Acupuncture/dp/B0GWMLPZ5Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39H4CP17T3JLP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.d0GaAFsPYlI-LqtZui6tnxzqwUF_QcVWpR5FcFbhJlpJ9msMfLdYXcM_AA2iCCH7xW7gcMMUhomoh3zwRLhQeWffiXkVbxfBJ4UN4kl0uJKOU3RM2IhKe1t7TwM2GEH7UD2JNt7R_8UtXy_02Q-4dckIEGBXwb8lGA0KLBaq_yHKl1J2uVuamuvrkW2OtgwZNO4W6WDM4TQj5hc7_oc_ZZ8ro6s2Rl_gaUdIEfFJ6Zo.uW67WYn2TjIw_fYu-NKytQVfntqhP0YTj-nyD876jjU&dib_tag=se&keywords=thinking+in+chinese+medicine&qid=1779389056&sprefix=Thinking+in+Chinese+%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1