That moment as you’re opening the door.

Well, here you are. You've made the decision to come and visit your doctor and you're about to walk in through the door to the consultation room. Warning! Warning! The doctor may say, "Hello". or greet you as if you only had one head. When the doctor physically examines you and finds the other head, a decision will have to be made. But until then, he or she will treat you as just another patient.

At this point, you may be feeling afraid — this is the moment when you confront your own fears about yourself and what others will think about you when they "know" about "it". There are several things in your favour. Hundreds of thousands of men all around the world have problems with their erection at one time or another during their lives.

So you don't care about all the other men! This is you, on your own, about to confess to being a failure (by your high standards). The fact that you're another routine patient with a common problem is irrelevant.

Perhaps you're worried by the "language" problem. You and I might routinely spray the four letter words around to describe what we do but, with a doctor. . . ? It doesn't seem quite so proper. And all those fancy medical-type words. Erection is bad enough but tumescence? Do you have to make the effort?

Well, no. The doctor isn't going to worry how you explain your problem. All he or she wants to know is what the problem is. You have to get over the fear of being you with all the faults you might think you have. You're no better or worse than all the other patients with this problem. Just get on with it. There's no need to apologise for being you.

If you're still worried, copy what you want from the following list:

• I'm having problems with my erections;
• I'm not getting an erection when I'm in bed with my partner/wife/lover or
• My erection isn't firm/hard enough to penetrate or
• I'm not able to keep an erection long enough to complete intercourse. I get started, but don't have an orgasm.

Hey, wait a minute. You didn't pull the old switcheroo did you? When you booked the appointment, did you tell the receptionist that you had a different problem? We all know how embarrassing it can be to tell the world about ED and this is a standard ploy. Read that again. This is a standard ploy. Don't worry about it. Even though your doctor may be expecting you to talk about your in-growing toenail, you are free to change the subject. It's better to do it as soon as you sit down rather than waste time talking about the cover story. But how you get through the door doesn't matter so long as you do get through.

When you've broken the ice, you can get on to the meat of the matter of what the cause of the ED might be and what treatments are available. Your doctor may confirm that there is nothing seriously wrong with you that Viagra, Cialis or Levitra will not cure. Alternatively, it may turn out that you were wise to ask for a full check-up because you've been able to catch a serious problem early enough to be able to keep you healthy. However you look at it, this is a win-win situation.