Side Effects of Viagra
Though cholesterol-lowering statin drugs have been shown to help with erectile dysfunction, the first-line treatment for the medical management of ED is the Viagra-type class of drugs known as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, which relax the muscle fibers in the penis that normally staunch the influx of blood. Until the “lecture that changed sexual medicine” forever, erections were thought to arise from the constriction of blood outflow rather than the expansion of blood inflow. That is, until Professor Giles Brindley’s presentation at the annual meeting of the American Urological Society in 1983, which involved a visual aid. Before taking the podium, he injected his own penis with a muscle relaxer. Half way through the lecture, to push his point home, he proceeded to not only whip it out, but then proceeded to waddle and waggle down to the front row, pants around his knees to offer further inspection. The organizers were quote-unquote “not happy…as there were a fair number of wives in the audience.”
Viagra worked through a similar mechanism in oral form, originally starting out as a failed chest-pain drug with a serendipitous billion-dollar side effect. Within the first five years, 500 million blue pills were distributed worldwide. However, discontinuation rates in the United States after one or two years range from 32 to 69 percent. So, about half of men decide the cons outweigh the pros.
Some stop it because of ineffectiveness. Although it works for nearly 90 percent of younger men, it only works in about two thirds of men over age 65. Others stop it because it’s too expensive or because of side effects.
Priapism, the seek emergency treatment if an erection lasts more than 4 hours symptom has only been reported in two to three percent of users. More common symptoms include headache, flushing, upset stomach, or visual disturbances. The class of enzymes that Viagra-like drugs muck with is not only found in the erectile tissue of the penis but also the retina of the eye. Though the harms to vision tend to be self-limited and reversible, such as cyanopsia (in which everything suddenly becomes tinted blue), the most serious is non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION.
NAION typically manifests as waking up blind, or with a loss of vision in one or, rarely, both eyes. The vision loss is usually temporary, but can be permanent. The use of Viagra-type drugs appears to double the risk, but it’s generally so rare that the risk doubling may just like a 1 in 10,000 chance instead of a 1 in 20,000 chance every year. The drugs may also cause sudden deafness in about 1 in 5,000 users annually, but the hearing loss may resolve spontaneously in as many as 65 percent of cases.
Though cholesterol-lowering statin drugs have been shown to help with erectile dysfunction, the first-line treatment for the medical management of ED is the Viagra-type class of drugs known as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, which relax the muscle fibers in the penis that normally staunch the influx of blood. Until the “lecture that changed sexual medicine” forever, erections were thought to arise from the constriction of blood outflow rather than the expansion of blood inflow. That is, until Professor Giles Brindley’s presentation at the annual meeting of the American Urological Society in 1983, which involved a visual aid. Before taking the podium, he injected his own penis with a muscle relaxer. Half way through the lecture, to push his point home, he proceeded to not only whip it out, but then proceeded to waddle and waggle down to the front row, pants around his knees to offer further inspection. The organizers were quote-unquote “not happy…as there were a fair number of wives in the audience.”
Viagra worked through a similar mechanism in oral form, originally starting out as a failed chest-pain drug with a serendipitous billion-dollar side effect. Within the first five years, 500 million blue pills were distributed worldwide. However, discontinuation rates in the United States after one or two years range from 32 to 69 percent. So, about half of men decide the cons outweigh the pros.
Some stop it because of ineffectiveness. Although it works for nearly 90 percent of younger men, it only works in about two thirds of men over age 65. Others stop it because it’s too expensive or because of side effects.
Priapism, the seek emergency treatment if an erection lasts more than 4 hours symptom has only been reported in two to three percent of users. More common symptoms include headache, flushing, upset stomach, or visual disturbances. The class of enzymes that Viagra-like drugs muck with is not only found in the erectile tissue of the penis but also the retina of the eye. Though the harms to vision tend to be self-limited and reversible, such as cyanopsia (in which everything suddenly becomes tinted blue), the most serious is non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION.
NAION typically manifests as waking up blind, or with a loss of vision in one or, rarely, both eyes. The vision loss is usually temporary, but can be permanent. The use of Viagra-type drugs appears to double the risk, but it’s generally so rare that the risk doubling may just like a 1 in 10,000 chance instead of a 1 in 20,000 chance every year. The drugs may also cause sudden deafness in about 1 in 5,000 users annually, but the hearing loss may resolve spontaneously in as many as 65 percent of cases.
Republishing "Side Effects of Viagra"
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
