Viagra: things you should know
4. Is Viagra safe in men with high blood pressure?
One of the main worries about a drug designed to dilate arteries is that it allows the blood to flow more rapidly around the body. If the man has high blood pressure, the immediate effect is to lower the blood pressure. So let us take this step by step. There are a number of causes for high blood pressure from arteriosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries, obesity, diabetes, kidney diseases, and so on. The standard treatments for this problem include alpha and beta blockers, diuretics, ACE inhibitors, etc. Their effect is also to reduce blood pressure. The fear was that combining two different medications, both of which are intended to lower blood pressure, might produce a serious loss of pressure which could be dangerous.
In 2002, there was a major clinical trial which combined Viagra and other medications for treating high blood pressure. Those who experienced side effects found them short-lived. Only 2% of the participants stopped taking the Viagra because of those side effects. Almost three-quarters of the participants reported improved erections. However, this does not mean that everyone can take Viagra without experiencing problems. As with any prescription drug, you should always discuss possible interactions between different drugs with your physician. In this case, it is dangerous to combine Viagra with any drug containing a nitrate — usually prescribed to treat heart conditions. It is also more generally unwise to resume sexual activity within three to six months of recovering from a stroke or heart attack.
5. Is Viagra safe for diabetics?
The difficulty with diabetes mellitus is that it can cause damage to the nervous system and disrupt the way in which the body responds to stimuli. There has been considerable medical research to measure whether the use of Viagra to overcome the not uncommon erectile dysfunction is effective and safe. In double-blind, randomized studies using control groups and a placebo, viagra has been tested both among participants some of whom have diabetes, and groups where all the participants have diabetes. The standard starting dosages in these trials has been 50mg with some participants allowed discretion to adjust the dosage up or down depending on effect.
In all the studies, none of the participants with the power to adjust dosage reduced the dose. Taking an overview of all the results, almost 60% of participants reported a significant improvement both in the frequency of successful penetration and in the ability to maintain an erection after penetration was achieved. As to safety, there is evidence that about 2% of those with diabetes suffered some side effects. The most common is men feel more thirsty. This is not serious and passes quite quickly. Less common is either hyper- or hypoglycemia. In extremely rare cases, there has been some disruption to vision but the precise cause and effect of this side effect is not clear. Thus, in general, the risk of any side effect is tiny and, in almost all cases, the side effects pass quickly.
