What You Need to Know About Kaletra
Millions of prescriptions are written for Viagra every year but did you know that this popular drug may cause blindness, heart attacks, sustained erections that may cause loss of penis, and hearing loss in some patients?
What is Viagra?
Viagra is a brand name of sildenafil citrate for the treatment of penile erectile dysfunction.1
How does Viagra work? What does it do?
Viagra relaxes some tissues in the male sex organs, allowing blood flow to increase without blockage, which improves the penis’ ability to become erect and maintain an erection.2
Viagra has become a popular street drug, taken at parties as an aphrodisiac and mixed with drugs that can have a harmful effect. Viagra is not an aphrodisiac and will not necessarily have the same effect on a young, healthy man that it might on a patient suffering erectile dysfunction.3
What should I ask my doctor about before I decide to take Viagra?
Viagra has some side effects and a small percentage of patients have experienced complete, permanent hearing or vision loss.
Patients who are taking any medication containing nitrates, including many heart medications, should not take Viagra.4
Viagra’s most common side effects include headaches, stomach ulcers, urinary tract infections, abnormal vision and dizziness. More rarely, patients taking Viagra experienced allergic reactions, chest pain, chills, abdominal pain and increased accidental falls and injuries. Rare but serious side effects have included seizures, priapism (an erection lasting more than four hours that could result in loss of penis), permanent vision loss and sudden loss of hearing.5
Viagra can cause changes in vision and loss of vision. It can also cause painful, destructive changes to the eyes themselves.6 If you are taking Viagra and you notice any changes in your eyes, including itching or even a slight pain, you should talk to your doctor immediately.
In 2007, the FDA issued a warning on Viagra and other drugs containing sildenafil causing sudden hearing loss in a small number of patients. In one third of cases, the hearing loss was temporary. 7In one study, more than 17% of patients reported hearing loss while taking Viagra.8
What if I’m already taking Viagra?
Talk to your doctor if you’re concerned about Viagra or experience any side effects. Patients taking Viagra have not reported that they developed a dependency on Viagra or that they experienced withdrawal symptoms when they stopped taking Viagra.
Learn everything that you can about Viagra before you start taking it.
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1 Int J Impot Res, Boolell M, “Sildenafil: an orally active type 5 cyclic GMP-specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor for the treatment of penile erectile dysfunction.” (June 1996), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/88583892Food and Drug Administration Label, “Viagra” (October 2007, retrieved 11 September 2012), http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/020895s027lbl.pdf
3 USA Today Health, Petersen K., “Young Men Add Viagra to their Drug Arsenal” (21 March 2001), http://www.accessrx.com/blog/current-health-news/viagra-abuse-l0328/
4 Food and Drug Administration Label, “Viagra” (October 2007, retrieved 11 September 2012), http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/020895s027lbl.pdf
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Food and Drug Administration, “Questions and Answers about Viagra, Levitra, Cialis and Revatio: Possible Sudden Hearing Loss” (October 2007), http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm106525.htm
8 Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, McGwin G, “Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor use and hearing impairment.” (May 2010), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20479381