Currently viewing the tag: "Viagra"

Get this: Geriatric gentlemen popping Viagra are more likely to have VD.  Doh!  Yes, it’s true–middle-aged and elderly men that take the erectile dysfunction (ED) med seem to be more likely to practice risky sexual behavior.  This the latest report in the recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

According to the report, individuals most likely to fall into this group are men that have sex with men.  The data comes from a study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California, where researchers looked at a representative sample of privately insured older men.  The study was unable to determine if the men were primarily homosexual or bisexual.

Researchers examined health insurance claims records covering 1997 though 2006 from 44 large U.S. employers. The study group included about 34,000 male beneficiaries over 40 who used ED drugs, for whom the researchers collected data covering one year before and one year after the first prescription was filled, and nearly 1.37 million men over 40 who were non-users, for whom claims data was also collected.

They found that men using Viagra or other ED drugs were two to three times more likely than non-users to have sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).   The most frequently reported STD was HIV/AIDS, followed by chlamydia. The researchers did not know if ED drug use itself increased STD risk but they plan on investigating that in future studies.

The study’s authors conclude that:

  1. Drugs like Viagra are not only being prescribed to men with ED but also to those engaging in risky behavior.  This blog has reported for a long time the use of ED drugs to party.
  2. Age is not an inherent protection against STDs.  On the contrary, it appears that men (and women) partying with older men might want to carry their own protection (or demand health records).
  3. Doctors are doing a poor job of discussing STD risk with older gentlemen.
  4. HIV was probably most reported because its symptoms are most likely to bring men into doctors’ offices.
  5. Men that do not use condoms 100% of the time or are not in a mutually monogamous relationship need routine STD screening with repeated follow-ups.

All I can say is that I think it’s human nature to make assumptions, and most people probably don’t think of their gray-haired neighbor as the typical clap carrier.  But making assumptions is foolish.  Now you know.  Carry your own rubbers, doggone it.

Hey! Listen up!  .  Wha…huh?  You heard me, earplugs—taking erectile dysfunction drugs can deafen you.  Oh…

According to a recent study out of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, there may be an association between the onset of hearing problems and the use of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE-5i), which includes Viagra, and Cialis.  This has been known since 2007 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued labeling adjustments for these medications to more prominently display warnings about hearing loss risks.  This followed reports of sudden hearing loss that year among users of these drugs.  The current study simply confirms the connection.

The finding stems from an analysis of survey data concerning more than 11,500 men over the age of 40 that had been collected by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality between 2003 and 2006.
They found that men who said they used PDE-5i drugs had twice the risk for developing hearing loss as those who did not.

Although more studies need to be conducted, scientists believe that it has to do with the original use for the drugs, which was as a medication for pulmonary hypertension.

“PDE-5i medications work in erectile dysfunction patients by their ability to increase blood flow to certain tissues in the body,” said one researcher. “It has been hypothesized that they may have a similar effect on similar tissues in the ear, where an increase of blood flow could potentially cause damage leading to hearing loss.”

Well, for now I guess it’s a choice men have got to make.  Something tells me I know which one will be most popular.  Huh?…

“Hey doc…I can’t get it up.” There now that wasn’t so bad was it? Say it again. Go on, say it. I promise you, your doctor will not laugh. Trust me, it’s a hell of a lot better than buying counterfeit Viagra online. Duh!A recent study published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice reports that fake drug sales via the internet have skyrocketed over the last couple of years. In fact, seizures of fake drugs in Europe have quadrupled between 2005 and 2007; in the U.S. FDA investigations have increased eightfold from 2000 to 2006. The distribution of fake drugs is a booming business: one estimate has the sale of fake drugs hitting $75 billion in 2010.

The problem is not just that consumers are being ripped off, the fakes can actually be harmful to health. Two pregnant women died after they were given injections of a counterfeit iron preparation for anemia, and 25 children died in Bangladesh of kidney failure after taking paracetamol syrup that was contaminated with diethylene glycol, which is also used as antifreeze in cars.

However, the purchasing of fake drugs on the internet persists. Viagra seems to be the big one, but the consumers of such pharmaceuticals know not what they take. According to lead author of the study, Dr. Graham Jackson, a cardiologist at London Bridge Hospital in the UK, “The first danger is people don’t know what’s in it. Some are just talcum powder or brick dust, while some have a bit of Viagra or Cialis and some chemicals that have nothing to do with it.”

According to the study, one-third of men surveyed reported sidestepping a health-care professional when buying erectile dysfunction drugs. Why? What IS the big deal? Do you think your doctor finds this funny, pathetic, or what? C’mon guys, you would rather buy fake stepped-on garbage than risk a moment of humiliation I guarantee will pass the minute your doctor says okay? How much you want to bet he or she doesn’t even look up at you and just writes the scrip. There…I given you support. Now get off the damn net and get to your doctor’s office pronto. Just one humiliating second and it’ll be happy days are here again….

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