December 2011 Archives

A new year is a fresh start that always brings with it good intentions and resolutions to turn over a new leaf. Here's how Viagra can help you reach your goals with some of the most popular New Year's resolutions.

1. Lose Weight/Get In Shape - Viagra can help you get the kind of cardio-vascular workout you'll really enjoy. But like they say: check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program, especially if it involves Viagra.

2. Quit Smoking - Honestly, Viagra's not going to help you much here, especially if you like to indulge in a smoke after lovemaking. Maybe try the patch or gum.

3. Help Others - Donate some of your Viagra to a worthy cause. Hundreds of folks sent Viagra tablets to a veterinary hospital to help out Ingrid the pitbull, who must take the drug daily for her heart. Or consider sending some to the poor codgers in the UK, to supplement the paltry two tablet per month ration that the national health plan is trying to impose.
 
4. Get Out of Debt/Spend Less Money - If you're trying to conserve cash, a romantic evening at home with Viagra is way cheaper than dinner and/or entertainment - a typical dose costs less than the price of a movie ticket

5. Get Organized - You want to always be able to find your Viagra when you need it. So get a little pill canister you can put on your keychain. Clean out your medicine cabinet, alphabetize the contents, get rid of any expired medications, and replace your pill splitter if it's getting dull.

6. Be Less Stressed - Everyone knows sex is one of the best stress relievers around. And you'll have even less stress if you use Viagra, because you won't be worrying about experiencing an equipment failure.

7. Improve Relationship - There are no guarantees, but Viagra has helped bring countless couples closer over the years. If your erectile dysfunction has caused the spark or intimacy to go out of your relationship, Viagra could give it the kickstart it needs.

Oh, and in case the Mayan calendar predictions about 2012 come true and civilization as we know it ends, be sure to stockpile some Viagra for your post-apocalyptic bunker.

Viagra can help make babies. Well, duh. Of course it can, for obvious reasons. But I bet you didn't know about another way Viagra leads to conception. Women who are trying to conceive, through in-vitro fertilization or other less high-tech means, use Viagra to stimulate thickening of the endometrial lining of the uterus. This is the blood-rich blanket where a fertilized egg will implant itself and grow during gestation, so if a woman's lining isn't heavy enough to support fetal growth, she may not be able to conceive.

Viagra increases blood to the uterus, which helps build the endometrial lining. OK, that makes sense. So when she's planning to conceive, a woman takes Viagra tablets and - wait, what? They do what with it? Apparently to get the Viagra to work on the uterus, it requires a more localized application, so the Viagra has to be inserted vaginally. Not by sticking a tablet in there, either. It's administered by vaginal sildenafil suppository. Say that five times fast.

For part of her cycle, a woman will insert Viagra vaginally, then switch to progesterone to facilitate ovulation and conception. Women on various fertility discussion boards report good results. Nitroglycerine had previously been used in a similar manner, but its side effects lead doctors to try substituting sildenafil. The Viagra protocol was developed has been tested and shown effective for facilitating IVF and conception.

Not everyone is a fan of the Viagra treatment. It can have some side effects and unpleasantness, as this woman describes.

So, are there Viagra suppositories for men? We found this article claiming that Pfizer Italia was developing Viagra using this delivery method, the supposed advantage being its rapid (30 seconds!?) effect. However, while it's true that drugs absorbed directly through mucosal membranes do get into the bloodstream quicker, a 30 second response seems a bit unrealistic (although for some men, the prostate stimulation might enhance the effect). If you note the byline on the story (April 1, 2011), along with  the name of the Pfizer Italia source quoted (Massimo Bumole), it's pretty clear this is a joke - although the comments indicate there might be some serious interest in such a product.

If you know your Viagra history, you know that the drug sildenafil was originally developed as a medication to treat heart conditions and high blood pressure. At the time, it was considered a flop at that, but more than made up for it with its spectacular sexual side effects.

Viagra's monumental property of countering erectile dysfunction all but eclipsed any other medical applications. There has been some continued research, and sildenafil has proven effective in treating pulmonary hypertension as well as a few other less common conditions.

Now it seems researchers were perhaps a little too hasty in tossing in the towel on using Viagra for cardiac treatments. Some 15 years later, a recently published study shows that sildenafil may have dramatic benefits for patients suffering from diastolic heart failure, working within minutes. This has big implications. "Of all the patients aged over 60 who are in hospital because of a weak heart, half suffer from diastolic heart failure" explains Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Linke, author of the study.

The article indicates the initial experiments were done with dogs having diastolic heart failure. Perhaps that's what was ailing Ingrid the pitbull, who we met in our last post. She was rescued from death's door step by a quick-thinking vet who prescribed Viagra. Maybe the doc was ahead of the curve and had already read the medical literature.

Paradoxically, the drug helps by relaxing heart tissue that has become too stiff. Not what comes to mind when you think Viagra, but the enzyme that the drug inhibits acts differently in different organs of the body.

Just goes to show, the little blue pill truly is a wonder drug: it softens hard hearts and hardens soft...

We've had stories before of Viagra saving the lives of tiny babies and toddlers with heart or pulmonary conditions. But now Viagra has moved out of the ICU and into the vet's office. 

Ingrid the pitbull has been kept alive for the last five years with a daily dose of sildenafil. When she arrived at a Huntington, NY, animal shelter, she was near death, but a vet suggested giving her Viagra to keep her heart going. And it's been going ever since.

After she gained national attention for her daily Viagra dose, the shelter began receiving hundreds of donations of Viagra, with some donors including notes to Ingrid along with the pill packets.

I'd heard before of Viagra being used in a veterinary context, but I assumed it was used for something else. Like if you had a purebred dog you wanted to breed, but it was kind of inhibited or couldn't finish the job. In zoos, there have been attempts to use it to encourage captive pandas to mate, but that experiment was largely a failure.

Anyway, it's not surprising that vets would use the drug to treat their animal patients - many drugs used for veterinary purposes - painkillers, antibiotics, etc. - are exactly the same drugs used to treat humans.

As for Ingrid, she's a lucky dog who just got luckier - she's been adopted from the shelter and "her new owners say they have no problem giving her the Viagra every day."

They say you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but it seems fair to say that not a lot of tears have been shed over the announcement that North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong Il has passed on. We might have even heard a chorus of "Ding-dong, the Witch Is Dead".

Now questions arise about his successor, son Kim Jong Un. Like, will he continue his father's tradition of financing North Korean military operations through insurance scams and selling fake Viagra. Yes, it's true - U.S. intelligence linked the North Korean government with several shady operations, including manufacturing and trading counterfeit Viagra. Oh, and counterfeit money too.

There is a whole underground economy based on this sort of stuff, so hopefully, the world markets will be able to handle a possible shortage of sketchy, arsenic-laced fake pharmaceuticals.

Condom maker Durex announced last week the launch of a new condom produced in partnership with Futura Pharmaceuticals that could revolutionize the way men look at prophylactics. In fact, it may even give some incentive to slip into one. And  its producer are hoping it may help them gain some ground against Trojan, which rules the U.S. condom market with a 75% share, compared to Durex's 6-8%.

Dubbed "Viagra in a condom", the product is intended to help men who have difficulty staying erect or may feel inhibited by wearing a rubber. The condom tip contains a small amount of Zanifil gel, which will stimulate blood flow to the wearer's penis, resulting in a firmer, larger erection. An additive aids in quick absorption through the skin. The gel is derived from nitroglycerine, which dilates blood vessels (like Viagra, it raises levels of nitric oxide, but by a different mechanism). It acts pretty fast, so your little soldier won't be left dangling there like a deflated balloon animal.

So, is this a Viagra killer? Nah. There isn't any comparison yet of effectiveness, but I'd be willing to bet that a dab of Zanafril doesn't pack the same punch goof ol' Vitamin V. Plus there will be some people who won't be able to use this product. There's not been much mention of side effects, but it's guaranteed that the gel will give someone a rash (in a very uncomfortable spot), and if the condoms are latex, that precludes anyone with latex allergies. However, the product is likely to be popular with younger men who have occasional difficulty, confidence issues, or feel that Viagra is for geriatrics.

The condoms over-the-counter availability has been a selling point, but we could also see where that could be a drawback. When you slide these over to the checker at the drugstore, you're basically broadcasting to the world: I can't stay hard. So we predict there will be big bucks to be had selling these online. No word on a price tag, although the maker has said they will have a "premium" cost. Hmm. What could that mean? Something like $5.00 each?

The makers foresee another possible setback. Women buy about 40% of the condoms sold. Says Futura CEO James Barder: "If the packaging says it will give you a bigger penis, and a woman gives it to a man, it might cause a reaction, like 'What, you're saying my penis is small?'"

Or, "What, you're saying I can't stay hard long enough to satisfy you?"

Apparently without irony, Barder added:
"This area does have sensitivities. Positioning is critical."

Indeed.

Hope springs eternal that a remedy will be found for low female libido, but that search has suffered another setback. BioSante Pharmaceutical's stock plunged on the news that its "female Viagra" drug, LibiGel, was no more effective than a placebo in trials. The topical formula is a testosterone gel for women.

Other studies suggested that their formula worked (and testosterone cream is often prescribed "off label" to treat low sex drive in women), so the company expected safety concerns to be its biggest obstacle.

Although Pfizer gave up several years ago on using sildenafil for women, there were reports last year that the company was looking into another drug - a compound called UK-414,495 - but then that seemed to hit a dead end as well.

Why is the formula for "female Viagra" so elusive? Maybe it's because comparing female and male sexual response is like comparing apples and oranges - or apples and bananas, if you prefer. Viagra works on the hydraulics of the sexual anatomy - the  blood vessels that engorge the genital tissue - not the mechanisms that generate libido or sexual desire. The assumption is that's a given, that guys will have no problem with "wanting" to have sex. The issue is not desire, but ability to perform. Whereas with women, it's often the interest itself that needs to be stimulated.

Maybe that's why the placebo was just as effective as the drug in the trials - they say the most important sexual organ is between your ears.

Adding Viagra to the water for your Christmas tree will make it last longer? This myth actually has some basis in truth. Viagra has been shown to keep flowers fresh, so why wouldn't it work for an evergreen? Well, it does...sort of.

No less an authority than Mythbusters tested it out a few years ago. Yes, they actually put a Christmas tree in a base with some Viagra-spiked water. The trial also included some other homespun tree preservatives: Sprite, aspirin, and bleach. They tried a couple of topical treatments as well, spraying one tree with hairspray and another with urethane.

In the final results, bleach tied with Viagra for keeping the tree from losing its needles. Unfortunately, the trees turned weird colors and looked sickly. Hairspray turned out to be the winner for preventing needle loss while preserving a healthy green color. Thing is, they couldn't really recommend spraying your Christmas tree with flammable chemicals.

So, if you have a holiday tree, the best thing you can do is start with a fresh cut at the bottom, put it in plain fresh water, and make sure the water level never drops below the cut surface, or it will seal over.

If you still want to celebrate the season with Viagra,  trim your tenebaum with some of these festive Viagra Christmas ornaments.

It's official: HBO has picked up the pilot for The Viagra Diaries. What's that? The journal of our innermost thoughts and emotional life? Sorry to disappoint, but no, it's an adaptation of a novel by the same name, by author Barbara Rose Brooker.

The series, which is helmed by Sex and the City creator/executive producer Darren Star, features Goldie Hawn as a 70-year-old divorcee whose husband dumps her for a much younger thing after having a midlife crisis at 65 (a little late, in our opinion, but whatever). She ventures into the world of dating past retirement age, and, being a writer, uses her experiences as fodder for a weekly newspaper column called "The Viagra Diaries". The  plot centers around her on-again off-again relationship with Marv, a 75-year-old gent she meets on JDate, whom she describes as a online "serial dater".

We don't know how faithful the small screen adaptation will be, but the book itself doesn't reflect very well on older men or Viagra in its portrayals. Again and again, the female characters complain about senior men becoming dependent on Viagra, which inflates not just their genitals, but also their egos, and turns them into sex maniacs hellbent on bedding younger women.

Does Viagra really have that effect on senior bachelors? While it might help a guy unleash his inner Lothario, we doubt that it bears that much responsibility for transforming his character. Chances are, if he's a jerk after discovering Viagra, he was a jerk before taking it, too.

Here in the U.S., we're used to having our politicians express their opinions about how people should have sex, but in the U.K., the government has a say about how often some folks get to roll in the hay.

Britain's National Health Service limits patients to four Viagra pills per month (based on statistics that say 40 to 60-year-olds have intercourse once a week). That's pretty stingy to begin with. But now, as part of cost-cutting measures, the NHS wants to reduce the allotment to two pills monthly.

While we wouldn't argue for an unlimited supply of Viagra on the taxpayer's dime, restricting people who rely on government health services to sex every two weeks seems cruel and unusual. As it is, Viagra prescriptions through the NHS are very strictly regulated, and the only patients who can get it are those with diabetes, MS, prostate cancer, or other serious conditions that cause ED. Those folks have a hard enough time as it is - why not let them have a little fun in the sack to take their minds off it?

Richard Hoey, editor of Pulse, a magazine for NHS general practitioners, said, "Ask most doctors and they will say that being able to live a satisfactory sex life is a key part of health and well-being, but the NHS has never recognised that in its policy on treatment for erectile dysfunction.

"Limiting patients to drugs like Viagra just twice a month is to treat sex like an unnecessary luxury, and completely fails to recognise the degree of anguish it can cause some men with erectile dysfunction."

Cooking is a little off-topic for a pharma-related blog, but this recipe for "Viagra salad" caught our eye. After all, we've posted a few "Viagra" recipes ourselves - including the unforgettable Viagra SPAM Mousse.



As noted in the article, the salad contains no actual Viagra. You'll only find vegetables in this Israeli side dish.  Its main ingredients are celery root, fresh fennel, and kohlrabi, a bulbous member of the cabbage family that tastes a bit like broccoli stems. All of these vegetables are reputed to be aphrodisiacs, hence the salad's name.


Celery root is supposedly a libido enhancer because it contains androsterone, a metabolic product of testosterone. However, fennel contains phytoestrogens and is said to be a better choice for getting women's engines revving, so wouldn't they cancel each other out?

Regardless, whether or not it has any Viagra-like effects, this is a nutritious dish full of fiber, vitamins, and other beneficial ingredients - and keeping your body healthy is one of the best things you can do for your sex life, so bon appetit. 

Unlike some other substances, Viagra is rarely associated with violent crime, unless it has to do with some Russian-mafia counterfeiting ring. Which is why when Viagra-related offenses turn up on local crime reports, they're often quaint.

For example, in Brooklyn, a thief pried his way into a CVS drugstore.  It's a pretty good bet that the suspect is male because he made off with "a lifetime supply of Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra". We have to give him credit for having some foresight and thinking beyond the momentary pleasures of coital bliss: his haul also included a large quantity of cigarettes and anti-hangover pills.

When it comes to Viagra, most users are pretty discreet about the subject and would prefer not to broadcast their use publicly. But once in a while you run into guys who just won't shut up about it:

In Westlake, Ohio, a man treated at a local hospital returned over the next three days to harass staff, claiming that his Viagra had been stolen. C'mon fella, these people work in a hospital - it's full of pills. Why would they steal your Viagra? Wouldn't it be easier to just flag down a doctor and ask for a prescription?

Meanwhile, in Middletown, Conn., police officers responding to a brawl outside a bar found a guy with a profusely bleeding broken nose - who insisted that his schnozz wasn't the problem. While resisting medical attention, he loudly declared several times that his penis was broken and that he needed Viagra to make it work. "He kept repeating that statement, the arrest report says, and told everyone around him to 'go [expletive] themselves.' "  Well, I guess if his equipment was as broken as he claimed, he wouldn't have been in any position to [expletive] anyone himself. We need to hook him up with the guy that jacked the pharmacy; dude's gonna be needing some of those hangover tablets.

Viagra is no doubt responsible for the conception of many infants, but now it's helping one baby, born with a serious heart defect, stay alive.

Ten-month-old Cerys Small of Wales was born with a hole in her heart, along with no spleen and problems with her stomach and bowel. After undergoing three open heart surgeries, she still suffered from daily cyanotic spells, in which she turned blue while her body struggled to circulate blood.

But guess what's really great for improving blood circulation? That's right - Viagra!

'We were giggling when they told us what drug she would need," said her mother, Kerrie. "But what many people don't realize is that it was originally developed as a heart drug."

Exactly.

If you know the history of Viagra, you know that the drug was originally developed with the intention of treating hypertension and angina. Its erection-enhancing properties were just a side effect - albeit a very desirable and profitable one.

Even though it would technically be considered "off label" use, it's heart-warming to know that  Viagra is helping some tiny patients in very dire medical need. The hope is that continued treatment with sildenafil will keep baby Cerys going until age three or older, when she'll be able to endure more major surgery.