If one evening you find yourself surprised to find you are just not able to attain and maintain an erection before hoping into bed to have sexual relations with your wife, you know there’s something wrong! For sure you must have the erectile dysfunction condition. But don’t panic, Sildenafil (Viagra) can cure it but you must know how to use sildenafil first before you actually take the treatment.
Sildenafil – What is it?
Sildenafil is a drug treatment that has the ability of relaxing the muscles in your blood vessels thus allowing more blood to flow to specific parts of your body.
Sildenafil is more popularly known by its name Viagra in its role as treatment for erectile dysfunction or impotence in men.
There’s another brand of sildenafil known by the name Revatio, a treatment used to help men and women with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) to engage in exercising activities.
Initial precautions
Don’t take Viagra simultaneously with Revatio and also….
Pay Strict Attention to the Following
- If you are taking a nitrate treatment for chest pain or heart issues that includes mononitrate, dinitrate, isosorbide and nitroglycerin, you’d be wise not to be taking sildenafil as well. You should also avoid “poppers”.
The main danger associated with taking sildenafil with nitrate treatments is that it can cause an instantaneous and dangerous drop in blood pressure.
- It’s essential that you put your doctor in the picture about all the current medications you are taking, more especially the drug riociguat or Adempas, which you mustn’t take in combination with sildenafil
- Another reminder involves the condition called priapism which a prolonged erection that can prove damaging to the penis.
Health conditions prior to taking medication
There is no doubt that when used on its own and in the proper way sildenafil is safe but due to misinformation, ignorance or omission, people can sometimes make uninformed decisions that are wrong and may be potentially harmful.
The text below tells you what you need to do before taking sildenafil and you should pay close attention to the information.
Most important is for you to provide full information to your doctor about conditions that you experienced in the past such as:
- Irregular heart rhythm, chest pain, or heart attack
- Problems with your blood circulation
- Cautioned not to engage in sex because of health
- Bleeding issues
- Blood cell disorder such as (sickle cell anemia), or leukemia
- Liver or kidney disease
- Low or high blood pressure
- Deformed penis (Peyronie’s disease)
- Inherited eye condition (retinitis pigmentosa)
- Blindness (one or both eyes)
- Ulcer of the stomach
- Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD)
You should also note that some users of sildenafil have experienced sudden loss of vision from a slowing down of blood flow to the eye optic nerve.
Most of these users were suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease.
Those who smoked heavily and were over 50 years of age also experienced loss of vision. However, it hasn’t been medically confirmed that sildenafil was the cause of vision loss.
You should also know that sildenafil doesn’t cause harm to unborn babies and you need to tell your doctor whether or not you are pregnant and also if you are breastfeeding your baby.
Always remember that if you’re taking sildenafil, you shouldn’t stop you medication without telling your doctor.
So how should you take Sildenafil?
After your appointment with your doctor who has decided to prepare a prescription for you, the best course to follow is to stick to the instructions that come with your prescription: They will instruct you to take your treatment in the following manner:
- Strictly as prescribed by your doctor
- If you are taking the Revatio dose, do so three times daily with 4 to 6 hours in between doses.
- Take the Viagra dose when needed (usually 30 minutes to 1 hour before sex. Alternatively you can take it 4 hours prior to having sex but not more than once each day.
- If you’re taking oral suspension treatment (in liquid form), make sure you shake the bottle before you measure the dose. Use the provided syringe or another medicinal measuring device to measure your dose. Avoid using a standard kitchen spoon.
Extra things to know
You are now well on your way to taking your sildenafil or perhaps your revatio dose and you should keep in mind that taking the pill won’t, by itself, cause an erection to happen. It can only help you achieve that end if sexual stimulation is also taking place.
It’s also very important to know that if, at any time during sexual activity you find that you feel dizzy or have a nauseating sensation, or you experience pain, a tingling and numbness of the jaw, neck, chest or arms, stop your love making and ring your doctor immediately. You may have a serious sildenafil side effect.
The “what” and ‘what if” questions
As with everything else, medications also pose certain grey areas that leads users to seek some clarifications in connection with usage such as:
What should I avoid when taking sildenafil?
It’s been proven that avoiding certain things such as those listed below will help sildenafil in its work:
- Alcohol has been known to cause side effects and reducing or cutting alcohol consumption would be an additional method of increasing the efficacy of the treatment and ensure an efficient aid to erectile dysfunction.
- Grapefruit can also result in undesired side effects that users may get from using sildenafil for treating their ED. Because of this, it’s also a good idea to avoid grapefruit products.
- Using other medicines to restore sexual prowess such as alprostadil or vohimbine should have prior approval from your doctor. Taking these treatments while also taking sildenafil may produce unexpected and possibly serious repercussions.
Conclusion
It’s only fair to say that that sildenafil is perfectly safe to use for the treatment of erectile dysfunction but there are always precautionary measures that need to be observed to ensure that users have firsthand knowledge of how to use Sildenafil. By having such essential information, users can avoid any mishaps and ensure that the treatment for ED can proceed unhampered.