Viagra At Its Best…and Worst
Viagra knows no gender, apparently, as many women know - who constantly receive email (spam) for increasing her libido in order to enhance her experiences with her…wife! Just today, in fact, a spam got through to my regular box that was from an online pill distribution company offering up to 80% discounted Viagra: 20 pills for $114. Hmmm. Not sure that’s much of a discount, and not sure I was all that interested in the first place, but it is good to know both the good and bad details about this drug that is the first to acknowledge, address, and treat a common but quietly kept condition. Viagra is hocked by the best of the schlock merchants. It is smuggled, overpriced, misunderstood, misdirected (advertised to single women, for instance), and misused. A recent study shows, for instance, that in the period from 1998 to 2002, the number of men under age 45 using Viagra tripled. The findings were made and reported by insurance companies who insured these young men—who, it is questioned use the drug recreationally instead of for true reasons of need. Another negative to the drug is revealed in studies done by researchers at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland. Viagra is found to impact reproductive hormones, rendering the Viagra user sterile. During intercourse, the sperm cells affected by the drug will prematurely release the enzymes that normally break through the egg wall. Hence, when the sperm would normally break through and fertilize an egg, they are now breaking through before fertilization can occur. And as with any new drug, any drug used for long periods of time, and/or any drug that alters, adjusts, or affects the physical body, Viagra has been found to statistically increase risk of heart attack, heart rhythm abnormalities, and congestive heart failure, as well as to cause strokes, fainting episodes, and sudden drops in blood pressure. And according to one physician, Viagra has been the suspect in 522 deaths—recorded