Question:
The number of men diagnosed with erectile dysfunction in the U.S. has
increased by 250 percent since Viagra was approved in 1998, according to
a recent issue of the Harvard Health Letter. Levitra and Cialis, two
similar drugs, were approved last year.
Men from their teens to 30-somethings are taking Levitra, Cialis and
Viagra to prove to women that they're stand-up guys, even when they
don't need the drugs.
"They're using it as a high-octane performance like an athlete uses
steroids," said Dr. Fred Harchelroad, chair of emergency medicine at
Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side.
The bad news for these high-octane heroes: doses of 10 pills or more can
send a young stud permanently out to pasture, leading to impotence from
circulatory damage after five-, six- or even eight-hour erections.
"I might see two cases a year of priapism, where the penis stays erect
and blood doesn't flow out of the area. If the erection lasts too long,
it damages they way blood vessels function, causing permanent damage,"
Harchelroad said.
In spite of dangers, guys nationally are willing to fork over $25 to $30
per dose in some black markets.
Locally, police say they haven't seen illegal trafficking of the big
three erectile dysfunction drugs, but docs and sex therapists confirmed
younger men -- and some women -- are using the drugs recreationally,
getting them from friends, Internet prescription mills or getting sample
pills sent from drug manufacturers.
"You see the ads every day (for sample packs,)" said Dr. Ralph Miller,
director of the Prostate Center at Allegheny General. "I'm sure people
share it. I wouldn't be surprised if you can buy it in Mexico."
Men claim the drugs give them an extra edge in bed (or where ever else
they may be doing the deed) with stronger erections, more orgasms and
heightened sensation, experts said.
The drugs in smaller doses have a placebo effect on men whose plumbing
doesn't require repairs, docs say.
"Young men have good erections, anyway. It's like pouring more water
into a glass already full of water," says Annette Owens, a sex therapist
in Charlottesville, Va., and member of the American Association of Sex
Educators, Counselors and Therapists.
Full glass or not, therapists say some young men look to the "daddy's
little helper" when they feel stage fright.
"First, there is always pressure for men to perform and number two,
pressure for them to be the one who is the aggressor, and number three,
they are also the one who is seen as responsible for the sexual
experience," said Dr. Sandra Davis, a sex therapist in Shadyside.
Men are turning to pills as they -- socially conditioned to be the
sexual hunters -- are becoming the hunted.
Women are becoming more aggressive when they look for love, sometimes
leaving men in the uncharted, "Not tonight, I have a headache"
territory, Catherine D. Ravella, a sex therapist in O'Hara.
"The fact is that situations have changed since women have become more
assertive deciding when and how much sex they want. It puts more
pressure on the man. (In the past,) he didn't have to worry about it. If
he was in the mood, he made the move. We're in a reverse situation now.
'Not tonight' is not considered masculine," Ravella said.
knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
Any ideas about this information?
Answer:
I'd even guess there are more guys taking these drugs recreationally than
there are guys like us taking them who need them.
A serious problem with healthy users playing around this way is that they
develope a strong phychological dependence on the drugs and begin to believe
they cannot perform without them
