There’s a little blue pill, and it’s burned a whole in the minds of a generation of baby-boomers. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Viagra. Ring a bell? It should. With sales accounting for 92% of prescribed erectile dysfunction pills in 2000, Viagra is the most famous sex pill in the world.
Viagra’s lost some of its stride since those heady days, but it trudges forward. Sales of Viagra currently constitute 50% of the market segment for prescription sex pills. Rival drugs Cialis and Levitra entered the market in 2003 and 2007 respectively, and though Viagra remains the most famous of the three, is no longer champion of this lucrative market.
Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are PDE5 inhibitors, meaning they protect cGMP in the corpora cavernosum from the enzyme phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5). There’s no question this is an effective way to produce an enjoyable erection, and there’s no shortage of aging men to snap them up as quickly as they’re produced.
But are PDE5 inhibitors safe? And where to natural sex products fit into the scheme of things?
First, let’s define a sex pill as either a pharmaceutical (PDE5 inhibitor) or natural product, consisting of herbals, amino acids and nutrients used since antiquity to stimulate the libido and treat erectile dysfunction. They’re both taken orally.
While there are some variations among the three most popular pharmaceuticals, they all protect cGMP in the penis from PDE5. They’re doctor-prescribed, take roughly an hour to kick in and produce an erection on arousal. They won’t work without sexual stimulation.
PDE5s are wildly popular, but they’re not without risks. Common side effects of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra include:
- headaches
- flushing
- dyspepsia (impaired digestion)
- nasal congestion
- vision problems (including photophobia and blurry vision)
These are common symptoms associated with PDE5 inhibitors. But new studies link Viagra and its competition with more severe, and in some cases, lasting side effects.
In 2005 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that in some instances, PDE5 inhibitors can trigger permanent vision problems. More recently, evidence surfaced in 2011 that Viagra, Levitra and Cialis have, in at least 47 cases, caused rapid hearing loss.
Additionally, men using PDE5 inhibitors should use caution when mixing with protease inhibitors (medications to treat viral infections, including HIV), as combining the two can increase severity of side effects.
This brings us to natural sex pills.
They don’t have the name recognition of Viagra, or the backing of giant drug companies. But evidence suggests that they do one thing very well – natural sex pills boost sex drive. And with that, the ability to produce and sustain an erection.
Natural products use the ancients’ knowledge of herbals and aphrodisiacs to enhance sexual health and the desire to have sex. Common ingredients you’ll find in products like VigRX Plus and ExtenZe include:
- ginkgo biloba
- tribulus terrestris
- damiana leaf
- muira pauma
You won’t find these ingredients on the cutting edge of pharmaceutical research, but you will find a long and proven track record of their use as aphrodisiacs and for their sexual health-boosting properties, in Europe, Asia and South America, over hundreds, even thousands of years.
In addition, the absence of pharmaceuticals in natural sex products excludes them from the side effects associated with PDE5 inhibitors. Not that there aren’t men who shouldn’t take natural sex pills, but the longevity of the ingredients used in natural products suggests they might be safer, and just as effective.
In fact, considering that natural sex pills enhance sexual health and treat the underlying causes of erectile dysfunction in men, there’s argument that natural sex products are more effective than PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra and its competition.
Does this mean you shouldn’t take Viagra, or Levitra, or Cialis?
If you’re a smoker, over 50, have heart disease, have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, there’s enough evidence to suggest that you should take caution when using a PDE5 inhibitor. And men with an interest in treating the root causes of erectile dysfunction, without the risks of Viagra, might try a natural sex pill instead.
