Versatile Viagra

VIAGRA, the wonder drug that has revolutionised life for many older men, has a new use. It has been used successfully to improve the uterine circulation to pregnant women starting to develop placental insufficiency. As a pregnancy continues into the later months so there are many cases in which the placental circulation is no longer adequate to keep the developing baby fully nourished. Recent research suggests that Viagra can improve placental blood supply.

Viagra has also been in the news because of its possible link with sudden failure of the blood supply to the optic nerve. This is nothing to do with the firmly held belief that masturbatory sex blinded Victorian youths and blighted their potential imperial career before it had started. Nor is it related to the very genuine, but always slightly physiologically puzzling, comparatively common prevalence of orgasmic headaches.

Viagra, is a phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor. It inhibits the PDE5 enzyme which breaks down another chemical, cGMP, cyclic guanosine monophosphate and this has an effect on arterial blood supply. Viagra was the first of the PDE5 inhibitors.

The common manifestation of an improvement to the blood supply to the eyes' arteries is that men who have taken Viagra may view the world as if through blood-red tinted spectacles. The PDE5 inhibitors may cause headaches; they can dilate the body's blood vessels so that the patient feels dizzy or faint.

There is always a close association between pelvic and nasal-blood supply. Many women have nasal congestion in pregnancy or even before a period. Likewise, Viagra may cause nasal congestion. Patients taking Viagra, or the other anti-impotence drugs, should not be alarmed by this research on the eyes' blood supply. From the many millions of people who take Viagra, only a very few cases who have suffered have so far been identified.

Ref: Times Online, UK