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Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2003, Levitra became the second in a new wave of medications to revolutionize the treatment of impotence in America and around the world.
Levitra made its debut on the U.S. market more than five years after the introduction of Viagra, the first of the so-called PDE5 inhibitors to become available. In the years since Levitra’s introduction, three other similar drugs have come to market. These are Cialis, Staxyn (an orally soluble formulation of the same active ingredient as Levitra), and Stendra.
This family of drugs gets its name from its ability to temporarily disable an enzyme known as phosphodiesterase-5, which makes it difficult for blood vessels that supply the penis to relax and thus promote the strong blood flow that is essential for a good erection.
Mechanics of Erection
To fully understand how Levitra and other PDE5 inhibitors work, it’s useful to know a bit about the mechanics of erection. The initial impetus for an erection doesn’t come from the pelvic region at all but originates in the brain as feelings of sexual desire.
Such feelings trigger the brain to send a flood of nitric oxide — a form of chemical messenger — to the pelvic region to get things started. Nitric oxide in turn activates a secondary chemical messenger known as cyclic guanosine monophosphate, or cGMP.
The role of cGMP is to relax smooth muscle tissues, including those that line the blood vessels supplying the penis. As these blood vessels relax, blood floods into the penis, engorging the organ’s spongy erectile tissue and creating an erection.
Deactivating PDE5 Enzyme
Because the PDE5 enzyme acts to break down cGMP, it can prevent all this good stuff from happening by blocking cGMP from doing its job. Thus, in temporarily blocking the effects of PDE5, Levitra and other drugs in its family make it easier to achieve and keep an erection strong and long-lasting enough for intercourse.
Although all of the PDE5 inhibitors work in much the same way, the individual drugs vary in chemical structure. Vardenafil, Levitra’s active ingredient, is most similar in structure to sildenafil citrate, Viagra’s active ingredient. However, vardenafil is much more potent that sildenafil, and thus the amount of the drug in each tablet of Levitra is much lower than that amount of sildenafil in a comparable dose of Viagra.
Levitra is available in tablets of 10 and 20 milligrams, compared with Viagra that is available primarily in 50- and 100-milligram doses.
Both drugs should be taken 30 to 60 minutes before sexual activity, although anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that a 30-minute lead time is usually more than sufficient for Levitra. Both drugs are said by their manufacturers to remain effective for four to five hours. Here again, anecdotal evidence indicates that Levitra may be slightly longer lasting than Viagra, although the difference is not statistically significant.
No Instant Erections
For those of you who have not previously used one of these impotence drugs, it’s important to know that none of them is able to miraculously cause an erection to appear. You’ll still need to get things started the old-fashioned way, and that’s with feelings of sexual desire that originate in the brain. Add to that some physical stimulation of the penis itself, and Levitra and other drugs in its class should be able to help you do the rest.
Because these drugs vary slightly in chemical structure and also have minor variations in the time they take to become effective and their duration of effectiveness, you should probably give them all a try to see which works best for you.
Fortunately, clinical trials have shown that Levitra and the other PDE5 inhibitors are both safe and effective in men with erection problems of a physiological origin. They may not be effective in men who face erection difficulties related to psychological issues, such as depression and/or anxiety.
Four Trials Evaluated
In its approval of Levitra, the FDA based its decision primarily on the drug’s performance in “four multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, fixed-dose, parallel design trials,” according to CenterWatch, a leading source of information about clinical trials.
Enrolled in the four trials scrutinized by the FDA were 2,431 men with an average age of 57. Some of the participants received vardenafil in varying doses ranging from 2.5 to 20 milligrams each, while others were given placebos.
The effectiveness of the drugs was evaluated based on how the participants scored on the International Index of Erectile Function. Also taken into consideration were the test subjects’ answers to two questions from the Sexual Encounter Profile. The first of these questions concerned vaginal penetration achievement, and the second focused on the ability to maintain an erection for intercourse.
Significant Improvements
According to CenterWatch, participants who received vardenafil showed statistically significant improvements in all areas of erectile function and performance that were measured, compared with those who got placebo.
While Levitra is not without some side effects, they are generally mild and tend to disappear after the drug has been taken for a while. Such mild side effects include dizziness, flushing, flu syndrome, headache, indigestion, nausea, and sinusitis.
Although rare, some more serious side effects have been reported in patients taking Levitra or one of the other PDE5 inhibitors. These include a temporary loss of vision and/or hearing and an erection that lasts for four or more hours. If you should experience any of these symptoms while taking Levitra, you should seek immediate medical attention. A protracted erection could result in permanent damage to the blood vessels that supply the penis.
Incompatible with Nitrates
If you are taking nitrate-based drugs for the treatment of angina pectoris, never take Levitra at the same time. Both of these medications depress blood pressure and taken together could cause a life-threatening decline in blood pressure.
If you are looking for a reliable online supplier of Levitra and other impotence drugs, eDrugstore.com is a good candidate. Based in Tempe, Arizona, eDrugstore is a member of the Secure Medical family of Internet drugstores. It sells only FDA-approved drugs.
If you’re new to the world of impotence medications, you might want to consider trying eDrugstore’s trial package that includes two or more doses each of Levitra, Viagra, and Cialis. This allows you to try each of the drugs to see which works the best for you.
If you already have a prescription from your doctor, you can fax or scan and email it to eDrugstore along with your order. If you’d prefer, eDrugstore can arrange an online consultation with one of its contract physicians. If eDrugstore’s doctor finds that your symptoms indicate the use of an impotence drug, he or she can write a prescription.
All of the drugs sold by eDrugstore are sourced from licensed U.S. pharmacies.
Don Amerman is a freelance author who writes extensively about a wide array of nutrition and health-related topics.
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