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How Does Viagra Actually Work?

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Viagra can help restore your natural confidence.

Believe it or not, the famous little blue pill that has helped so many men with erection health was an accidental discovery, according to numerous sources, including Harvard Business School’s 2003 article, Sometimes Success Begins at Failure. That’s some happy accident.

Sildenafil citrate, the official drug name for Viagra, was developed and initially tested for an entirely different purpose. But the original proposed use, hypertension and angina, and its more common use now, erection health, aren’t as different as they might appear on the surface. The very reason it was believed to help one health condition is the same reason it works for erection health.

To understand why Viagra can encourage erection health, it helps to know how it works in general. It’s a bit technical at first, but breaks down to some fairly fundamental effects.

The short-form explanation is this: There’s an enzyme that’s responsible for erection health issues in some men, and Viagra helps protect against the effects of that enzyme. This is based on the 1998 erection health study by Sildenafil Study Group.  This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 2, 1998.

Viagra doesn’t necessarily create an erection; it allows and assists your body’s natural ability to produce an erection work like it should.

The Science Behind Viagra

Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, say that erection health issues happen when there isn’t enough blood flow to the penis. It’s a common problem affecting nearly 30 million men. While there are different causes, the most common are health conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Sildenafil Citrate is a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-specific phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor. You can take a breath now; there’s a simpler way to explain it.

Among other things, cGMP in your body is responsible for relaxing smooth muscle cells. You have these cells throughout your body. When those cells are vascular, the effect is called vasodilation.

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PDE5 is an enzyme that degrades or breaks down cGMP. So when PDE5 is present, cGMP does not effectively relax those smooth muscle cells. Sildenafil citrate inhibits PDE5’s ability to degrade cGMP — Viagra is cGMP’s protector.

During sexual stimulation, nitrous oxide (NO) is released from nerve endings into the spongy erectile tissue of the penis. When NO is released, that triggers the release of cGMP, the smooth muscle relaxer. An erection happens when NO and cGMP promote a strong, healthy blood flow to the penis, which fills the spongy tissue with blood.

In men with erection health issues, PDE5 can enter the equation to inhibit smooth muscle cell relaxation, which, in turn, inhibits free blood flow to the penis. Viagra, cGMPs defender, helps negate the effect of PDE5, so the smooth muscle cells can relax, and more blood can flow into the penis. More blood means stronger erections.

Viagra Doesn’t Produce Spontaneous Erections

Taking Viagra doesn’t normally produce an erection all on its own. Sexual stimulation is what triggers the release of NO, which begins the chain of events that lead to an erection. Without stimulation, the chain doesn’t begin. Also, the effects of Viagra only last a few hours, says Pfizer.

This is why the commercials you see and literature you read about the drug explain that it’s normally taken a short time before you anticipate a sexual encounter. Taken too soon, there won’t be enough sildenafil citrate in the body to do its job, which is encouraging blood flow to the penis.

Strong blood flow is also responsible for maintaining an erection. When the spongy tissue of the penis is engorged with blood, the veins that normally allow blood to flow back out are temporarily compressed, as explained in the 1998 pharmacology review, Pharmacokinetics Summary / Evaluation.  But once stimulation is no longer present, such as after ejaculation or if the stimulation is removed, veins are no longer compressed and blood can flow back out.

Help for Men After Prostate Cancer

Viagra has offered long-term success for men who have undergone radical prostatectomy, according to a study published at the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

WebMD  explains that radical prostatectomy is the removal of the prostate gland and surrounding tissue to remove prostate cancer. Because the procedure is a treatment for cancer, and no two cancers are identical, the amount of tissue removed differs from one man to the next.

In some men, nerves that that control erections are damaged or removed. Those nerve endings are close to the prostate gland, and surgeons will try to preserve them if possible. But whether or not nerves are removed, natural erections may not be possible for a time, or at all, after the surgery.

The study observed a group of 91 patients post-surgery, and again 3 years afterward. The group consisted of men who had initial success with Viagra. At the 3-year mark, the majority of patients still responded to the therapy. Only 5 men dropped out of the study because the drug no longer worked for them.

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Viagra Might be Appropriate for Some Patients After Heart Attack

In a study published in the Oxford European Heart Journal, researchers aimed to determine whether sildenafil had any negative effect on exercise tolerance in men with heart disease.

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of erection health problems. Erections depend on a healthy supply of blood, and of course the heart is the driving force. A heart attack happens when the blood supply to the heart is blocked or impaired. A common cause of this is cholesterol deposits inside the blood vessels. High cholesterol can also reduce blood flow through vessels that supply the penis, worsening matters.

Researchers noted that health risks of sexual activity are low, even for men with cardiovascular disease. But many men are apprehensive about resuming sexual activity after suffering a heart attack.

The study showed that men with cardiovascular disease that’s under control, without nitrates, had no undue health risks from taking Viagra and resuming sexual activity. In fact, heart rate and blood pressure readings were lower during and after exertion among the study patients who received sildenafil.

The results offer doctors an important tool. It helps with evaluating patients, and determining whether they are strong and healthy enough for sexual activity. In this study, sildenafil was not found to increase risk, and it actually offered benefits. In men with angina who aren’t using nitrate therapy, Viagra might be well tolerated.

Erection health problems are common, and Viagra is being proven more and more to offer safe, effective results. While the science side of how it works might be complicated, the simple act of taking the little blue pill couldn’t be simpler.

Viagra can allow your body to function the way that it was intended to. It’s not magic in the way some might think. It doesn’t create an erection synthetically; it simply helps remove the barriers that some men face, and lets nature take its course.

eDrugstore.com sells Levitra, Cialis, and Viagra, all of which are scientifically proven medications to gain stronger erections. There’s even a sample pack with all three, if you’re not sure which one is right for you. We offer the privacy and convenience of online ordering, and your discreetly-packed shipment arrives right at your door. If you’re ready to try something that works, see what eDrugstore.com has to offer.

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