10 Things Your Doctor Will Ask You before Prescribing Viagra / Generic Viagra


Black-Box Warning

Viagra does not replace recommendations of your doctor. Read this information carefully before taking Viagra. Ask a doctor or a pharmacist if you do not understand something, or you want to learn more about this drug than described in this guideline. This medicine can help most men if taken as per prescribed by a doctor. However, Viagra is not for everyone. It is intended for use only by men with erectile dysfunction. First of all, Viagra is never to be taken by men who take medicines containing nitrates in any form, including nitroglycerin. If you take Viagra with any drug containing nitrates, your blood pressure may suddenly drop to life-threatening values.

What Is Contained in Any Viagra Package?

Viagra is produced in the form of blue, film-coated tablets of a diamond shape, slightly biconvex with cut and rounded edges. The composition of a tablet includes:

  • active substance: sildenafil (in the form of sildenafil citrate) 50 or 100 mg;
  • auxiliary substances: microcrystalline cellulose, calcium hydrophosphate (anhydrous), croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, Opadry blue film and Opadry transparent.

Each package contains 1 blister containing 1 tablet or 4 tablets with instructions to use.

What Is Viagra?

Viagra is a tablet used to treat erectile dysfunction. It helps most men with sexual issues to achieve erection and keep it along with sexual arousal. Viagra refers to pharmacotherapeutic group “means for the treatment of erectile dysfunction – phosphodiesterase inhibitors PDE5”. You will not get an erection if you just take this drug. Viagra will help a man with erectile dysfunction to reach erection only if he is sexually aroused.

What Happens with Organism during Sex?

When a man is sexually aroused, blood enters penis in a bigger volume than usual. This process increases penis and makes it firmer. This condition is called erection. After sexual intercourse, this excessive rush of blood to penis ceases. The erection disappears. If erection continues for a long time (more than 6 hours), this condition can irreversibly damage your penis. You should immediately consult a doctor if you have an erection that does not disappear for a long period of time (more than 4 hours).

Some diseases and taking a number of drugs disrupt the process of natural occurrence of erection. In these cases, blood circulation in penis is inadequate. Therefore, a man cannot achieve full erection. If this condition occurs frequently and repeatedly, it is called erectile dysfunction.

During sexual intercourse, your heart works more intensively. Therefore, people who have cardiac problems are not recommended to have sexual activity. Before you start treating erectile dysfunction by using any method, ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough to suffer physical stress during sex. If you feel chest pain, dizziness, or nausea during sex, stop them and immediately inform your doctor about any health problems that you have.

Why Apply Viagra?

Viagra enables many men with erectile dysfunction to get a natural reaction to sexual arousal. When a man is sexually aroused, Viagra helps to improve blood supply to penis, allows him to fill it up with blood quite enough to cause erection. After the end of sexual act, erection disappears.

Generic Viagra Intake Is Contraindicated If…

  • …if you have had hypersensitivity to Viagra or any of its components or a similar drug.
  • …if you are taking any medications containing nitrates regularly or as per requirement – you should never take Viagra. If you take Viagra with any drug containing nitrates, your blood pressure may suddenly drop to life-threatening values. You may feel dizzy, weak, or even experience a heart attack or stroke. Nitrates are found in many prescription drugs used to treat cardiac angina (chest pain associated with cardiovascular disease). These drugs are:
    • nitroglycerin (inhalers, ointments, dermal patches or pastes, or tablets for ingestion, chewing or absorption in mouth cavity);
    • isosorbide mononitrate or isosorbide dinitrate (tablets for ingestion, chewing or absorption in mouth cavity);
    • Nitrates can also be contained in amyl nitrate or nitrite (“poppers”).

What Should I Ask a Doctor before I Start Taking Viagra?

  1. Only a doctor can certainly decide whether Viagra is the right drug for you. Viagra can cause an easy temporary decrease in blood pressure. You may need to undergo a medical examination to establish a diagnosis – erectile dysfunction. And also to find out that you can take this drug without danger for your health, including its administration together with other medicines prescribed to you.
  2. The doctor must determine whether your heart is able to withstand stresses of having sex.
  3. Immediately tell the doctor:

    • If you ever had any heart problems (for example, angina, chest pain, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances, cardiac seizure or constriction of the aortic valve)
    • If you had a stroke in the past medical history
    • If you had low or high blood pressure
    • If you ever had a severe vision loss
    • If you have a rare congenital eye disease – retinitis pigmentosa
    • If you have had kidney problems
    • If you have had liver problems
    • If you have had blood problems, including sickle-cell anemia or leukemia
    • If you are allergic to sildenafil or which or any other ingredient in Viagra tablets
    • If you have a penis deformity, Peyronie’s disease, or has ever had an erection lasting more than 4 hours
    • If you have had ulcerative bleeding or any other bleeding
    • If you are taking any other medicines.
  4. Viagra and other medicines may alter its expected effect. Tell your doctor about any medications that you take. Do not start or stop taking any medications without consulting your doctor or pharmacist. This applies to both prescription and non-prescription drugs and medicines.
  5. Remember that Viagra should never be taken together with medicines containing nitrates.
  6. If you take a drug from the group of alpha-blockers for the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure) or problems with the prostate gland, your blood pressure may drop drastically. You may feel weak or dizzy
  7. If you are taking protease inhibitors, you may need to select a dose (please read the instruction)
  8. Viagra should not be used in conjunction with any other drugs that cause an erection. These are tablets; injections; drugs that are injected into the penis; implants or vacuum pumps.
  9. Selection of the right dosage of Viagra is available in several dosages (50 mg and 100 mg).
  10. If you did not experience the expected result after taking the dose, consult a doctor. You, together with your doctor, determine the dose that will give you the best effect:
    • Do not take a dose of Viagra more than your doctor prescribed
    • If you think you need to increase the dose of Viagra, ask your doctor.
    • Viagra should not be taken more often than once a day.
    • A doctor may prescribe a smaller dose of Viagra, for example: If you are older than 65 years or if you have a serious kidney or liver disease, the doctor will recommend starting with the lowest dose (25 mg) of Viagra
    • If you take inhibitors proteases used to treat HIV infection, a doctor can recommend a dose of 25 mg and can limit the intake of Viagra to you with a maximum single dose of 25 mg for 48 hours
    • If you have problems with the prostate gland or high blood pressure and you are taking alpha blockers in this regard, a doctor may recommend starting with a lower dose of Viagra.
  11. How to Take Generic Viagra?

    Take a Viagra tablet about 1 hour before the planned sex. Within 30 minutes after taking the pill before 4 pm, Viagra will help you achieve erection if you are sexually aroused. You will not get erection if you just take a pill perorally. If you take Viagra after meals that contain a lot of fat, the medicine can begin its action a little later.

    Probable Side-Effects

    As with all medicines, Viagra can cause some side-effects. Generally, these effects are mild or moderate and last no more than a few hours. Some of these side-effects are likely to occur when taken at higher doses. The most common side-effects of Viagra are headache, redness of the face, indigestion. Less common were such side-effects such as impairment in color vision (such as the inability to distinguish between blue and green objects or vision of all objects with a shade of blue); sensitivity of eyes to light; blurry vision; cardiopalmus; nasal congestion; stomach upset.

    When using Viagra in doses exceeding recommended ones, undesirable phenomena were similar to those mentioned above, but were usually more common. There were also reports of the development of such side-effects as hypersensitivity reactions, including skin rash, seizures, lower blood pressure, fainting, epistaxis, vomiting. Very rarely, men taking PDE5 inhibitors (a group of drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction for peroral administration, including Viagra), reported a sudden decrease or loss of vision in one or both eyes.

    It is impossible to determine whether these cases were directly related to taking these medications or to the influence of other factors, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, or a combination of all factors. If you experience a sudden decrease or loss of vision, stop taking PDE5 inhibitors, including Viagra, and see a doctor immediately.

    Very rarely, men reported an erection lasting several hours. You should see a doctor immediately if you have an erection lasting more than 4 hours. If you do not immediately take any action, you can develop permanent damage to penis. It has been reported rarely about a sudden loss or decrease in hearing, sometimes accompanied by dizziness in people taking PDE5 inhibitors, including Viagra.

    It is impossible to determine whether these factors are directly related to taking PDE5 inhibitors, other diseases or other medications, other factors or a combination of factors. If you experience these symptoms, stop taking Viagra and immediately consult a doctor.