Archive for the ‘Guest Post’ Category
Have you been considering using a prescription to help you alleviate the symptoms of erectile dysfunction? Are you interested in learning more about how erectile dysfunction medication can help you perform with confidence but are worried about the effects? Millions of men throughout the world suffer from the negative side effects of erectile dysfunction every year. Among them, feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence and depression can cause men to feel even worse about their symptoms. If you’ve been suffering with erectile dysfunction, it’s important that you become proactive in your treatment. However, one of the most important parts of this is becoming informed on the possible side effects of any new medications. Perhaps the most successful and well known erectile dysfunction treatment currently available, Viagra has its side effects just like any other prescription. Learn more about these potential side effects right here and get the information you’ve been looking for.
While patients using Viagra have experienced a very low rate of side effects (many reporting none at all), there are some that are more common than others. Among these, the most reported side effect is headaches. Additionally, people using this medication have reported having symptoms such as facial flushing, indigestion, nasal congestion, urinary tract infections (UTI), blurred vision, diarrhea, dizziness or an unexplained rash.
Some men may find they aren’t able to take prescription medication for erectile dysfunction due to current or previous health problems. If you are on heart medication, have high or low blood pressure, have suffered a stroke within the past six months, have sickle cell anemia, leukemia or certain types of eye problems, you may not be a candidate for these medications. You’ll need to speak with your doctor before taking this medication and discuss the different types of medications you’re taking as well before use. Certain drugs, specifically those containing nitrates, aren’t safe to take with these medications.
If you’re interested in taking control of your erectile dysfunction, you should speak with your doctor about Viagra. Perhaps the most well known and widely used medication for erectile dysfunction, Viagra has a low rate of side effects and in many cases, men experience nothing but benefits. You shouldn’t hesitate to get the results you’ve been looking for any longer. You owe it to yourself, your confidence and your partner to start experiencing the amazing benefits of using this treatment to help alleviate your symptoms of erectile dysfunction today.
The Disadvantages of Cialis
When treating erectile dysfunction (ED) with prescription medication, the choice comes down to two main brands: Viagra (sildenafil) or Cialis (tadalafil). Erectile dysfunction can be frustrating and embarrassing, but is really very common. There are a few things it’s important to understand about this condition before choosing a treatment plan.
How the 2 ED medications work
Both sildenafil and tadalafil affect the body in similar ways. Erectile dysfunction is defined as the inability to achieve or sustain an erection, and medication helps by increasing the blood flow to the penis. This allows for an erection to occur where it formerly physically could not have been achieved, because the penis would not have received enough blood to become fully erect.
Natural results
Medications are designed to work with the body’s natural sexual cues, so the drugs do not cause an erection themselves. Rather, they allow for an erection to take place when there is a physical or psychological issue that might otherwise be preventing typical sexual function. Erections only take place in response to physical stimulation.
Benefits of treatment
Early intervention in treating ED can drastically lower the negative impact the condition usually has on an individual and his partner. As the problem continues, stress related to sexual performance increases, which in itself can contribute to further sexual dysfunction.Very quickly, this becomes a vicious cycle.
Alternative treatments
Of course, there are other ways to treat ED besides medication, but none of the other methods have shown nearly the same level of success. They may also require more invasive procedures, such as surgery. Or, they may need the use of complicated and embarrassing mechanical suction. Most men who struggle with ED find the best results through the discreet use of oral medication.
Overview of sildenafil
- Is taken only as needed
- Is effective about 30 minutes after initial dose
- Lasts an average of four hours
- Does not remain in system
Overview of tadalafil
- Must be taken daily
- Can take a few days to a few weeks to reach optimum effectiveness
How do I decide?
When choosing between tadalafil and sildenafil, it really comes down to lifestyle preference. Cialis must be taken every day, even when not planning for romance, because it needs time to build up to effective levels in the body before results are seen. Viagra only has to be taken when planning on becoming intimate, and effects dissipate naturally within a few hours.
No matter what the physical or psychological causes of sexual dysfunction, there’s a single underlying problem. Our society has become increasingly convinced everything can be perfect the first and every time. Although consistency is desirable, it’s almost impossible to guarantee every experience will always meet the same high standards. This means many people are setting themselves up to feel dissatisfied with their own or other people’s performance. Although this may not be too serious a problem in everyday living, it can become more dangerous when it comes to sex. There’s a mythology about sexual activity that often gives rise to high expectations. Our young are often led to believe the first experience will be extraordinary. Disappointment is therefore quite common. If these disappointments are repeated, it can affect libido and people can lose some or all their interest in sexual activity.
Physical and psychological causes of erectile dysfunction
Some causes of erectile dysfunction are purely physical. This can be an injury affecting the spine or lower part of the body, there may be damage to the nervous system because of diabetes or similar diseases, or it may be a symptom of cardiovascular disease. The most common cause is too high a level of carbohydrates in the bloodstream. This produces a deposit of platelets on the walls on the arteries and slowly restricts the flow. If the penile artery is affected, erections fail. Dysfunction can also be a side-effect of some common drugs.
The psychological causes are fairly easy to list. Libido may be lost because of a trauma, e.g. abuse or coercion, or a deep depression, i.e. any disastrous social event may have long-lasting consequences or a man may become so depressed he loses interest in all aspects of life. Performance anxiety is slight less serious where fear of failure becomes dominant and the man stops trying. In younger men, there can also be sexual confusion as to orientation. If the man is actually gay, there may be no consistent sexual response to a female.
The proper treatment and Viagra’s help
Physical causes can be treated by more conventional treatments for the underlying cause and the use of Viagra to give a boost to performance.
Psychological causes have to be resolved by counseling and therapy before sexual activity can be resumed. The problem is that, unless the mind finds the situation sexually stimulating, there will be no erection. This means treatment with antidepressants or other drugs to reduce anxiety alongside behavioral therapy. The plan is to reduce the level of depression and then work on relieving any performance anxiety. This means talking through attitudes toward sex and changing expectations. Some teaching to improve social skills will also help. Once the talking has done its work, Viagra and the creation of non-demanding sexual situations can build confidence.
Importance of mutual understanding bettween partners
The aim is to improve sexual behavior, get a better response from the partner and so build responsiveness. The better the relationship between the parties, the better the sex is likely to become. This means both parties have to improve the way they communicate with each other. Only if they both understand what the other wants, what fantasies the other has, and what gives the most pleasure, can the sexual relationship become genuinely successful.
Perhaps we should not find good in the Europeans. After all, they have death camp hospitals where doctors decide who lives and dies. At least, this is how the more excitable GOP politicians seem to think other democratic countries work. Quite why any government could survive ten minutes if its doctors were systematically killing people off is not explained. It is simply assumed all socialist systems are dangerous to the health of those who live there. That these myths survive is proof, if you needed it, that ideas can have a powerful and long-lasting effect on people. Put another way, if you believe in something strongly enough and make it a part of your life, your belief often comes true.
In medicine, an early problem facing researchers when designing clinical trials was the so-called placebo effect. It has long been recognized that people who believe strongly enough in the cure will often be cured. So we need to start off with a definition. A placebo is a chemically inert substance or liquid that can have no effect on the human body. In a clinical trial, people are randomly assigned to one of two groups. One gets the real drug. The other gets the placebo. But there is no way anyone can know which is which. So a doctor in a white coat gives you encouragement, a smile and the “medicine”. The volunteers then describe how they feel.
Consistently, about one-third of participants report feeling better after taking the placebo. No matter what the researchers have done to eliminate the placebo effect, all they have succeeded in doing is produce a mountain of evidence that people who expect a treatment to work feel better. So, if you run a practice, a clinic or hospital, you can make a third of your patients feel better if you manage their expectations well. Physicians dress and act the part, listening carefully, carefully examining, ordering tests where appropriate, and then prescribing something that will “do the trick”. Even if this something is chemically inert, it will be an effective treatment in at least one-third of cases.
In this, it makes no different what the source of the pain. It can be a severe headache or a broken bone. The strength of the patient’s belief is the key to relieving the pain. There always has been a role for ritual and suggestion. The shamans have exploited this over the centuries. Modern medicine continues the same traditions, albeit in a different form. This is not to say the result of clinical trials are to be doubted when they show a drug effective. Many drugs like Ultram are effective no matter what the patients believe, i.e. though you may not tell a patient exactly what drug you are giving and what the expected outcome is, people routinely experience less pain. But the converse is equally true.
Many people who have pain can control it without having to use a drug like Ultram. All it requires is a belief strong enough to make the pain bearable. It is this placebo power that is exploited in the European approach to pain management and a good reason to feel grateful we live in America (or not, depending on what you believe).
There’s a rumor going round the town that pain is a bad thing and should be eliminated at all costs. Big Boss Pharma has been lining up all its big guns and, no matter what level of pain you may be experiencing, there’s a pill with your name on it, assuming you get a prescription, of course. You may therefore look at the headline here and be a little surprised. How on Earth can anyone think pain is a good thing? Well, let’s go back to basics. Darwin, that inconvenient man who thinks we all evolved rather than were created, argued only the best-adapted species survived. When it comes to survival, the animal needs to know when it’s under attack. If it’s injured, it decides whether to fight or flee. So pain is a vital signal to the brain. It warns when the body is injured. We benefitted from that when we were less well-developed. Today, it’s still useful to know if we have accidentally injured ourselves or just picked up something too hot to hold.
The modern response is to seek medical assistance and then we complain when the pain message continues. So let’s move medical science a few years into the future. Rather in the same way we can switch off the burglar alarm when we know someone has broken into our home, a researcher develops a magic pill to switch off pain. It changes the brain’s chemistry so we are no longer aware of any pain. Would you take it? Before you rush to an answer, the scientist confirms this is an all or nothing pill. Either you feel pain or you do not. We will have to go into real science fiction to arrive at a treatment that only switches off the pain messages from the injured part of the body. In theory, it should be possible to neutralize the pain by interrupting the nervous system at key junctions, e.g. where an arm or leg joins the body. Unfortunately, this also risks paralyzing the arm or leg.
Anyway, back to the question. Would you take a pill to switch off pain? It would mean you would not know if you were damaging any other part of your body. Suppose you drink something that’s burning your tongue, or slip and make your existing injury worse. You would not know to stop drinking or seek further medical treatment. Completely turning off pain is dangerous unless you lie perfectly still and take no physical risks. Even then, you would not know if you were getting the first pain symptoms of a heart attack or warning indications of any other disease. The present situation is safer because a drug like Ultram simply reduces the intensity of the current pain. You can still feel if any other part of your body is injured or you are affected by some other disease or disorder.
In Europe, the trend is to teach people pain management techniques so they can achieve a good quality of life without having to rely on painkillers. This does not deny a role for drugs like Ultram. They will still be used for short-term relief should pain flare up. The hope is people can cope without risking dependence on drugs.
Let’s start off with a few simple propositions. Pain is just an extension of touch. We feel some levels of pressure represent pleasure or are merely acceptable. If the pressure becomes uncomfortable, we are immediately alerted. If the discomfort turns into pain, we are motivated to take action. So the gradations of touch into pain are a necessary part of the bodily process allowing us to avoid injury in our dangerous modern environment. Sadly, we do not have the means to switch off pain selectively. We continue to feel some pain unless the drugs literally induce unconsciousness. This is reality. There’s no sense in trying to deceive ourselves. So the big question is how we organize our lives to live a satisfying life with continuing pain?
This is not what you want to hear. The marketers who aim to sell you the range of drugs produced by the pharmaceutical industry have been brainwashing you for decades. They want you to believe there’s a pill to cure all your ills. Except that has always been a lie. Although some drugs are very effective for a time, all drugs slowly lose their effectiveness as the body adapts to them. This leaves you with the choice of giving up the drugs or increasing the dosage and risking dependence. In fact, we have millions of people addicted to prescription drugs. The majority could not stop without experiencing unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
Long ago, the Europeans decided this was unacceptable so they have been working to change mindsets. People have to understand they cannot rely on drugs to solve their long-term health problems. They must become more self-sufficient. This is what pain management really means. Specialists have to teach people how to live without becoming dependent on drugs. It all starts with a thorough re-evaluation of the medical treatment to date. Fresh pairs of eyes look back through the records of surgical procedures and other therapies. If anything has been missed, they are now done. If anything may have been done wrongly, attempts are made to correct any adverse consequences. The idea is to ensure everything that can be done to treat the underlying cause of the pain has been done.
Now we come to the pain itself. This is recognized as a medical problem in its own right. There are specialist physicians and highly trained therapists grouped together in dedicated units. Their job is to evaluate each patient and devise a personal regime for maximizing the quality of life. It starts with occupational therapists who visit homes and workplaces, suggesting how living spaces can be designed to reduce problems, and looking to see if jobs can be redefined to reduce the causes of pain. Then come the physical therapists to introduce exercises and activity programs to rebuild strength and improve mobility. Finally, the cognitive behavioral therapists teach practical strategies for staying positive when life seems difficult. All the evidence shows this team approach is very effective. Making the patient the center of attention improves morale and fights off the threat of depression. This is not to deny the importance of a drug like Ultram. There can be a flare-up of pain and, as a short-term response, a painkiller can be essential. But, as soon as possible, the Ultram must go back into the cabinet. Life must go on without drugs.