Viagra: His or Hers?

It seems that everyone is talking, or giggling, about Viagra. You see it advertised directly to consumers on television. I get several junk e-mails per week asking if I want to buy some. Among teenagers it has reached illicit drug status, with teenage boys hording single pills and showing them off to their friends at school. Grown men and women can often be heard giggling about it over the office drinking fountain. Viagra is now the most profitable prescription drug ever produced. Viagra is seemingly bringing us into a brave new world.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with what has become a recreational drug becoming socially acceptable. I do, however, have a problem with misinformation. The problem I have with Viagra as well as many other “lifestyle drugs” is that the companies who make it push it on consumers without explaining to people what it does. Nor have doctors put as much emphasis on educating as they have on prescribing Viagra. This has lead to wild and unrealistic expectations about what it can do for people.

Here at Think Muscle we are dedicated to fighting misinformation. Why? Because it leads to consumers being taken advantage of. Yes, even prescription drug hype is used to take advantage of uneducated consumers. The company that makes Viagra could easily put out information that would better educate potential consumers. Of course this would significantly reduce the demand for the drug simply because people would know what it does and doesn’t do. As it stands, many people who use Viagra will not get any benefit whatsoever out of it simply because it will no effect on their particular problem or disorder.

Now, with men representing only half of what this drug company sees as a potential market, it is now being recommended to women. Not directly mind you. That approach would not work because women have generally been led to believe it is for men. Instead, someone in the industry has begun spreading rumors of research involving Viagra and women. That way they can use the social credibility of university researchers to inadvertently hype up the drug even more, thereby increasing demand, and profits.

Despite my ranting, the question remains, is Viagra for men, women, or both? In order to answer that question for yourself you need to know the science behind this little blue love potion. I’m going to use some scientific terms that you may not be familiar with. This doesn’t mean you should skip this part however. Read through the science and then we will discuss it in less scientific terms.

Viagra is the brand name for sildenafil. Sildenafil is a selective inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-specific phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5). A phosphodiesterase is a phosphatase that acts on diesters to hydrolyze only one of the two ester groups. In target cells such as those in the penis, phosphodiesterase acts to hydrolyze cGMP and cAMP into inactive fragments. A phosphodiesterase-inhibitor is a molecule that inhibits the action of phosphodiesterase. Probably the most common phosphodiesterase inhibitor that you all have used at one time or another is caffeine. Keep in mind however that even though caffeine and Viagra are the same class of drug, they have considerably different effects.

Now Viagra can’t work without another common substance, this time a gas known as nitric oxide, or NO. In blood vessals, NO activates the enzyme guanylate cyclase, which results in increased levels of cGMP, producing smooth muscle relaxation of blood vessel walls. This causes vasodilation. Sildenafil has no direct relaxant effect on smooth muscle alone, but enhances the effect of nitric oxide by inhibiting PDE5, which is responsible for degradation of cGMP. For example, when tactile or visual stimuli cause local release of NO, inhibition of PDE5 by sildenafil causes increased levels of cGMP in the blood vessels, resulting in penile vasodilation and subsequent erection. IF you are impotent because you have a problem somewhere along this physical chain of events, Viagra should help. IF on the other hand, your impotence is caused by vascular or neurological damage as a result of diabetes, Viagra will not help. Likewise, if your impotence has psychological roots, Viagra will only help if you really believe it will.

Viagra will help men get an erection if they suffer a lack of penile vasodilation in response to visual or tactile stimuli. Unlike testosterone, it will not increase sexual desire.

So where does this leave women? Viagra was developed to treat erectile dysfunction, and this, for obvious reasons leaves the benefits for women a bit dubious. It is not a drug that effects sex drive so what exactly does the company want women to think they will get from it? They want you to think it will improve your sex life.

Here is where I will concede somewhat and say that a woman might feel “something” with Viagra. When sexual differentiation occurs in the womb, the genitalia for men and women are basically identical when the physical changes begin. In an adult woman the clitoris is the remnant of what would have become the penis if she had become a male. The clitoris maintains some of the characteristics of the penis such as becoming engorged with blood during sexual arousal. If anything, Viagra may increase blood accumulation in the clitoris. If this is what is keeping you from having a fulfilling sex life, go for it. If not, save your money for a nice dinner and a romantic movie.

I guess the bottom line is that Viagra acts only as an aphrodisiac because people expect it too, not because it actually affects anything but blood flow. If blood flow is what you are lacking, Viagra may be just the ticket.

Just a note before putting this topic to bed, there are no current over-the-counter alternatives to Viagra. There are no supplements available at this time that can mimic the mechanism of Viagra. Therefore, any advertising you here claiming that a product is as good as Viagra, or is a natural alternative to Viagra, or is just as effective as Viagra, is false. We at Think Muscle just thought you should know.