Viagra improves brain blood flow and could help to prevent dementia

[GlickWick]

Wasn't this class of medication originally for cardiovascular issues, and the whole ED mitigation was a happy marketable accident?

[paiute]

It is being used off label all over the place for heart conditions. That’s why i take it. The on label use is actually pretty annoying for the first few months.

[jbandela1]

That is true that it was originally for cardiovascular issues.

However, it seems that there was at least theoretical consideration that it could be used to treat ED

A nice overview is here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd2030

[mikercampbell]

I vaguely recall an anecdote about athletes using it for performance improvement, and getting a slightly different stat buff

[lebuffon]

I know a former executive of the company that was developing this drug for cardiovascular problems. He told me that they sold it because it had this "side-effect" that they couldn't get rid of. ;-)

Marketing is the key to business success. (Talking to you, tech people)

[Phoenix5869]

Yep. Originally developed for high blood pressure and angina, but in clinical trials was found to be more effective in treating ED than heart issues.

[standardUser]

We don't know how many medications actually function. We put them inside of increasingly complex animals and study the results to see what they do (and hope they don't die). Botox was intended to treat muscle spasms. Powerful anti-depressants are regularly prescribed for pain from nerve damage in people with no mental health issues. And MDMA isn't prescribed for anything because the powers that be prematurely decided to ban it based on completely fabricated claims, which I assume is part of a massive hundred-year conspiracy to make sure people... keep dying from alcohol? Not totally sure about that last one, but it's hard to deny the facts.

[1oooqooq]

this is the case with almost all drugs. for example almost every antidepressants was the result of a weight loss or something like that.

drug research is worse than training an LLM. you feed it to random people and then compare effects with initial conditions and of something looks good you try with more control.

[ekianjo]

many drugs are found by accident

[caycep]

yes, well, pulmonary hypertension

[bionhoward]

Just a word to the wise, viagra can cause tinnitus by putting too much blood through tiny vessels in your ears. Be careful of high doses while hydrated and exercising

[noduerme]

isn't, er, vigorous exercise part of what people expect when they take viagra?

[alfiedotwtf]

Off-topic but related… I started Vyvanse about 3 months ago and the only negative side effect so far is tinnitus. It’s bloody loud :(

[sva_]

> The OxHARP trial was a meticulously designed double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 75 participants who had experienced a minor stroke and showed signs of mild to moderate small vessel disease. Each participant received sildenafil, a placebo, and cilostazol (a similar drug) over three-week periods in a randomised order.

I feel like dudes will know if they got Viagra or not? It doesn't seem like cilostazol has the same kind of effects on them, or does it? So is it really a placebo?

[saulpw]

Viagra doesn't "make" you hard, you still need sexual stimulus. I've taken it and then the sexual opportunity fell through, so I went back to coding or whatever, and I didn't notice anything different.

[spencerchubb]

Maybe, but maybe not. If I told you I'm either giving you actual viagra or a placebo, you might get more aroused even if given placebo. Because psychologically you'll be thinking "There's at least a chance I took viagra right now"

[treprinum]

Viagra doesn't work for everyone; it's not like you take it an get automatically erect, even with sexual stimulus. There are many reasons for ED, some of them in the brain, some of them in hormones. Viagra only helps with cardiovascular ones.

[Spod_Gaju]

If this is true they altered zinc metabolism might play a role in dementia since zinc is the cofactor for PDE5, or that people who do not make enough cGMP are prone to dementia (which also means they might be low in GTP and GTP regulates glucose-insulin secretion so...)

So I think they can do better then "here is a pill give me more money".

[xgkickt]

I’d like to see how this effect from Sildenafil compares to increased NO levels from eating beets.

[CoastalCoder]

If nothing else, you're making me imagine some new scenes involving Dwight Schrute :)

[paiute]

This is how i figured out NO would help my heart. Eating cereal colored with beet powder. If i understand the magic happens when it combines with saliva. So chewing beets might help.

[01100011]

Also arginine and/or citrulline.

[Aerbil313]

IIRC the benefit of viagra comes from increased NO in blood. You naturally get no when you breathe from your nose. I'd like to see a research on viagra use and mouthbreathing relation.

[debo_]

looks at pants I see you've been beeting off

... Sorry

[Arthanos]

50mg 3x a day, according to the study: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.32432...

Seems high to me, but I've never taken the drug. I assume most people take it just a few times a week for it's intended use? Is anyone aware of research that shows positive benefits to health at recreational doses?

[elzbardico]

Well. too sad I can't take it. It gives me terrible heartburn (an acute stomach pain, not a heart related condition) that only partially responds to anti-acids such as Alka Seltzer.

Also, extremelly stuffy nose, to the point where basically I need to breath by the mouth. And the red eyes, eyes as red as if had just smoke the biggest and strongest joint ever.

Yes, I tried to use it recreationally a few times. It is not worth the pain for me.

And then the dosage in the study: 50mg 3X times a day? I am not sure I could even survive the first day.

Did I mention the headaches too?

EDIT: Before someone asks... At least the on-label effect works really well in a recreational setting for me. But it is kind of funny to have persistent carbon-steel erections when you're feeling miserable with stomach pain and can't breath well. Doing oral sex with a stuffy nose is... interesting.

[silenced_trope]

I take 4.5mg cialis (tadalafil) every day.

I think a lot of people do. Viagra is slightly different of course.

Both "hims" and "blue chew" now offer a daily mint "multivitamin" of tadalafil.

[jjallen]

You take it for this purpose or why?

[largbae]

I always wonder if there is a circular logic flaw in survey studies of recreation and dementia: could it be that the folks who are chasing Viagra or running marathons don't get dementia, because the ones with dementia don't pursue these activities?

[WalterBright]

First NIH said it does:

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/viagra-...

Then it doesn't:

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-dream-stud...

Then it does:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-06-07-sildenafil-viagra-impro...

Who knows what to believe.

[martin82]

Eating healthy (low carb), working out, and thus preventing insulin resistance prevents dementia.

But big pharma is never going to tell you that...

[standardUser]

The 3x daily dosage is surprising to me because the one notable warning that comes with the prescription is to never take it more than once in a day. In fact, I would go as far to say that if you've been prescribed Viagra the only things you know about it are: it will help you get boners, you should talk to a doctor if you have a heart condition, and you should never use it more than once a day. The warning seemed extra ominous because it was basically the only warning, so I adhered to it fairly strictly at first.

About a year later I talked to some gay male friends and they all said that was ridiculous, that they freely take it multiple times per day, and I that should too. So now I do (as needed) and it's worked very well. Plus, the subscription I get through Hims sends me a giant bottle of 20mg pills (at an unreasonably high cost) so I am able to easily dose myself instead of being given a one-size-fits-all dosage, like we get with most medications. My low dose is 3 pills and my high dose is 5 pills.

Now there are many options beyond Viagra including a ton of intriguing combination drugs that use multiple erection drugs and/or other drugs with tangential effects. But I like that I know how Viagra works for me personally based on experience. I think we all underestimate how much drugs very from person to person. Plus, now that I think about the lack of warnings that come with Viagra, it actually seems like an unusually benign drug.

[kabes]

It also increases blood flow to the scalp, which helps against hair loss.

[mpenick]

Saunas, hot baths, and excercise improve blood flow.

[bell-cot]

Expect a new tsunami of Viagra spam in 3...2...1...

[fny]

Viagra has also been shown to reduce period cramps.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23925396/

[ofrzeta]

One trial with 62 patients and then "Since we did not meet our sample size due to the loss of funding and could not confirm our primary hypothesis, larger studies of longer duration, likely multi-center, are needed to confirm the findings from this study. "

[the_arun]

It needs prescription, correct?

[ethagnawl]

In the US, it does but the bar is laughably low. For example, you can get a prescription on blewchew.com which gets "reviewed" by their "consulting physicians" and have it in hand in a day or two.

[sva_]

In the UK you can get it over the counter since a couple years back afaik.

[cactusplant7374]

It's possible to order it from Indian pharmacies or one can pick it up while on vacation in the third world.

[loeg]

In the US, yeah, but arguably it shouldn't be. Probably the only good reason for controlling it is risk of priapism from people using it stupidly, which is an extremely bad "go to the ER now" condition.

[bananamerica]

Over the counter in Brazil.

[koolala]

ummmmmm... no offense if you have dementia and i have no easy way to ask about it, sorry this question is personal and you could easily just be asking for a friend

[pram]

I’ve read about people using tadalafil as a nootropic in the past. Is there even a difference?

It’s so easy to get a prescription these days might be worth a shot.

[jgalt212]

There's a joke / counterpoint in here about men with erections thinking less clearly than men without erections.

[pbj1968]

I used to buy it over the counter in Mexico for recreational purposes, now I have some ancient prescription I don’t need that’s renewed annually for free. A stiff breeze will work, it’s actually remarkable. It will totally make your skin flush and make you feel light headed, not surprised by any of this.