Original heart hope of Viagra realised
By Michelle Roberts
BBC News, health reporter

The drug works on blood vessels

Say the name Viagra and most buy viagra online people will automatically think of a drug to treat impotence.

But doctors are finding it is good buy viagra online at boosting parts of the body other than the penis, such as the blood vessels of the heart and lungs - as has been buy viagra online seen in the case of premature baby Lewis Goodfellow.

This is not altogether buy viagra online surprising given that Viagra was originally designed to lower buy viagra online blood pressure and treat angina.

Chance finding

It was during early testing buy viagra online that its developers noticed the drug aided buy viagra online the male erection - a curious and, as it buy viagra online turned out, very lucrative side effect.

Pfizer therefore decided to market it for buy viagra online erectile dysfunction, rather than as a heart drug, and buy viagra online after more safety tests Viagra was buy viagra online finally licensed as an impotence treatment in 1998.
It was originally looked at as a heart drug
Vicky Styman of the British Heart Foundation

Years later Viagra is turning full buy viagra online circle and doctors are re-exploring its use for treating circulatory problems buy viagra online involving the heart and lungs.

The drug, also buy viagra online known as sildenafil, does not directly buy viagra online give a man an erection. It works by boosting buy viagra online blood flow to the penis.

It does this by specifically buy viagra online blocking a particular enzyme called buy viagra online phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE 5).

This action means the drug is also buy viagra online good at improving blood flow elsewhere in the body.

Vicky Styman of the British Heart Foundation buy viagra online explained: “It is a potent vasodilator, opening up the blood vessels and it was originally buy viagra online looked at as a heart drug.”

But there have been concerns about buy viagra online whether it is safe for men with heart disease buy viagra online on particular medications that work in the buy viagra online same way.
I suspect we will see a generation of drugs coming buy viagra online out from the sildenafil group which are actually buy viagra online designed for working on the heart
Ian Banks of the Men’s Health Forum

Doctors are told not to prescribe buy viagra online Viagra along with these angina drugs called buy viagra online nitrates as the mix could lower blood buy viagra online pressure to dangerous levels.

It appears to be safe in other buy viagra online heart patients, but Ms Styman added: “If you have a heart condition you should check with your doctor before taking Viagra.”

As erectile buy viagra online dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases buy viagra online have common risk factors, many of the patients who might buy viagra online benefit from Viagra also have cardiovascular diseases.

Ian Banks of the Men’s Health Forum said: “It was a very attractive buy viagra online drug for cardiac conditions buy viagra online and lowering blood pressure.

“Indeed, I’ve noticed buy viagra online that when I prescribe Viagra to patients with a heart buy viagra online condition it actually improves their heart buy viagra online condition as well as their erectile dysfunction.

“It does what it originally buy viagra online said on the tin. But Pfizer knew buy viagra online they were on to a winner with the buy viagra online erectile dysfunction line.

“But people are still buy viagra online interested in using it for other buy viagra online conditions and I suspect we will see a generation of drugs coming out from the sildenafil group which are actually designed for working on the heart buy viagra online because it is so effective.”

Viagra used to save baby-s life

After five months Lewis Goodfellow is at home with his parents
Viagra has been used by doctors on Tyneside as a last buy viagra online resort to save the life of a premature baby.

Lewis Goodfellow was buy viagra online born at 24 weeks weighing just 1lb 8oz. One of his buy viagra online lungs had failed and not enough oxygen was able buy viagra online to get into his bloodstream.

Doctors at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary buy viagra online then tried Sildenafil, also known under the trade buy viagra online name of Viagra, and Lewis is now home with his parents.

The drug opened up tiny blood buy viagra online vessels in the baby’s lungs.

Parents Jade Goodfellow and John Barclay, from Walker, Newcastle buy viagra online believe the drug - more usually associated buy viagra online with anti-impotence - saved his life.

At one point they were so concerned buy viagra online he would not survive that they began planning a funeral.
What Sildenafil does is open up the blood vessels so they buy viagra online can capture the oxygen and take it around the body
Alan Fenton

Ms Goodfellow said: “Doctors said buy viagra online he couldn’t be given any more oxygen.

“They were just clutching at straws buy viagra online basically. They explained it was experimental buy viagra online and may not have any effect at all.”

Alan Fenton, consultant neonatologist buy viagra online at the hospital, said: “The problem we see in premature babies with breathing difficulties buy viagra online is although we can blow oxygen into their lungs to help them, there isn’t enough blood supply to various areas of the lungs buy viagra online to take the oxygen around the rest of the body.

“What Sildenafil does is open up the blood buy viagra online vessels so they can capture the oxygen and take it around the body.”

Lewis was born in August 2006 and was buy viagra online finally allowed home in January, to the delight of his parents.

His mother said: “I don’t think you could buy viagra online put into words how we feel.

“The doctors are worth their weight in gold. We admire buy viagra online each and every one of them for what they have done.”

Viagra saves baby-s life

London - English doctors used the anti-impotence buy viagra online drug Viagra to save the life of a severely buy viagra online premature baby, media reports said on Friday.

Medics in the northeast buy viagra online city of Newcastle upon Tyne gave buy viagra online the drug to Lewis Goodfellow - who was buy viagra online born at 24 weeks, weighing just 780g - as one of his buy viagra online lungs failed and not enough oxygen buy viagra online was getting into his bloodstream.

The drug opened up tiny blood buy viagra online vessels in his lungs, allowing oxygen buy viagra online to be captured and flow around the body. Lewis, who buy viagra online was born in August last year, was eventually buy viagra online allowed home last month.

Alan Fenton, consultant neonatologist buy viagra online at the city’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, said buy viagra online although oxygen can be pumped into the lungs buy viagra online of premature babies with breathing difficulties, there was buy viagra online not enough blood supply to carry it elsewhere.

“What Sildenafil (Viagra) does buy viagra online is open up the blood vessels so they buy viagra online can capture the oxygen and take it around the body,” he was quoted buy viagra online as saying by BBC News Online.

Lewis’s mother, Jade Goodfellow, and father, John Barclay, were buy viagra online so concerned their son was going to die that buy viagra online they began planning his funeral until doctors told buy viagra online them Sildenafil might work.

“I don’t think you could put into words buy viagra online how we feel,” his mother said. “The doctors buy viagra online are worth their weight in gold. We admire each and buy viagra online every one of them for what they have done.”

Thai candidates accused of vote-buying with Viagra: official

BANGKOK (AFP) — Parliamentary candidates in Thailand’s upcoming election buy viagra online are trying to buy the votes of elderly buy viagra online men by passing out free Viagra, a local government buy viagra online official said Friday.

Thais head to the polls buy viagra online on December 23 for the first time since buy viagra online the military toppled the elected prime minister buy viagra online Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless buy viagra online coup last year.

Residents in Prathumthani, on the buy viagra online northern outskirts of Bangkok, reported buy viagra online some of the candidates were passing out buy viagra online doses of the anti-impotence drug in exchange buy viagra online for promised votes, said Sayan Nopkham, a local buy viagra online government official.

“The villagers told me they have been buy viagra online given one or two pills of Viagra by candidates. Then they buy viagra online come to me to ask for more pills, or sometimes buy viagra online coffee, in exchange for voting for my brother, who buy viagra online is also running for a seat,” he told AFP.

Thailand has a long history of vote-buying, but laws buy viagra online banning it have recently been toughened.

Anyone found guilty of buying votes buy viagra online could face up to 10 years in prison while buy viagra online voters who accept money face up to buy viagra online five years in jail.

Charungwit Phumma, an investigator buy viagra online with the Election Commission, said he had buy viagra online received no formal complaints about a Viagra-for-votes scheme.

“It’s a funny claim,” he said.

Charungwit said the most buy viagra online common complaints filed with buy viagra online his office were voters being paid to join a political buy viagra online party or being promised cash for going buy viagra online to the ballot box.

HOW IT WORKS

The family of ED drugs - Viagra, Levitra and Cialis - set off a reaction buy viagra online that includes the production of nitric oxide by from buy viagra online troubled arteries. Nitric oxide is a neurotransmitter - it helps buy viagra online nerves work properly - that causes blood buy viagra online vessels to open up, something vital to erection buy viagra online and other physical responses.

An explanation on Levitra.com says: The open buy viagra online vessels allow blood to flow into a special buy viagra online spongy material in penis. As that material fills, it presses buy viagra online on and closes the vein that normally buy viagra online allows blood to leave. The blood buy viagra online creates the erection.

HOW TO AVOID ED DRUGS

The experts noted two ways to avoid needing ED drugs.

Until men are about 70, regular buy viagra online exercise, a healthy diet and good buy viagra online genes can prevent many of the conditions buy viagra online that cause ED, experts say. After 70, however, men who buy viagra online want to remain sexually active may buy viagra online need testosterone therapy, but that in buy viagra online itself may not be enough.

Or, the American Urological Association says buy viagra online, forget about it. A quiet but sizeable buy viagra online sector of men of all ages are happy buy viagra online to not pursue sex. Many are in happy buy viagra online marriages with women who feel the same way.

Because they don’t complain, experts buy viagra online say, there’s no way to count them.

Source: www.thefitnessclub.info

IMPROVED THERAPY

Viagra also brought ED therapy out of the Dark Ages.

Doctors once believed ED was a psychological buy viagra online problem, Morley says. In 1985, research was undertaken buy viagra online to prove that but couldn’t. Instead, research showed buy viagra online that the same problems that caused buy viagra online hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and other buy viagra online vascular problems also caused ED.

Now, Bullock says, “Maybe in 10 percent buy viagra online of men the condition can be blamed buy viagra online on a mental (instead of a physical) problem.”

In the past, Bullock and Morley buy viagra online said, by the time a man buy viagra online summoned the nerve to go see a doctor buy viagra online for ED, he was depressed and demoralized, and his buy viagra online relationship was foundering.

“In the past it would lead to breakup buy viagra online of families,” Morley says. A partner “would buy viagra online believe he was having an affair or had buy viagra online lost interest in her. That’s depressing.”

That created a chicken-egg dilemma, he buy viagra online says, and physicians wrongly diagnosed the mental buy viagra online problem as causing the physical problem.

Once researchers knew the real buy viagra online cause of ED, major drug companies buy viagra online raced to come up with the cure. Pfizer Inc. won. Today, Viagra still buy viagra online dominates the market with a 70 percent share.

Viagra is celebrated for fixing more than one problem

Happy birthday, Viagra!

The drug that moved discussions about male sexual dysfunction from the shadows to the sunshine hit the market 10 years ago this month. Since then, Viagra has buy viagra online become a household word, a ubiquitous buy viagra online punch line and the leader in a multibillion-dollar buy viagra online global industry.

Thanks to savvy marketing of Viagra and buy viagra online similar drugs to a surging boomer buy viagra online population, erectile dysfunction has replaced buy viagra online impotence as the term of choice for a subject buy viagra online once-considered taboo. And the stigma of male sexual dysfunction buy viagra online has all but disappeared. Now, ED drugs hold the allure buy viagra online of rekindled romance for tough-but-tender buy viagra online guys of a certain age.

Physicians have found an additional buy viagra online benefit to ED drugs in screening men’s health. Many men buy viagra online who are reluctant to visit the doctor - even when they’re buy viagra online sick - are eager to get the benefits of “the little buy viagra online blue pill.” But a visit to the doctor buy viagra online to get a prescription may reveal underlying buy viagra online conditions including high blood pressure, undiagnosed or poorly buy viagra online controlled diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol or other buy viagra online disease.

“More men are visiting the doctor (for ED) and the doctor buy viagra online is able to tell them that it’s caused by other buy viagra online problems they need to address,” says Dr. John Morley, head of geriatrics buy viagra online at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. ED often is a vascular buy viagra online problem, produced by the condition underlying a heart buy viagra online attack. The blood vessels can be affected buy viagra online the same way.”

Learning that ED can be a symptom of undiagnosed buy viagra online disease can be a wakeup call that leads not buy viagra online just to a healthier sex life, but to a healthier buy viagra online lifestyle.

Dr. Arnold Bullock, associate buy viagra online professor of urology at Washington buy viagra online University School of Medicine and a surgeon buy viagra online at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, lauded Viagra for helping buy viagra online men overcome their apprehension about surgery for prostate buy viagra online cancer. A major fear of prostate surgery, one that buy viagra online prevents men from getting regular checkups, is the loss buy viagra online of sexual response, he says. Viagra, and its buy viagra online bedfellows, can help a substantial number of men buy viagra online perform sexually while recovering buy viagra online from the surgery, he says.

Her Exceptional Story With Viagra (Epilog)

…Her mother, cousin and aunt all died at a young age of heart problems.

She also believes stress is a factoring buy viagra online in triggering symptoms. “I have had a lot buy viagra online of grief in my family, including the loss buy viagra online of my parents within two years. I do believe buy viagra online all the grief was a factor.”

She said she hopes to raise buy viagra online awareness of the condition, of which early buy viagra online diagnosis is vital for survival. PH symptoms buy viagra online include fatigue, chest pain, breathlessness, dizziness buy viagra online and syncope. “It’s not like a broken leg - people buy viagra online with PH don’t look sick. If it had more obvious outward signs it would be buy viagra online easier to detect. PH sufferers often assume they have asthma buy viagra online and only detailed tests can diagnose it.”

Sildenafil citrate was previously buy viagra online available in Ireland under the name Viagra, but was made available in May for PH patients buy viagra online as Revatio. Revatio tablets contain higher doses of the buy viagra online active ingredient than Viagra.

Dr Sean Gaine, Ireland’s PH expert, welcomed buy viagra online the availability of the drug as an exciting new developmentin buy viagra online the treatment of the condition.

“It means we are rapidly moving buy viagra online from a disease for which there was no cure to one where the prognosis buy viagra online is significantly improved,” said Dr Gaine, consultant buy viagra online respiratory physician and the director of the Mater Hospital’shypertension unit.

He added: “It is important buy viagra online that we are aware of PH as early diagnosis buy viagra online allows for the immediate initiation of effective therapies.”

Source : Independent .ie.com

Her Exceptional Story With Viagra (Continue)

…It means that the full-time mum can buy viagra online look after her children Ona, 5, and Niamh, 4, without buy viagra online any problems and enjoy short walks and buy viagra online occasional evenings out with her buy viagra online husband Shay. “That is the most precious buy viagra online gift to me,”she said.

Inevitably, Thelma buy viagra online has to deal with people’s perceptions of buy viagra online the effects of Viagra, one of the most well-known buy viagra online drugs in the world due to its treatment of ED.

While the drug works in PH patients buy viagra online by relaxing the arterial wall of the heart, it is effective for those with impotence as it relaxes the arteries buy viagra online in the penis, allowing increased blood flow to the area.

She said: “Everyone says it when buy viagra online they hear the word Viagra. The first thing buy viagra online people ask is if it has the same effect buy viagra online on women as it does on men.

“You get people remarking about buy viagra online how my husband must be a very lucky man! Even the nurses buy viagra online and doctors are curious about it.

“But the truth is, I have not noticed buy viagra online any such effects. I suppose I am too busy buy viagra online making sure I am breathing to notice.”

She said she has no problems taking buy viagra online the impotence drug, as long as it helps her. “If the doctors told me eating a chair buy viagra online would save me, I’d eat it. It doesn’t matter buy viagra online to me as long as it works.”

To differentiate between the use of sildenafil buy viagra online citrate for PH patients and its use buy viagra online for ED patients, manufacturers Pfizer recently buy viagra online rebranded it for those with pulmonary hypertension buy viagra online under the new name Revatio.

While medics are still researching buy viagra online the causes, effects and treatment of PH, Thelma buy viagra online says there is no doubt the condition is genetic…

Thelma McGowan: Her Exceptional Story With Viagra

A WOMAN with a rare and life-threatening heart condition has told how Viagra - the drug hailed

as a cure for male impotence - saved her life.
Mother-of-two Thelma McGowan buy viagra online suffers from pulmonary hypertension (PH), a progressive and debilitating disease that only affects 200 people in Ireland, most buy viagra online of whom are young women.

Without proper treatment, PH sufferers buy viagra online have a life expectancy of just three years, but patients buy viagra online have found that their condition is greatly relieved buy viagra online by taking large doses of sildenafil citrate - the active ingredient in the buy viagra online sex wonder drug. Before being prescribed the medication, Ms McGowan buy viagra online was warned by doctors that she may only have monthsto live.

But since taking Viagra, her condition buy viagra online has improvedastonishingly and her quality of life has been transformed. She buy viagra online believes it saved her from certain death.

Ms McGowan told the Sunday Independent: “For me, this has buy viagra online been a miracle drug. Before I went on Viagra, I had deep buy viagra online faints called syncopes caused by lack of oxygen buy viagra online to the brain that I was fortunate to come out of alive.

“I could hardly walk up an small buy viagra online incline without losing my breath and getting buy viagra online chest pains. But since the medication, all these symptoms buy viagra online have stopped and I can feel it is working for me. I can also feel buy viagra online the difference immediately if I forget to take my buy viagra online medication - so it’s definitely working.”

The 38-year-old from Moate, Co Westmeath, takes a daily buy viagra online dose roughly six times that of a patient with erectile buy viagra online dysfunction (ED) in order to control symptoms buy viagra online of her serious illness, which is characterised buy viagra online by dangerously high pressure in the blood vessels buy viagra online that lead from the heart to the lungs and can result buy viagra online in a fatal heart attack.

A patient with erection problems buy viagra online takes 25-100 milligrams a day - Thelma is on a daily dose of 340mgs, as well as a cocktail of other buy viagra online drugs to stabilise her condition…