The Viagra Alternative

The more important positive effect of the “Viagra revolution” is cultural, not medical. Viagra has managed to do what countless doctors and psychologists have been unable to do for decades: it has finally removed the taboo from the subject of impotence and made it an acceptable topic for discussion in the media, in the home, and with a doctor.

The importance of this change cannot be overstated. Before Viagra, it is estimated that for every one man brave enough to actually broach the subject with his doctor, there were nine others who suffered in silence. And though this Is still a problem, the situation is changing, and changing fast. In 1997. the year before Viagra’s approval by the FDA, 2.8 million men in the United States visited their doctors because of erectile dysfunction. In 1998, with Viagra dominating the media and available for prescription, that number jumped to 4.8 million. I believe the number will continue to climb, though we still have a long way to go before all of the estimated 30 million men in the United States with erectile dysfunction will have sought help.

Before we go any further, we should discuss terminology. The term impotence, still prevalent in the media and the culture at large, is no longer used by experts on the subject because of Its emotional baggage, which tends to imply loss of power and capabilities far beyond the arena of sexual functioning. Erectile dysfunction is the term used by experts in the field because it more clearly defines the problem, and it is the term I’ll use in this book. As you know if you’ve seen Bob Dole’s Viagra advertisements, this term is often abbreviated ED. and in the interest of efficiency I’ll do likewise.
So ED Is out of the closet and recognized as the devastating and widespread health condition it is. Great. And everyone with the condition should get some Viagra and their problems will be solved, right?

Wrong. For while Viagra is an acceptable and fairly effective way to treat ED. it is rarely the best way. Erectile dysfunction is not natural. If you have ED, something is wrong. Something needs fixing, and Viagra does not fix the problem, it just enables you to keep doing what It is you want to do (have sex), while the problem slowly gets worse—to the point where the drug may not work anymore. If your muffler breaks on your car and the racket is so loud that you can’t comfortably ride in it any longer, you don’t simply turn up the radio and keep driving; you go to a mechanic and get the car fixed. Much more so than your broken muffler, erectile dysfunction is like the dead canary in a coal mine—a warning sign that there Is a deeper systemic problem that needs addressing. Erectile dysfunction can be the first sign of clogged arteries, hypertension, diabetes, and other problems. And while a responsible doctor will examine all patients with ED for these other diseases, too many do not. This problem Is also greatly compounded by the phenomenon of Viagra being in such demand that it is routinely prescribed over the Internet by doctors who never set eyes on the patients they are “treating”. A thriving Viagra black market has also sprung up, with men ordering the drug from Mexico (where it is sold over-the-counter) or from other Internet sources, entirely circumventing a physician’s approval and allowing life-threatening conditions to go unnoticed.

Tags: change, erection, history, internet, medication, prescription, treatment //