Medication for Erectile Dysfunction Overview

There are various medical treatments for erectile dysfunction that are prescribed by doctors and online doctors following a questionnaire regarding your individual circumstances and health. This initial screening of your health is extremely important because not everyone is suitable to take the medication prescribed for erectile dysfunction.

Some of the reasons why you may not be prescribed medication for impotence include:

• You already take nitrate-based medicine
• Low blood pressure
• Retinitis pigmentosa
• Recent myocardial infarction
• Angina
• HIVprotease inhibitors

Please be aware that there are other ways of treating erectile dysfunction even if you are not suitable for medication treatment. I will cover these options in a different blog because I feel it is a specific topic of interest that needs greater detail. 

What medication can be used to treat erectile dysfunction?

The main named brands used to treat erectile dysfunction are:

Viagra, Cialis and Levitra and this is how they look in genuine packaging:

Each brand produces different strength tablets that work in slightly different ways. However, each works towards the same goal of providing you with the ability to get and maintain an erection. 

What Viagra, Cialis and Levitra don't do is increase your libido, and they require you to be sexually stimulated before you start to see the effects of the treatment working.

In 2013 Pfizer, the company behind Viagra, had its patent expire to allow for other companies to produce "generic viagra". Generic Viagra contains the the active drug Sildenafil and works in the same ways. I have included this in the comparison table below.

The table explains the overview of differences between Viagra/Sildenafil, Cialis and Levitra

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	Viagra®/sildenafil	Cialis®	Levitra®	Notes
Proper drug name	Sildenafil, also known as generic Viagra	Tadalafil	Vardenafil	Chemical name
Time taken to start working	40 minutes	30 minutes (2.5mg and 5mg tablets can be taken daily	20 minutes - faster for orodispersible tablets
How long it works for	4 hours	36 hours	12 hours	Stimulation required before erection will take place.
Cautions and interactions	Any nitrate-based medication, low blood pressure, retinitis pigmentosa, recent myocardial infarction, angina	Any nitrate-based medication, low blood pressure, recent myocardial infarction, angina	Any nitrate-based medicine, HIVprotease inhibitors
Common side effects (usually mild)	Headache, palpitation, indigestion, dizziness, congestion, flushing, blurred vision	Headache, muscle pain, indigestion, congestion, flushing, dizziness	Headache, flushing, indigestion, congestion, nausea, dizziness	You may get no side effects. If side effects are severe stop the medication and see your doctor.