QUESTION AND COMMENTS FROM MY POZHEALT LIST:
Regardelss of its pathogenisis, ED can be a problem for many of
us….wether the etiology is urological, medication induced, r/t
psychiatric problems, other comorbidities or idiosyncratic, most men,
not all, like to do something about this “floppy” situation (so to
speak)….
I tried Viagara about 10 years ago but had no remarkable
results, I tried it at the suggestion of my ID MD at the time
although the ED was not really an issue for me psychologically, you
see I am one of the “sicker ones” here as far as battling many
debilitating IO’s over the years, so at the time I tried the Viagara
I was more focused on my overall wellness that a hot romp in the
sack, so the fact the Viagara didn’t work was moot for me as other
concerns tokk a higher priority….
Move forward 10 or so years & I am beginning to have the same
problems again, although my IO’s area under control, the ED is
popping back into my life it was however a thing of the past for the
past 2 years, but his ugly head has reared again (or should I
say “not reared”….LOL)….now I am more concerned & woulde like a
good stiff woody to keep my boyfrind & I happily entertained….
My bf takes Cialis & beleive you me it works WONDERFULLY & keeps
me smiling & both of us entertained, I look at it & it stands
straight up, he is also HIV-…..so now since I am beginning to feel
a little “inadequate” at this point when I am with him I have
approached Dr. Slim about my longing for some nice “stiffies”….he
would not prescribe me the Cialis as his rationalization was since I
take 100 mg Norvir BID it would increase it’s half lfe & he didn’t
want to take that approach, we bypassed the whole Viagara idea as my
history with that was less than “so-so”….he did however, prescribe
the Levitra which is patiently waiting to be cracked-open this
upcoming Tesday 1/8 to be welcomed for our planned party (we don’t
live together)….
My question to all of you is, what other approaches have any of
you taken in the past?, have any of you taken Levitra, Cialis or
Viagra & can you share your experiences with us all?….
Feedback please….Michael RN, Montclair, NJ
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Dear Michael:
Levitra is all right. It works a lot like Viagra. Cialis works for 2-3 days in some guys. But some still preferred good ol’ Viagra since it seems to give them better and faster erections.
I hate all three. They give me headaches, a flushed face, heart burn, diarrhea…yeah I may get hard but who wants to have sex with all these side effects? These side effects were worse when I was on Norvir, even at a lower dose for all three. Al Benson suggested that I used Zyrtec or Claritin plus Advil plus limotyl to counter the three side effects. It seems to work but I hate the pill burden. I prefer to use TRIMIX injections when I am very horny and want to go for a long time (sorry but it is “hard” not to “share” too much when speaking about hard ons). Some guys are still victim of bad doctors and get prescriptions for Caverjet, which is a horrible product in my opinion. One warning: you cannot use “combination Therapy” with TRIMIX or Caverjet plus oral agents like Viagra, Cialis or Levitra. This will send you to the emergency room with an erection that lasts over 12 hours (priaprism) and your penis has to be drained to prevent it from coagulating and causing cangrene.
For a long weekend of fun, Cialis plus my side effect prevention regimen works wonders, but I have to plan ahead for that. I also find that these drugs work better when your testosterone is high-normal. DHEA supplements at 25 mg a day seem to also give me an extra “motivation”. It also seems that women I talk to love DHEA at 10-20 mg a day to get their sex drive up.
I remember when all we had was a cock ring to deal with ED. It is so good that in 2008 we have so many options to have good sex even as we age with HIV. I tell people to get over the shame of admitting they have ED and try one of these options. Life is too short for hang ups about performance anxiety.
I find that when my sex drive is the highest, I also feel the healthiest and more connected with people and my partner. It is not all about ‘sex” but also feeling passion for others. I am not sure if anyone has done a study about this. Of course, a high sex drive can make some of us compulsive, so we have to be highly aware of that!
I hope this helped some. You should talk to your doctor or an urologist about all of these options.
Nelson