July 20, 2001 (Washington) — It’s called trail mix, and it’s a far cry from the healthy blend of fruits and nuts you’d take on a hike, say the experts.

Instead, it’s the latest party drug craze, consisting of ecstasy — known to cause an intense high — and Viagra, which is used to improve sexual prowess. For now, the primary users are gay men in New York City and Boston where trail mix is showing up at dance parties and clubs.

“It’s not over the counter erectile dysfunction drug
sexual; if people want it to be sexual, they’ll put the stimulant methamphetamine in it. It’s just considered a more interesting version of ecstasy,” Patricia Case, ScD, of the department of social medicine at Harvard Medical School, tells WebMD.

Nor is trail mix limited to gay users; Case says many heterosexual men and teens are trying it as well. There are many popular variants of the drug combination, which is ground up into a powder and snorted. Ketamine, a cat dysfunction pills
, can sometimes be added to offer a mellower, longer high, but at a price.

“The down side is that the stimulant effect of the ecstasy can override the perception of ketamine, so that people can take too much … of the trail mix. And the ketamine then puts them into what’s called a ‘K-hole,’ which is a very unattractive state,” says Case.

As part of her studies, Case says she sees people unable to walk after taking the blend and some ultimately require medical attention. She describes their appearance as “glassy-eyed.”

Case presented her findings at the first international conference on ecstasy under way this week at the National Institutes of Health. Some 600 researchers attended the event sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA.

Ecstasy is one street name for MDMA, a laboratory drug has that has both the power to stimulate the brain and cause a hallucinogenic-like state. Since the mid-’90s when ecstasy first appeared in the rave club scene, it’s become an increasing public health threat, according to NIDA’s director, Alan Leshner, PhD.

Though illicit drug use was generally down among youth last year, that wasn’t true for ecstasy. “The demand is very great, and it has moved out of the club scene,” Leshner tells WebMD. “Now what’s so alarming is that this year, for the first time, we saw this increase in twelfth graders, tenth graders, and eighth graders,” he says.

For example, 3.1% of U.S. eighth graders have tried ecstasy, says Leshner, and 8.2% of twelfth graders have used the illicit drug. Overall, it’s estimated that more than 100,000 13- and 14-year-olds have taken the drug.

While the high can be intense, so can be the consequences, including possible brain damage or death. Ecstasy acts on two crucial brain chemicals: dopamine, which is linked to stimulation and serotonin, a mood modifier.

Animal studies have already shown that ecstasy destroys generic pill viagra
cells. “Think about going around for weeks with your brain impaired … at least,” says Leshner.

Ecstasy can also cause a fever as high as 108 degrees.

Although one doesn’t acquire a physical dependence on the drug, Leshner says people develop a compulsion to get it. And that’s not just in the big cities. Robert Carlson, PhD has done a preliminary study on ecstasy use in Ohio.

Carlson tells WebMD his state is the “heart of it all.”

“It’s far more pervasive in our high schools, at least in our part of the country, among high school aged youth and young adults,” says Carlson, a medical erectile dysfunction meds
at the Wright State University school of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio. He got his information from a broad group including active users, police, and treatment providers.

One of the big issues, says Carlson, is that kids still haven’t heard their peers talk about overdosing on ecstasy or getting arrested. So while there’s still time, he cautions parents to discuss the issue with their children.

“You have to converse with them and just say, ‘Do you come in contact with it?’ … Then tell me about it,” says Carlson.

Nov. 14, 2001 — Viagra has helped thousands of impotent men restore their sex lives. But for men with chronic heart failure and impotence, the “little blue pill” may not be an option. Many of these men take nitrates for heart failure, which can prove deadly if combined with Viagra. But there may be an ed meds
. Erectile pill
have found that a regimen of regular bike riding can improve overall health, as well as sexual function, in men with chronic heart failure.

“We found that exercise can act as a medical therapy to improve both sexual function and overall quality of life in these patients,” says study leader Romualdo Belardinelli, MD, director of the Lancisi Heart Institute in Ancona, Italy, in a news release.

Belardinelli team looked at about 60 men, average age 57, with stable, chronic heart failure but no prostate problems. About half of them were taking nitrates. The researchers randomly split the men into two groups. One followed an eight-week regimen of supervised stationary bicycling three times per week; the other maintained their normal lifestyles. All the men continued on whatever drugs they’d been taking. They completed questionnaires on quality of life and sexual activity and underwent fitness and overall health testing before and after the study.

At the end of the study, tests revealed improvements in the cheap sildenafil citrate systems and overall health of the exercise group but not the control group. Peak oxygen uptake had improved 18%, and blood vessels were responding more appropriately. What’s more, these objective improvements correlated with self-reported improvements in quality of life and sexual function.

“We found significant improvement … among patients who were cycling,” says Belardinelli. He suggests that the exercise may boost health by causing positive changes in the cells (called the endothelium) that line the blood vessel walls. These changes would mean more levitra vs cialis
blood is reaching all parts of the body, including the penis.

Aug. 9, 2001 — Mention Viagra, the popular drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, and people tend to snicker. But as researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and other centers have found, Viagra could be a life-saver for kids with a rare but potentially fatal lung disease called pulmonary hypertension.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, about 300 cases of pulmonary hypertension are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. In the disease, blood pressure within a certain vessel in the lungs rises sharply for no known reason. The increase in blood pressure, or hypertension, leads to stiffening of the blood vessels in the lungs. This causes increasing shortness of breath and puts a severe, often fatal, strain on the heart.

Children with the disease are typically treated with nitric oxide delivered through a generic lunesta myonlinemedsbiz propecia viagra
; the gas helps the blood vessels in the lungs relax and allows more blood to flow through them. Yet when doctors try to wean them off the gas, their blood pressure can skyrocket again, putting them back in danger.

But as David Wessel, MD, and Andrew Atz, MD, reported in the journal Anesthesiology in 1999, the same mechanism that helps men with erectile dysfunction achieve erection after taking Viagra may also help children be eased off nitric oxide. The drug works by preventing the release of nitric oxide from blood vessels, allowing the vessels to stay relaxed and blood to flow through them.

Marshall L. Summar, MD, who commented on the Viagra treatment, tells WebMD that a child’s inability to produce enough nitric oxide appears to be a factor in them developing the disease.

“Anything you can do to bolster nitric oxide production is probably going to be of some help,” he says. “There are probably some more direct ways to get at it that are a lot cheaper than Viagra that we’re looking at, but that’s for the future.” Summar is associate professor of pediatrics in the division of medical genetics and molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

To date, Wessel and colleagues at Children’s Hospital have ed meds
weaned 13 of 14 children off of nitric oxide, in some cases using Viagra pills they crushed and delivered through feeding tubes. An additional 15 to 20 children have been treated at other hospitals with similar results, Wessel said in a Boston Globe interview last week.

Wessel recently returned from London, where he and nine other doctors attempted to persuade Pfizer, the maker’s of Viagra, to develop and test the drug in an intravenous formulation that would buy levitra online viagra
treat children with pulmonary hypertension.

But because the demand for drugs to treat this disease is very small compared to the multibillion dollar market for erectile dysfunction drugs, it’s not certain whether Pfizer would be willing to commit to the estimated $4-10 million it would cost to test a buy generic online viagra
drug in clinical trials.

“Our focus right now is on the medical possibilities,” Pfizer spokesman Geoff Cook tells WebMD. “There has been data out there that seems to show Viagra potentially could be a very important treatment for a condition that really has no treatments. It’s a crying medical need and that’s our focus.”

Sept. 26, 2002 — That little pill that has helped millions of men reclaim their sex lives may also work for some women.

Women with arousal problems who took Viagra in a study funded by the drug’s manufacturer achieved sexual satisfaction more often than those who took placebo pills. But further research is needed to prove that the impotence pill has a role in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction, experts say.

Viagra works in men with erectile dysfunction by increasing blood flow to the penis. It is not clear whether inadequate blood flow plays a role in some female sexual problems, but erectile dysfunction pill
say the results of this study suggest that it does. The findings were presented this week at the 10th World Congress of the International Society for Sexual and Impotence Research in Montreal.

Roughly 42% of the women taking Viagra reported increased satisfaction during foreplay and sexual intercourse, compared with 28% of women taking the placebo. Likewise, 57% of the Viagra-treated women reported improved sensation in the genital area during sex, compared with 44% of women taking the placebo. Side effects of treatment with Viagra were considered mild to moderate and included headaches, flushing, runny nose, and nausea.

Viagra seemed to work best in women with sexual arousal problems who had previously satisfying sex lives. It was less effective in those who had both arousal problems and problems with sexual desire.

“Viagra doesn’t really increase desire in men, so there is little reason to believe it would do so in women,” says sexual dysfunction exert Marian Dunn, PhD. “This study shows that a subgroup of women might benefit from Viagra. A woman with normal hormone levels who is in a good relationship and used to enjoy sex but no longer does might be a good candidate.”

Dunn, who is director of the Center for Human Sexuality at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, tells WebMD that female sexual dysfunction is only now beginning to get the attention it deserves.

“We don’t really have much to offer women,” she says. “I’m a sex therapist, and I know that many women are helped by therapy, but many others either don’t have access or would not be open to it. There are a lot of women out there who are suffering, and many might find this treatment to be effective.”

But cheap sildenafil citrate Leonore Tiefer says sexual problems tend to be more complex in women than in men and probably will not be as easy to treat with drugs. An outspoken critic of drug industry-sponsored research into female sexual dysfunction, Tiefer warns of what she calls the pills
of sex problems in women.

“In the study, 44% of the women taking placebos had improved genital sensation,” she says. “That sounds high, but it is standard for the placebo arm of Viagra studies. Once you take a pill, no matter what it is, you make love in a different way and there may be a benefit. The problem is that you shouldn’t take medicine unless you need it, and this drug has side effects.”

Viagra is not approved in the U.S. for use in women. A viagra vs cialis
for manufacturer Pfizer Inc. tells WebMD that the decision about whether to seek such approval will be made when larger clinical studies are completed. –>

Women with arousal problems who took Viagra in a study funded by the drug’s manufacturer achieved sexual satisfaction more often than those who took placebo pills. But further research is needed to prove that the impotence pill has a role in the treatment of female sexual erectile dysfunction help
, experts say.

Viagra works in men with erectile dysfunction by increasing blood flow to the penis. It is not clear whether inadequate blood flow plays a role in some female sexual problems, but jack nicholson quote viagra
say the results of this study suggest that it does. The findings were presented this week at the 10th World Congress of the International Society for Sexual and Impotence Research in Montreal.

Roughly 42% of the women taking Viagra reported increased satisfaction during foreplay and sexual intercourse, compared with 28% of women taking the placebo. Likewise, 57% of the Viagra-treated women reported improved sensation in the genital area during sex, compared with 44% of women taking the placebo. Side effects of treatment with Viagra were considered mild to moderate and included headaches, flushing, runny nose, and nausea.

Viagra seemed to work best in women with sexual arousal problems who had previously satisfying sex lives. It was less effective in those who had both arousal problems and problems with sexual desire.

“Viagra doesn’t really increase desire in men, so there is little reason to believe it would do so in women,” says sexual dysfunction exert Marian Dunn, PhD. “This study shows that a subgroup of women might benefit from Viagra. A woman with normal hormone levels who is in a good erectile dysfunction medication
and used to enjoy sex but no longer does might be a good candidate.”

Dunn, who is director of the Center for Human Sexuality at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, tells WebMD that female sexual dysfunction is only now beginning to get the attention it deserves.

“We don’t really have much to offer women,” she says. “I’m a sex therapist, and I know that many women are helped by therapy, but many others either don’t have access or would not be open to it. There are a lot of women out there who are suffering, and many might find this treatment to be effective.”

But psychologist Leonore Tiefer says sexual problems tend to be more complex in women than in men and probably will not be as easy to treat with drugs. An outspoken critic of drug industry-sponsored research into female sexual dysfunction, Tiefer warns of what she calls the medicalization of sex problems in women.

“In the study, 44% of the women taking placebos had improved genital sensation,” she says. “That sounds high, but it is standard for the placebo arm of Viagra studies. Once you take a pill, no matter what it is, you make love in a different way and there may be a benefit. The problem is that you shouldn’t take medicine unless you need it, and this drug has side effects.”

Viagra is not approved in the U.S. for use in women. A spokesperson for manufacturer Pfizer Inc. tells WebMD that the decision about whether to seek such approval will be made when larger clinical studies are completed.

Feb. 12, 2002 — If you’re strong enough to take the sex, you’re strong enough to take Viagra. A new study finds Viagra safe for men with heart disease — if they’re able to exercise without having the symptoms of severe disease.

Men taking nitrate drugs (such as nitroglycerin) to ease the symptoms of heart disease can’t use Viagra. Even when a man isn’t taking nitrates, there’s been concern that Viagra might make his underlying heart disease much worse. There have been reports of men suffering heart attacks or chest pain after taking the popular erectile dysfunction drug.

Adelaide M. Buy cheap online viagra
, MD, PhD, led a team of Mayo Clinic authentic generic viagra vs
s who studied the effects of Viagra on 105 men with coronary artery disease (or heart disease). The men took Viagra or a harmless sugar pill an hour before exercise tests. Then medications were switched, and the men exercised and were tested again.

The results: Viagra itself didn’t make exercise harder on the heart.

“It seems more likely that the heart attacks and pain reported with Viagra are related more to the performance of sexual activity in a patient with coronary artery disease than the use of the drug,” notes Thomas H. Marwick, MD, PhD. Marwick is a heart disease researcher at the University of Erectile dysfunction advices
in Brisbane, Australia. The Arruda-Olson study, and Marwick’s accompanying editorial, appear in the Feb. 13 issue of TheJournal of the American Medical Association.

Arruda-Olson and co-workers warn that men with heart disease should see their doctors before taking Viagra. They recommend exercise tests to determine whether patients’ hearts are strong enough for the drug.

The researchers warn that men taking nitrate-based drugs for their heart condition should not take Viagra.

May 29, 2002 — Once again, Viagra comes to the rescue.

A new study shows that Viagra in erectile dysfunction medicine
with Paxil helps premature ejaculators who have not improved with standard treatment.

If a man can work up the nerve to talk to his doctor about premature ejaculation, the doctor may refer him to a psychiatrist or a sex therapist, or may prescribe one of several possible medications including Paxil, an antidepressant, or a lidocaine numbing ointment that is rubbed on the head of the penis before sex.

The study, presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Orlando, Fla., looked at 138 premature ejaculators who started out using a numbing ointment. Thirty-eight were satisfied with that treatment. The remaining 100 started taking Paxil, and 42 of them were satisfied with that, leaving 58 who took Paxil with Viagra.

Over the course of three months, the men took one dose of Paxil seven hours before sex and one dose of Viagra one hour before sex. They noted how long they were able to have sexual intercourse, from the moment they entered a partner’s vagina to the moment they ejaculated. In the beginning, they were able to sustain intercourse for less than one minute to three minutes.

They also rated their performance on a scale. At first they ejaculated too soon from “half of the time” to “almost always.”

By the end of the study, 56 of the 58 men were able to have intercourse for more than three minutes most of the time.

It’s well known that Paxil has sexual side effects, including delayed ejaculation. But Viagra? There can be several on line prescription viagra
for this, says study author Juza Chen, MD, of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel.

One possibility is that Viagra acts on the part of the brain that controls ejaculation. This function involves the chemical nitric oxide. Too much nitric oxide inhibits ejaculation. Viagra increases the amount of nitric oxide in the body, which is how it helps men get erections. Juza says there is some scientific evidence that Viagra increases the amount of nitric oxide in the brain, although that is not certain.

“Another possibility could be a decrease of erectile dysfunction meds
in the head of the penis,” Juza says.

Arnold Melman, MD, head of the urology department at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, says he doubts that has anything to do with it. “What evidence is there?” he says. “Do you think when you have a hard erection you’re less sensitive?”

Viagra may have had a buy internet viagra
effect, too: With a firmer erection, they had more confidence, so they had more control. Melman says he thinks that is a more likely explanation. “I’m sure that’s true,” he says. “Much of the reason for premature ejaculation is psychological, not physical.”

Juza says more research is needed to learn about using Viagra as a treatment for premature ejaculation. He plans to study the effects of Viagra alone compared with a placebo, and Viagra alone compared with Paxil alone.

“I think it’s a good concept,” Melman says.

Sept. 25, 2001 — We’ve all heard and laughed at Viagra jokes. Poking fun at “the little blue pill” is a favorite of late-night talk show hosts and regular folks alike. But for men with erectile dysfunction and their partners, the hope Viagra offers — of restoring a healthy sex life — is no laughing matter.

There have, however, been worrisome reports of health risks linked to the drug. Now Italian erectile pill say that taking Viagra can be deadly if users also have chronic heart failure, a condition where the heart is unable to pump healthy amounts of blood through the body.

Their new study, led by Gianfranco Picirillo, MD, of Medical Policlinic Umberto I in Rome, looked at the heart rhythms of 10 healthy men and 10 others with chronic heart failure after they took a standard dose of Viagra. While both groups viagra vs cialis
certain changes to their heart’s normal electrical activity, those changes were more pronounced and were potentially more dangerous in the men with heart failure.

The scientists conclude that for men with heart failure, taking Viagra may result in abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, that could lead to sudden death. The risk is even more pronounced, they theorize, for patients who also take certain other drugs including certain antibiotics, antihistamines, antifungals, and cholesterol medications.

But other heart experts are not convinced there’s anything to worry about.

“What we know about Viagra is clear,” says Gary S. Francis, MD, director of the coronary intensive care unit at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. “Physicians are well aware of it. The drug should not be taken with nitrates erectile dysfunction medication
because there’s a risk of sudden, dangerously low blood pressure,” he says. There has been no evidence, however, that heart failure patients in general should avoid Viagra, he tells WebMD.

Rony Shimony, MD, FACC, says that people with heart failure who have a weak heart and irregular heartbeats automatically have a higher death rate than healthy people.

“You’re already in a higher risk group,” says the attending over the counter erectile dysfunction drug
at Lenox Hill Hospital and at Cornell Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, in New York City. He says that these sudden deaths can’t necessarily be linked to Viagra and that the study “is not a reason to panic. Heart failure patients are at higher risk to start with,” he tells WebMD.

What’s more, says Shimony, “cardiac patients are clearly at increased risk from doing any form of exercise or taking any form of medication. You have to use common sense.” No doctor would prescribe Viagra to a very ill patient, he tells WebMD, but if you’re appropriately screened by your heart doctor, even if you have erectile pill
heart failure, all evidence indicates that you will not drop dead.

According to Shimony, “the overall experience of the medical community has been that Viagra is a very safe drug” without long-term side effects. But because it is used only to enhance the quality of life, rather than prolong it, “when a doctor prescribes Viagra and something bad happens, that’s when the drug comes under great scrutiny.”

Francis does not completely dismiss the notion that something may be going on here, but significantly more work is needed to determine if the findings are important or not. Results from any test conducted on only 10 people “don’t mean a whole lot,” he says, but this one small study suggests is “that the use of Viagra in patients with heart failure has the potential to alter the electrical stability of the heart.” And that change, he says, “may predispose them to arrhythmias, some of which may be fatal.”