Did you know that viagra is just a muscle relaxer? It's true.
The penis and clitoris are made up of smooth muscle. When relaxed the muscles fill with blood and they get bigger, harder and erect. When the muscles are contracted the blood is squeezed out of them and become flaccid (not erect).
We play with this mechanism a lot in sexual medicine. How do we get your sex organs to relax so you can have more fun. This includes relaxing your brain, your genitals, and your pelvic floor. All that will improve pleasure, arousal, and sexual health.
What's interesting is that viagra was not initially studied to be a sex drug. It was studied for blood pressure reduction. In fact, the good erections were just a multi-billion dollar side effect. Check out this history of Viagra 20 years later.
Viagra, and other PDE5 inhibitors like cialis, levitra and stendra have been associated with lower risks of death, heart attack, and heart failure in men with stable coronary artery disease.
Viagra has been shown to help women who suffer from antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction and can help with arousal disorders.
And I just learned this week that long covid researchers are looking at viagra to help with long covid symptoms! Check out this interesting twitter thread.
