Question:
I will be sixty (come next January) and my wife is two years younger. We have sex once a week with the aid of Viagra. However, I read a recent article on Viagra which stated that it can cause “stroke in the eyes”. Since then I have stopped taking Viagra and now am unable to have sex anymore. My sex life is empty and I am at a total loss because I feel very embarrassed to go to the doctor or pharmacies to ask for other ED drugs at my age. Could you please let me know about other ED drugs, which are safe and effective that can be bought over the counters without any hassles?

Answer:
Erectile dysfunction of various stages afflicts about 2.4 million Malaysian men above the age of 40 and you are not alone. Less than 2% of these men ever seek medical assistance. A majority of them are like you, trying all sorts of medications without doctor’s prescription or without seeking advise from your friendly Family Physician. Seeking medical assistance is never a hassle and ones see the pharmacist to fill ones prescription and not seeking treatment. Being sick is not a sign of weakness so also having problems with erection.It is high time men understand this. Taking a scheduled drug like Viagra without doctor’s advice can be dangerous because you do not know who to refer to if you were to experience any side effects. The loss of vision associated with PDE-Inhibitor like Viagra is due to a condition called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). NAION presents itself with a painless onset of a vision loss in one eye. The most common visual symptom is an inferior visual field defect, where the lower half of an object appears blurred blocked; the drug’s label currently has no warning of a risk of permanent vision loss. However Viagra as with other PDE-5 inhibitors like Cilais and Levitra have been the favorites because of the convenience of being oral medications. These drugs are safe if prescribed by a Physician and not otherwise. There are other treatment options available for the management of erectile dysfunction besides the oral medications. Intracavernosal injection therapy, vacuum erect aid devices and penile implants are some of the treatment available. Complimentary therapy includes active glycoprotein extracts of the herbs Tribulus and Eurycoma (Tongkat Ali) which has been found to be proerectile and seems to work for some men with mild ED.