Topic: Sildenafil (Ex: Viagra) and Herbal and TCM alternative articles

\”Sildenafil (Viagra) is used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence; inability to get or keep an erection) in men. Sildenafil (Revatio) is used to improve the ability to exercise in adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH; high blood pressure in the vessels carrying blood to the lungs, causing shortness of breath, dizziness, and tiredness).  Sildenafil treats PAH by relaxing the blood vessels in the lungs to allow blood to flow easily,\” (2016 The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc.)

Side effects:

• headache
• heartburn
• diarrhea
• flushing (feeling of warmth)
• nosebleeds
• difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• numbness, burning, or tingling in the arms, hands, feet, or legs
• muscle aches
• changes in color vision (seeing a blue tinge on objects or having difficulty telling the difference between blue and green)
• sensitivity to light
• sudden severe loss of vision (see below for more information)
• blurred vision
• sudden decrease or loss of hearing
• ringing in ears
• dizziness or light-headedness
• fainting
• chest pain
• worsening shortness of breath
• erection that is painful or lasts longer than 4 hours
• itching or burning during urination
• rash

Some patients experienced a sudden loss of some or all of their vision after they took sildenafil or other medications that are similar to sildenafil. The vision loss was permanent in some cases.  There have been reports of heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeat, bleeding in the brain or lungs, high blood pressure, and sudden death in men who took sildenafil for erectile dysfunction.
 —-2016 The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Article.1:  Research on mountain ginseng on penile erection article
This study involves in-vivo and in-vitro experiments on the smooth muscle tissues of rabbits to test the effectiveness of, specifically, mountain ginseng for erectile dysfunction.  This article is heavy on scientific jargon and data, but concludes that mountain ginseng, containing constituent ginsenoside TCMG-100, is superior to red ginseng as a an alternative for erectile dysfunction. The authors do state however that more experiments are needed to see the effectiveness in human clinical trials. Pages 8 and 9, discussion section, summarizes the results found.

\”Since the first report of the clinical efficacy of Korean Red
Ginseng for ED, various types of studies have demonstrated
that whole-ginseng extracts or purified ginsenosides from ginseng
could improve ED. In particular, ginsenosides protect the
vascular endothelium against free radical-induced injury and have
a relaxing effect on vascular smooth muscle associated with NO
release from the vascular endothelium. Furthermore,
ginseng has an effect on corpus cavernosal smooth muscle with no
side effects,\” (2015, pg.2  Ho Sung Lee et al.)

\”Therefore, these results suggest that TCMG-100 can be
used as an alternative medicine to improve penile erectile function.
However, further studies using an animal model of ED are required
to elucidate its exact mechanism,\” (2015, pg.9 Ho Sung Lee et al.)

Article.2:  Chinese herb formulas for treatment of erectile article

This systematic review covers 21 randomized control trials about the effectiveness of Chinese formulations on erectile dysfunction.  In-depth tables of results found, as well as the Chinese formulations can be found from pages.5 to 8, and summarized conclusions can be found in the discussion section on page.17 and on-wards.

\”it  has been reported that Shu gan yi yang capsule (mechanism
of soothing liver and replenishing yang) can significantly
improve the expression of endothelial nitric oxide
synthase and cyclic guanosine monophosphate and inhibit
the expression of 5’-phosphodiesterase (PDE5) in the tissue
of cavernous body of penis in ED rats,\” (2014, pg.17  Xiong, G et al.)

*Also check out \”Handout and Article: Topic of Libido enhancement!! Yay!\”  found through the SEARCH bar on Natural-KnowHow.com for more information and articles on libido enhancing herbal medicine for men and women

Refs:

Picture:  2016  Index Medical  Ltd,  https://www.doctorfox.co.uk/news/cost-of-sildenafil/

Sildenafil uses:  2016 The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc.  https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a699015.html

Sildenafil side effects:  2016 The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc.  https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a699015.html

Article.1:  Ho Sung Lee, Young Joo Lee, Yoon Hee Chung, Moo Yeol Lee, Sung Tae Kim, Sung Kwon Ko, Mariko Momoi, Yutaka Kondoh, Fumio Sasaki & Ji Hoon Jeong  2015, \’In vitro and in vivo evaluation of tissue-cultured mountain ginseng  on penile erection\’,  Journal of Ginseng Research,  viewed February 14th 2016 from  http://www.sciencedirect.com/.

Article.2:  Xiong, G, Li, B, Wang, K, & Li, H 2014, \’Chinese herb formulae for treatment of erectile dysfunction: a systematic review of randomised controlled clinical trials\’,  Andrologia, 46, 3, pp. 201-223, MEDLINE Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 February 2016.