Nitrates for Chest Pains
Nitrates have been used in medicine decades before the biomolecular basis for its functions were known. Cardiac patients are advised to take a nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue (sublingual nitroglycerine) if they feel any angina. The sublingual nitroglycerin dilates the blood vessels and lessens the work of the heart to causing chest pain relief.
Medications in the same class of sildenafil like Levitra, Staxin, Cialis, and Stendra work on the enzymes that produce nitric oxide to dilate the veins leading to penile erection for men with Erectile Dysfunction (ED).
Erectile Dysfunction Drugs and Nitrates Don’t Mingle Well
Since the sublingual nitroglycerine and the medications for erectile dysfunction work the same way, you don’t want to do to combine them because it can result in a very dangerously low blood pressure that can kill you. The ED medications can still be present in your system even after the erection has subsided. That is why if you used sildenafil and you developed chest pains later even after several hours, you should not take the sublingual nitroglycerine.
If you call 911 and end up in the emergency room, be upfront with the paramedics, doctors, and nurses, you use medication for ED, primarily if you used it recently to prevent a disaster.
A Short Story on How Viagra Got Big
As a side story, sildenafil was initially developed as a medicine for hypertension because of its action on nitric oxide production; however, the results were dismal, and the study was on the verge of being shut down. However, the Welsh miners that were being given sildenafil (the study group) noted that they have more frequent (penile erection). That changed the direction and objective of the study. Pfizer later branded sildenafil as Viagra. The first drug for erectile dysfunction. It turned out to be a blockbuster. The Welsh miners refused to return the unused sildenafil.
Diabetes can cause nitric oxide dysfunction and can be read here.
Image Credits: By Yikrazuul – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5447042
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