Hey, Doctor Danny:

How come no one ever discusses if there are any dangers for men using poppers and also take medication for high blood pressure?

Most guys seem to now be aware, more or less, of the poppers vs. Viagra warning. But there are sure are a lot of men who take daily medication for high blood pressure and may not give popper use a second thought.

My ex started taking high blood pressure meds when he was about thirty-seven -- and he continued to use poppers with apparently no interaction. Then again, he DID seem to get dumber and dumber, but maybe that's my own biased opinion!

If high blood pressure meds reduce blood pressure, and poppers do the same thing, couldn't a similarly detrimental sudden drop in blood pressure occur as it might with Viagra?

Is this LESS likely to happen because men taking high blood pressure meds start out with higher blood pressure anyway? Or is it that the action of blood pressure meds and the action of poppers is different as compared to Viagra? Would Viagra cause that drop in blood pressure much more swiftly and for a shorter duration but blood pressure meds result in a steady normalization?

Or are the two "safe" to use?

If this is something that men should take seriously if they use high blood pressure medications, it might be good to start spreading the word.

I've never seen a warning against popper use with high blood pressure meds -- does that mean it's OK? Or is it that the warnings supplied with Viagra and other ED drugs are given more sternly because they are used for SEX and poppers are also used for sex, so the drug companies feel it more likely that the two might be combined?

Thanks!

Quote |

It's also not a good thing to use cocaine if you are using a prescribed medication for controlling high blood pressure. I'm sure there are many more substances, both legal and illicit, that a person should not use if they have high blood pressure and are taking a legally prescribed medication.

Okay, okay. So you do understand my point, don't you? Scruffy, you and I and several other thoughtful people have repeatedly stressed the health risks and danger to men who use poppers and the effect it might have on them if used in conjunction with Viagra. We've also gone to great length to explain why it is vitally important for men to get their legally prescribed medications from competent medical professionals. Having said this repeatedly many times in several different forums, our efforts to help educate and inform will fall on a few deaf ears because they are currently using illicit drugs for recreational purposes, are obtaining controlled drugs without a presciption, or are completely oblivious or indifferent to the dangers of using illicit drugs with controlled legally prescribed drugs.

While it is not necessary for everyone to have a degree in Pharmacology, common sense would strongly suggest we ought not to self-medicate with illicit drugs much less use those drugs in conjuction with legally prescribed medications. It occured to me a long time ago that some medical professionals might be culturally blind to the fact their male patients could be using poppers for recreational purposes. Keeping that in mind, would we expect a male patient with a high blood pressure condition to tell his doctor that he uses poppers for recreational sex purposes? It is less likely a closeted gay or bisexual male would tell their doctor they are using poppers. A medical professional, such as a doctor, might be culturally blind or even biased in this regard. The implications are very profound when you consider the circumstance of a patient's reluctance to share certain details of their hidden alternative lifestyle and the possibility a doctor might be culturally blind or biased to that alternative lifestyle.

I'm sure Dr. Danny can probably answer your question. But, I do wonder about how many of Dr. Danny's professional collegues are aware of the cultural blindspot some of them have when it comes to gay and bisexual males using poppers for recreational sex purposes.

__________________
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. And, under a just God, cannot long retain it.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Quote |

Being quite certain that Dr. Danny is quite busy during the week and that he is (hopefully) out enjoying this gorgeous, Southern Sunday evening, I'll patiently (bad pun intended) await his reply as to the original question.

BMG brings up a good point, well worthy of consideration: docs are humans and may not be open and aware of all possible risk factors when making prescription decisions. However, if a doc is properly doing his job, when the pharmaceutical representative arrives to give him samples and sell a new medication, I'd HOPE he'd take the time to read all the literature that comes along with it. As far as Viagra and Family are concerned, popper and nitrate use are clearly contraindicated in these pamphlets.

I'm also hopeful that most docs are pretty patient-savvy; after years of experience, they may just develop some doctor-patient "gaydar" of their own. This would certainly be helpful, but also not anything one could COUNT on each and every time. I once had a doctor at a walk-in clinic just come out and ask me if I was gay -- and I am not someone who can be picked out as such from a crowd.

And, like I have always said, over and over to the point of boring everyone -- a patient must work WITH a doctor and take an active role in his or her health care. Sadly, I realize this is easier said than done: many people just take whatever drugs they are given and don't care to find out anything else about them.

When I was seven years old, my Mom had a big book listing prescription drugs and all the information pertaining to each. Way back when, she told me that she never takes anything unless she researches it herself first. If she has questions, she contacts her doctor. I have adopted the same standard, of course. Today, the internet replaces that big old book -- and is updated much more easily, too. My ex took a lot of various drugs for various reasons, prescribed by Navy physicians, and I made sure I looked up every single one of them. Hell, I even looked up everything prescribed for my DOG'S heart condition. The vet made all the right choices, but there WERE unanswered questions that I discovered AFTER doing the research. I wrote them all down, took them to the vet, and he was able to answer my new questions as well as structure a managed care treatment for her based on these questions.

My guess -- and it is ONLY a guess -- is that men with high blood pressure who take meds will end up with more or less normalized blood pressure. Consequently, Viagra probably won't lower it to a dangerous level. But I think we need to hear what Danny has to say about this.

I actually DO worry that men are taking these drugs for the wrong reasons, but I'm also aware that there probably isn't much that can be done to stop this behavior.

All this low-carb diet mania that's sweeping the nation... we just don't know what the long term effects might be in twenty years. Same for new drugs -- real life conditions vary so greatly from person to person and circumstance to circumstance; there are far too many variables to predict what may happen. Is there a potential for abuse? I think so, especially since these can be obtained without a prescription. Is it possible that men who take Viagra and don't really NEED it, each and every time they have sex, ten years from now might not be able to get an erection without it, even if it is little more than a psychological manifestation? Hmmm... Guess we'll find out.

Quote |

We still want to hear Dr. Danny's take on this, but coincidentally, I was leafing through an issue of Consumer Reports tonight and came across an article discussing Cialis.

The usual nitrate warning was there, of course, though Consumer Reports didn't mention poppers -- they talked of medically prescribed nitrates often used to treat angina.

They also mentioned that men at risk for heart attack or stroke should not use Cialis, and also men who take alpha-blockers to treat high blood pressure.

So I guess we have at least part of the answer here.

The article mentions that the three ED drugs have not been tested as a group, and the warning stated is related to Cialis, since that was the focus of the article.

Looking up the info on Viagra, I found no "official" type of warning against using it with BP meds, except for a statement that said men on BP meds were included in the first trials of the drug, and that additional drops in blood pressure were noted.

Of particular interest, however, was the final bit of information in the Consumer Reports article. It says:

"Men who opt for the increased convenience of tadalafil should understand that they may face longer lasting or unknown adverse effects."

(Tadalafil is Cialis; the comment above was not made about the other two drugs, though I personally believe that there's a great potential for "unknown or adverse" effects from all three of them. It will be years before we find out, though. Who wants to bet it's a few mass tort lawyers who get the first information?)

Quote |