Thanks Juliet, More Blood Flow? Consider the Mechanism Again.
Thanks K, Another Deception By Big Pharm.
Dr. Maura Myrtle, Consider the Actual Mechanism Again.
I Just Heard an Ad for Levitra, “Levitra Works By Increasing Blood flow”, is this How it Works?
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I guess the purveyors and everyone else involved in the advert deems the public too stupid to understand the drug’s mode of action. Unless there is some accuracy, misinformation will result. Not unlike, in my mind, teaching a pre-verbal child that "num-nums" is the word for food. Same sh!t. Both demeaning and inaccurate. Talking down to people steals their opportunities to gain knowledge that could otherwise be had if people behind these adverts didn’t think we were such boneheads, not capable of understanding the mode of action to do with Levitra. An insult.
To answer your question directly: no, this is not how Levitra works. It works like all other PDE5 inhibitors. It blocks the degradative action of phosphodiesterase type 5 on cyclic GMP in the smooth muscle cells lining the blood vessels supplying the corpus cavernosum of the penis. This aids in smooth muscle relaxation and enhances the vasodilation effects of nitric oxide.
It would have been very simple to reduce the verbosity, associated with the above, in the advert by stating something like this, perhaps: "Levitra works by blocking a chemical called PDE5. When PDE5 is blocked, more of the chemicals responsible for the erection remain, so the muscles in the penis do not constrict. This allows blood to stay in the penis longer, thereby maintaining an erection". Much better than errors to do with increases in blood flow. *Sheesh*.
EDIT: I think this misinformation is shameful. It resonates. Type Levitra into Yahoo and see how many hits you get that cite "increases in blood flow". Ridiculous.
it is a vasodilator (dilates blood vessles, thus increases blood flow), via inhibition of phosphodiasterase. This class of drug was originally made to lower blood pressure, however the desirable side effect of prolonged erection to to specific blood flow to the genitals clearly was more profitable. Note: viagra gives many men a blue haze to their vision (it affects the same enzyme in the eyes)- hence the blue color to the pills.
That is my understanding from the research I did.