Have you had your daily dose of Viagra today?

Have you had your daily dose of Viagra today? This is the question we ask our patients’ everyday when we go for rounds in the morning hours at the ward in the hospital. It has become a routine joke with everyone. Everybody actually waits for this question to be asked and the answers can be very funny indeed. Most of the patients are in their early sixties and a few above eighties. The response varies from patients making faces, gestures, behaving like sexually aggressive animal to mating calls being mimicked etc. The entire episode takes about twenty minutes with participation from everybody in the ward including nurses, assistants and everyone. Now the joke is known only to us and outsiders including the patients’ families are not aware. This makes all patients special and brings them closer to each other. Many of the patients have been here for quite a while with various complications. This joke is also an indicator of a patient’s state of health and mood. If they are really feeling ill , then it shows in their response to our joke.

Wondering what the joke is all about? Well, yes these patients are being given daily dosage of Viagra. But it is not meant for the purpose that Viagra is famous for, but is meant to control their arterial hyper tension which is nothing but to control their blood pressure. Now Viagra is famous as treatment option not for this reason, but for curing erectile dysfunction. More over is it also misconstrued to be a drug to increase the libido in men? This is the reason why there is unprecedented demand for Viagra in the market. But then when we use this as a treatment for blood pressure, it works as a PDE 5 inhibitor and increases the blood supply to the sex organs, thereby increasing the sensitivity and stimulation of the penis for as long as the tablet’s effectiveness last and hence the joke amongst the group. They all have been told about the effect even before prescribing the medicines to them. Of course all of them do go through these symptoms but are able to laugh it off and not carry it forward. Over sensitiveness of the sexual organ does not necessarily lead to an arousal or increase in sexual energy. With the advancement of age comes a general attitude of lack of interest in sex and lack of physical energy to indulge in it. Of, course this need not be true in all cases. After all enjoying sex is not limited by age, but more by the condition and energy of the body. Sexual act demands high energy and old people can have a problem if they are not physically up to it. It can interfere with their blood pressure and heart function. There are cases in history where men with advanced age have suffered heart attacks while being in the act. Though the mind entertains the idea of enjoying sexual pleasure, the body may not be able to withstand the excitement and onrush of blood and energy.

So we go on with the rest of the day with a smile and wait for the next morning rounds to ask our patients again if they have had their daily dose of Viagra.