Sildenafil citrate (VIAGRA)

Although I did notice some improvement in my functioning, the degree to which I experienced improvement was not enough to inspire me to overcome my natural distrust of synthetic chemicals. However, if I was experiencing more dysfunction in my nether regions, I might. My “bottom line” on the use of Viagra is one of caution as regards our enthusiastic acceptance and use, since the long term effects and results are really not in yet.”

Determining whether Viagra may have value to women may create an opportunity for long needed research into female sexuality and how to improve women’s pleasure during sex. In the past, there has been a lot more research done on male sexual function but these new drugs, including Viagra, may change all that. Public interest in this medication may give women greater permission to talk about their sex lives, how they are experiencing sex and how that might be improved. Also, with “baby boomers” approaching menopause, there is a greater need than ever to study the physiological changes that these changes bring to women’s sex lives.

Medications like Viagra can make a contribution towards a happier sex life, but it is still most important that men and women know how to more fully use their bodies as instruments of pleasure. The real task is to give people permission to talk about their sexuality and to educate everyone, particularly those in the helping professions, as to the true potential of our sexuality and sensuality as an expression of our love and caring. We all need to understand that people need to work at having a good sex life in order to make it work for them.

While Viagra is not the long sought-after aphrodisiac that will create desire and turn sexual problems into bliss, it does have a potential for good. It is creating the opportunity and permission for dialogue on a once-taboo subject. It has already caused many of us to stop and look deeper at all the aspects of our sexuality, how to improve the quality of our sexual experience, and what role we want sex to play in our relationships.

An impotence tablet is helping to keep a pet dog with a heart condition from an early grave.

Talisker, a border collie, was living on borrowed time after vets found his heart had become dangerously enlarged.

The dog, three, from Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire, passes out when he gets excited because his blood cannot pump quickly enough around his body.

But, since taking Viagra, the blood flow to Talisker’s heart has improved, according to owner Lesley Strong, 58.

Vets advised Ms Strong to give Viagra to the dog after they found he was suffering from a potentially lethal heart condition.

Ms Strong, a former pub landlady, said: “We were very surprised when we were recommended Viagra.

“It causes great hilarity at the chemist’s when I pick up the prescription.

“He is happy and healthy apart from the heart. I’m pretty sure it has kept him alive, but, the thing is, it can’t cure him.

“He needs special care and we have to make sure he doesn’t over exert himself, as over-exertion causes it. It’s about him being active without being over-exercised.”

Now Talisker takes one quarter of a Viagra tablet three times a day and an eighth of an aspirin tablet daily.

The dog, who is named after a single malt whiskey, has had the condition since June last year.

When I suggested to my boyfriend that he try Viagra to treat his “technical difficulties”, he thought it was a good idea, but now he is saying that he can’t afford the office visit and prescription, and wants me to pay for half the expenses. When I said no way, he pointed out that it was my idea in the first place, and that I would be getting as much out of it as him. He’s the one who has erectile dysfunction, so I think he should pay his own medical bills. Who’s right?

P. S. If I did pay for half and we broke up, would it be wrong to ask him for a refund for any unused portion of the Viagra?

Miss Everhard doesn’t want to get into the finer points of pill-splitting, so let’s just address the first part of your question, which will obviate the second part. If your boyfriend has had ED for any length of time – or even if he hasn’t – surely he is aware that Viagra is a viable and preferred option for treatment of erectile difficulties. If he’s acting as though taking Viagra never occurred to him before you suggested it, I’m inclined to suspect some disingenuousness on his part. I also suspect he’s a bit of a cheapskate. If you had a medical problem that was interfering with your sex life – a yeast infection, for example – would he offer to pay for half of your gynecologist visit and Monistat prescription? Would you expect him to? Until a couple is sharing finances in all areas, one partner is not expected to subsidize the other’s personal health care. As a compromise, tell him that you will not pay for half of his Viagra, but you are willing to forgo dinners out and other shared entertainment expenses until he is able to save enough money to cover the medical costs.