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Viagra or Cialis

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Posted 9/30/2006 5:34 AM (GMT -8)
Tom's doctor is going to start him on one of these next week. He mentioned either one, so I'm guessing he will leave the choice up to us. We have zero experience with these drugs. Does anyone have a preference, and why do you like one over the other? I am concerned about side effects.
Posted 9/30/2006 6:30 AM (GMT -8)
Kate,

After using all 3 of the drugs (a lot of each) in the year after surgery I found Levitra to be the most effective with the least amount of side effects. Cialis did very little compared to the others at first and still didn't/doesn't do as much good. Levitra was the first to work and still works the best. All any of them did for a long time was wake up some nerves. I knew this by the amount of twitching. It's a slow process but not nearly as slow as I thought it would feel like. We knew what to expect. Viagra was okay. Not quite as good as Levitra but the head ache I get sometimes is a real mood breaker. One of them will work for Tom. Try all of them and decide after a month of each maybe. That's pretty much the way I found the one I liked the best.

Read up on adding L-Arginine to Tom's daily supplements. Anything that helps get more oxygen to an injured body part is helpful. Also, if I were to do one thing over it would be to start on shots sooner than 8 months. I saw the majority of improvement from day one using the caverject.

Good Luck, Paul
Posted 9/30/2006 7:45 AM (GMT -8)
Paul,

thank you for the info. I bookmarked a web site for caverjet just in case things don't start "moving" for Jeff. He has started taking Cialis again (but not drinking!) so we'll see what happens with that. He also is taking the L-arginine. we're not sure how long this will take for him to start having erections. I guess we'll take it a day/week at a time. we were just talking this morning how our sex life has changed and is different now. but we both agreed that it's not really for the worse and we needed some changes after almost 30 years. we both miss intercourse, though, and are looking forward to that happening again. this is always so weird for me to talk about this with strangers, but who else knows better than those who have experienced all of this? thanks all....kat
Posted 9/30/2006 2:25 PM (GMT -8)

Kate,

I think Viagra is too short lasting, only 4 hours.  I take Cialis currently but have never tried Levitra.  These two drugs last up to 3 days.  I occasionally will get a mild headache the day after I take the Cialis, but nothing bad at all.  I can definitely tell the difference when I do not take anything for a week.  The Cialis at least helps with lengthening and increase blood flow.  Not enough for an erection yet, but will try to be patient!

Paul, thanks for the informaton about the injections.  How early do you think someone should start the injections?  I want to start as soon as I can.  I will meet with the Urologist in another month which will be 3 months post surgery.  Is that not soon enough? I just want to have a full erection, even for just a minute, to give me encouragement that it can happen!  Patience, patience, patience, is not easy.  I did go for my first 1 mile run today and no leaks!  That helped my spirits.

Michael

Posted 9/30/2006 3:28 PM (GMT -8)
Michael,

Actually, Levitra has the same half life as Viagra. I find it lasts for hours longer myself. Maybe it has something to do with my body chemistry.
Levitra is a little different. Can't say why. Just acts differently for me is all.
The only side effect I get is a stuffed up nose for a while. It goes away without doing anything though.

As for the Caverject Impulse. I do think things might have improved sooner had I started them around 3 months instead of 8.

My insurance covers 3 boxes of 2 injection sets each. That's supposed to be 6 doses of up to 20mcg. E-mail me direct at plp40@wowway.com when you get started and I'll give you a useful piece of info. I never used 20ug. Did/do well on 5 and sometimes 10ug. I started with 10ug and reduced the dose as needed. I also continued to take my 10mg of Levitra like usual every night for the full year after surgery, even with the shots. A lot of men probably don't.

I've only used the shots 1 time in the past 3 or so months. No need. Levitra 10mg seems to work pretty well all the time now. Funny how both 10 and 20 mg. work the same.

Word to the wise. Hold light finger presure on the site for a minute or two after injecting to reduce the risk of any bleeding at the site. Keep a package of sudephed and take 30-60 mg should an erection last too long. Follow directions and you'll do alright.

Good Luck, Paul
Posted 9/30/2006 7:10 PM (GMT -8)

Some doctors suggest Viagra every 2nd day soon after surgery, not necessarily for sexual activity, but it's thought to assist the healing process.

Some people don't tolerate higher doses well, so it would be best to try smaller dose (25 size pill) first to see how it goes.

If you get larger ones (100 size pill) due to availability you could cut them into 4. That could also be cheaper as all sizes are sometimes similar price.

Congestion to other areas can result in the headaches etc mentioned here, but more serious problems can result if other drugs like heart medications are also being used.

John

Posted 10/1/2006 6:02 AM (GMT -8)

I am 10 months post laproscopic radical prostatectomy. Everything is back to normal with the exception of erections. I use a pump just to get inflation several times a week, I do not do this for sex. I use a generic form of Viagra that I order through Canada and at half the price of the real stuff, it seems work the same as the real stuff ( not very well).

I tried caverject and Muse, WOW, talk about expensive, the Muse was about $180.00 for 6.

 Anyway the Caverject and Muse made my penis ache and then I pretty much lost interrest anyway. Then, about a month ago, I tried another injection, Bimix, WOW, it works, no ache and $45.00 for 20 injections! 

I think Caverject and Muse are trimix and bimix leaves out the ingredient that made my penis and my finances ache.

Posted 10/1/2006 7:56 AM (GMT -8)
Kirk,

Good post. Thanks for the BiMix info. Outtta sight, outta mind. Trimix is the other compound drug.
Caverject (Edex in some circles) is less likely of the 3 to cause scarring so that is our choice. Besides, insurance pays for all but $20. Paul has easily figured out how to get more than one use from an impulse set ...shhhh, don't tell Pfizer.

Swim
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