Is buying Viagra online without a prescription safe?

Those who are in the habit of looking to buy Viagra cheap online from internet sites whose drug dispensing antecedents are not well known have been persistently advised to discontinue with the dangerous practice. Apart from the obvious fact that the drug could be fake, it is possible that the real Viagra tablets – if actually sold by these sites – could be obtained without knowing much about the suitability for the buyer to take the drug. Buying Viagra online without prescription could in effect be as risky as buying fake Viagra pills. The need to get a prescription before getting the blue pills couldn’t be better emphasised, if reports of the rare side effects linked to the drug use are anything to go by.

Only in October 2007, the maker of Viagra had to modify the label of the drug to include warnings about sudden loss of hearing within hours to two days of taking the diamond-shaped tablets.
This could have been viewed as usual, considering the fact that a great number of men who take the Viagra drug are old and susceptible to this condition with time. However the process is always almost gradual, and loss of hearing developing suddenly is rare.

Sudden hearing loss associated with Sildenafil Citrate, according to the FDA, is often accompanied by tinnitus, a kind of ringing or roaring in the ear due mainly to the damage in the ear cells of the inner ear, and dizziness. In all the reports, the loss of ear involving Viagra occurred in one ear, with the loss temporary in a third of the cases.

While testing for Viagra’s approval, there were reported cases of hearing loss. These prompted the maker of Viagra to include a one-word mention of “deafness” as a potential side effect on the old Viagra label. In sharp contrast to the old label, the new one carries warning on sudden hearing loss on both the “Adverse Reactions” and “Precautions” sections of the label. The “Adverse Reactions” section of the label now warns that the drug was capable of causing “sudden decrease or loss of hearing”. The “Precautions” section of the new label advises physicians to warn patients about the possibility of sudden loss of hearing due to taking the blue pill. Also included in the section is a prompt for patients to discontinue with taking the drug and to seek immediate medical attention if they experience a decrease or sudden loss in hearing, or dizziness.

The possibility of causing Nonarteritic Ischemic Optic Neuropathy (NAION)

Recently, researchers in the US talked about seven patients who developed a kind of eye ailment that can result in permanent vision loss – nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) – after using Viagra to correct their erectile problem. When combined with other similar reports, the study increased the tally of Viagra-related NAION incidents to 14, since approval by the FDA in 1998.

In his reaction to the findings of the study, Dr. Howard D. Pomeranz, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, co-author of the study said that it had always been known that Viagra could cause short-term colour changes in its users, making them have difficulties in differentiating blue from green. All the patients developed visual-impairment symptoms within 24 hours of using Viagra, with the exception of one whose symptoms started after 24 to 36 hours of using the drug. The initial symptoms of all patients who developed NAION were blurred vision and certain degree of loss of vision. A particular patient had both eyes affected, while the rest were affected in only one eye. It was, however, noted that three patients had preexisting eye ailments which might have markedly increased the risk of NAION.