Young men who started out taking Viagra for kicks have left themselves completely psychologically dependent on the erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment according to a recent study. The study, carried out at the VA Boston Healthcare System, showed that among a group of young, healthy guys, all of whom were healthy, those who consumed more Viagra also displayed lower levels of confidence with their erections. This study is published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
1,200 men of an average age of 22 participated in the study. 72 men used the ED treatment recreationally when they did not really need it or were not prescribed it by their doctor and 1,111 of them did not take Viagra at all. Only 24 of the men had been diagnosed with ED by a doctor and were treated with Viagra for a medical condition. All of the men were surveyed about their sexual function over the previous 4 weeks.
Those who took Viagra recreationally were generally less satisfied with their ability to achieve and maintain an erection and this lack of confidence was linked to their erectile dysfunction. This is referred to as psychogenic ED and explains the type of ED that starts in the mind however the study does not provide us with any hard evidence of cause and effect.
Furthermore, who’s to say that the men who took the treatment recreationally didn’t suffer from ED but were perhaps too shy to discuss the issue with their doctor? Either way, it is not advisable to mess with drugs like Viagra without a prescription and without need. If not taken in the right dosage and if they’ve not come from a legitimate source, you cannot have complete confidence in its appropriateness.