Do you really need Viagra?

Miriam and her boyfriend, Julius, came to the Sexology Clinic last week to buy erection-enhancing drugs.

They were not interested in talking to a doctor. After a lot of persuasions, the love birds finally accepted to see me.

"We are not sick," Miriam said. "We always buy the blue pills from pharmacies and we thought you have them, that's all. If you have them sell or just let us go."

The two were in their mid-twenties and had been dating for close to a year.

"So why do you use erection enhancers, do you have erection problems?" I asked, trying to get to the root of the couple's problems.

Miriam shook her head and frowned, looking disappointed. She stood up to leave and beckoned at the man to join her. Julius sat put.

He reported that he uses the pills to improve his bedroom performance. He had been using the erection enhancers for close to five years.

Well, Julius' story is a common one. Many men are taking erection enhancers intending to enhance pleasure and for no medical reason at all.

Pharmacies are selling the medicines like hot cake. Some men also resort to the use of traditional herbs for the same effect. Many hawkers are peddling the herbs in the streets and cashing in.

"You see doctor, when you are with a lady you have to show your prowess; that is why we use these drugs," Julius explained, trying to justify his action.

RISKY BEHAVIOUR

The use of erection enhancers for recreational reasons shows worrying results.

For one, people who use erection enhancers are also found to commonly use hard drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and others.

Sometimes the recreational drugs cross-react with the erection enhancers, and in a few cases this has resulted in heart issues and even caused death.

Unfortunately, when this happens, it is the erection enhancers that are blamed. Used correctly and for the right reason, erection enhancers are quite safe.

Another major issue with the recreational use of erection enhancers is risky sexual behaviour. Many men who use the pills tend to have multiple sexual partners.

READ:Viagra: Saviour or destroyer?

They also tend to have unsafe sex. As such the prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases tend to be common in the users.

Miriam, who had remained standing all this while, walked out of the office in protest shouting that she would never test for HIV.

The reality of using erection enhancers for recreation, however, is that they do not improve sexual performance.

Studies on healthy individuals with no erection problems who use Viagra have shown that their sexual performance did not change.

Hence, erection enhancers do treat erectile dysfunction and so if used for purposes other than that, the effect is not any different from placebos.

REBUILD

In the worst-case scenario, the recreational use of erection enhancers can lead to psychological causes of erectile dysfunction.

Users begin to believe that they cannot perform without using the enhancers and this gets engrained in their minds. The result is that they have erection failure when they try having sex without enhancers.

"I am wondering what to do to stop using the enhancers. I will also stop smoking weed and do an HIV test, but will that be enough for me to stop using the enhancers?" Julius asked anxiously.

Going deep into his sexual history, Julius had three running relationships. He did not use condoms with the women.

A year ago he suffered a genital infection which the doctor told him was syphilis. He was a regular user of marijuana and his girlfriends used the drug too.

Julius underwent counselling and HIV testing, which unfortunately turned out positive. He is to start using ARVs after further tests. He is also scheduled to start withdrawal from the use of marijuana. He is determined to rebuild his life.