Guía de efectos secundarios de Viagra (Sildenafil)

La disfunción eréctil, o DE, es una afección común que afecta hasta al 40 por ciento de los hombres a la edad de 40 años. Hay varios medicamentos disponibles para tratar la disfunción eréctil. De ellos, Viagra (o, en su forma genérica, sildenafil) es el más conocido y utilizado.  

Viagra actúa aumentando el flujo sanguíneo al pene, lo que le facilita lograr y mantener una erección cuando está sexualmente excitado. Utilizado por millones de hombres, es un medicamento seguro, probado y eficaz.

Sin embargo, como casi todos los medicamentos, Viagra tiene el potencial de provocar efectos secundarios. La mayoría de estos efectos secundarios son menores y temporales (por lo general, desaparecen cuando el medicamento sale del cuerpo), aunque algunos pueden volverse graves si usa otros medicamentos recetados.

A continuación, enumeramos los efectos secundarios comunes y poco comunes del sildenafil, el ingrediente activo de Viagra. También analizamos los datos detrás de muchos de estos efectos secundarios para explicar cómo y por qué ocurren, así como qué puede hacer para controlarlos.

Los efectos secundarios más comunes de Viagra

Viagra tiene varios efectos secundarios comunes. Estos efectos secundarios generalmente ocurren al mismo tiempo que el medicamento está activo en su cuerpo (generalmente, de tres a cinco horas), aunque algunos pueden continuar durante varias horas después de que los efectos activos de Viagra desaparecen.

dolores de cabeza

Los dolores de cabeza son, con diferencia, el efecto secundario más común de Viagra y afectan a alrededor del 25 por ciento de los hombres que usan este medicamento. Los dolores de cabeza causados ​​por Viagra suelen ser leves y normalmente desaparecen a medida que el medicamento se vuelve menos concentrado en el torrente sanguíneo.

Otros medicamentos para la disfunción eréctil, como Cialis (tadalafil) y Levitra, también están relacionados con los dolores de cabeza. Todos estos medicamentos actúan ensanchando los vasos sanguíneos, lo que ayuda a mejorar el flujo sanguíneo al tejido eréctil del pene.

Esto tiene el efecto secundario de aumentar también el flujo sanguíneo a otras áreas del cuerpo. A medida que los vasos sanguíneos aumentan de diámetro, puede contribuir al dolor de cabeza al estirar los nervios en el costado de la cabeza.

A medida que los efectos del Viagra se desvanecen y los vasos sanguíneos se contraen, es normal que los dolores de cabeza que experimente debido al medicamento se vuelvan menos intensos.

Nuestra guía para tratar los dolores de cabeza causados ​​por medicamentos para la disfunción eréctil explica lo que puede hacer si nota dolor de cabeza con frecuencia después de usar Viagra. La mayoría de las veces, los dolores de cabeza inducidos por Viagra se pueden tratar reduciendo la dosis del medicamento o utilizando analgésicos de venta libre.

Dolores musculares

Some Viagra users experience muscle aches after taking the medication. This can range from a mild level of muscular pain to pain in a specific area, such as the lower back. Muscle aches and pain after using Viagra can be treated using over-the-counter pain relief medications.

If you have recurring, uncomfortable muscle aches after using Viagra, make sure to discuss this with your doctor. Your doctor might recommend a suitable form of pain relief or suggest using a lower dose of Viagra for ED treatment.

Nasal Congestion

Viagra can cause you to get a stuffy, partially blocked nose. Like most other side effects, this is a temporary issue that is most common while the medication is still in your system, although in some cases it can persist for several hours after the main effects of Viagra wear off.

This side effect is the result of Viagra’s effects on blood flow. By causing your blood vessels to widen, Viagra can contribute to nasal obstruction. This makes it more difficult to breathe through your nostrils.

Studies of sildenafil citrate and nasal obstruction show that this side effect can occur at a 50mg dose of Viagra. Like other side effects, it might be possible to limit the effects of Viagra on your ability to breathe through your nose by reducing your dosage of the medication.

Dizziness

Some men report feeling dizzy after using ED medication such as Viagra. This is typically due to the increase in nitric oxide Viagra can trigger. Most of the time, any dizziness from Viagra is light and passes quickly as your body gets used to the effects of the medication.

If you frequently experience dizziness after using Viagra, let your doctor know. Like many other common side effects of Viagra, you can often limit or avoid dizziness by adjusting your dosage of the medication.

Facial Flushing

Sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, causes your blood vessels to widen, improving blood flow to your penis and making it easier to get an erection.

This can also cause blood vessels in other parts of your body to widen. When the blood vessels in your skin dilate, your skin can take on a red, flushed appearance. Some men who use Viagra notice this effect around their nose, cheeks and forehead.

Just like headaches, facial flushing fades away on its own as the dose of sildenafil that’s active in your body decreases. If you’re prone to facial flushing from Viagra, using a lower dose of the medication might cause this side effect to become less intense and visible.

Facial flushing is a common side effect of all ED medications, meaning that switching to Cialis or Levitra might not prevent this from occurring.

Indigestion/Heartburn

Indigestion, or heartburn, is a common side effect of Viagra. This occurs because of the effects of Viagra on smooth muscle tissue in your body.

After you take Viagra, the smooth muscle tissue in your penis starts to relax, leading to higher levels of blood flow. This effect also occurs in other smooth muscle tissue, including the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a group of muscles that separate your stomach and esophagus.

This can result in small quantities of stomach acid making its way from your stomach into your esophagus.

Heartburn from Viagra can be treated using over-the-counter antacids such as Gaviscon, which creates a protective layer on the top of your stomach contents. If you experience mild heartburn from Viagra, drinking several glasses of water can also help to prevent discomfort.

If you frequently get indigestion/heartburn after using Viagra, consider discussing switching to a lower dose of the medication with your doctor. It’s also important to avoid drinking alcohol after using Viagra, as alcohol can further relax the LES and worsen heartburn symptoms.

Nausea

Sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, can cause a small percentage of users to experience nausea shortly after it’s taken. Of the common side effects of Viagra, this is one of the rarest — in a four-year study, only one out of 979 participants reported nausea as a side effect.

Nausea from sildenafil is generally mild. Like other side effects, it most frequently occurs while the medication is active, with nausea and stomach discomfort typically fading away as Viagra’s effects wear off.

If you feel nauseous after using Viagra, consider talking to your doctor about using a lower dose of the medication.

Visual Disturbances

Viagra is linked to several visual disturbances, including blurred vision, increased brightness of lights and cyanopsia, a form of chromatopsia in which your vision becomes overly blue.

Studies state that these effects are transient and mild, with vision issues typically occurring as the sildenafil in Viagra is at its peak concentration in the body. Long-term studies of Viagra do not show any lasting, permanent side effects related to vision or the structure of the eye.

Reduced Blood Pressure

Viagra is a vasodilator that can affect your blood pressure. On average, people’s blood pressure drops by 8.4/5.5 mmHg after taking a typical dose of Viagra. This reduction is small and doesn’t lead to any negative health effects in people with healthy, non-hypertensive blood pressure.

In short, if you’re healthy and don’t have any blood pressure issues, Viagra will affect your blood pressure, but not in a dangerous way.

If you have cardiovascular disease or hypertension, Viagra could have a more significant effect on your blood pressure and general health. It’s important to discuss this with your doctor before considering Viagra, especially if you use medication to treat a cardiovascular health issue.

Less Common, More Serious Side Effects of Viagra

Although serious side effects from Viagra are highly uncommon, they can still happen. Viagra has several uncommon side effects, including interactions with certain medicines used to treat  hypertension and a small risk of priapism.

Priapism

Priapism is a serious condition in which you experience a painful, persistent erection that lasts for several hours without sexual stimulation. This can lead to permanent damage to the erectile tissue of the penis.

Compared to other Viagra side effects, priapism is very rare. Most cases of priapism related to Viagra involve people taking overly large doses of the medication (in one case, 200mg at once), as well as men who use sildenafil in combination with penile injection therapy.

In the entire year of 2007, there were only 93 reported cases of this side effect from Viagra and other ED medication. Considering millions of men in the US use Viagra without issue, it’s safe to say that priapism is very uncommon.

If you do experience priapism after using Viagra or any other ED medication, you should seek emergency medical care. Priapism is a serious medical emergency that needs to be treated by a qualified professional in order to avoid damaging your penile tissue.

Damage to the Optic Nerve

Although it’s extremely rare, erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra are linked to damage to the optic nerve, or nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, in a very small percentage of users.

Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy can cause loss of vision as a result of insufficient blood supply to the optic nerve. In severe cases, this condition can lead to the loss of the upper or lower hemifield of the visual field (for example, loss of half of one eye’s field of vision).

In a 2006 review of clinical trial data, researchers found that approximately 2.8 cases of NAION (nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy) occur per 100,000 patient-years of Viagra use, making this an extremely rare potential side effect.

It’s worth noting that most of the cases of optic nerve damage associated with Viagra reported in the US involved men who were already at risk of vision complications due to a small cup-to-disc ratio that’s associated with this condition.

Hearing Issues

Viagra and other commonly used ED medications are linked to several cases of hearing loss, some of which occurred within 24 hours of using the drugs.

An extremely small percentage of men who’ve used Viagra have experienced a condition that’s known as sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). This involves damage to the inner ear that can cause permanent loss of hearing.  

Although researchers are unsure of why this happens, it’s believed to be linked to the effects of Viagra on the nitrous oxide-cyclic GMP (No/cGMP) pathway. On average, the men affected by this side effect were 56.6 year of age, with 88 percent losing their hearing in only one ear.

Al igual que los problemas de visión mencionados anteriormente, los problemas de audición causados ​​por Viagra son extremadamente raros. Una guía del NHS  señala que solo ha habido 47 casos de pérdida auditiva relacionada con inhibidores de la PDE5 como Viagra desde la introducción de los medicamentos a fines de la década de 1990 hasta 2011, el año en que se publicó la guía.

Interacción con medicamentos para la presión arterial

Sildenafil, el ingrediente activo de Viagra, puede interactuar con algunos medicamentos utilizados para tratar la presión arterial alta. Usados ​​juntos, estos medicamentos pueden causar una caída repentina de la presión arterial que puede afectar gravemente su salud.

No debe usar Viagra si también usa nitratos, como nitroglicerina, dinitrato de isosorbida, mononitrato de isosorbida o nitrato de amilo, para tratar la hipertensión. Viagra no debe tomarse con "poppers", que a menudo contienen ingredientes como el nitrato de amilo.

Estos medicamentos tienen el potencial de interactuar con Viagra y provocar una caída repentina y grave de la presión arterial que puede provocar pérdida del conocimiento o paro cardíaco. Además de Viagra, estos efectos secundarios pueden ocurrir si se usan Cialis o Levitra en combinación con nitratos.

Si tiene algún problema de salud cardiovascular, como hipertensión o enfermedad cardíaca, debe informar a su médico sobre estos problemas y cualquier medicamento que tome antes de hablar sobre el uso de Viagra o cualquier otro medicamento para la disfunción eréctil.

Obtenga más información sobre Viagra y la disfunción eréctil

En general, Viagra es un medicamento seguro y muy eficaz. Lo utilizan regularmente millones de hombres sólo en los Estados Unidos, así como decenas de millones en todo el mundo. Si bien algunos efectos secundarios, como enrojecimiento facial y dolores de cabeza, son comunes, los efectos secundarios graves son extremadamente raros.