Do you want a prescription for Viagra………but you are too embarrassed to ask??
Men often feel awkward in a chemist in three different phases of their lives: first, during adolescence, when they ask the nice lady behind the counter for a packet of condoms. Boy, we used to get red-faced and run out of the pharmacy giggling with the ignominy of that one. The second is presenting the nice lady behind the counter with shhhhhhhh: ´Just for Men´ hair dye. And third would be in the senescence years, when that nice lady behind the counter is asked if she could sell us some Viagra.
I have a plan, though it be somewhat unorthodox in its execution, to avoid this last embarrassing situation in the local pharmacy. You see, Viagra (or sildenafil, being its generic name) began its life in a research lab studying medicines which decrease blood pressure inside the lungs. What we, in the industry, call pulmonary antihypertensive medicine. During the trial period, some of the trial patients started mentioning an unexpected side effect (that´s right, a side effect doesn’t have to be detrimental).
So, as there is much more money to be made out of erectile dysfunction (not a permanently grey chameleon; that´s a reptile dysfuntion), the nice people at Pfizer decided not to launch the drug as a pulmonary antihypertensive medication, which could save people´s lives, but rather market it to old codgers who can´t get a stiffy…
So, to bring this back into our sphere of relevance: Heartworm (dirofilaria) in dogs is a parasite in the right side of the heart – a 30cm long worm and there can be lots of them. The parasite will extend into the pulmonary vasculature and the worms which die will then fly into the pulmonary arteries, causing more pulmonary hypertension. So clever vets, like us, incorporate sildenafil into our treatment, which results in fewer fatalities from this horrible disease.
So, if you are too embarrassed to ask for a prescription for Viagra, make sure not to give your dog any heartworm protection and no tick collars or spot-ons either!!! We can prescribe sildenafil for his pulmonary hypertension and then, you can divvy up the pills between the two of you. Easy peasy. Just make sure it doesn’t get stuck in your throat…you´ll end up with a stiff neck!
For now, enjoy the summer and please ensure your pet is protected against heartworm. See you next month…
