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What Do ED Pills Do?

Getting your finger around how you get and maintain an erection can be quite a challenging endeavor. However, at the bottom of it all, it is all about blood flow. As a man gets sexually excited, it triggers a reaction from the brain that leads to the relaxation of arteries and constriction of the veins in the penis. This results in more blood getting into the penis compared to the amount getting out. From there, the phosphodiesterase-5 enzyme (PDE-5) breaks the signal down again, the arteries narrow, and everything returns to its resting state.

Cross-section diagram of the penis showing arteries filling the erectile tissue
Blood flows into the erectile tissue faster than it drains out. That imbalance is the erection, and PDE-5 inhibitors work by holding it open for longer.

The balance, however, is at times affected. This either leads to a weak erection or a situation that you can hardly achieve an erection. That happens when there is too much PDE-5 activity. Conversely, if you don’t have enough PDE-5, you can experience priapism, a state where the erection lasts longer, usually over four hours. Erectile dysfunction is more common than you think. As you turn to ED pills, it is good if you knew what they do.

With the above information, you can already guess how ED pills work. Let’s get the guesswork off play; ED pills work by inhibiting PDE-5. In a more elaborative manner, ED pills interfere with the chemical process that lets blood leave an erect penis. You may have heard the doctor call them phosphodiesterase inhibitors, which in short means PDE-5 inhibitors. By inhibiting the PDE-5, ED pills allow you to enjoy a stronger and harder erection than you would achieve on your own due to the erections and PDE-5 enzymes imbalance.

Before you start taking ED pills, it is advisable to seek professional advice from your doctor. This is mainly due to the possible side effects ED pills can pose. For instance, the wrong dosage could affect your health, especially if you have a pre-existing ailment. What’s more, you might not get the results you want due to how ED pills interact with other medications.

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Comparing the four

All four PDE-5 inhibitors are sold as generics now, and the price differences between them are far larger than the clinical ones.

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