Is There Sex After Heart Disease?
Doctors have good news for heart patients hoping to resume sexual activity.
Beta-blockers, used for irregular heart beats after open heart surgery and to lower blood pressure, are the biggest culprit that can interfere with sex after heart disease. They lower blood pressure -- and the "hemodynamic fill of the penis," says Paul Turek, MD, a retired professor of urology at the University of California at San Francisco and director of the Turek Clinic in San Francisco. "Think of it as a hose. If you lower the pressure, you're effectively ... turning off the hose. The inflow is lower."
Doctors also can try to adjust the drug's dosage over time, which can also help, or switch patients to a different medication.
An erectile dysfunction drug may help, but some men may not be able to take ED drugs because of other medications.
Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis are OK -- with some exceptions. Phosphodiesterase inhibitors (Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra) do not increase heart attack or death rates and are considered safe for most men wishing to have sex after heart disease. One exception is in men taking nitrates (usually for angina, the sense of tightness in the chest), because the combination of the two drugs can cause a large and sudden decreases in blood pressure.
Another caveat: "the pill enables them to perform activities that will tax the heart the way it hasn't been before," Turek says. Many men feel timid and hesitate to ask about these types of medications, Niederberger says. He reassures them by explaining that the erection problem is related to the heart problem and that "sexual activity is a healthy thing to do." Sometimes a man will say, "my wife is afraid for me to take it," Niederberger says.
If ED drugs don't work, doctors may offer alternatives such as injections (which patients give themselves five or 10 minutes before intercourse and which last 15 to 60 minutes), vacuum-erection devices (a plastic cylinder that draws blood into the penis, and then a ring is placed at the base of the penis) or surgery (a prosthesis can be surgically implanted).
Is There Sex After Heart Disease?
Doctors have good news for heart patients hoping to resume sexual activity.
Medications
Beta-blockers, used for irregular heart beats after open heart surgery and to lower blood pressure, are the biggest culprit that can interfere with sex after heart disease. They lower blood pressure -- and the "hemodynamic fill of the penis," says Paul Turek, MD, a retired professor of urology at the University of California at San Francisco and director of the Turek Clinic in San Francisco. "Think of it as a hose. If you lower the pressure, you're effectively ... turning off the hose. The inflow is lower."
Doctors also can try to adjust the drug's dosage over time, which can also help, or switch patients to a different medication.
An erectile dysfunction drug may help, but some men may not be able to take ED drugs because of other medications.
Using ED Drugs
Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis are OK -- with some exceptions. Phosphodiesterase inhibitors (Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra) do not increase heart attack or death rates and are considered safe for most men wishing to have sex after heart disease. One exception is in men taking nitrates (usually for angina, the sense of tightness in the chest), because the combination of the two drugs can cause a large and sudden decreases in blood pressure.
Another caveat: "the pill enables them to perform activities that will tax the heart the way it hasn't been before," Turek says. Many men feel timid and hesitate to ask about these types of medications, Niederberger says. He reassures them by explaining that the erection problem is related to the heart problem and that "sexual activity is a healthy thing to do." Sometimes a man will say, "my wife is afraid for me to take it," Niederberger says.
If ED drugs don't work, doctors may offer alternatives such as injections (which patients give themselves five or 10 minutes before intercourse and which last 15 to 60 minutes), vacuum-erection devices (a plastic cylinder that draws blood into the penis, and then a ring is placed at the base of the penis) or surgery (a prosthesis can be surgically implanted).
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