Herbal Sex Pills Pose Hidden Dangers

Source: ap



Herbal Sex Pills Pose Hidden Dangers

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 12, 2007 4:22 PM EST

LOS ANGELES - Many of the pills marketed as safe herbal alternatives to Viagra and other prescription sex medications pose a hidden danger: For men on common heart and blood-pressure drugs, popping one could lead to a stroke, or even death.

"All-natural" products with names like Stamina-RX and Vigor-25 promise an apothecary's delight of rare Asian ingredients, but many work because they contain unregulated versions of the very pharmaceuticals they are supposed to replace.

That dirty secret represents a special danger for the millions of men who take nitrates - drugs prescribed to lower blood pressure and regulate heart disease. When mixed, nitrates and impotency pharmaceuticals can slow blood flow catastrophically, leading to a heart attack or stroke.

An Associated Press investigation shows that spiked herbal impotency pills are emerging as a major public health concern that officials haven't figured out how to track, much less tame.

Emergency rooms and poison control hot lines are starting to log more incidents of the long-ignored phenomenon. Sales of "natural sexual enhancers" are booming - rising to nearly $400 million last year. And dangerous knockoffs abound.......


Read more: http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20071112/4737ddd0_3ca6_1552620071112-205627887

Dump it in their waterways like we do? They're just not that stupid.

.Spiked pills have turned up in Thailand, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to testing done by Pfizer Inc., the New York-based pharmaceutical giant that developed Viagra. The company said that 69 percent of 3,400 supplements it purchased in China contained sildenafil citrate, the main ingredient in Viagra. Pfizer didn't check for the patented ingredients of its rivals.

Under U.S. law, because such pills are "dietary supplements," they're far less regulated than pharmaceuticals and face few barriers to market. Viagra, by contrast, underwent years of testing before it was publicly available.

While herbal alternatives often contain exact copies of the patented drugs, some makers tweak the molecules to keep the effect of the original pharmaceutical while avoiding the scrutiny of the FDA and outside testing labs.

young guy. Took some Extenz or some other kind of "herbal Viagra", drank an energy drink and had a massive stroke because of the combination.

I hope this news report will convey the message that "herbal" does not necessarily equal "safe"

Some people seem to look at "herbal" things as being always safe and healthy--usually the same people who see conventional medicine as a conspiracy by the pharmaceutical industry.

Digitalis is "herbal" and has real medicinal properties. Doesn't change the fact that in a decent sized dose, it's extremely fatal. Same goes for a lot of other things.

or efficacy. The may or may not be safe because they amounts of the active ingredients vary from batch to batch and product to product. They almost certainly do not do what they claim to. No alternative medicine has ever proven to be effective because they fail every single, statistically valid test they undergo. And homeopathic shit is the worst since it is water, essentially.

And then it would be part of the big pharma conspiracy.

I apprecciate that the drug companies have only their own best interests in mind, but the extremes some people go to are pretty ridiculous.

out there. This is a case of always be your own best doctor by investigating the natural nutritional science behind even something as simple as B vits and selenium for the foundation of men's health, for instance. Don't be desperate to buy something right away. Do the research and get healthy first. Almost all medical problems have a basis in a vit or mineral deficiency. See what you lack, then use food as thy medicine first!

That's all you'll ever need.
Trust me...

Those are the ingredients to watch out for, the ones that don't mix well with the heart & blood pressure medications.

GNC has a tone of this crap on their shelves. Some of them have yohimbe / yohimbine, others don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohimbine

Yohimbine (hydrochloride) is a single compound and is essentially of pharma quality.

Yohimbe is the herbal form, referring to a collection of several related compounds, and generally produces many more side effects than yohimbine.

Yohimbe(ine) becomes inactive in the presence of insulin, so the best chance of it to cause a sensation in you is when it is taken on an empty stomach. Yohimbine plus ephedrine (or possibly synephrine) is a dangerous combination because together they can trigger runaway blood pressure.

isn't Viagra covered by health insurance?

(Unlike, of course, birth control...) :grr:

The current situation is dangerous.

UNfortunately the pendulum will swing rapidly against the educated consuner who will have to see a doctor for every mg of Vitamin C taht they want, just you wait.

very good stuff

I'm tired of all of the Chinese crap we keep getting that is of poor quality.


By the way. Why the hell is the Olympics being held in China? We should boycott the Olympics this year.