00:00 Hello there, welcome to another episode of putting Dr. G on the spot in the month of
00:05 March and we're approaching the 27th of March.
00:08 Actually, what's the significance of that day?
00:11 It is the day when the blue pill was first introduced in 1998.
00:18 Imagine 26 years down the line, initially all that fear about how this drug can cause
00:25 havoc in health and also society hasn't really happened and it actually stood the test of
00:32 time.
00:39 Exactly what are the effects of this medication as far as efficacy is concerned?
00:46 Actually for 70 to 80% of men who take this pill, the erection can actually be restored.
00:54 However, what are the side effects you ask?
00:57 In fact, curiously there are a few very unique side effects of this blue pill.
01:03 First of all, for people who take this, they always get these hot flushes.
01:08 Why does it happen?
01:09 It's because of dilation of the vessel.
01:13 Effectively, this drug is a vasodilator.
01:17 When it causes the dilations of the vessel, some people will get hot flushes and also
01:23 headache.
01:24 That is probably the commonest side effects somebody can expect.
01:29 The second issue that the medication can induce is this indigestion.
01:35 Because it's a vasodilation, it relaxes the smooth muscle and there is an acid reflux
01:42 that can induce for somebody, especially if you've got obesity.
01:47 And lastly, a very, very curious side effect that is very unusual, it's called the blue
01:54 and blurred vision.
01:56 So exactly how it works is that there is a cross reaction of phosphodiesterase 5 and
02:04 phosphodiesterase 6.
02:06 And that 6 occurs in the retina and that interaction will cause the difficulty in differentiation
02:14 between blue and green.
02:17 As a result of that, the activation of retina actually induces some sort of blue vision
02:23 and that itself also causes some sort of blurred vision.
02:27 Some men who take the pills reckons that the blue pills and the blue materials has gone
02:32 to the eye and then a bit of guilty conscience thinks that they're probably going to go blind.
02:38 However, thank goodness that is not the case.
02:41 People often ask me, is there an absolute contraindication to the blue pills?
02:46 Yes, there is.
02:47 There are two conditions that you're not allowed to take the pill.
02:51 Number one, if you're on nitrites, GTN for your angina, no, no.
02:56 And number two, if you've got a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, then you're not
03:03 really suitable to take the pill.
03:05 For next week, we're going to explore the possibility of cure for ED.
03:10 Of course, you've heard of all sorts of technology that potentially can cure ED.
03:16 And more interestingly, if you're interested to find out whether the blue pill can cure
03:20 ED, then stay tuned for Putting Dr. G on the Spot next week.
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