Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C2fycd7rwDv/ When men take a drug for erectile dysfunction along with a nitrate-containing medication, it nearly doubles their risk of needing coronary artery surgery and increases their chance of dying by 40%.  Swedish researchers now report these grim statistics after studying 55,777 men with previous significant heart problems such as a heart attack or coronary revascularization over a 7 year period. The ED drugs these men take, so called phosphodiesterase inhibitors or PDE drugs, include Viagra branded sildenafil and Cialis branded tadalafil.  The nitrate drugs, most often taken for angina, include: nitroglycerine or the brands Nitro-dur, Nitrolingual, Nitrotime, Rectiv, and Nitromist; isosorbide mononitrate or the brands Isordil and Dilatrate, and amyl nitrate. The bad news: taking these ED and angina drugs together increases the overall risk of death by 39%, the risk of a heart attack by 72%, of heart failure by 67%, and the risk of needing heart surgery by some