Herbal Sex Pills May Pose Health Risks

Men Using Heart Or Blood-Pressure Drugs Could Suffer Heart Attacks Or Strokes

(AP)  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.

At greatest risk are the estimated 5.5 million American men who take nitrates, generally older and more likely to need help with erectile dysfunction.

The all-natural message can be appealing to such men, warned by their doctors and ubiquitous TV commercials not to take Viagra, Cialis or Levitra.

James Neal-Kababick, director of Oregon-based Flora Research Laboratories, said about 90 percent of the hundreds of samples he has analyzed contained forms of patented pharmaceuticals, some with doses more than twice that of prescription erectile dysfunction medicine. Other testers report similar results, particularly among pills that promise immediate results.

While no deaths have been reported, the AP found records of emergency room visits attributed to all-natural sex pills in Georgia, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego and elsewhere.

An elderly man in a retirement community north of Los Angeles took an in-the-mail sample and landed in the hospital for four days. A Michigan man sued the maker of Spontane-ES, blaming it for the stroke he suffered 20 minutes after taking a freebie that was advertised as "extremely safe." Tim Fulmer, a lawyer representing Spontane-ES, said the pill did not contain any pharmaceutical and was not responsible for the stroke.

Mark B. Mycyk, a Chicago emergency room doctor who directs Northwestern University's clinical toxicology research program, said he is seeing increasing numbers of patients who unwittingly took prescription-strength doses of the alternatives, a trend he attributes to ease of purchase on the Internet and the desperation of vulnerable men. He said he wouldn't be surprised if there'd been undetected deaths from bad herbal pills.

Some herbal labels warn off users with heart or blood-pressure problems if they have taken their medicine within six hours; some doctors say 24 hours or more would be safer.

The AP often couldn't determine from records whether incidents reported to tracking systems of the federal Food and Drug Administration and state poison control centers involved mixing herbal alternatives with nitrates.

Some men in their 30s who went to emergency rooms after taking herbal sex pills were presumably otherwise healthy, but they showed the transitory side effects of the active ingredients in regulated impotency pharmaceuticals, such as difficulty seeing clearly or severe headaches, records show.

While public health officials don't know the extent of the problem, they agree that incidents are vastly underreported, with national tracking systems capturing perhaps as little as 1 percent of them. Victims may be embarrassed, and doctors rarely ask about supplements.

Since 2001, sales of supplements marketed as natural sexual enhancers have risen $100 million, to $398 million last year, including herbal mixtures, according to estimates by Nutrition Business Journal. Some legitimate herbal mixtures claim to work gradually over weeks; it's the herbals marketed for immediate trysts that often are the problem.

Tight budgets, weak regulations and other priorities limit the FDA's ability to police the products, often promoted via blasts of e-mail spam and fly-by-night Web sites.

"The Internet poses many enforcement challenges," said Dr. Linda Silvers, who leads an FDA team that targets fraudulent health products sold online. "A Web site can look sophisticated and legitimate, but actually be an illegal operation."

In many cases, the ingredients used to alter herbal pills come from Asia, particularly China, where the sexual enhancers are cooked up in labs at the beginning of a winding supply chain. The FDA has placed pills by two manufacturers in China and one from Malaysia on an import watch list.

Pills like Cialis, made by Eli Lilly Co. and ICOS Corp., generally retail at pharmacies for between $13 and $20, while herbals can cost less than $1, up to about $5.

[rushman71]

MityWhity: Ahhkakakakakakaka!!!!

[eggy1620]

I was not claiming that FDA regs render it safe. I was pointing out that herbals are not regulated at all. Nothing to ensure that every supplement pill actually has in it what the label claims. FDA ensures quality control, not safety. Safety should be for the medical community to discern.

[rushman71]

ecuadoriana: I have to tell you, that was the BEST comment I''ve ever read.

[ecuadoriana]

eggy1620, I certainly was never suggesting that herbals were better or worse. I was commenting on your misguided notion that just because the FDA deems a BigPharm OK to use that means its safe. Like I said, if the side effects don''t kill you (& don''t say they didn''t warn you because they most certainly did in microscopic print), then they''ll prescribe something else that might.

The real tip of the problem, & by tip I really mean tip, is that men still continue to live in their fantasy pants world where they are still a high school stud, humping away with the prom queen in the back of daddy''s car. Fact is they never were a stud, never will be & who gives a rat''s butt anyway. The important thing is to be confident in who you are as a whole person. The little bits will follow.

[honestabe8]

I took some herbal *** pills with my iron tablets...ended up spinning around and pointing due north.

[eggy1620]

Ecuadoriana, you would eat your words if herbals and supplements were required to list their chemical constituents and possible side effects.

[ecuadoriana]

And to eggy1620: You wrote: "The only difference between all natural and Big Pharma is that Big Pharma%u2019s drugs are made under strict FDA regulation." Posted at 08:12 AM : Nov 13, 2007

This is the part that cracked me up: "...Big Pharma%u2019s drugs are made under strict FDA regulation." HA HA HA!!! And how many strictly regulated chemdrugs have finally been pulled from the market because of their deadly side effects?! Have you ever read the fine print on any prescription meds lately? The warnings are enough to induce fevers, chills, diarrhea, vomiting & heart palpitations! But of course if you tell your doctor this he/she will prescribe another drug for the anxiety you suffer from reading the labels! Meanwhile don''t hold your breath waiting for a postcard from his tropical vacation, paid for by BigPharm''s Rewards Benefits Drug Pushing Program. But if you do, & should you experience dizziness & fainting, don''t worry! He''ll have yet another drug for that, too.

You''ll just have to wait for him to finish parking his new Jaguar before he can write the prescription for you.

[ecuadoriana]

"ecuadoriana: FYI: The guys taking these pills are NOT thinking about the woman...they''re thinking about THEMSELVES." Posted by incog-nito at 11:54 PM : Nov 12, 2007

Exactly! That''s why I said, "It''s your big ego, not your little willy that is the real problem here!"

rfcnj68 posted at 07:16 PM : Nov 12, 2007 : "ecuadoriana hate to say it is the porn movies the people watch that show men with big ones and women really getting into it. The reality is they are better actors then they are given credit for..."

Exactly! That''s the point. The porn stars are actors- that means they are acting! If the normal male has that much trouble differentiating between reality & fiction then he has bigger problems on his plate- he must also think that Wile E. Coyote & the Roadrunner are really chasing each other all over the desert with anvils & exploding cigars! If this is the case then his partner had better find him/herself a "real" man, not one still sporting Underoos!

[eggy1620]

One thing most people don%u2019t realize about herbals is that they are manufactured from the same plant based derivatives as prescription drugs. The only difference between all natural and Big Pharma is that Big Pharma%u2019s drugs are made under strict FDA regulation. Not so with herbals.

[anonbene]

This sounds like one of those fake ads that''s made to sound like a news story. Saying things like, it could happen, it may happen, blah, blah, blah. Enjoy your *** lives and each other no matter what you have to do to get there.
Note to all you women out there, It''s your patriotic duty to flash your boobs every chance you get, if you don''t do it the terrorists won;)

drinuk that is such disturbing news about that European meeting. Alkalizing the body is truly the answer for cancer. It can be done for pennies a day with baking soda.

[incog-nito]

ecuadoriana: FYI: The guys taking these pills are NOT thinking about the woman. They do it because they''re thinking about THEMSELVES. The woman''s feelings were never part of the equation.

[drinuk]

Baileycc. Right now a meeting is going on Europe to limit the use of Vitamins Worldwide, it''s called Codex.
Why do they want to limits Vitamins ? Because we are learning that they can cure cancer, Vitamin C for skin cancer, news released yesterday, B-17 for various other cancers and so it goes on. Big Pharma want Vitamins weakened so that they can manipulate the market so only they have the right to sell them at stupid prices. If I ever meet a politician who voted for this I will shoot him or her, on behalf on those dying of cancer.

[mitywhity]

l-arginine is good. It''s the nitric oxide compound in it that triggers the erection anyway. Nitric oxide also increase the vitality and life of the epithelial cells within your blood vessels. Helps the old hydraulics keep good pressure as well as strengthening the linining of your vessels against aneurysm. Take care of your body and she''ll take care of you I have always been told.

As usual drinuk is right on. My question is why would anyone take a prescription drug loaded with side effects when there are so many natural products with great results and no side effects? The winner is the amino acid L-Arginine. You will never see this information in the main steam media because their main income is from Big Pharma.

[drinuk]

Guess What Folks ?? This article is sponsored by Big Pharma, they hate anything natural they can''t patent.

Pfizer Hate Pf---ing natural pills, I wonder why?

[mitywhity]

I just eat a can of spinach. I''m strong to the finishk ''cause I eats me spinachk!

[rfcnj68]

ecuadoriana hate to say it is the porn movies the people watch that show men with big ones and women really getting into it. The reality is they are better actors then they are given credit for because those *** scenes only last about 10 minutes at the most.

Women and men need to communicate in the bed room and learn what each other likes and work on your conditioning that will help you to go longer.

[ecuadoriana]

Hey guys! Here''s a "no brainer" (which means this should be easy for you): Concentrate less on your size insecurity (it''s all in your head- either one), less on duration, & less on your own ego. It''s your big ego, not your little willy that is the real problem here!

You don''t need ANY pills, enhancements, herbs, toys, lubes... You only need to take your time & prolong the foreplay- that''s where the REAL action is anyway! Any dog can in/out for hours. Big whoop.

Stop buying into the hype of "what she really wants". Those viagra/cialis companies only want your money & they play on your misguided macho fantasies to sell you solutions to a malady that only exists in your mind!

What she really wants is for you to be confident in yourself as a loving, caring, intelligent human. Those are the sorts of things that really turn her on. Oh, having a steady job, helping with the kids, and cleaning up after yourself (after all, she isn''t your mom- if you''re having s*x with your mom then you have bigger issues than a short, limp willy) will get you extra good lovin''.

So leave the pills to the drug addicts (who by the way are not very attractive physically or mentally) and have fun. A good healthy relationship with your partner should not be a chore. You want a chore? Go take out the trash. When you get back take your clothes off and love the one you''re with.

If all else fails try touching her with your hands & for heaven sakes- use your tongue!!!