Which generic viagra is best

The United Kingdom allows for over-the-counter sales of the drug, in part to discourage the market for fake sildenafil, one of the most commonly counterfeited drugs in the world.

While generic sildenafil and Viagra are equally safe and effective, there is one key difference between the medications: cost. It treats ED symptoms. It just helps control blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries. Sildenafil is in a class of medications called phosphodiesterase type 5 PDE5 inhibitors. These drugs restrict the action of phosphodiesterase enzymes PDEs , which degrade cGMP, a type of molecule that relaxes smooth muscle tissue in the body, such as those in the blood vessels that allow the penis to become erect.

Taking sildenafil improves circulation by helping the arteries relax enough to fill more easily with blood. Sildenafil is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, reaching maximum concentration in about an hour for most users.

Sexual stimulation is still required. However, for most healthy people, sildenafil can make an erection easier to achieve.

A 4-year study found that sildenafil is generally safe to use over the long-term. Sildenafil is available as a tablet in a range of doses. Like Viagra, generic sildenafil is sold in milligram mg , mg, mg, and mg tablets. The mg dose is standard, though some doctors start patients on a mg dose to see if that is sufficient. For ED, sildenafil is taken on an as-needed basis, ideally an hour before intercourse.

However, it may be effective as soon as 30 minutes before intercourse and may still be effective 3 or 4 hours later. After 4 hours, the effects of sildenafil tend to wear off.

Sildenafil prescribed for PH is available in 5-mg and mg pills and liquid form. Sildenafil may cause side effects, most of which are minor and temporary.

Some of the most common are:. Like any powerful medication, sildenafil can have some potentially serious interactions with other drugs. If you take other medications for high blood pressure, such as diuretics, ACE inhibitors, or calcium channel blockers, you may be at risk of experiencing a dangerous drop in blood pressure. This can result in dizziness, headache, fainting or falling, and in severe blood pressure drops, less oxygen moving through your organs.

You should also avoid taking sildenafil with any other ED medications. The combination can lower blood pressure, causing fainting, dizziness, and in some rare cases, heart attack.

Alcohol and sildenafil can combine to lower blood pressure too much. The only real food interaction that can occur with generic Viagra is with grapefruit and grapefruit juice. These products can raise the levels of sildenafil in your body, but can also delay the time the drug takes effect.

People who are living with health conditions or taking certain medications should consult their doctor first. For example, those taking nitrates, which are medications for chest pain , should not take sildenafil as this may cause their blood pressure to fall. A person can take generic Viagra as needed but not more than once in 24 hours.

The drug does not cause an erection without arousal or sexual stimulation. It is important not to take the pill with grapefruit, as this fruit reduces the absorption and breakdown of the drug in the small intestine.

This can lead a person to have toxic levels of medicine in their blood. Individuals who want to get their prescriptions discreetly can have an online consultation, also known as telemedicine , with a licensed physician and get a home delivery of the drug.

Some places where people can get a prescription for and order generic Viagra online include:. Viagra is one of the most counterfeited drugs worldwide, with many people exploiting online platforms to sell counterfeit Viagra.

To date, the U. Customs and Border Protection has had numerous reports of seized counterfeit Viagra pills. The FDA also reports that one-third of the sexual enhancement supplements available online contain undisclosed ingredients. People should refill their prescriptions from licensed pharmacies in the U.

All online U. They can also check whether the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy has accredited them as a digital pharmacy. A person who suspects that they have erectile dysfunction may wish to try a treatment, such as generic Viagra. As these are prescription drugs, a person will need to consult a doctor.

Although mild side effects, such as headaches, are not uncommon, anyone experiencing the severe side effects below should immediately contact a doctor:. Generic Viagra, or sildenafil, is the same drug as the branded Viagra.

Many online pharmacies and health services allow people to obtain a prescription and order generic Viagra. People should look for licensed companies with U. A doctor or telemedicine service can provide prescriptions, recommendations, and guidance on taking generic Viagra. They can also recommend some alternative options. Erectile dysfunction, when a man cannot achieve or maintain an erection, is a common condition that causes much distress. Viagra is just one of…. It's not easy to understand exactly how much the typical customer pays for brand-name and generic sildenafil.

For one thing, list prices don't truly represent the amount that customers pay for drugs. Pharmacies discount the prices of medications, and consumers can get coupons from a variety of sources such as pharmaceutical companies and GoodRx. To make things even more complicated, insurers may not cover ED drugs , and even if they do they're not likely to pay for expensive brand names when generics are available.

One thing is clear: Viagra's markup is consistently high. According to GoodRx. Viagra isn't alone in boosting its price in response to competition. For nearly 3 decades, researchers have chronicled the "generic competition paradox": Drugmakers actually boost the prices of their brand-name medications when cheaper generics enter the market. The most likely brand-name drugs to do this are those with high name recognition and intense generic competition, Seoane-Vazquez said. Viagra fits this description.

Other types of drugs are less likely to raise their prices in response to generics. These, he said, include drugs such as biologics with limited competition, drugs used in hospitals and physician offices, and drugs with relatively low name recognition such as some antibiotics.

In a bit of good news for consumers, the generic competition paradox phenomenon appears to be less common than it used to be, according to researchers with StoneTurn , a consulting firm. They examined 78 drugs whose patents expired from to and found that their prices tend to stabilize after generic equivalents appear and not go up at a fast clip. This marks a significant shift from the past, the researchers argue in a study published in the International Journal of the Economics of Business.

They write: "We believe the results in our paper reflect the brand-name pharmaceutical companies' acknowledgement of the ever-changing competitive landscape and their attempt to moderate price increases in response to the ever-growing market presence of generics. As for Viagra, it's an outlier. The price markup of Viagra since it gained generic competition appears to be an outlier among ED drugs specifically and prescription drugs in general.

Both prices require coupons for discounts. While that markup is hefty -- the brand-name is 33 times the price of the generic -- it's not in the league of Viagra's markup for a day supplies of mg pills.

Marsh, the director of research at GoodRx. Again, however, the markups aren't anywhere as near as extreme as Viagra's.