Tadalafil

Tadalafil, sold on the market as Cialis or Cialis One a Day, is an erectile dysfunction treatment that can also be used, in a different dose, to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. Similar to its counterparts Viagra and Levitra, both also effective erectile dysfunction treatments, tadalafil or Cialis, is a PDE-5 inhibitor. It works in the same way to allow for more blood to flow to the penis when sexually aroused, resulting in longer lasting, firm erections.

Approved for sale in 2003, tadalafil is a prescription only drug and comes in regular doses, which are taken prior to an act of sexual intercourse, or in much smaller doses, which can be taken daily if your problem is more long-term. This drug is active in the body for much longer than any other impotence treatment, and can last for up to 36 hours which is why it is often referred to as ‘the weekend pill’.

The 'Weekend Pill’

Often referred to as the weekend pill, due to its long active life, men who take tadalafil will be able to have an erection, if aroused, for up to 36 hours after taking it. What this does for men struggling with impotence, apart from giving them the ability to have a long-lasting erection again, is that it takes some of the planning and structure out of sex. Once taken, a man can easily instigate sex at any point in the following 36 hours, which gives them a lot of sexual freedom back.

Cialis Once Daily

Cialis Once Daily was created to give men even more sexual freedom. Each pill contains a very low dose of tadalafil, so that it remains active in the body all the time. This is particularly advantageous for men who suffer from ongoing, more long term impotence.

How does it work?

Tadalafil is a PDE-5 inhibitor. When you are aroused, signals are sent from the brain that release different chemical messengers into the penile tissues, all with different tasks to play in the process. One of these messengers is a chemical called cyclic GMP (cGMP). This particular chemical causes blood vessels in the penis to widen, by relaxing a thin layer of muscles found in the walls of the blood vessels. This allows more blood to flow into the penis, which in turn, creates an erection.

When you have completed sexual intercourse, another series of messengers are released, one of which is phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE-5). This particular chemical breaks down cGMP, so that cGMP will stop allowing more blood into the penis. That way, a penis returns to its flaccid state. It inhibits PDE-5 from doing its job, which means that cGMP is not broken down, which in turn means that the blood vessels remain wider for longer. By inhibiting cGMP, PDE-5 allows for more blood to flow into the penis for longer, resulting in a longer-lasting, firmer erection.