Any idea how long is too long a wait to start Viagra?

I've been fighting with CVS Caremark for 6 weeks now trying to get my Viagra prescription filled. The doctor's office originally filled out the paperwork with an error so it was denied and went into appeals. After several weeks of phone calls and emails between Caremark, my insurance benefits committee and the surgeon's office, the paperwork was resubmitted and the benefits committee told me we were good to go. They contacted me back today to let me know that Caremark's policy is not to accept corrected paperwork for 60 days after the incorrect submission (?!). So now it has to go to the next benefits committee meeting for a decision.

Anyhow--do you guys know if there's a window of time where you need to start the Viagra if it's going to do any good? I've been using the VCD twice a day for 6 weeks but there is absolutely nothing going on unaided, and even with 2 bands it's just not sufficient for IC.

As soon as you are able is the trend lately. Many Doc's are even beginning men on one of the big3 just before or the day of/after surgery. Good luck and well wishes.

Swim

Hi Mountain,
The samples route sounds good until you can get a reliable source going on this. Personally, I have to pay for my ED scripts myself, but I think it is a very important therapy to use so I just do what I have to do to keep it going, regardless of the price. I haven't used alldaychemist yet but I do plan to soon, the US prices are so expensive. Also, my experience is that Cialis does not help me much but Viagra and Levitra do, so if you don't get results with one, make sure to try the other ones. Here's one doctor's approach to ED therapy that I ran across:

urologytimes.modernmedicine.com/urologytimes/content/printContentPopup.jsp?id=384316

Mark

Greetings everyone.  I agree with some of my brothers here - first go to your doctor and get some samples.  My doc gives me some everytime I go in.  Then go to All Day Chemist and get your regular supply.  I am getting ready to make my second order and have found them to be very reliable and the pills work the same as the name brand.  My insurance pays zero for ED drugs regardless of the reason. 

For what it is worth, my doc says he always starts his patients on Levitra or Cialis and only goes to Viagara as a last alternative.  The first two both work in a similar way but Viagara works a little differently.  Just a thought - you might ask your doc about which drug is best for you. 

Trust you will get it all worked out soon.  David

My surgeon, one of the leading guys in this field in Europe, was convinced that an aggressive approach to PDE5s (viagra, etc.) is a key part of a proactive approach to ED after PCa. He had me take 5mg of Levitra the evening before surgery and then every evening from the day of the surgery till 2 or 3 months afterwards. He showed me many medical journal articles showing how this helps the system to recover (encouraging blood supply, etc.) Apparently the erectile tissues can atrophy if they do not get regular increased blood and oxygen supply. As he said, it's keeping the tracks ready, even if there are no trains running. These studies are out there, so I can't understand why all treating doctors don't follow this. I'll never know for sure if it helped my recovery, but I am very happy with my outcomes.

Mountain,

I am so sorry for not having read your post clearly. To anser your question about how long is too long;

Not sure there is any real evidence on too long out there. Start when you can. Right now you're still well within the window of time where most are beginning to really work on recovery. Venous leakage is a common issue early post-op so don't be too worried about the rings not working well yet. That too will come in time. Keep doing what you're doing and let things happen. It wouldn't be unusual for things to take up to a year to see good progress and as much as 2+ for many. Hang in there.

swim

I did get some Viagra samples from the doctor a couple of weeks after surgery. They gave me 2 sample packs (8 pills @ 50 mg) and said that's twice what they usually give people. They told me to take one for 4 nights then split them and take 1/2 pill for the next 8. The doctor's post-op instructions say you should start taking 100 mg/day when they take out the catheter tho. It's been about 8 weeks now and other than those 12 nights I haven't had anything. I didn't have any reaction whatsoever to the Viagra but I'm not sure 12 nights at low dosage is enough to make a determination.

Sounds like there's some variation in when others' doctors are starting them--I'm hearing anywhere from before surgery to 4 months afterward. I am getting antsy about the wait--I may check out that foreign source that several of you mentioned. It's irritating that after the thousands of dollars I've already paid in deductibles & coinsurance that I'm gonna have to fork over more to go around the insurance (especially since they're not contesting now that they will cover it, it's just getting through all their red tape BS that's taking forever).

Mark, thanks for the link. There's quite a bit in there that I haven't come across anywhere else. Sounds like he's all for acting quickly.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

Thanks for the heads up on the food. The doctor told me not to eat a lot of grapefruit or grapefruit juice with it either. Something about grapefruit increasing absorption. (Being a former Floridian who loves grapefruit I asked how much and he said you can have it, just don't go overboard and it's best not to take it at the same time as the medication.)

I went ahead and ordered from alldaychemist. Something happened while it was processing my credit card (had to go through some kind of Visa password system) and I got an error, though. I got an email back thanking me for the order but sounded like I should have gotten a second one if the transaction went through, which I didn't. Not sure if the transaction completed so I sent them an email asking for clarification. Haven't heard back yet.

Wanted to pass on an update, with a followup question. So CVS Caremark apparently doesn't have a philosophical problem with approving my Viagra prescription now, they are just going the route of trying to kill it with bureacracy (support desk keeps saying "we don't have any record of it being approved in our system" even though the benefits committee chair says it was approved and we're good to go).

I did get an email back from alldaychemist telling me to just ignore my first order that popped up an error, and it would cancel off the system, and to fill out an order again. The second time I tried I didn't get the error message but also didn't get the second email confirming that my VISA charge was processed. So sent them an email asking if it went through that time. No response to that email so after several days I called the phone numbers in the email that they sent to me earlier. Both gave me messages that the mailbox was full and couldn't take any more messages. Finally got an automated email a week ago that it had been shipped with a tracking number (and the VISA charge showed up on my card). Each day I could see the progress--left India, in NY customs, on to Columbus, then misrouted (which I found humorous--I worked for the USPS in the mid-80s ;-). It arrived yesterday! So I started last night with the 100 mg nightly dose, which is what my doctor prescribed.

Which leads me to the question. Did the side effects eventually subside for you guys? I quickly got several of the side effects that I've read about. My face flushed (felt hot like a mild sunburn) after about an hour. Sinuses swelled up so I couldn't breathe through my nose, so was waking up through the night with a tissue-paper-dry mouth. And had a pounding headache from the sinuses all night and today. Took naproxen, which helped, but I don't want to have to take those all the time too. When I took the 50 mg and 25 mg samples a couple months ago from the doctor's office I didn't have any side effects at all.

Thanks for all the suggestions about alldaychemist, and other stuff!