An item that has intrigued over the years whenever discussion of Viagra or Cialis came up was the joint/back/head pain that some guys get and others have none at all. If you google tadalafil and back pain you just get info that it can be a side effect -- blah blah -- but no causal mechanism.
Thinking about
if the nitric oxide produced might be agitating areas of undiagnosed low level inflammation in those men who complain about
this pain led to a few journal articles that, primarily involved with reducing such pain, nonetheless also would mention various chemicals that do cause increased pain.
One fairly jauntily written journal article was "Mechanisms of Inflammatory Pain" in the Oxford Journals 2001.
Here's the section about
pain sensitizers -- which of course includes NOx as one cause:
Oxford said...
Peripheral sensitization
Tissue injury results in the release of inflammatory mediators from damaged cells including ions (K+, H+), bradykinin, histamine, 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT), ATP and nitric oxide. Activation of the arachidonic acid pathway leads to the production of prostanoids and leukotrienes. Recruited immune cells release further mediators including cytokines and growth factors. Some of these mediators activate peripheral nociceptors directly and lead to spontaneous pain, whereas others act indirectly via inflammatory cells to stimulate the release of additional pain‐inducing (algogenic) agents. Importantly, inflammatory mediators also act to modify the response properties of primary afferent neurones to subsequent stimuli (peripheral sensitization). This may arise as a result of changes to the sensitivity of receptor molecules themselves, or via modulation of voltage‐gated ion channels.
So, first wondering if undiagnosed low level inflammation in joints could be agitated by Cialis or Viagra NOx elevations? And then, if that might be the case, WHICH analgesics would be the best at anti-NOx methods? I think most of the regular ones like aspirin and ibuprofin won't do it as people have reported. So.. the hunt is on.
What have people found that DID seem to work. We need some studies done -- even in conjunction with your Uro docs who can prescribe The Really Good Stuff that might work.
J