British soldiers had to take Viagra and undergo sex therapy after claiming that active duty ruined their sex lives. As many as 3,000 soldiers took Viagra after active duty and 60 underwent psychosexual therapy sessions to perform well in the bedroom.
This comes after Viagra was found responsible for killing 19 people in the UK in 2017.
The appalling figures reveal that approximately one in every 90 soldiers returns from combat, which makes them vulnerable to erectile dysfunction (ED).
According to a report from the UK drug regulatory body Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate) caused more than a dozen deaths in 2017. And a majority of these were associated with heart problems, including coronary artery disorder, arrhythmias, and congestive heart failure.
The ED trouble for combatants could be associated with punishing workloads that are undertaken while they were serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to a study, male soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were more likely to have ED when compared with others. And female soldiers with PTSD were less likely to be sexually active.
“PTSD impairs sexual functioning across multiple domains: desire, arousal, orgasm, activity and satisfaction,” said Michael E. DeBakey of VA Medical Centre, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and Argosy University in Chicago.
According to a study conducted in 2002 on male veterans with PTSD, 85% had ED compared with 22% among male combatants with no mental health issues.
However, a 2016 study conducted on 1,581 male and female British soldiers found that men had similar levels of sexual activity, irrespective of having PTSD, and women were less likely to be sexually active if they had PTSD.
The study was led by Dr. Benjamin Breyer and funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.
On Sunday, the Mail found that almost one in ten British troops were clinically obese last year. In July, there were more than 8,660 obese soldiers in the army, 4,274 in the Royal Air Force, and 4,660 in the Royal Navy.
Former army commander in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, called on the Ministry of Defense to terminate soldiers who cannot be in shape.
Over a million Viagra tablets had been bought by the end of 2017 since the drug became legal to sell in March that year. Viagra pills are used to treat ED. The little blue pills can be accessed through the NHS, a local chemist, or an online pharmacy via a private prescription. Viagra side effects include a headache, nasal congestion, hot flashes, and back pain.
