Tadalafil, sold under the brand name Cialis, is one of the phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Erectile Dysfunction (ED) in 2003. Other two commonly prescribed PDE5 inhibitors include Sildenafil (Viagra) and Vardenafil (Levitra).
To understand how Cialis treats ED, you need to understand how a man gets an erection. Normally, when a man is sexually aroused, the body releases nitric oxide that stimulates an enzyme called cGMP to relax the smooth muscles and dilate the erectile arteries, causing an erection.
Cialis works by inhibiting PDE5 enzyme and stopping the degradation of cGMP, thereby maintaining the level of cGMP in the smooth muscles. Simply put, Cialis boosts blood flow to the penile organ so that a man experiences an erection during sexual arousal.
Tadalafil has an overall effect on your circulatory system to boost blood flow across the body. So, does Cialis raise blood pressure? What is the effect of Cialis on blood pressure?
Cialis can slightly reduce your blood pressure because it relaxes the smooth muscles of the blood vessels, increasing the blood flow. Well, this is not a major problem for most men who take Cialis for ED. However, the effect of Cialis on blood pressure is exaggerated if it is taken with a nitrate or an alpha-blocker drug.
Nitrates are one of the drugs doctors recommend for angina (chest pain), while alpha-blockers are advised for treating high blood pressure. So, if you take Cialis when you are taking nitrates or alpha-blockers, the combined effect of these drugs can lower your blood pressure to a potentially dangerous level, which could prove fatal. So, never take Cialis when you are on nitrate or alpha-blocker therapy.
Studies were conducted to test the effect of Cialis on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in treated and untreated hypertensive subjects. Researchers found that patients with uncontrolled hypertension who are on multiple antihypertensive agents, the addition of Cialis 20 mg lowered the blood pressure level. So, Cialis does not raise your blood pressure. Instead, it reduces your blood pressure!
