Cause for excitement: Impotence drugs reach new peaks

By Kim Marquis

Do you suck Gu? Do you swig protein shakes or swallow amino acids with your morning OJ? Well, maybe, maybe not.

Even if you’re not a competitive mountain biker, we still may have some interesting news. The drug Viagra, traditionally prescribed — as those flaccid TV commercial tell us ad nauseum, in apparent reaction to what must be a national plague of perpetually limp noodles — for under-the-sheets athletic antics, is being studied as an enhancer of a different kind of activity.

A recent study published by The American Physiological Society claimed that Viagra improved the cardiovascular and exercise performance of trained cyclists at high altitude by up to 45 percent. While the validity of the small study is still up for question, the scientific research is likely to get more attention, according to Dr. Peter Hackett of Telluride’s Institute for Altitude Medicine

“Certainly it’s much flashier” than most drug studies, explained Hackett, a respected specialist of high-altitude medicine who has worked on Denali and Everest.

It’s an immature reality of our culture today, but sex sells, and who wouldn’t want to know a little more about the drug that has men (and women) getting more satisfaction. While the cycling study was published this year, a German study in 2004 first stirred interest, finding that Viagra increased the ability to exercise at altitude.

Viagra causes blood vessels to relax — in various parts of the body. Originally developed to relieve high blood pressure, it improves blood flow and increases oxygen transport to certain working muscles. Anyone who has climbed a flight of stairs at 10,000 feet knows the thin air makes it difficult to get enough oxygen to get to the top. The drug allows more blood flow through the lungs, creating a potential for better performance.

Viagra and its counterparts such as Cialis have already been widely publicized as common medications for high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), a potentially life-threatening illness that causes shortness of breath, fatigue, cough and sometimes a pink, frothy sputum as fluid collects in the lungs. While it is a major concern for mountain climbers, HAPE even affects regular-joe recreationists at altitudinous Rocky Mountain resorts such as Telluride, Breckenridge, Winter Park and Aspen.

For people who have had HAPE, the meds are a no-brainer. Cialis, also an erectile inducer, is more frequently prescribed for HAPE since it lasts longer. Two pills are required per day, rather than Viagra’s every-eight-hours, 50-milligram dosage.

Hackett’s clinic can test individuals to determine if they are prone to HAPE, and he recommends serious mountain climbers carry Viagra in their kits to address problems as they come up on an expedition. For competitive cyclists or others doing serious athletic time at altitude, Hackett suspects the drugs will help people who have trouble with pulmonary function in such situations, and will do nothing to increase performance for those who already adjust well, which is 80 to 90 percent of the population.

“If you find the right people to give it to, then you could have a great success rate,” he said. The drugs don’t combat other altitude ailments such as acute mountain sickness (AMS) or cerebral edema. No word yet on whether women’s athletic performance might benefit, since females were not included in the cycling study.

Any miracle drug usually offers a healthy dish of side effects. This one causes a bluish coloration in vision or blind spots. The most common, however, is headaches, which is a typical symptom of altitude sickness in the first place. And to answer a question about sexual side effects (“Am I going to get a hard-on while I’m tent-bound for a week with three of my extremely ugly climbing buddies?” athletes invariably ask the doctor as he writes prescriptions): Because a stimulant is needed to kick Viagra in, the answer is probably no, “unless the guy’s really turned on by yaks.” Or ugly climbing buddies.

 

Kim Marquis, who used to be the assistant editor of Mountain Gazette, feels that Viagra is the perfect complement to any backcountry first-aid kit. She lives in Grand Lake, Colo.