Seemingly, men from the North are buying more Viagra than any other part of the population of England. Southern men need significantly less apparently. Also, the amount of money spent on the drug has trebled within 10 years.
The disparity between the amount of money spent in the North compared with the South, East and South West is quite significant with £5 million spent on prescriptions in the North East and £12.6 million on the drug in the North West versus £8.3 million in the East and £7.7 million in the South West. Furthermore, an overall increase has been observed in the last 10 years all over the country in both the amount of Viagra available and the amount of money spent on prescriptions. It is thought that this might partly be down to an increase in the number of GPs prescribing the drug in order to prevent their patients from purchasing dodgy Viagra from unregulated sites, from small town pubs and believe it or not, from the back of certain cabs. The Online Clinic has personal evidence of the availability of the drug in such unsuspecting places and from such unsuspecting dealers! I was personally offered Viagra by a cab driver before I politely declined and told him that he was acting illegally – he had no idea that he was doing anything wrong!
So, why such a disparity between the North and South in terms of spend? Perhaps it’s down to social acceptance of erectile dysfunction (ED) in particular areas or maybe certain NHS trusts and authorities are pushing their GPs to discuss ED more openly, leading to an increase in the number of prescriptions filled out. Either way, this increase should not be seen as a bad thing. The very fact that we know about this increase tells us that the Viagra purchased is not obtained from unregulated sources.
Sensationalised reports in the tabloids are expressing disbelief regarding the rise in prescriptions, citing potential side effects as a reason why doctors should not prescribe medications for erectile dysfunction. The fact is that all medications carry potential side effects but most patients have no side effects whatsoever. The sensationalised side effects reported in the tabloids are extremely rare and there is actually no demonstrable causality in most cases. Anyone who has had a heart attack on Viagra is more likely to have had the heart attack because of being physically unfit for sex rather than the medication that permitted intercourse to take place. The vast majority of patients don’t even have minor side effects far less the outlandish ones listed in the press.
The positive element here is how much less of a taboo the issue of erectile dysfunction is today and how much more accessible treatment has become. This can only be a good thing.