Choosing erectile dysfunction drugs

Hims telemedical support is fantastic for men who are dealing with ED alongside efforts to treat premature ejaculation.

• Daily low-dose tadalafil can provide spontaneity.
• Side effects may include back pain or muscle aches (especially with tadalafil).
• Men should be aware of interactions with other prescriptions.
• ED can have physical and psychological causes.
• Men with certain eye conditions should avoid specific ED meds.
• Ed medications do not protect against sexually transmitted infections.
• Regular exercise can improve overall vascular health.
• Combining medication with therapy can be more effective.
• Some men experience no response to initial ED treatments.
• Always follow healthcare provider instructions for safe use.

If you’re one of the many men who already use Hims for hair loss treatment or another service, then it could be convenient to use the same provider for ED treatment as well.

Treatment Type	Method Description	Advantages	Limitations
Vacuum Erection Devices	Mechanical pumps to induce erection	Non-invasive, drug-free	Temporary effect, discomfort
Penile Implants	Surgical placement of prosthetic devices	Permanent solution	Surgery risks, cost
Pelvic Floor Exercises	Kegel exercises to strengthen pelvic muscles	Improves erectile function over time	Requires consistency
Counseling and Therapy	Psychological support for ED causes	Addresses underlying issues	Time-consuming, variable results

Hims offers classic, brand-name Viagra or an authorized generic for men who want it.

• Vascular Health: ED can be an early warning sign of heart disease.
• Diabetes: A leading cause of ED due to nerve and blood vessel damage.
• Neurological Disorders: MS, Parkinson's, and spinal injuries can cause ED.
• Metabolic Syndrome: A cluster of conditions that increases ED risk.
• Prostate Cancer Treatment: Surgery and radiation often cause temporary or permanent ED.
• Depression: Both a cause and a consequence of erectile dysfunction.
• Medications: Antidepressants, antihypertensives can cause ED as a side effect.

Hims is also the only company we recommend that sells an authorized generic Viagra.

• Definition: Inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for sex.
• Prevalence: Affects millions of men, with incidence increasing with age.
• Treatability: The vast majority of ED cases are treatable.
• Not Inevitable: While common with age, ED is not an inevitable part of aging.
• Primary vs. Secondary: Primary (lifelong) is rare; secondary (acquired) is common.
• Situational ED: Occurs only in certain situations, often psychological.
• General ED: Occurs across all situations, often organic or mixed causes.

Interestingly, Roman lists their options as “Branded Viagra” and “Generic Viagra.” That second option is actually generic sildenafil — it is not an authorized generic made by Pfizer.

Take Action: Talk to Your Doctor

This is a formula therapeutically identical to branded Viagra but with discrepancies in inactive ingredients, color, shape, and delivery mechanism. Doses are theoretically supposed to be the same, but there are caveats. This is often the least expensive option. Sildenafil is also the active ingredient in Revatio, a drug designed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. The drugs are identical in almost every way — they’re even both made by Pfizer — but Revatio is made only in 20mg tablets.

Conditions We Treat

Many providers that stock generic sildenafil for ED prefer these 20mg tablets because they allow for more dose flexibility from a single stockpile of pills. A doctor can prescribe 20mg, 40mg, 60mg, or 100mg, and the patient simply takes the corresponding number of 20mg pills. Both branded and generic Viagra come in 25mg tablets, 50mg tablets, and 100mg tablets. If the most common dose is 50mg, then those 100mg doses are going to sit on the shelf, gradually approaching their expiration date and causing providers to lose money. Like tadalafil, sildenafil doses can vary to lady era tablets greater degrees, especially as delivery mechanisms change.

Quit smoking

For example, BlueChew’s chewable tablets come in 30mg and 45mg doses, neither of which exist in the typical dose ranges for pills. Here’s a quick visual reference detailing which versions of sildenafil our top choices offer: Our recommendation here, for most men, is generic sildenafil. Sildenafil is far more economical and allows for better dose tailoring. Rocket Rx has the best prices for sildenafil on the market, and it offers these prices without a major commitment. While low prices from Hims and Strut rely on lower doses or 5-12-month billing cycles, Rocket gets you low prices from orders containing up to 64 tablets. Roman lists their sildenafil this way out of the belief that it makes it easier for potential patients to understand that the two drugs are practically identical.

Product	Dosage	Quantity + Bonus	Price
Cialis Generic	40mg	10 Pills	37.79€ 35.99€	Buy
Cialis Black	80mg	360 + 20 Pills	639.78€ 609.31€	Buy
Kamagra 100 mg	100 mg	360 + 6 Pills	839.95€ 799.95€	Buy
Viagra Generic	25mg	60 + 4 Pills	71.99€ 68.56€	Buy
Super Kamagra	160 mg	20 + 4 Pills	155.35€ 147.95€	Buy
Viagra Generic	50mg	10 Pills	26.87€ 25.59€	Buy
Cialis Professional	40mg	30 Pills	148.94€ 141.85€	Buy
Viagra Original	100mg	34 + 2 Pills	163.67€ 155.88€	Buy
Levitra Generic	60mg	180 + 10 Pills	501.43€ 477.55€	Buy
Priligy Generic Dapoxetine	60mg	120 + 10 Pills	341.26€ 325.01€	Buy

Visit our Roman review to learn more.

Find Out Which ED Medications Work Best For You

That’s because you could request daily tadalafil tablets on a yearly billing cycle, which brings the cost per dose to nearly $1.00. You could then temporarily cancel your Hims subscription until you make your way through that stock of 360 doses and reinstate it whenever you need more. Canceling and restarting through Hims carries no financial penalty. That said, fildena super active 150mg BlueChew offers a free month of as-needed tadalafil as a way to test their service; all you pay is a small shipping fee. That means you can see if these medications work for your ED for a $5 shipping charge.

Can I get an ED prescription online safely?

So, if you want to maximize your savings and you don’t mind the hassle of dealing with two or three companies, your path may look something like this: Try BlueChew’s 6mg tadalafil chews (as needed) to see if the medication is effective for you. If it is, consider switching to Hims (either chews or pills) to get the best price per dose on your medication. If you find you need a stronger dose, you can head to Rocket Rx, which has the best prices for 10mg and 20mg doses. The window of effectiveness requires a bit of planning Loses efficacy when you take it with meals Mild side effects, such headaches, are more common than with other treatments like Stendra Most people can’t predict with complete certainty whether or not they’ll have sex on any given day. Even if you’re accustomed to daily intercourse, your partner could get sick, you could strike out at the club, or your in-laws could pay you a surprise visit.

Viagra™ Side Effects

For that reason, some men prefer not to take a daily tablet of Cialis or tadalafil when the prospect of sex is not guaranteed. This is even truer for men who’ve experienced some mild side effects from frequent or daily tadalafil use. On the flip side, sildenafil and Viagra (as well as a specific regimen of Cialis and tadalafil) offer you the choice to take them as needed. So, if you want to spend all day in bed playing video games, you don’t have to worry about missing a daily pill. And if you know that sex is on the horizon, you can take these meds accordingly. Starts working in as little as 30 minutes Doesn’t cause a particular — but rare — side effect of sildenafil Available in chewable form from BlueChew and Hims While it isn’t the most widely available

Viagra's Beginning: A Lucky Mistake

You’ll need to take sildenafil/Viagra 30-60 minutes before sex. Some men report that chewables and lozenges kick in faster than pills, but this is not guaranteed. Viagra’s active ingredient is sildenafil, but you might not know it from looking around at your ED options. Why would Viagra be so much more expensive than sildenafil (the active ingredient in Viagra)? Why does anyone opt for the more expensive Viagra if both have the same ingredient?

Highlights of Cialis:

Some men familiar with Viagra, having used it before successfully, want to stick with what works. They trust it, and the brain is the largest and most important sex organ after all; psychology can be a potent tool in combating ED. But a complete understanding of your options requires a little knowledge about the differences between Viagra, generic Viagra, and generic sildenafil. This is the original “little blue pill,” and it’s the most expensive option. Made by Pfizer, Viagra is available in 25mg, 50mg, and 100mg tablets from most providers.

Who should not take Cialis:

We consider Roman the best choice for branded Viagra thanks to their low per-dose pricing compared to Hims ($90 vs. $138). This is a generic form of Viagra either made by Pfizer or by an authorized company with which Pfizer has shared their exact formula. It’s identical to branded Viagra in every way except that it won’t say “Viagra” on the prescription label. This is one of the least expensive options, though it’s often pricier than generic sildenafil. option from telemedicine providers, vardenafil is an important option for the few men who might not have success taking sildenafil but still want an effective medicine they can take on demand 30-60 minutes before sex. Studies show that vardenafil behaves the same way in the body as sildenafil, with one known exception.

Important things to remember

However, tadalafil may be the better value, mainly because: In studies, men and their partners prefer tadalafil to sildenafil. Tadalafil has superior psychological outcomes to sildenafil, providing more sexual confidence.3 The larger window for sexual activity (18-36 hours, compared to 4-6 hours with sildenafil) for many people justifies the slightly higher expense. Daily tadalafil offers the lowest cost per dose among PDE5 inhibitors. Branded Cialis and generic tadalafil are available in the same dose increments across most platforms, with 2.5mg, 5mg, 10mg, and 20mg being the most common. Daily doses typically start at 2.5mg, while as-needed doses typically start at 5mg.

Watch out for side effects

These are the doses you’ll see from Hims for its tadalafil tablets. Chewable tablets and lozenges often have different doses. 8.5mg and 11.2mg doses from Hims We’ll get a little more into complex offerings in the “Combination therapies” section later. Ultimately, you’ll decide with the prescribing doctor which dose and schedule are best for your lifestyle. Here’s a quick visual reference to let you know what kinds of branded and generic tadalafil our top choices carry: The tadalafil landscape has gotten a little more complicated in recent years.

Board-certified family medicine physician, medical director & Co-Owner

While BlueChew was steadily our top choice for tadalafil for years, Hims has caught up and surpassed it slightly, beating BlueChew to a chewable daily tadalafil offering that could undercut BlueChew’s tadalafil pricing if you only needed a low dose. That said, Hims’ low prices on tadalafil only apply to daily versions of those lower 2.5mg and 5mg doses. Both BlueChew and Hims lag behind Rocket Rx’s pricing for as-needed tadalafil at 10mg and 20mg doses, however. So, the provider that’s best for you will have a lot to do with the dose you need and whether you want to take tadalafil daily or as needed. Here’s how those prices compare, with lower prices often coming from extended billing cycles (quarterly, biannually, etc.): If you’re new to ED meds and want to try as-needed tadalafil at a dosage no stronger than 5mg, then tadalafil from Hims could conceivably be your most economical option. A rare side effect of sildenafil is an alteration in color perception due to the drug’s inhibition of PDE6 in addition to PDE5.13 Vardenafil is somewhat more selective in this regard, having no known effect on PDE6 and, therefore, no known effect on color perception.

• PDE5 inhibitors prevent the breakdown of cGMP.
• ED medications are often taken on an as-needed basis.
• Tadalafil's longer duration allows daily low-dose use.
• Viagra's active ingredient is sildenafil citrate.
• Medical evaluation is necessary before starting treatment.
• Not all men respond to ED medications; alternatives exist.
• Rare side effects include priapism and sudden vision loss.
• Some ED drugs are available in generic form.
• Patients should follow dosing instructions carefully.
• Medication efficacy can be enhanced by reducing alcohol intake.

And while vardenafil is less thoroughly researched than sildenafil, there are still numerous studies looking at thousands of users over nearly two decades, so its safety and efficacy are without question.14 For a while, BlueChew was the only provider among our top picks to offer vardenafil, but Hims has included it in its recent development of chewable mint tablets.

Increase the Dose

That means you stand to spend a lot less up front to find out if the medication and dose are a fit. For men new to ED medication who want to test the waters while spending as little as possible, BlueChew may be a good place to start, if only because the medication is super convenient to take and because the company offers a free trial. So you can try it out with very little financial risk. Hims also offers sildenafil in a chew, but only combined with another medication and only at a relatively high combination of doses (which we’ll discuss later in our combination therapy section). However, there are definitely situations in which you might want to opt for Hims’ sildenafil: Hims sildenafil is available in a wider number of doses, making it our top choice for men who find they need to fine-tune or maximize their dosage of sildenafil for the best effect or to reduce side effects.