My BoyFriend came home just after midnight with a big alcohol induced silly grin on his face He'd been out celebrating something or other with a few of his friends. It must have been a good night because even his hair was slightly out of place. My Mr.Perfect wasn't quite his usual controlled self, which was nice to see.

"Have I got something that's going to please you", he said in a slightly slurred, too loud voice. Oh, here we go again I thought. "No, no, no. Not that - this", he continued and held up a small plastic bag with a blue diamond shaped tablet inside.

Well, I'm not into drugs. I've taken all I want to try. I won't even take paracetamol now unless it's really necessary. So I wasn't too pleased at this offering, especially as he'd probably got it from someone in a pub. My 'happy to see him' expression must have faded because he straight away said, "No, no, no. You don't take it. I do. James gave it to me".

I must be a bit naive at times because I still didn't know what he was on about until he explained, with much cackling laughter, "It's Viagra. James says it's great. We'll try it tomorrow". Tomorrow being Friday. I couldn't understand why we'd want to. I hadn't noticed he had any trouble getting 'aroused', which I presumed was the purpose of the tablet.

Anyway, he toddled off to bed and was soon lost to the world.

Friday night we decided to stay in - we hadn't seen each other very much recently because of our work. We had an Indian take-away, a video and I had my bottle of red Aussie wine, BF some beers. It was a lovely evening. At about eleven o'clock BF went off somewhere, I presumed to the bathroom. When he came back he said, "I've taken it." I'd forgotten all about the Viagra and I was a bit concerned that the tablet was okay. I must admit I was also a bit intrigued as well and had a sly glance at his trouser department.

"It takes about an hour to work."

"Oh, right." So that's why there was no sign of any movement as yet.

About quarter to twelve I got ready for bed and, when I slipped between the sheets, I was wondering what to expect and felt quite excited. The red wine had worked for me. I hoped he wouldn't take too long in the bathroom as I didn't want to start without him.

At last! I heard him moving along the hallway towards the bedroom. He sort of staggered through the door with one hand on the wall and made his wobbly way to the bed. He got in and said, "I don't feel well." He looked very white and just lay there on his back with his eyes shut.

"I feel dizzy, the lights are too bright", he murmured and I began to get worried. I wasn't too sure what to do. BF definitely looked unwell so I knew this wasn't some sort of game. He said to turn the light off, so I did.

He just lay there quietly and I kept annoying him by asking how he was. After about fifteen minutes he said he was okay again. I thought maybe we'd better just get some sleep but fortunately he had other ideas - and I couldn't help but notice why! The Viagra or something had done the trick. Everything was functioning extremely well and a good time was had by all. In the morning we had an encore.

On Saturday though I still felt a bit uneasy about BF having taken the Viagra and was concerned that perhaps there might be some side effects. I got to thinking how silly it was that he took the tablet, especially as he doesn't need to. I decided to see what I could find out on the Interenet.

The makers of Viagra, Pfizer, have their own official website on www.viagra.com

The tablets are actually Sildenafil Citrate, which doesn't mean anything to me, and come in three strengths of 25mg, 50mg and 100mg.

What BF took was 100mg! The advice is that men should start off with the smaller 25mg dosage and it is stressed that the tablets should only ever be taken when prescribed by a physician or doctor. This didn't exactly put my mind at rest.

The site has specific instructions that Viagra must definitely not be used by anyone who is also taking medicines that contain nitrate. This, it seems, is found in prescriptions for such things as chest pains and angina. If they do, their blood pressure could drop to unsafe levels causing fainting or even heart attacks or strokes. Nitrate is also in some 'recreational' drugs such as amyl nitrate and nitrite, also known as 'poppers'.

The proper use of Viagra is for the treatment in males of erectile dysfunction (ED). Pfizer say that over 30 million men in the USA, aged 40 to 70, suffer with some form of ED. Erection difficulties can, however, start at any age.

Erections, as I'm sure we all know, occur when the man is sexually aroused. This arousal causes the arteries to the penis to relax and widen, allowing more blood to flow into the penis. As these arteries expand and harden the veins, that normally cause blood to flow away from the penis, become compressed and so restrict the outflow of blood. With more blood flowing in and less flowing out, it's easy to understand that the penis will enlarge - resulting in an erection.

Difficulties in getting and retaining hardness can occur if the nerves or blood vessels, associated with this process, aren't working properly. What Viagra does is to increase the blood flow to the penis so, when aroused, an erection is maintained. When the sex is over the erection should fade as per normal. The tablets are claimed to work for every 4 out of 5 men who have ED

Viagra should be taken about one hour prior to sex, so BF got that bit right. It is normally effective from 30 minutes to four hours after use. Our early morning encore can't, therefore, have been Viagra driven! The tablets should only be taken once a day.

OK, now we come to the side effects. They include headache, facial flushing and upset stomach. Viagra may also briefly cause bluish or blurred vision and sensitivity to light. Really, the last part is what happened to BF. He said that while in the bathroom our white bath and sink became very bright, almost luminous, and appeared a light blue colour. His vision then became blurred making him feel dizzy. The bedroom light also made him feel uncomfortable and while he lay still in bed he felt a kind of cold sweat all over.

Oh yes, there is one more possible side effect and warning mentioned. If the man has a continuous erection for over four hours, that just won't go down, he should seek medical help. I was going to say, or come and see me, but mustn't be too frivolous!

As well as looking at the official Pfizer site, which has a lot of information and help, I also looked at a couple of UK based sites that sell Viagra over the Internet. It turns out it could be quite an expensive business, depending on how often you want to indulge with a chemical aid. I reckon there must be some big profits being made.

First we have www.myviagra.co.uk.
Their prices are:

4 x 50mg Viagra cost £59
8 x 50mg Viagra cost £109

or the stronger ones

4 x 100mg Viagra cost £69
8 x 100mg Viagra cost £129

They offer a next day delivery service.

Next there is www.viagrasalesonline.co.uk
Their prices are:

50mg Viagra @ £13.90 per tablet (minimum order 4)
100mg Viagra @ £14.90 per tablet (minimum order 4)
There is also a once off £15 registration fee to be paid with the first order

With both of these sites there is a medical form of sorts to be completed online. They ask about 20 questions as to whether the purchaser is suffering from such things as abnormal blood pressure, angina, cancer, epilepsy, alcohol abuse, deformity of the penis, liver disease and so on. I presume that this is to cover the company in case anything should go wrong. Of course people ordering could answer however they wished, as there is no referral to the individuals doctor. There doesn't seem to be any real control over who actually buys the tablets.

So there we have Viagra!

It does seem that some people (without ED) are using it on a regular basis to improve their sex lives, as in the case of BF's friend. Seemingly he reckons he gets much improved, larger erections and better orgasms. His girlfriend has also taken the tablets and again claims orgasms that shake the world. So what's new! I gather there are proper tests being carried out to see if they are in fact safe and 'of use' for women who have difficulty in achieving orgasm. The official Viagra site, however, says that the tablets should 'not' be used by women (or children).

Perhaps I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat but I don't think it is wise to use Viagra, unless prescribed by a doctor, following proper medical checks, and then only by men with ED. I wouldn't want BF to use them again - well not at the moment!

As to whether it improves the sex life of your average couple, without ED problems, I'm not sure that it does. A lot of sex is in the mind so if you think it will improve things it may well do so. As for mine and BF's Viagra coupling it was definitely very satisfactory, and he was in tip top condition, but I don't normally have any complaints anyway. It did make me wonder for a moment though, whether BF tried the tablet because I didn't turn him on quite as much nowadays ....

Then I thought naaaaa .... no way. You've got to have confidence in yourself, haven't you!

- Kay

P.S. I've resisted it so far but ... I say, I say, I say ... I heard Viagra described as similar to being at Alton Towers. You have to wait for an hour and then the ride only lasts 2 minutes! ... No, don't laugh, it's serious ... Did you hear about the first death caused by Viagra? A man took 12 and his wife died ... And then there was the problem at the undertakers, another man passed away after taking three tablets and they couldn't close the coffin lid for three days ... And what about the Viagra delivery van that was hijacked. The police are looking for two hardened criminals - they can expect a stiff penalty under the penal laws when caught ... And men, be careful taking Viagra if you also take iron supplements - you may find yourself spinning round and facing north ... Oh yes, just time to tell you there are some new Viagra eyedrops now on sale - they make you look real hard ... No wonder Viagra has been such a boon for 'stand up' comedians ... OK, I'll shut up. Sorry!