Septuagenarian Takes Viagra Pill, Reacts Badly: Man Starts Coughing Up Blood for 3 Days

A 70-year-old man took a Viagra pill, but the side effects quickly appeared and he coughed up blood for three days.

A British septuagenarian decided to take sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. Shortly after taking it, the man's health deteriorated and he began coughing up blood. This reaction is extremely rare, as it has only been documented by scientists six times, reports the British media outlet Daily Mail.

50 ml of blood

Doctors conducted a study on this case, which is very rare. The patient reported having had the same symptoms two weeks earlier, again after taking this little blue pill, used by men suffering from impotence. No less than 50 ml of blood was coughed up by the man. Despite examinations of his nasal and oral passages, as well as a CT scan of his chest, the researchers found nothing.

But after stopping sildenafil, the episodes of hemoptysis, the medical term for coughing up blood, also stopped. Taking Viagra therefore appears to be the cause of these medical problems.

But the 70-year-old man also suffered from kidney stones and was taking another medication, called rivaroxaban, a blood thinner. "Decreased renal function may affect the metabolism of sildenafil and rivaroxaban, which may explain hemoptysis due to their increased vasodilation [blood vessel dilation] and anticoagulation effects, respectively", the doctors noted in a report.

Taking Viagra, and therefore sildenafil, by people with serious illnesses and who are taking other medications may be dangerous. Scientists are therefore looking closely at this problem and these reactions, which are very little known. "Further studies are needed to clarify the precise mechanism that causes sildenafil-induced hemoptysis", the authors of the report indicate.