Cialis

• Cialis is a prescription-only medication for erectile dysfunction (ED)

• Cialis can be taken on demand (before sex) or daily, depending on how many days you have sex a week – no other ED pills can be taken as a daily dose

• Cialis is effective for up to 36 hours after you’ve taken your tablet – this is much longer than any other ED pill

• Cialis is roughly as effective as Viagra – it’s effective for 60-70% of men who try it

• Cialis comes in 4 doses – daily 2.5mg and 5mg, and on demand 10mg and 20mg

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Cialis is a prescription-only medication used to treat erectile dysfunction. It’s branded from Eli Lilly, and works the same way as Viagra, both of which contain a type of chemical called a PDE-5 inhibitor as the only active ingredient. 

PDE5-inhibitors work by blocking PDE5, which is a chemical that reduces your ability to gain an erection. When PDE5 is blocked, the blood vessels in your penis relax more and this increases blood flow to the penis. This makes it easier to get and keep an erection. The PDE5-inhibitor in Cialis is called tadalafil, and this starts to work within about 30 minutes of taking the Cialis tablet.

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You can’t get Cialis over the counter, but you can order it online without a face-to-face appointment or an existing prescription. At Superdrug Online Doctor, the steps for ordering online are:

• Fill in a quick 3-minute online questionnaire – this covers things like your health and any medications you’re taking

• Place your order and make payment 

• An online doctor with then check your questionnaire, and based on your answers, they’ll let you know if your order is right for you

• If your order is approved, it can be sent to your door or to a local Superdrug store to collect

• If your order is not approved your payment will be refunded

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Superdrug Online Doctor’s Cialis service is rated excellent by patients on TrustPilot. You can see reviews of Cialis at the bottom of this page. You can also see more patient reviews of Cialis treatment on drugs.com.

Cialis is a safe and effective treatment that works for 60-70% of men who try it. It normally doesn’t cause side effects, but when they do happen they’re usually mild.

Cialis isn’t the NHS first choice treatment, but it’s still approved by the NHS for treating erectile dysfunction. You can get a private prescription for branded Cialis from your GP, which means you have to pay the full price for the medication, not the NHS standard prescription fee.

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Cialis and Viagra are both effective treatments for erectile dysfunction, but there are some key differences between the two.

Availability: 

• Both can be bought online from an online doctor service

• Viagra can be bought over the counter in a pharmacy (only Viagra Connect)

• Cialis is a prescription-only medication and can only be bought if a doctor issues a prescription for it

Dosage

• Viagra and Cialis are both used to treat ED, but each is a different drug with a different active ingredient (although they work in a very similar way)

• The active ingredient in Viagra is sildenafil, while Cialis contains tadalafil as the active ingredient

• Cialis doses are daily 2.5mg and 5mg, and on demand 10mg and 20mg

• Viagra doses are on demand 25mg, 50mg, and 100mg

• Even though Viagra has higher mg numbers, that doesn’t mean it’s stronger

Duration

• Cialis is effective for up to 36 hours

• Viagra remains effective for 4 to 6 hours 

• Cialis Daily can be taken once a day so it’s always ready to work as soon as you need it to

Price

• Cialis is often more expensive

• Both are available in cheaper generic forms (Viagra as sildenafil and Cialis as tadalafil)

• Cialis Daily can be more expensive if you don’t have sex more than three times per week

Making your decision: Cialis or Viagra?

• Which one to try first – this is entirely up to you, there’s no recommended first choice between the two

• If you have sex often – if you have sex on more than three days out of the week then you might want to try Cialis Daily

• Trying both – as long as you don’t take one of each in the same 24 period, you can try both. You can also get an erectile dysfunction trial pack from Superdrug Online Doctor that includes a sample of both

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Yes you can. The generic form of Cialis is called tadalafil. Cialis is the branded version, but both medications contain the same active ingredient, tadalafil citrate, and they’re available in the same doses. This means that they work in exactly the same way to improve your erections and they’re both prescription-only medications.

You can order tadalafil and Cialis from Superdrug Online Doctor.

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You can take Cialis either on demand (before sex) or every day (Cialis Daily).

On demand:

• Lasts for up to 36 hours

• Taken at least 30 minutes before you plan to have sex

• Available in 10mg or 20mg dosages

• Generally best for people who have sex less than 3 times per week

Daily:

• Is always ready to work, as long as you remember to take it every day

• Is available in 2.5mg or 5mg

• Generally best for people who have sex three or more times per week

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Cialis is available in four different doses of:

• 2.5mg (daily)

• 5mg (daily)

• 10mg (on demand)

• 20mg (on demand)

Which dosage of Cialis is right for you will depend on how many days of the week you have sex on, which doses you’ve tried before, how well previous doses worked, and whether you’ve had side effects on Cialis before.

Cialis 10mg:

• This is the recommended starting dose for Cialis on demand, and if you haven’t taken Cialis before, your doctor is likely to recommend this dose

• If you experience side effects with the 20mg, then you might need to switch to this dose

Cialis 20mg:

• If the 10mg dose isn’t effective for you, and you didn’t have any side effects while using it, you could increase your dose to the maximum 20mg a day, after advice from your doctor 

• Taking any more than this dose won’t help you get a better erection, but it could increase your chances of getting dangerous side effects, so you should never do that

Cialis daily doses (2.5mg and 5mg):

• The two lowest doses of Cialis are 2.5mg and 5mg – these are specifically for daily use

• You would normally start with 5mg as the recommended daily dose

• If this dose is effective for you, but you experience side effects, your doctor will usually recommend that you switch to the lower 2.5mg

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• For Cialis on demand – you need to take Cialis at least 30 minutes before you plan to have sex; this will usually be enough time for the active ingredient (Tadalafil) to start working

• For Cialis Daily – you need to take your tablet once a day, at the same time each day

• Swallow your tablet whole with a glass of water 

• Don’t chew or crush your tablet

• You can have your tablet with or without food

• You shouldn’t take Cialis with alcohol, because they can react together, and make it less likely your medication will work

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Cialis is a prescription-only drug, so a doctor will need to check that it’s right for you before you take it. Cialis may or may not be right for you depending on your overall health, medical history, and whether you’re taking any other medications already.

You may not be able to take Cialis if you have:

• anxiety

• high cholesterol

• a high BMI (obesity)

• metabolic syndrome (a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity)

• depression

• Peyronie’s disease (a condition that causes the penis to curve)

You also can’t take Cialis if you’re taking some types of medications, since they might react, including:

• Nitrates: isosorbide mononitrate dinitrate, glyceryl trinitrate 

• Antibiotics: erythromycin, clarithromycin or rifampicin. 

• Antifungals: ketoconazole and itraconazole 

• Antivirals: amprenavir, ritonavir and saquinavir

• Alpha-blockers: tamsulosin, doxazosin, alfuzosin 

• Other ED medications: Viagra, Levitra etc

Alcohol and grapefruit juice can react with your medication too.

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Like all medications, Cialis can cause side effects. Even though not everyone gets these, it’s a good idea for you to take the time to read the patient leaflet that comes with Cialis and see what possible side effects there are. If you’re unsure about anything you read in this, you should talk to your doctor.

Some of the common side effects that affect 1 to 10 in every 100 men who use Cialis are:

• headache

• stuffy or runny nose

• dizziness

• flushing

• back pain

• indigestion 

• muscle aches

The following side effects are uncommon and affect 1 to 10 in every 1000 men who use Cialis:

• increased heart rate

• changes in blood pressure

• bleeding from the penis or blood in the semen

• ringing in the ears

• palpitations

• erection that won’t go away (priapism)

• colour vision changes

• blurred vision

• eye pains

• increased sweating

• difficulty breathing

• nose bleeds

Rare side effects affect less than 1 in 10,000 men who try Cialis. If you experience these symptoms, stop taking Cialis and get medical help right away:

• sudden decrease or loss of vision 

• sudden loss or decrease in hearing, sometimes with dizziness and ringing in the ears 

If your side effects become serious and/or are impacting your life too much for you to want to

continue taking Cialis, then you should stop taking it and discuss it with your doctor. You

shouldn’t just adjust or switch your treatment without medical advice as everyone’s body reacts slightly differently to medications.  

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Eli Lilly and Company (2017). CIALIS- tadalafil tablet, film coated. Lilly USA. [online] Available at: http://uspl.lilly.com/cialis/cialis.html [accessed 29th April 2019].

Mayoclinic (2019). Erectile dysfunction. [online] Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/erectile-dysfunction/symptoms-causes/syc-20355776 [accessed 29th April 2019].

Rxlist (2018). Cialis. [online] Available at: https://www.rxlist.com/cialis-side-effects-drug-center.htm [accessed 29th April 2019].

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