# Is Viagra soluable and without taste ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707 "2007-04-04T14:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@Elsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elsie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/1 "2007-04-04T14:08:39Z")
I’ve just remembered someone over the weekend was relating to us a story told, in turn, to them; it’s become a bit of a laugh to spike the drink of a selected (usually ugly as hell) man at, say, a bar and watch from afar as . . . events unfold\*. Allegedly the first signs of a reaction can be seen in facial movements (leering, manic smiling, etc) but quickly moves to general behaviour. But is this possible, is Viagra soluable and without taste or is this a (norf London) urban myth ? \*Yep, I imagine it can be unpleasant and even dangerous for the victim, and the victims of the victim ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/2 "2007-04-04T14:35:01Z")
[QUOTE=Elsie] Allegedly the first signs of a reaction can be seen in facial movements (leering, manic smiling, etc) but quickly moves to general behaviour. [/QUOTE] Facial movements? “Manic smiling?” You did say Viagra and not ecstasy, right? I won’t say nobody’s ever been dosed with Viagra, but this description sounds a little suspect. How would a spontaneous erection affect someone’s “general behavior” in a bar? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/3 "2007-04-04T14:44:06Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Facial movements? “Manic smiling?” You did say Viagra and not ecstasy, right? I won’t say nobody’s ever been dosed with Viagra, but this description sounds a little suspect. [/QUOTE] I, too, am baffled. As I understand it, the only effect of Viagra (aside from possible side effects) is that it makes it easier to get and keep an erection. I fail to see the hilarity that would ensue, even if penis did ensue. ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/4 "2007-04-04T14:47:17Z")
Unfortunately for your story, [Viagra](http://www.howstuffworks.com/viagra.htm) actually only enhances the ability to get and maintain an erection, but does not provide the stimulus for such. Guys still need to be turned on, and the actual ingestion of the little blue pill without that would be useless. ---
**Author:** ![Elsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@Elsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elsie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/5 "2007-04-04T14:50:20Z")
It sounded apocryphal, just one of those Saturday night stories, I guess. Maybe it’s like the hand-in-water-while-sleeping gig. ---
**Author:** ![Elsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b2d939/32.png) [@Elsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elsie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/6 "2007-04-04T14:51:38Z")
Oh, and thanks for your help! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/7 "2007-04-04T15:10:46Z")
Just as there used to be a pop-culture misperception that Prozac caused overwhelming euphoria in its users (or transformed them into insensate zombies), there seems to be a mistaken notion that Viagra is a powerful aphrodisiac. As noted, it really just makes the process of getting an erection easier. It would be possible to take the pill and not get an erection at all, if you were just sitting reading a (non-erotic) book, or something. It does facilitate things quite a bit, though, so it’s possible that the friction from one’s clothing, or a prolonged gaze at the barmaid in the low-cut t-shirt might be enough of a catalyst for wood. But even then it doesn’t make you run around crazed, looking for an outlet for your prong. The only obvious physical symptoms (other than the possible pants-tent) might be flushing in the face and a stuffy-sounding nose. (Of course I know all this because of some guy I know who totally isn’t me.) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/8 "2007-04-04T15:15:52Z")
I see to recall that when The Miracle Pill came out, women were using it for sexual purposes. What does it do for ladies? ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/9 "2007-04-04T15:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I see to recall that when The Miracle Pill came out, women were using it for sexual purposes. What does it do for ladies? [/QUOTE] Apparently nothing. (And the world is a grayer place…) [http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/tc/Sexual-Problems-in-Women-Medications](http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/tc/Sexual-Problems-in-Women-Medications) > [@](#): > > Sildenafil (Viagra) is used to treat erectile dysfunction in men. The maker of this medicine has decided not to market it for improving women’s sexual desire and arousal. This was based on research showing that sildenafil was not effective for most women. The maker has commented that women’s sexuality is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and relationship factors, and it is not as simple to treat with a medicine as male erectile dysfunction is. …and by the way, Googling for ANY info. on Viagra is not an easy task… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/10 "2007-04-04T16:05:39Z")
Viagra has a very bitter taste. Don’t chew it, kids. (What? I used to do unadvisable quantities of MDMA. It helped.) ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/11 "2007-04-04T16:53:03Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Viagra has a very bitter taste. Don’t chew it, kids. (What? I used to do unadvisable quantities of MDMA. It helped.) [/QUOTE] Worse than MDMA itself? The same friend I know who’s a completely separate person from me recalls that MDMA was horribly, cringingly bitter to the taste. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/12 "2007-04-04T18:09:36Z")
One rumor has a woman crushing a Viagra into a guy’s bowl of chili with beans. She hoped to take advantage of him, but it gave him a stiff wind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/13 "2007-04-04T22:27:12Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Worse than MDMA itself? The same friend I know who’s a completely separate person from me recalls that MDMA was horribly, cringingly bitter to the taste. [/QUOTE] Yeah, MDMA tastes pretty bad, but in my experience it’s usually in gel-caps, and they go down like skittles. Viagra comes in “regular” and “double strength,” and it makes more economic sense to buy the “double strength” ones and take half, which is usually an effective dose. (And how!) But seriously, use a tool to bisect those little blue bastards, no matter how much of a hurry you’re in. It you bite a tablet in half, you end up with bitter-as-hell chalk stuck in your teeth. What a buzz-kill. Way, way way TMI: Did you know that Viagra frequently allows you to ejaculate without experiencing detumescence? No wonder Pfizer is making a killing off that stuff! ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/14 "2007-04-04T23:04:46Z")
[QUOTE=Elsie] I’ve just remembered someone over the weekend was relating to us a story told, in turn, to them; it’s become a bit of a laugh to spike the drink of a selected (usually ugly as hell) man at, say, a bar and watch from afar as . . . events unfold\*. [/QUOTE] And this practice has come to called “slipping someone a dickey”? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/15 "2007-04-04T23:24:07Z")
From a pharmaceutical perspective; A quick search reveals that dissolution of sildenafil citrate is likely to conducted in 0.1N HCl or a pH 6.8 buffer (I say likely because I do not have access to the USP/EP pharmacopoeias from home and this based on a google search). Solubility of sildenafil citrate itself is 3.5mg/mL. The highest strength Viagra is 100mg/tablet, so assuming a typical dissolution in 900mL of buffer, that’s a concentration of 0.111… mg/mL, so you could go quite a bit more concentrated and still have it all dissolve. So yes, a tablet of Viagra would be soluble in a typical bar drink. More Googleing shows that Viagra is quickly absorbed, with maximum plasma concentrations reached within 30-120 minutes ([http://pfizer.com/pfizer/download/uspi\_viagra.pdf](http://pfizer.com/pfizer/download/uspi_viagra.pdf) WARNING PDF!) so if you were to try and dissolve one, you’d likely see it break apart very quickly… within 15-20 minutes I’d think, if not much sooner. Would it be noticeable by an unsuspecting person in a bar? If we don’t consider drunkeness and basic obliviousness, then I’d think yes, it probably would be seen (assuming a clear liquid in a transparent container). Often, chunks of coating and other filler materials don’t dissolve under the same conditions, so you’d be left with a lot of powder swirling around, but the sildenafil itself would be dissolved. Since Viagra has a blue coating on it, I’d also say that the drink would gain a blue tint to it, though it might not be very noticeable, especially if the drink is coloured to begin with. I can’t comment on taste. My nickname at work used to be “Dissolution Queen”. I’m no expert from a method development perspective, but I’ve done enough to have a grasp on what it represents! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/16 "2007-04-04T23:42:45Z")
On the other hand, there is a substance which one can very easily put in someone’s drink at a bar which has been known to elicit the reaction the OP describes. The chemical is C[sub]2[/sub]H[sub]5[/sub]OH, though it has many slang and trade names. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/17 "2007-04-04T23:53:57Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Viagra comes in “regular” and “double strength,” and it makes more economic sense to buy the “double strength” ones and take half, which is usually an effective dose. (And how!) [/QUOTE] Well, actually it comes in 25, 50, and 100mg. So depending on what you consider “regular” strength (probably 50’s), there’s more variation. BTW, as Pfizer’s patent runs out, look forward to Viagra XR and Viagra Nasal Mist. Sildenafil Citrate will become completely obsolete. -foxy ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/18 "2007-04-05T01:00:34Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] On the other hand, there is a substance which one can very easily put in someone’s drink at a bar which has been known to elicit the reaction the OP describes. The chemical is C[sub]2[/sub]H[sub]5[/sub]OH, though it has many slang and trade names. [/QUOTE] Yea, that stuff is great, I actually put some in my coke just a few minutes ago. However, shouldn’t that be C[sub]2[/sub]H[sub]6[/sub]O? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/19 "2007-04-05T01:09:29Z")
[QUOTE=ladyfoxfyre] Well, actually it comes in 25, 50, and 100mg. [/QUOTE] Huh. My doctor never mentioned the 25mg size, she just suggested it was more cost-effective to take a 100mg 'script and take half instead of paying more for twice as many 50s. (I did find that a quarter did the trick anyway.) Seriously, even absent the side-effects of certain vasoconstrictive recreational substances, there’s really nothing like… Ah, never mind. :o ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707/20 "2007-04-05T09:42:16Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] On the other hand, there is a substance which one can very easily put in someone’s drink at a bar which has been known to elicit the reaction the OP describes. The chemical is C[sub]2[/sub]H[sub]5[/sub]OH, though it has many slang and trade names. [/QUOTE] Ah yes, ethyl hydroxide, the “male date rape” drug. Anecdotal evidence is that it can cause you to wake up in a strange bed with a hideous troll and no memory of the previous night’s events, and it’s legally available! Beware, men. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-viagra-soluable-and-without-taste/398707.md?page=2)