The girl, named Natalie Archibald, from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, is being kept alive by four doses of Viagra a day.
Natalie was diagnosed with primary pulmonary
define hypertension after she collapsed on Christmas Day 2006 while opening her presents. The paramedics thought it was a case of over excitement and treated her to calm her down.
But she was later found to be suffering from the lung condition primary pulmonary hypertension and was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, where doctors prescribed her the Viagra to improve the blood flow to her lungs. Since then, she has been taking four doses a day of impotence drug Viagra to stay alive.
Primary pulmonary hypertension is a rare lung disorder characterized by increased pressure in the pulmonary arterydefinedefine. The pulmonary artery carries oxygen-poor blood from the lower chamber on the right side of the heart (right ventricledefine) to the lungs where it picks up oxygen. It causes significantly high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the disorder results in thickening of the pulmonary arteries and narrowing of these blood vessels, regardless of whether the disorder is primary or secondary.
The male impotence drug probably works by opening the arteries and improving the blood flow.
Natalie’s 46-year-old mother Janis Archibald said her daughter’s life has been completely transformed since she started taking the Viagra. "When we saw the programme of drugs, Viagra was given the proper medical name of Revatio. It was only when we looked into it we realized it was Viagra - that's when the jokes started,” she said.
"But it has transformed her life. I've never seen her so happy. She can run, jump, skip - all the things her friends do. We have a wheelchair if she gets exhausted but we've never had to use it. I hope she grows out of it before we need it," mom added.
Janis said, though, Natalie no longer faints or turns blue, but the condition still threatens her life. The incurable lung condition- primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare affliction in children, still causes high blood pressure in her lungs and strains the heart, with potentially fatal consequences.
Viagra, generic name sildenafil, is the first oral drug for erectile dysfunction (ED). Before the FDA approved Viagra in 1998, impotence was treated with surgical implants, suppositories, pumps, and drugs injected into the penis.
Taken as a pill shortly before sexual intercourse, Viagra selectively dilates blood vessels in the penis, improving blood flow and allowing a natural sexual response.
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