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What side effects does Levitra list first?

4 min read · Reviewed

Medically reviewed by Dr. Priya Natarajan, MD - Clinical pharmacology, Dublin

Headache, flushing, rhinitis, and dyspepsia lead the LEVITRA list. Those four showed a dose effect across 5 mg, 10 mg, and 20 mg in the placebo-controlled trials. Headache sat at 15% of 2203 men on drug. They often settle after a few hours. An erection past 4 hours is a different clock. Sudden vision or hearing loss means stop.

01Do those four hang around all week?

The patient leaflet says they usually go away after a few hours. Call if a reaction stays or bothers you enough to stop the next night. Discontinuation for adverse events was 3.4% on LEVITRA and 1.1% on placebo in those trials. Increased creatine kinase sat at 2% versus 1%.

A flush that fades is not a reason to skip the dose talk if 20 mg is the next idea. Dizziness sat at 2% versus 1%, and nausea at 2% versus 1%. Sinusitis sat at 3% versus 1%.

02What if hearing drops suddenly?

Stop vardenafil and get care. Sudden decrease or loss of hearing, sometimes with tinnitus and dizziness, has been reported in temporal association with this class. Cause is often unclear. The instruction is still to stop. Other ear or vascular problems may sit on the same chart. The patient leaflet names the same stop.

Do not take tomorrow's tablet to see if hearing comes back. The next swallow waits on that same-day call. A 10 mg start does not make sudden hearing loss a milder event.

03When is an erection an emergency?

If it lasts more than 4 hours, get urgent care. Priapism in this class is a painful erection lasting more than 6 hours. Waiting it out can scar the tissue and cost later erections. Sickle cell disease, multiple myeloma, and leukemia raise the odds; so does Peyronie's or cavernosal fibrosis. A bent anatomy is a caution before the first tablet, not after hour four.

That clock is independent of the 4-to-5-hour half-life on the duration page. Do not wait at home after hour four.

04Which other reactions belong in a same-day call?

Fainting, a racing or irregular pulse, swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. Those are not the first-four list. They are reasons to stop and be seen. Postural hypotension and syncope sit on the less-common cardiovascular list. Chest pain or a suspected infarct belongs in emergency care, not a next-night experiment.

The vardenafil shelf cannot sort those from a chair. The person who wrote the tablet can. Anaphylaxis, including laryngeal edema, was reported rarely in development.

05Which reactions sit first on the list?

Headache, flushing, rhinitis (stuffy or runny nose), and dyspepsia. Patient language also names indigestion, upset stomach, or dizziness. Those are the common, early complaints. In the pooled placebo-controlled trials, headache was reported in 15% of 2203 men on LEVITRA and 4% of 1199 on placebo.

Flushing was 11% versus 1%, rhinitis 9% versus 3%, and dyspepsia 4% versus 1% in that same pair of columns. Those four also rose as the tablet went from 5 mg to 20 mg. Photosensitivity and rash sat on the less-common skin list.

06What if vision drops suddenly?

Stop the tablet and get prompt care. Sudden decrease or loss of vision in one or both eyes may be NAION. A prior NAION in one eye raises the stakes of another vasodilator. A blue-green tint near peak levels was seen in formal color testing and tracks with PDE6 in the retina.

A mild color shift that fades is not the same as sudden loss. Sudden loss does not wait for the next visit. Retinitis pigmentosa sat outside the trials, so that history belongs on the chart before the first tablet.

Before you start, stop, or change any medicine, speak with your prescriber or pharmacist. They hold your chart. This bin card does not. Open the bin disclaimer.

Sources

  1. US LEVITRA (vardenafil HCl) tablets prescribing information, DailyMed (Adverse Reactions; Information for Patients)

Checked against the current label and reviewed by Dr. Priya Natarajan. See Pick → Check → Tag → Bin.

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Answers follow the U.S. LEVITRA label.

Kirk asks

My nose runs every time. Is that the rhinitis on the list?

Yes. Rhinitis is one of the first-listed effects, with headache, flushing, and dyspepsia. In the pooled trials it was 9% on LEVITRA and 3% on placebo. It often fades in a few hours. If it stays ugly, the next talk is whether 10 mg should move down to 5 mg. Sinusitis sat at 3% versus 1% in the same table.

Noel asks

A 3-hour erection scared us. Is that priapism?

The urgent line is past 4 hours. Priapism is named as a painful erection past 6 hours. Three hours is long enough to watch the clock. Past four, go in. Sickle cell disease and Peyronie's raise that risk. Untreated, the tissue can scar.

Seth asks

I got a blue tinge at hour one. Do I stop forever?

A transient blue-green shift near peak was seen in formal color testing and tracks with PDE6. Sudden vision loss is the stop-and-go-in event, including possible NAION. Tell the clinician about the tint before the next tablet so they can sort which one you had. A prior NAION in one eye raises the stakes of another vasodilator.