San Jose - 2005 Reports

[FredA]

WillySP,

I'll be there on Friday October 21 and I'm staying at the Presidente.

[WillySP]

I will be in CR Oct 15th - 23rd.

Anyone else going to be around? I will be at the Presidente.

[ApostropheMan]

Chase Star,

The best thing I have found for this problem is Zinc and soy protien shakes.

I agree! I've started my zinc routine for next week, off to the DR, and really notice a difference in volume. just be sure you get enough copper when taking zinc.

I usually take 50mg of elemental zinc from zinc gluconate and my doc recommends 1mg of copper for every 15 mg of elemental zinc. I get my copper from my multivitamens.

[Sirtonkaoffuk]

I got them from rxMex for about $1.50/20mg. I confirmed the shape color and coding of the tabs on the web after I received them. They have worked just great!

[ChiliMike]

Just a heads up. The price for a room at the Morazan just went down to $35. 00 per nite. I have payed 49. 00 in the past. I will be going on the 13th of Oct thurough the 19th. If anyone else is in town at that time, shoot me a message. Also when I get get close to my trip I check out the Blue Marlin web cam. All you can really see are the bartenders, which are hot. Don't they know what we really want to see are the working girls. But if you go to the Key Largo web cam you can spot a few of the grils dancing. I see a little spinner I had with a guy out on the dance floor. I hope he only gave her 50.00 because she was firm on 80.00 with me. I got her to 50.00, but it was tough. This trip I am going to make a trip to Jaco and make it to 747.

Thanks Chase Star and others who gave me some info. Any new places I should be checking out. The wild show was not going on the last time I was in town. (not sure of the name of the hotel it was at) but for 20. 00 it was a blast. 17 days and counting.

[Member #2041]

I use Levitra, and nowadays, I get a Generic, bought in Mexico, from factories in India. It's indistinguishable from the real thing, and when bought in volume, it costs $3 per pill (and which I cut in half for 2 doses, making the cost to me $1.50 per dose).

The fact is, the ONLY reason the genuine branded pills cost as much as they do is that the Pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. are given a legally protected monopoly on the pills for 15 years or so in order to encourage them to invest heavily in research on new drugs. Once you have the formula for a tested and approved drug, it costs pennies per dose to make, and can be sold for many dollars per pill. So, that Viagra or Levitra that sells for $10-12 per pill, actually only costs maybe 20 CENTS to manufacture. So, the mail-order place that charges me $3 a pill for the generic substitute, is still making plenty of money, but they are legally prevented from marketing the stuff in the U.S. until the Brand-Name manufacturer's patent runs out. AS SOON as it does, you will be easily able to get those generics for $3 in the U.S. without having to order it by secretive and technically illegal mail order from overseas.

The exact same thing happens with drugs for diseases. I'm also a diabetic, and I take Metformin, which is the Generic for Glucophage. 7 years ago, there was no legal Generic Metformin sold in the U.S., because Glucophage's patent was still active. Glucophage sold for about $1.50 per pill. Once the patent expired, the generic Metformin, which is the exact same stuff, was now available for around 40 cents a pill.

[DaveyJones8]

I will be visiting San Jose, CR in October. I prefer to seek escort agencies and arrange discreet meetings, maybe rent an apartment nearby the hotel. Any info on agencies that can arrange this, must speak English. Thanks for any assistance

[Tasty1]

Thanks to all who responded vigrously to my post. If it works go for it. If not, blame it on fake drug or bad pussy. But keep mongering. Peace on earth and hot one on your face.

[Crypton]

I am glad some people were able to obtain V for $3. However in contrast to blood pressure, diabetes etc meds. paid mostly paid by insurance companies, V is a "recreational" medication. All I am saying is that if it looks too good to be true, it is. $3 for V either brand name or generic is too low of a price. Also keep in mind there is no approved generic for V yet. They still have patent until next year, and thus "generics" are under the table, god knows what.

IMHO, if it works, take it and fuck your brains out. Who am I to complain, if your dick gets hard on milk go for "you got milk."

Peace on earth and between legs.

These so-called generics are everywhere around the world. As you say, they are not official generics - rip offs basically. I bought them in Colombia, El Salvador, Thailand and India (where patent laws protect the process and not the product - although this is changing thanks to WTO). In India, I recently bought a bunch for $1 per 100 mg. In Thailand, you can buy the Indian ones, but the mark up is high (goes up to $15 for 4x100 mg). Regardless of where I bought them, they worked just fine (of course, not having done a double blind study, I cannot say that there is no placebo effect). It is possible to buy the Indian brand (Caverta) online for about $2-3 a pop. The ones in India are made by large and reputable companies - so I don't necessarily doubt the quality or content.

In the US, my insurance co. (BC/BS) sure doesn't pay for it.

Cheers.

[Prolijo]

Tasty,
Since you work for the pharmaceutical industry, I'm sure you're very knowledgeable on this subject, but that might also be a source of bias.

First, I'm not sure how the issue of whether E.D. drugs are used recreationally or are covered by insurance plays into the issue of pricing since you never completed that thought. Perhaps you could explain that. Maybe I'm wrong but I would think that if anything the fact that its not being paid for out of the deep pockets of the insurance companies would tend to push the price down.

Secondly, that $3 price was probably for 50mg generic or roughly 50% off the equivalent price for genuine Viagara. Given the cost savings related to generic products and foreign pricing that I explained earlier that seems entirely plausible to me. Anyway, why would $3 be "too low of a price" or "too good to be true"? Pfizer's actual cost of manufacturing Viagara is probably much less than $3 per 50mg pill. Most of the price we pay for drugs in the US is absorbed by costs that foreign producers in foreign markets simply don't have. Pfizer spent money on R&D to come up with Viagara, but the companies that knock it off didn't. Pfizer also spends huge sums on media time for superbowl halftime ads and NFL celebrity endorsements. They spend more on expensive lunches and elaborate vacation junkets for doctors to try and get them to push their products on their patients. There is also an arcane and elaborate wholesaler distribution system in this country with each middleman getting their cut. Even after all those costs Pfizer is making huge profits on this drug. Knock-offs in other markets would have none of those costs and so should be able to still turn a tidy profit even on a $3 pill.

Third, I'm not sure how you can say there has been no approved generic version of Viagara yet. Approved by whom? The FDA? So you meant to say none approved in the US where the FDA has authority. How does that apply to purchasing generic products at a farmacia in CR?

Fourth, international patent law is a more valid argument, but we all know that foreign companies and their governments are not always so strict about enforcing those laws, particularly when there is money to be made selling affordable versions of sought after medicines. Just because these drugs may be "under the table" doesn't mean they're bogus. The stuff that hucksters on the street try to pass off as genuine Viagara might be, regardless of price. But the stuff sold in a fixed location as generic is probably just that - genuine non-brand sildenafil. If it weren't, what advantage would there be in saying it was generic at all? If they were trying to rip you off with a sugar pill why wouldn't they just go for broke, bump up the price and claim it was the real McCoy?

Frankly, I think you're poo-pooing this and suggesting anyone that thinks this stuff is real is just some easily fooled rube is really condescending. Personally, I've never used the generic product but I trust the evaluation of those that have. I don't really need Viagara but I have tried it after a day of sexual bingeing. I can certainly tell the difference from the slow to rise semi-stiffy I would have after multiple sessions in a given day and the automatic artificial rock hard flagpole I have gotten when I've used Vitamin V and I think anyone else would be able to as well. If the differences were borderline (such as between a start-of-the-day vs a Viagara woodie) I could see how the perceived effect might just be a "placebo illusion", but if you can hammer nails with your pecker after screwing around all day, you've had some real help.

Enough of all this, though. Your last comment raises an issue that concerns me FAR more. Like I said before I don't really need Viagara unless I've been nailing chicas left and right all day. And in that case, we should all have such problems? Viagara can always get me up if I need any help, but whats the point if you've run out of leche anyway. I liken it to the dog that goes around from bush to bush lifting his leg to mark his territory long after he's run out of [CodeWord140]. WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO COME UP WITH A DRUG THAT REALLY WORKS AT PRODUCING MORE SEMEN? I've seen some highly questionable products out there on the web but nothing I can really trust or that has been well supported by independent studies. One would think that there would be a legitimate market for this by childless couples, though producing more sperm is not necessarily the same thing as producing more semen. Maybe you Tasty, as a "representative" of the pharmaceutical industry, can tell us if anything is being developed along these lines.

[Tasty1]

I am glad some people were able to obtain V for $3. However in contrast to blood pressure, diabetes etc meds. paid mostly paid by insurance companies, V is a "recreational" medication. All I am saying is that if it looks too good to be true, it is. $3 for V either brand name or generic is too low of a price. Also keep in mind there is no approved generic for V yet. They still have patent until next year, and thus "generics" are under the table, god knows what.

IMHO, if it works, take it and fuck your brains out. Who am I to complain, if your dick gets hard on milk go for "you got milk."

Peace on earth and between legs.

[Dinoman]

Chase Star
Nothing much to say lately. No hard feeling.
I am planning a trip the first week of October and of course I will be at the Gran Via. but I will be posting before I go.
kept on rocking
Dinoman

[Prolijo]

Dinoman,
You're a wise man. I'm glad we can at least agree on SOME things! Just teasing. I'm also glad there are no hard feelings because of our initial "differences". Where have you been hiding yourself these last few weeks? Don't tell me La Gran Via. Just teasing again, sorry, I just couldn't resist. Anyways, pura vida amigo. I'm glad you're back.

[Dinoman]

Tasty
Chase Star is right. In Costa Rica at the pharmacies they do have generic brand that has the same drug (sildenafil citrate) as the viagra brand for half the price. I was a nonbeliever but after a friend who lives in CR told me to try one I became a believer. I asked others about the generic and there is a general consciences that it is equal ( 50mg to 50mg) to the more expense viagra.
Again you must buy from the pharmacies and not on the street.
Dinoman

[Prolijo]

Tasty,
That might be true in the US pharmaceutical industry where pricing is artificially inflated but it isn't necessarily true elsewhere. As everyone knows name-brand drugs can be bought for large percentage discounts in places like Canada. Even within the US, generic versions of brand-name drugs with the exact same chemical composition and equal effectiveness can also be bought for large discounts. Put those both together and really huge discounts are entirely possible.

The reason for the price difference is not that overseas brands or generics are any less effective or safe. The reason is that US patent laws restrict production and keep prices high. This is ostensibly so that drug companies can recover the large research costs needed to develop and test new drug products that may or may not cut muster, but I suspect the ultimate reason is to protect huge drug industry profits and help cover the huge marketing costs that those companies run up. (Other reasons for high US prices include our distribution system and product liability)

I agree, I wouldn't trust anything bought on the street. However, what you call "fake" or "like", others call generic. Some drugs are fake and either won't work or might actually be dangerous. That's reason enough to stay off the street products. But most generics are just that, plain box knockoffs that work just as well as the original. And I think that most of us who have already popped 4-5 times in a day should be able to tell the difference between a natural woodie and an artificially induced one.

Now, Bilko's post didn't make clear what dosage his $3 pill was and whether it was generic or genuine. I suspect it was actually a 50mg generic. If that is the case, the equivalent of 50% off for generic non-US Viagara is entirely plausible.