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Tadalafil and muscle aches

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User
Posted 18 May 2026 at 21:28

3 days into taking 5mg of Tadalafil daily, and I've got muscle aches from waist down, both legs are quite painful, so I'm not sleeping well.  It's one of the common side effects - the leaflet in the box says that 1 to 10 patients in 100 could have this.

Now, it could be that I've been over enthusiastic with getting back to exercise and gardening over the weekend, but how can I tell if it's that or the medication?  (I've never had this with over exercise previously)

I have no idea whether I should stop taking the tablets or stick it out with painkillers.  Paracetemol and Ibuprofen are presumably ok because they are not mentioned on the leaflet.

Any wise words you can offer?  If it's the Tadalafil, does this symptom go away if I persevere?

User
Posted 19 May 2026 at 11:33

Hi John

I had muscle aches for about 2 weeks while my body got used to the medication. It subsequently disappeared. I took it nightly with paracetemol which helped me. See how you go and try to persevere with it. More importantly is to take it consistently and either morning or evening, whichever suits you better.

Wishing you all the best in your recovery.

Seb

User
Posted 19 May 2026 at 12:27

The muscle pain side effect is because Tadalafil (whose main role is as a PDE5 inhibitor) is also a PDE11 inhibitor, and it's that which causes the muscle pain, because muscles use PDE11.

As said, it may go away in time.

Another option would be to halve to dose. You could perhaps try this by taking it alternate days (as it lasts longer than a day in your system anyway), and if that works, you could ask for the 2.5mg tablet instead which is for the case where 5mg causes unacceptable side effects. (Snapping the tablets can increase the chance of another side effect, acid reflux, because it breaks the film coating on the tablet, exposing the esophagus to Tadalafil.)

 

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User
Posted 19 May 2026 at 11:33

Hi John

I had muscle aches for about 2 weeks while my body got used to the medication. It subsequently disappeared. I took it nightly with paracetemol which helped me. See how you go and try to persevere with it. More importantly is to take it consistently and either morning or evening, whichever suits you better.

Wishing you all the best in your recovery.

Seb

User
Posted 19 May 2026 at 12:27

The muscle pain side effect is because Tadalafil (whose main role is as a PDE5 inhibitor) is also a PDE11 inhibitor, and it's that which causes the muscle pain, because muscles use PDE11.

As said, it may go away in time.

Another option would be to halve to dose. You could perhaps try this by taking it alternate days (as it lasts longer than a day in your system anyway), and if that works, you could ask for the 2.5mg tablet instead which is for the case where 5mg causes unacceptable side effects. (Snapping the tablets can increase the chance of another side effect, acid reflux, because it breaks the film coating on the tablet, exposing the esophagus to Tadalafil.)

 

User
Posted 19 May 2026 at 14:40

Thanks Seb and Andy. That's reassuring.

Last night the pain got progressively worse when I laid down and was so bad at 2am that I had to get up for paracetemol,

I'll take your advice, take it with paracetemol from the outset tonight and try to get through a couple of weeks before asking for 2.5mg tablets if I need to.

I have no idea what inhibiting PDE11 will do, so may have to look it up!

Update: I looked it up and don't understand a word of it :)

John

Edited by member 19 May 2026 at 14:44  | Reason: Not specified

 
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