Key points
- 5mg is one of two licensed daily strengths and the only one that also holds the licence for benign prostatic hyperplasia
- The 12-week and 1-year daily-use studies NICE records were both conducted at this strength
- Steady state is reached within 5 days, taken at approximately the same time each day, with or without food
- Generic tadalafil 5mg daily is £23.99 for 28 tablets at EveryDayMeds, a standard price
Slug - cialis-5-mg-daily-use/
Cialis 5mg Daily: How It Works, What to Expect and Who It Suits
Cialis 5mg daily is one of two licensed once-daily strengths of tadalafil, and it is the one the published evidence actually describes. Both the 12-week study and the 1-year extension that NICE records for daily use were conducted at 5mg.
That matters more than it sounds. If you have read figures for daily tadalafil anywhere, on side effects or on longer-term use, you have almost certainly been reading 5mg figures. On this page they describe the strength being discussed.
The second thing that sets 5mg apart is its licence. Only the 5mg tablet holds the separate UK authorisation for the signs and symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, granted in October 2012. The 2.5mg tablet does not, and neither do the as-needed strengths. If prostate symptoms are part of your picture, that is the single most relevant fact on this page.
What follows covers how daily Cialis 5 mg works, what the regimen asks of you week to week, when it becomes established, what the evidence reports, how it compares with the alternatives, and what it costs. Results vary between individuals.
Tadalafil is also used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, but this is a different indication with a different dosing regimen; the PAH dose is 40mg once daily, not Cialis 5mg daily. This dual use highlights the versatility of the active ingredient in Cialis tablets. Grapefruit juice may increase tadalafil exposure because it can inhibit CYP3A4, so it should be used cautiously rather than described as an absolute contraindication.
Cialis 5mg daily should not be taken with nitrates or certain other medications due to an increased risk of heart attack or severe drops in blood pressure. Men taking Cialis should also inform their doctor about any heart problems, diabetes, or other treatments they are undergoing, including other medications for erectile dysfunction such as Viagra, Levitra, or sildenafil.
This treatment offers a convenient option for men requiring regular use, especially those who engage in intimate activity multiple times per week. It is available in pack sizes of 28, 56, and 84 tablets, allowing for flexible treatment durations as determined by a healthcare professional.
Overall, Cialis 5mg daily provides a reliable and well-studied treatment option for erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia, with a safety profile that is well understood when used under medical supervision.
Key things to know
- Tadalafil is licensed for erectile dysfunction at 2.5mg, 5mg, 10mg and 20mg, with 2.5mg and 5mg taken daily.
- The 5mg tablet also holds a separate licence for the signs and symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
- NICE describes the 5mg dose as "taken approximately at the same time every day with or without food".
- Steady-state plasma concentrations are attained within 5 days of once-daily dosing.
- The mean half-life of tadalafil is 17.5 hours in people who are healthy.
- The maximum is one tablet in any 24 hours.
- Both published daily-use studies NICE records were conducted at tadalafil 5mg daily.
- Organic nitrates and nitric oxide donors such as nicorandil or molsidomine, as well as riociguat, are contraindicated with tadalafil.
What Cialis 5 mg daily is and how it works
Cialis 5 mg daily is one tablet of tadalafil taken every day at the licensed 5mg strength, rather than a tablet taken ahead of an occasion. The naming varies more than the thing does, and Cialis daily 5 mg, Cialis 5mg once a day and tadalafil 5mg daily all describe that same regimen.
Tadalafil is a selective, reversible inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate specific phosphodiesterase type 5, shortened to PDE5. Cialis is a brand name for it, and generic versions are sold as tadalafil 5mg daily.
The daily route is a separate licensed regimen rather than the same medicine taken more often. NICE records that "although PDE5 inhibitors were introduced as on-demand treatment, tadalafil has also been approved for continuous, everyday use at 2.5 mg and 5 mg doses".
The mechanism explains everything else. Cyclic guanosine monophosphate, or cGMP, is a signalling molecule that relaxes smooth muscle in blood vessel walls, widening them and increasing blood flow. PDE5 is the enzyme that breaks cGMP down, so inhibiting it lets the signal last longer. The medicine does not create the signal; it extends one the body produces.
For prostate symptoms specifically, NICE describes how "inhibition of PDE5 causes relaxation in the vascular supply of the prostate and bladder". Same enzyme, different tissue, which is why one medicine can hold two licences.
Cialis 5mg daily dosage
One tablet once a day, at approximately the same time each day, with a maximum of one tablet in any 24 hour period.
NICE describes the 5mg dose as "taken approximately at the same time every day with or without food", and records that for benign prostatic hyperplasia "tadalafil should be taken regularly once a day". Food is not a constraint on either indication.
Nothing on this page tells you what to take. Which strength suits you is set by a prescriber for you individually, and your prescriber will determine the appropriate treatment.
How long does Cialis 5mg daily take to work?
Two different clocks run, and confusing them causes most of the early disappointment with this regimen.
An individual dose acts within hours. NICE records tadalafil as "effective from 30 minutes after administration" with peak efficacy "after about 2 hours" and efficacy "maintained for up to 36 hours".
The daily regimen takes days. Steady-state plasma concentrations "are attained within 5 days of once-daily dosing", which is when the amount in the body stops rising and settles.
| What you are measuring | Timescale |
|---|---|
| One dose acting | From 30 minutes, peak about 2 hours |
| The regimen reaching steady state | Within 5 days |
| Whether the strength suits you | Weeks, over several occasions |
The mean half-life of 17.5 hours is what makes the accumulation possible. Each tablet arrives while a substantial share of the previous one is still present, so the level climbs and then flattens.
Best time to take Cialis 5mg daily
There is no clinically preferred hour. The guidance specifies "approximately at the same time every day" rather than a time of day, so consistency is what matters and not the clock.
That is accurate rather than evasive. On a regimen built around holding a steady level, the level does not care what hour the tablet is taken; it cares that one is taken every day.
So the best time to take Cialis 5mg daily is the hour you can genuinely keep, including at weekends. Attaching it to something you already do without fail, or to other daily medicines, predicts success better than any pharmacological argument.
Cialis 5 mg daily use: what the regimen asks of you
Cialis 5 mg daily use is a routine rather than an event. A tablet is taken every day whether or not treatment is expected to be needed that day, and the level in the body is held steady rather than raised on each occasion.
Three practical consequences follow from that, and none of them is obvious before you start.
The first week is not representative of the regimen. Steady state is reached within 5 days, so what happens before that describes a level still climbing rather than the treatment settled.
A missed day counts for more than a mistimed one. With a mean half-life of about 17.5 hours, a small variation in dosing time is unlikely to have a major effect. If you miss a dose, do not take two doses together; take the next dose at the usual time.
Nothing has to be planned around it. Food is not a constraint, and neither is timing relative to anything else you do. That is the practical difference between daily Cialis 5 mg and the as-needed route, and for most people it is the reason the daily regimen is being considered at all.
| What people expect before starting | What the regimen actually involves |
|---|---|
| Taking a tablet before an occasion | One tablet every day regardless |
| Hitting an exact hour | Approximately the same time, not precisely |
| Timing it around meals | With or without food |
| Doubling up after a missed day | Never, take the next at the usual time |
| Judging it in the first few days | Steady state is within 5 days, judgement takes longer |
None of this sets a strength, a quantity or a frequency for you. Your prescriber will determine the appropriate treatment, and what is written on your dispensing label takes precedence over anything on this page.
Cialis 5mg daily for BPH
This is the only tadalafil strength licensed for benign prostatic hyperplasia. NICE records the BPH indication, granted in October 2012, as applying to the "5 mg tablet only".
Benign prostatic hyperplasia is non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate, which can produce lower urinary tract symptoms: a weaker stream, hesitancy, urgency, frequency and getting up at night. The licence covers the signs and symptoms rather than the enlargement itself.
If prostate symptoms are part of your picture, raise them at consultation explicitly, because this is the one place in the tadalafil range where the strength question has a clear clinical answer attached to it.
What the BPH evidence actually covers
The studies NICE records for prostate symptoms were conducted at 5mg daily, which is why the adverse event figures on this page come from a lower urinary tract symptoms population rather than a general one.
A 12-week study enrolled 212 men taking tadalafil 5mg daily with lower urinary tract symptoms, and a 1-year extension followed 427 men on the same strength. Those two studies are the evidence base for daily tadalafil that NICE records, and the published follow-up stops at a year. That is a statement about where the evidence ends rather than a warning about the medicine.
Cialis 5mg daily side effects
The adverse effect profile belongs to tadalafil rather than to a strength. The figures below come from the 12-week study of tadalafil 5mg daily in 212 men with lower urinary tract symptoms, so they describe this strength directly.
| Adverse event | Reported in |
|---|---|
| Dyspepsia | 4% |
| Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease | 4.0% |
| Back pain | 3.7% |
| Headache | 3.0% |
| Sinusitis | 2.8% |
| Hypertension | 2.6% |
| Cough | 2.1% |
In that study, 30.7%, 65 of 212, reported one or more treatment-emergent adverse event. 5.7% stopped treatment because of one, and 0.5%, a single participant, reported a serious adverse event.
Read those alongside each other. Roughly two thirds reported nothing at all, and of the third who did, the large majority carried on.
Headache, flushing, and nasal and sinus congestion are recorded as common adverse events across this class generally. The pattern behind all three is the widening of blood vessels that makes the medicine work.
Cialis 5mg daily long term
The longest published follow-up NICE records is one year.
A 1-year extension in 427 men taking tadalafil 5mg daily found 57.6% reported one or more treatment-emergent adverse events over the period. Most were classed as mild, at 44%, or moderate, at 45%. Serious adverse events were reported in 4.7%, and two cases were considered possibly related to treatment: one worsening of coronary heart disease and one episode of global amnesia.
The comparison between the two studies repays a careful reading.
| Measure | 12 weeks, n=212 | 1 year, n=427 |
|---|---|---|
| Reported one or more adverse event | 30.7% | 57.6% |
| Discontinued because of one | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Serious adverse event | 0.5% | 4.7% |
The higher proportion reporting adverse events over the longer follow-up may partly reflect the longer observation period; the data do not by themselves show that tadalafil became harder to tolerate over time. The discontinuation figure carries the information: it barely moved, which suggests most of what was reported was not severe enough to stop treatment. That is not the same as side effects reducing, and no source used here states that they do.
Beyond a year the published evidence does not extend, so long-term use is reviewed periodically by a prescriber rather than settled once.
Is Cialis 5mg daily safe, and who does it suit?
For most people who have been properly assessed it is a well-characterised medicine with a recognised and mostly mild adverse effect profile. The serious risks are concentrated in identifiable groups, which is what an assessment exists to find.
Tadalafil is contraindicated in patients receiving nitrates. It is also contraindicated in cardiac disease where exertion is inadvisable, in non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy, and after recent stroke, unstable angina, recent myocardial infarction or recent New York Heart Association class 2 or greater heart failure. Riociguat is a further absolute contraindication across this class.
Alpha blockers prescribed for the prostate, such as alfuzosin, doxazosin and tamsulosin, need prescriber assessment because both they and tadalafil lower blood pressure. Antihypertensive drugs fall into the same category, and alcohol appears among the special warnings and precautions for this class. Potent CYP3A4 inhibitors can increase tadalafil exposure and may increase the risk of adverse effects, so concomitant use requires careful consideration.
Who the daily regimen tends to suit
- People who would rather not attach a decision to individual occasions
- People who can realistically take a tablet at roughly the same time every day
- People with prostate symptoms alongside, given the second licence at this strength
- People who already have a daily medicines routine to attach it to
Who it tends not to suit
- Anyone in the contraindicated groups above, which is an absolute rather than a preference
- People who find daily tablets hard to sustain, since an intermittently taken regimen has not really been tested
- People who need treatment only occasionally, where the as-needed route may fit better
Treatment suitability depends on an individual clinical assessment, and this medicine should only be used under the supervision of an appropriately qualified prescriber.
Cialis 5mg daily vs 2.5mg daily
Both are licensed for once-daily use, both reach steady state within 5 days, both are taken with or without food, and both carry a maximum of one tablet in any 24 hours.
| 5mg daily | 2.5mg daily | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed regimen | Once daily | Once daily |
| Licensed for benign prostatic hyperplasia | Yes | No |
| Daily-use study data NICE records | 12-week and 1-year studies | None specific to this strength |
| Generic price per tablet, 28 pack | £0.86 | £1.25 |
Three things separate them and none is a claim that one works better. The BPH licence sits only at 5mg. The published daily-use evidence sits only at 5mg. And at EveryDayMeds the 5mg pack costs less per tablet than the 2.5mg pack, which surprises most people.
There is no head-to-head effectiveness comparison between the two daily strengths in the UK regulatory and NICE sources used here. Which one suits you is a prescriber decision made at review, and two 2.5mg tablets is not a route to 5mg.
Cialis 5mg daily vs 10mg as needed
These are two different regimens rather than two strengths of the same approach, so the comparison is a daily cost against a cost per occasion.
The pack prices as listed
These are the prices shown on the EveryDayMeds product page.
5mg, taken daily
| Quantity | Pack price |
|---|---|
| 28 tablets | £80.99 |
| 56 tablets | £152.99 |
| 84 tablets | £206.99 |
10mg, taken as needed
| Quantity | Pack price |
|---|---|
| 4 tablets | £40.49 |
| 8 tablets | £76.49 |
| 12 tablets | £112.49 |
| 16 tablets | £143.99 |
| 24 tablets | £206.99 |
| 28 tablets | £233.99 |
| 32 tablets | £269.99 |
| 64 tablets | £521.99 |
What that works out at
Taking the best rate on each side: 10mg at 64 tablets for £521.99 is £8.16 per tablet, and therefore £8.16 per occasion. 5mg at 84 tablets for £206.99 is £2.46 a day, which is £17.25 a week whether or not treatment is used on a given day.
| Occasions per week | 10mg as needed, weekly cost | 5mg daily, weekly cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | £8.16 | £17.25 |
| 2 | £16.31 | £17.25 |
| 3 | £24.47 | £17.25 |
| 4 | £32.62 | £17.25 |
| 5 | £40.78 | £17.25 |
The crossover sits at about 2.1 occasions a week. At two occasions the two routes are within a pound of each other; below that the as-needed route costs less, and above it the daily route does.
Two caveats belong with that arithmetic. Cost is not the reason to choose between the regimens, and the crossover assumes a consistent weekly pattern that nobody actually has, so treat it as directional.
The clinical differences matter more. The daily route removes the timing decision and holds a continuous level. The as-needed route means fewer tablets and no daily routine. Only the daily 5mg tablet carries the BPH licence.
Pack prices are standard prices as listed, quoted before any discount code, and may change.
Cialis 5mg daily price
Cialis daily 5 mg is supplied in 28, 56 and 84 tablet packs, which on a once-daily regimen is four weeks, eight weeks and twelve weeks respectively. At the 84 pack rate, taken every day, generic tadalafil 5mg comes to about £269.36 over twelve months. Which quantity you are supplied follows from the assessment rather than from this table.
Buy Cialis 5mg daily online
You can buy Cialis 5mg daily online in the UK, but only from a registered pharmacy and only after a clinical assessment. Tadalafil is a prescription-only medicine in the UK, so it should only be supplied following an appropriate prescription/clinical assessment by a legitimate pharmacy
- You complete an online consultation covering your medical history, current medicines, blood pressure and heart health.
- A UK registered prescriber reviews it and decides whether treatment is appropriate, and at which strength and quantity.
- If approved, the pharmacy dispenses and dispatches it.
The order runs that way round. The assessment determines whether there is anything to dispense, and it can conclude that treatment is not appropriate for you.
A registered pharmacy displays its GPhC registration number and superintendent pharmacist, and that registration can be checked on the regulator's own register rather than taken on trust.
Cialis 5mg daily reviews: how to read them
Searches for reviews want a sense of what other people found, which is understandable, but two limits are worth naming.
An account written in the first week describes an incomplete loading period rather than the treatment, because steady state takes around five days. There is also a selection effect: people who are delighted and people who are frustrated both write something, while people for whom treatment quietly became routine mostly do not.
The published studies are a better guide precisely because they have a denominator. Two thirds of participants in the 12-week study reported no adverse event at all, which is a figure no collection of individual accounts can give you.
Cialis 5 mg daily: getting assessed and what to raise
Raise these, because they change what is appropriate:
- Every medicine you take, prescribed or bought, and nitrates above all
- Any nitric oxide donor, and riociguat
- Any heart condition, previous stroke, angina, arrhythmia or heart failure, and when it occurred
- Your blood pressure, and anything you take for it
- Any prostate symptoms, since this is the strength that carries the BPH licence
- Any prostate medication, including alpha blockers
- Any kidney or liver problems
- How much you drink, honestly
- Whether you can realistically take a tablet every day
EveryDayMeds is a GPhC registered pharmacy. Treatment is supplied only after clinical assessment, and all medication is genuine and UK sourced.
When to seek urgent help
- An erection lasting more than 4 hours needs immediate medical attention
- Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, or sudden loss or reduction of hearing, means stopping treatment and being seen urgently
- Chest pain during or after use is an emergency, and you must tell whoever treats you that you have taken tadalafil, because nitrates must not be given
- Fainting or collapse needs assessment
Suspected side effects can be reported through the MHRA Yellow Card scheme.
Medical Disclaimer
This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. It does not replace an assessment by a qualified healthcare professional. Treatment suitability depends on an individual clinical assessment. Your prescriber will determine the appropriate treatment. This medicine should only be used under the supervision of an appropriately qualified prescriber. Results vary between individuals.
Nothing here instructs you to take a particular strength, quantity or frequency, or to change an existing regimen. There is no titration schedule on this page and no interval after which a change should be made. The guidance here does not replace the instructions on your dispensing label or in the patient information leaflet supplied with your pack, and where they differ you should follow your prescriber and your leaflet.
The adverse event figures on this page relate to tadalafil 5mg taken daily, in the studies named, in the participant numbers stated, in a lower urinary tract symptoms population. No head-to-head comparison between the two daily strengths appears in the sources used here, and the statement that no source describes side effects reducing over time is an absence in those sources rather than an assurance either way. The reference to potent CYP3A4 inhibitors is recorded for a medicine in the same class and is included because NICE records that this class shares similar interactions.
Do not start, stop or change the strength or frequency of any prescribed medicine because of this page. Never take more than one tablet in any 24 hours, never take two tablets of a lower strength to make a higher one, and never double up after a missed dose. Never combine tadalafil with a nitrate, a nitric oxide donor or riociguat. Suspected side effects can be reported through the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. Seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours, chest pain, fainting, or sudden loss of vision or hearing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cialis 5 mg daily used for?
What is the Cialis 5mg daily dosage?
How quickly does the regimen become established?
What is the best time to take Cialis 5mg daily?
Can I take it with food?
Is Cialis 5mg daily safe?
What are the side effects of taking Cialis 5mg every day?
Is Cialis 5mg daily safe long term?
Does Cialis 5mg daily work for BPH?
How does 5mg daily compare with 2.5mg daily?
How does 5mg daily compare with 20mg as needed?
What is the Cialis 5mg daily price?
Is tadalafil 5mg daily the same as Cialis 5mg?
What if I miss a dose?
Cialis 2.5mg Side Effects, Alcohol and Long-Term Safety
Cialis 5mg: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects and Price
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