Medication does exist to help women with loss of libido and sexual desire.
In late 2015 there finally was a sexual dysfunction drug that was approved by the FDA for SOME women…..and can only be prescribed by doctors who have been “trained” in the use of this drug, which seems to be an unnecessary roadblock to obtaining this drug. This drug is only effective for 50% of the women who attempt to use it and then has so many dangerous side effects that
most women cannot safely take it! It seems an unusual choice for the first drug ever approved for women’s sex drive!
A bit about this drug, Addyi (generic name Fibanserin) was originally designed as an antidepressant, and works by increasing dopamine, and norepinephrine, while decreasing the neurotransmitter serotonin. Unlike men’s Viagra which only provides blood flow to the penis for a hard erection, Addyi only provides desire by changing the neurotransmitters in the brain, but is no assistance for concerns such as a dry vagina, or orgasms.
Studies at Stanford showed that after 4 weeks of Addyi, the MRI of the brain in the area of desire finally started to wake up! This seems like amazing news except for the fact that it only works for half of the women who try it, and there are dangerous side effects like fainting without warning, sleepiness, and the user must agree to NEVER use alcohol while they are taking Addyi!
To me this is the long way around to find an answer to low libido, when we have known about the libido boosting effects of testosterone pellets since the 1940s. Why is it that the FDA will not approve a safe, relatively inexpensive hormone replacement that has been widely tested around the world on women over 40 with excellent sexual recovery…not just desire, but orgasms, vaginal wetness, mental clarity, as well as energy, improved mood and loss of belly fat! Why would the FDA ignore this hormone for women, and approve a rarely effective, highly dangerous drug with miserable side effects and only one positive improvement—sexual desire—when they already have a perfect natural alternative?
Every time I hear about how the FDA’s qualifies the use of medication for women, how they won’t approve a universally effective and cheap, safe form of medication (testosterone) for women’s sexuality, I am amazed at their obvious disdain for women’s sexuality and how they treat us as second class citizens when it comes to regaining our sexuality.
Why would I say that? Here are the facts: Women have been taking drugs at doses devised only for men, with knowledge of only the male side effects but not the female ones, without any research of a new drug on women, until they are released to the public! The FDA has historically not considered the smaller weight, muscle mass or gender differences in metabolism when testing drugs for the use of both men and women, until very recently they only tested men and deemed it safe for women as an afterthought. History shows us that if there was a problem with the drugs used by women, the FDA would withdraw the drug after it had been used by thousands, or millions of unsuspecting women! An example of this practice is the drug Ambien that was only tested on men with the dose calculated for a man, and only after women had severe side effects, did the FDA decide to change the package warnings and dosage for women!
When doing research, if your known information is wrong initially, then it is unlikely that the study will come to the proper conclusion. In the case of laboratory numbers the values that are considered normal are only determined by testing men (excepting estrogen, and FSH, LH). Because women and men have different optimal blood lab results, then the yardstick researchers use to measure the effects of a drug will not be accurate for women. A poignant example is the optimal levels of cholesterol and thyroid which are quite different for men and women. Any testing on a drug which relies on these two tests cannot be accurate for female patients.
When testing drugs that are intended to treat menopause, the FDA denies approval for any drug that was meant to increase libido in women! There are natural hormone (testosterone) that has been known for over 70 years to improve sexual desire in women as well as correct many other symptoms of menopause, such as dry vaginas and inability to orgasm, yet the FDA ignores this known entity. The FDA was not looking for a drug like this, one that is known and relatively inexpensive. They are looking for something that can make a lot of money for the successful pharmaceutical company , and is a “new” drug that can be patented, even if this new drug brings with it major side effects . Americans, men and women pay for the existence of the FDA, so why are we not the priority in their approval process?
The Victorian era is not over for women in the US, because the FDA grudgingly has approved ADDYI—this drug is only effective in less than 50% of women and has the terrible side effect of causing women to pass out and hit their heads from low blood pressure. Over 20 years ago the FDA withdrew a drug for drying up breast milk for a smaller percentage of risk of fainting associated with it…..which left us miserable after childbearing. Why would they approve a similar side effect profile for this drug now? Because not many woman will want to risk it, and if they do, they are most probably going to be punished for its use by either no effect (in 50% of users) or by passing out (while driving? playing sports?). This fact makes the lifetime of this drug very short until side effects prevent the educated American women using it! Back to the drawing board, and then we are left with nothing approved for us! Thank God that physicians have the freedom of working outside the FDA rules and are allowed to prescribe natural testosterone pellets to easily safely treat ALL the symptoms of testosterone deficiency, including loss of sex drive!
This Health cast was written and presented by Dr. Kathy Maupin, M.D., Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Expert and Author, with Brett Newcomb, MA., LPC., Family Counselor, Presenter and Author. www.BioBalanceHealth.com.
