Flibanserin and women’s sexual health

There is on the horizon a new medication treatment that is being developed for a low libido in women, also known as HSDD. This medication was accidentally discovered while being tested for a different ailment. Its testing results are looking promising and its maker is hoping for continued positive clinical experiments and one day for it to be approved as a treatment for women having this condition. Although this kind of a treatment is getting good reviews by some people, others are not as welcoming for such a remedy and claim that a drug is not going to really fix this problem, and that it stems from other issues that drugs are not capable of curing. Whatever way you view this trial medication is up to the individual but whatever the case, that is not stopping its maker Boehringer Ingelheim of Germany from pursuing what could be a big seller.

HSDD stands for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and often implies the female form of HSDD. Although males can clinically have HSDD it generally affects women far more. This condition may soon have a medication that is non hormonal that is showing to effectively treat it. This medication is known as the generic name Flibanserin. It was originally developed and being tested as an anti-depressant. During the testing phases it was proving to be an inadequate drug for depression but what was very intriguing is that many of the female patients where noticing a raised libido and having more sexually satisfying encounters than usual. This then prompted its manufactures to perform testing with the goal in mind of finding out the relationship it has to a woman’s sexual health.

In a particular 24 week test, Boehringer Ingelheim has almost 2000 women take part. Simply put what was noticed was that on average a raise in sexually satisfying encounters raised from 2.8 times per month to 4.5 times a month. However, what has also noticed was the placebo effect actually had a relevant raise from 2.8 times a month to 3.7 times a month. The net difference was a 1 time per month increase. What was also discovered was that it generally needed approximately a 4 week period to be taken regularly before its full effect was noticed. As with any medication there were side effects reported in varying degrees and these ranged from anxiety, dry mouth, nausea, dizziness, fatigue etc.

The benefits of such a treatment, if it is ever accepted into pharmacies, is fairly obvious, it will help women who are struggling from a sense of low sex drive. This in turn not only will make the woman happy for taking it but also her partner for being to enjoy sexual encounters on a more frequent basis. A pill such as this has the potential to help out a struggling couple’s love life. Some ask however, is this really needed? Many Doctors and researchers say while it is not a life saving drug, (nor like many are) HSDD is a real problem that many women face as a result of several known or unknown issues. A pharmaceutical treatment can help chemical imbalances in ones brain that are responsible for a lessened sex drive which in turn can make people happier.

On the other side of the fence is a much bigger controversy, and that is that a women’s sexual lack of desire is rarely a medical issue but rather a much different challenge. There is the argument that big pharmaceutical companies are trying to create drugs for ever little problem in life and that for the most part a lack of woman’s libido could come from many things. Many say that HSDD is basically a created term by drug companies and that if a woman was cared for more by her partner and shown love in the way she needs it to be shown to her that there would not be a lack of sexual desire. There could also be much deeper psychological issues that cannot be ‘fixed’ with a drug. Men and women have very different sexual behaviors and what works for a man doesn’t necessarily work for a woman to get them in the mood. If a man knew more about a woman’s sexual make up it could work wonders for desire. Also what determines a normal sex drive? If a man wants sex with no foreplay 3 times a day and the woman does not, does this mean the woman should be on a medication for this? Although this sounds funny, some men may interpret it as such and pressure their partner into taking this medication. It will be interesting to follow what becomes of this medication and see the benefits and negatives that could result.

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Last updated on May 11th, 2010 and filed under Drugs and Medications. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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