There's a pill designed to do for women what Viagra has done for men, and right now the FDA is weighing whether or not you'll ever get to try it. The drug, called flibanserin, is a failed antidepressant that didn't boost moods in tests but had the unexpected, very welcome, side effect of revving up female patients' libidos. The drug co. that makes flibanserin has proven in clinical trials that the pills have modest but significant success at sexing up women's sex lives, but a panel that advises the FDA didn't endorse it, claiming that the steamier bedroom action doesn't compensate for the side effects, mainly dizziness and nausea. (You'll find more details on the will-they-or-won't-they FDA drama in this New York Times article.)
Whenever I read articles about the quest to find a female Viagra they always seem to quote somebody who accuses the drug companies of trying to pathologize and profit off of a natural process, saying that it's normal for women's desire to dip due to hormonal fluctuations after menopause, and that women shouldn't be made to feel that there's something "wrong" about this that needs to be medicated. Then there's another camp that claims that it's unfair that men have Viagra and women don't have a pink equivalent, the implication being that there's some gender discrimination going on here. And inevitably some doctor or psychologist will point out that women's sexuality is more complex than men's (which seems to be one thing everybody can agree on!) and that the reasons a woman isn't satisfied in the sack can range from the physical to the psychological to the logistical (i.e. she's so busy working and taking care of kids and parents and home that she can't even remember if she's having satisfying sex or not!).
But thinking about the FDA trials of flibanserin reminded me of a piece of advice that I heard a while ago and want to pass on: Even though there isn't a drug officially approved to boost female desire, you can still talk to your doctor about possibly prescribing you something off-label. I interviewed a prominent sex therapist recently who told me, somewhat off the record, that Viagra itself is highly successful in boosting some, though not all, women's libidos (even though it failed to earn FDA approval as a drug for women, your doctor still might be able to prescribe it to you). And the New York Times article I link to above reports that some doctors prescribe low doses of testosterone to women with sexual dysfunction. Plus, I've been told that the antidepressant Wellbutrin tends to increase women's desire as well (unlike some other antidepressants, which often lower it). Okay, I should emphasize that I'm clearly not a doctor and am just passing along what I've heard or read, but my point is that if your sex life is really unsatisfying and your relationship is suffering from it, don't be bashful about asking your doctor if there's anything he or she can suggest. And if your doc brushes you off without even talking over your options, you might think about finding another doctor. Consider this quote from the article titled Awakening Desire, from the website of the Society for Women's Health Research:
According to Sheryl A. Kingsberg, PhD, a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department of Reproductive Biology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio: "Women should not be expected to accept a distressing loss of sexual desire any more than they should be expected to simply accept arthritis, acid reflux, or any other condition often associated with aging."
What do you think: Would you suffer a little nausea if it meant channeling your 25-year-old self between the sheets? Or do you still feel 25 without any medical intervention? Or, are you less frisky than you once were but perfectly content with where you are now, thank you very much?