A recent article briefly discussing the re-submission of the drug Flibanserin to the FDA sparked this blog entry. Why? Because this drug is being submitted as "a once-daily treatment for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women". Put into more common terms, it is meant to put the horny back in the non-horny woman. It is likely that such a drug will make its way into the news again, and may even pass FDA approval, so we are taking this opportunity to make two points about the race to create the ultimate passion pill for women.
First, we have repeatedly heard many female sex drive booster medications referred to in the press as the "female Viagra", and Flibanserin is no exception. The two drugs may address sexually related mechanisms, but from two different ends of the sexual being. Viagra was created to treat men with erectile dysfunction, the inability to attain an erection as result of one or more chronic physical conditions. While usually the result of desire, a hard penis by itself doesn't necessarily indicate desire. Simply put, Viagra is not there to make a man frisky. It's there to help with the physical hydraulics that go into making an erect penis, ready for use when the man desires it so.
Last we checked women aren't looking for erections (penis sized ones that is, clits do get hard as well). In fact, one of our most commonly asked questions by customers in the store goes something like this: "What do you have to make someone excited?" Almost always the someone in question is a woman. As it stands today, no legal substance exists that will increase desire. We see countless ads from companies claiming their gel, cream, oil, pill, or drink will increase desire, but they are speaking in half-truths. This is because the brain is the sole purveyor of passion. If a gel makes your clitoris tingle, it's up to the brain to decide what to do with those physical sensations. To make this subtle point clearer, smearing a gel on a random non-horny woman will not suddenly turn her into a sex craving lust machine.
This leads to our second point, which is be wary of medicating for desire related issues. We are not denying the existence of a physical and/or mental injury or illness that negatively changes a person's sex drive. We DO acknowledge that desire doesn't happen in a vacuum and before it can make it to the bedroom it must first be filtered through our own complicated personal world. Relationship troubles, stress, fatigue, schedules, social pressures, and more all bear down on our sex lives, affecting very real change.
Agreed, it sure sounds fantastic to simply gulp down a pill after a hard day at work, little sleep, and unresolved relationship tension so you can try to want that sex you think you should be having. The hard question is, do we really want a medication just glossing over everything and making us feel something we don't actually feel? The same challenges and problems will be waiting for us in the morning, unaffected and ready to bite at us again.
The pharmaceutical company that currently owns Flibanserin even states on its website, "The cause of HSDD is believed to involve a multitude of social, psychological and biological factors and may be attributed to a complex interplay of these factors." And, "HSDD is defined as a persistent or recurrent deficiency or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity that causes marked distress or interpersonal difficulty, and which is not better accounted for by a medical, substance-related, psychiatric (e.g., depression) or other sexual condition" (Sproutpharma.com, News).
In our opinion, this reads like a pretty way of saying "sexual issues are complicated and hard to figure out." That leads to the very likely conclusion that complicated personal and relationship issues aren't easily or well solved by drug intervention. That sounds eerily like every drug addict's life story in a nutshell. Would gobbling down loads of horny pills lead to dangerous addictions or side-effects? That is the FDA's and time's job to tell.
The primary take away we see from discussing the need for a libido increasing medication is that our sex lives are part of our everyday lives and can be just as tricky to figure out. The best possible recommendation, and the first stop on the road to a happy, healthy sex life, is large amounts of frequent, open communication with yourself, your partner, and maybe a helpful (or certified) third-party. Make your sex life a priority and and work on relieving the pressures that impact it. You might find that these very issues are the same ones causing problems in other aspects of your world.
Sprout Pharmaceuticals Receives Clear Guidance from FDA on Path Forward to Resubmit New Drug Application for Flibanserin, the First Potential Medical Treatment for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder in Premenopausal Women. (February 11, 2014). Sproutpharma.com. Retrieved February 22, 2014, from http://sproutpharma.com/sprout-pharmaceuticals-receives-clear-guidance-from-fda-on-path-forward-to-resubmit-new-drug-application-for-flibanserin-the-first-potential-medical-treatment-for-hypoactive-sexual-desire-disorder-in/
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