Ladies, a new study has found that a female libido drug called Flibanserin might not solve your sex problems, but could make you too sick to even think about sex. Those of you who expected that the female version of Viagra could expand your sexual experiences actually need to be careful - female Viagra may bomb your health instead.
Researchers led by Dr. Loes Jasper found that nearly 6,000 women who took the drug did not report any significant benefit. It could drive a woman to achieve just about half of "one satisfying sexual encounter in a month."
Women who tried it seemed to be four times more likely to be sleepy and dizzy after ingesting it, twice as likely to be nauseous and 60 percent more fatigued, according to Jasper. She explained that one in three women have admitted to experiencing side-effects.
The Food and Drug Administration had not passed the drug a couple of times, but then reversed and approved it last year. Activists had slammed the rejection as being "sexist and not based on scientific data."
But the FDA approval too got its share of criticism. Viewpoints cannot be passed off as "science," as that would only harm pre-menopausal women who are undergoing hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) said.
The drug had been first intended to be an anti-depressant but soon got drawn to treat post-menopausal women with HSDD. This disorder, which is supposed to affect about 10 to 40 percent of women, indicates a "lack of desire or fantasies for sexual activity that isn't caused by factors like medication, mental disorders or relationship stress."
However, experts point out that while female viagra has been said to control brain receptors, it does not solve any problems and only makes women queasy and dizzy. The advantages are negligible, and the side-effects of "sleepiness, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea" have undercut the very purpose of the treatment.
Dr. Tage Ramakrishna, the chief medical officer of the company Tageant, which owns Viagra, said that the new study has "less statistical weight" than random trials. But Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, the director of PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University, who examined the link between drug companies and medical practice asked: "An additional half a satisfying sexual encounter a month - is that meaningful? I think only the women can answer that, but perhaps they already have with their lack of enthusiasm for getting prescriptions."
The study was published in the Feb. 29 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine,
