|
|
|
|
|
|
Study: New Passion Pill Increases Sexual Desire In Women Feb. 01, 2007 A new health condition about which we don't often hear is young women losing interest in sex. The condition is called Hypo-active Sexual Desire Disorder, or HSDD, and local doctors are testing a medication to treat it. "It's hard to talk about. Who wants to admit they're having no sex or sex problems?" a 27-year-old woman named Sasha said. Sasha has agreed to open up about an intimate issue because it might help somebody else. "Sex -- you don't think that's a problem at a young age, but it is when you're in a monogamous relationship and you don't want it," Sasha said. Sasha said she has been involved with the same man for seven years but started to lose interest in the sexual side of their relationship a couple of years ago. "I didn't think about it, want to hear about it. It just didn't interest me at all," Sasha said. "It went from somewhat all the time to zero, and it just made me look at myself like, what's wrong?" Sasha has HSDD. It's the most common type of female sexual dysfunction, usually linked to the hormonal changes through which women go after menopause. Research shows that an estimated 20 percent of women who have not gone through menopause have a low sex drive or lose interest in sex. It's not clear what causes HSDD in young women, but doctors are testing a medication to treat it. That medication -- a drug -- doesn't involve hormones. "This is a drug that works in the brain and changes one's thoughts from non-interest in sex to normal interest in sex," Dr. James Simon said. The drug is called Flibanserin. Initially, it was tested as an antidepressant, but it didn't really work. That is when doctors discovered a surprising side effect. "Even in severely depressed patients, particularly women, they showed an increase in their sexual desire," Simon said. Flibanserin is now being studied as a possible treatment for HSDD in women between the ages of 18 and 45. Women are asked to take the pills twice a day. "This requires, we think, about a month's worth of taking it, for it to kick in," Simon said. "It is most likely to work while a woman is taking it. We don't know if it will have a persistent effect once she discontinues." Sasha said she doesn't know if she's taking a placebo or the real thing in the clinical trial, but something's happening. When asked if it had an effect on her interest in sex, Sasha said, "A big impact." Doctors said they haven't seen any serious side effects with the medication, but that's one of the things for which they are looking in the study. Doctors said that even if the drug is effective, it could be at least two years before it's widely available. Source: http://www.nbc4.com |