When Viagra for men was launched it was greeted with great enthusiasm by the press, many men, but not too many women as far as I could tell. The idea that sexual performance and satisfaction are the same thing is what is behind such medication but in my experience of talking with women on this topic, it is a lot more complicated that that.

There are important emotional issues as well as physical ones in all relationships so would popping a pill really help? Certainly drug companies have been trying to make one for many years and now the drug Flibanserin is about to be launched to treat low sexual desire and make sex more pleasurable.

Sex boosts for women

It could be a highly profitable product if a successful pill could be found to boost sex drive and certainly many pharmaceutical companies have been searching for a libido-boosting pill. In 2004, Pfizer tested Viagra on women and although it did increase blood flow, which is the key element in it helping men, it didn’t increase arousal in women or result in them having sex more regularly.

The most common medical approach to date in trying to improve sex drive in women has been to give them testosterone to boost desire. Some women were helped, but testosterone can have unfortunate side-effects, such as increased body hair and other male characteristics like deepening of the voice. There were also fears it may be linked to blood clots and a testosterone patch called Intrinsa was available on the NHS from 2007 but this was withdrawn as in 2012 the manufacturer cancelled its licence.

The new ‘female Viagra’ drug Flibanserin is claimed to work by changing the way women respond to ‘feelgood’ chemicals and under the brand name Addyi has now been given provisional approval to be marketed in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel. Final approval is expected in August, so it then may be available to be prescribed in the UK.

Side Effects

Flibanserin was originally developed as an antidepressant drug, but when it failed in clinical trials it paved the way to be reinvented as a potential treatment for low libido in women. In 2010, the FDA unanimously rejected an application to have it approved because it was worried about the side-effects. It was rejected for the same reason in 2013; but by then, the drug’s rights had been sold to another pharmaceutical company, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, who have presented new safety data to the FDA.’

This data has indicated that the side-effects may not cause women ‘lasting’ damage but with a brand new drug how can you possibly assess that? We have the sad history of drugs such as thalidomide, and even the hormone drugs the Pill and HRT which were initially launched as entirely safe for women but which proved over time to have serious health drawbacks.

A major concern for me is that to maintain the brain-altering effect from Addyi, women have to take the drug every day, not just if they are in the mood, so this is a long-term commitment.

The drug is controversial and clinical trials of the drug were enough to make one in six women stop taking it.

Side-effects included sleepiness, sudden drops in blood pressure and fainting, especially in combination with alcohol. It is not fully understood which brain mechanisms may be involved in low female libido but in tests, couples who had been having sex, or other ‘sexually satisfying encounters’ between two and three times a month, had an average of one additional sexual encounter a month when the woman took Addyi every day.

Natural help for a low libido

It will come as no surprise to you to learn that men and women have a different approach to sex, because we just don’t function in the same way. It is not just about performance, there are many other elements that go to make a satisfying sexual relationship, and for women the hormone that is important here is progesterone. A woman’s sex drive very often naturally ebbs and flows in harness with their emotional state and with the quality of their relationship and when hormones are out of kilter sex drive and desire can be affected.

It is known that progesterone can increase sex drive in women, and at menopause when a woman is dealing with symptoms such as night sweats and hot flushes, to say nothing of mood swings, then whether a chemical can make a difference is debatable. For women desire and sexual satisfaction are often determined by their emotional lives and when you are dealing with serious bodily changes that affect you on all levels then it is not perhaps so surprising that libido takes a bashing.

Research has shown that if women feel belittled, ignored, taken for granted, undermined or subjected to hostility, then that will reduce or take away any sexual interest they have in their partner. If your relationship is in a rut, or you are exhausted from overwork or caring for elderly parents, then the stress that accompanies this will also affect your hormone levels and response.

Raising your libido naturally with progesterone has no side effects, and if vaginal dryness is also an issue you can use a combination cream that gives you both progesterone and a small amount of oestrogen. This combination is also known to help with anxiety and depression and tackling those can certainly help your libido as well.