Written by Alley @ 10:00 pm
Most of us have had moments, weeks, or even months where we haven’t wanted to have sex. Personally, I’ve always felt like the fluctuation of libido is normal and responsive to stress, hormones, and all kinds of other factors. Megan Andelloux recently wrote for Carnal Nation on this topic, having herself experienced a lack of libido for some time. Depressed libido happens, to me, my co-workers, my friends. Sometimes it’s hard to make time for connection and move out of the space of what needs to be done and into the space of, “I need to be done.”
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is an amorphous thing defined as defined as “a distressing lack of sexual desire”. Time Magazine, Carnal Nation and others have all written recently about a drug that is attempting to become the female viagra and fix HSDD. Flibanserin has been ineffective at treating depression, so now they’re testing it to see how it impacts libido. Studies have been positive, and Time Magazine reports that, “Women in the flibanserin group self-reported 2.8 sexually satisfying events in the four-week baseline period; in the final four weeks of the 24-week study period, those women reported 4.5 sexually satisfying events, a more than 50% increase. Women in the placebo group reported an increase from 2.7 events to 3.7. The difference in effect between flibanserin and the placebo — about 0.8 sexually satisfying events — was statistically significant, the drug company said, and the side effects from the drug, which included dizziness and fatigue, among others, were mild to moderate and transient.”
The concern of many is that no pill call solve a problem that is so holistic. If you work 70 hours a week, you might just have HSDD because you’re exhausted and your more basic needs like eating, bathing and sleeping are all you have time to meet. No matter how much desire this pill stirs up, your underlying problems aren’t going anywhere. But let’s say you lead a very happy balanced life and everything is going just great –except you never feel like having sex. Is it worth a shot?
I’m not against Western medicine if you can afford it. For example, I have greatly enjoyed taking allergy medicine. It means I can have a dog and do things like garden and not be completely miserable. But, I do feel like while taking my allergy medicine, it is also my job to take good care of myself, eat foods I’m not allergic to, keep my house free of dust, and take vitamins. All those things work together to make me not allergic.
I think the same rules should apply when taking a drug that supports an increase in libido. If you want to try popping a pill that is FDA approved, go for it, but also look into what the other factors are in your life that contribute to all this, and take care of them and your general health as well.
It will be interesting to see if Flibanserin (a very un-sexy drug name by the way) gets approved by the FDA for this treatment and if there is a resulting cultural obession with it the way people are obsessed with Viagra. Will we soon be getting email spam directed at the ladies? Will Spike Lee make a somewhat bizarre film (She Hate Me) about a lady popping Flibanserin and becoming a surrogate after her assets are frozen? Whatever the cultural impact of the drug, if you’re thinking about taking it, make sure you’re taking the big picture into consideration and take care of yourself in all ways. When you love yourself, you’re more likely to feel sexy, and that’s free of charge.
So not sexy. I must’ve missed it. Can anyone tell me where in the movie this Liberator scene was?
