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2007
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Sex, romance and a patch
There's more focus on women's sexual dysfunction, although treatment
options still lag behind those available for men
By Lisa Marshall
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
published: February 7, 2005 6:00 am
Mary Shackelton hears stories like it almost every day. In
the privacy of her Boulder, Colo., office, women anywhere from their
20s to their 60s quietly confess that their sex drive just isn't
what it once was, and shrug their shoulders as if that's just the
way it has to be.
"When I ask about it, they kind of laugh like,
'What libido?'" says Shackelton, a naturopathic doctor at the
Boulder Women's Center for Natural Medicine. "They really think
that there's nothing that can be done about it."
As recently as a decade ago, that was largely true.
But thanks to an increased openness about female
sexual dysfunction, a growing body of research about what causes
it, and a flurry of new products aimed at treating it, that's beginning
to change, medical experts say.
Late last year, a Food and Drug Administration
advisory panel voted against Procter & Gamble's Intrinsa, a
slow-release testosterone patch that, if approved, would have been
the first prescription drug designed specifically to increase female
sex drive.
But several over-the-counter products are already
on the market, including Zestra, a topical cream, and Avlimil, an
herbal supplement. And many more are in the pipeline, as pharmaceutical
companies race to capitalize on what is estimated to be a $3 billion
sales opportunity in treating what they have dubbed female sexual
dysfunction (FSD) or hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).
Many women's health care providers say they welcome
the increased attention to the long-hushed topic. But they believe
the burgeoning market of pills, potions and lotions should be approached
with caution.
"I'm troubled by the tendency that there is
to pathologize things and look for a chemical remedy," says
Susan Hubbard, a licensed clinical social worker in Boulder. "There
are times when chemical remedies are marvelous, and we need them,
but sometimes people are encouraged to turn to them before they
can realize what is really going on with their psyches and their
bodies."
According to a study published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association, more than 43 percent of women
from 18 to 59 experience
sexual dysfunction, making the problem more prevalent among
females than males (31 percent).
Because emotional problems often follow, the report
said, it should be treated as an "important health concern."
Yet the focus has been on men. Since the 1998 release
of the anti-impotence drug Viagra - which works by increasing blood
flow to the penis - no company has found a successful equivalent
for women.
That's because women are far more complex than
men when it comes to sex drive and sexual response, says Boulder
nurse practitioner Carol Dalton.
As women age and estrogen levels decrease, the
blood flow to the genital area also slows and nerves there start
to degenerate, diminishing sexual response.
"Some women can be thinking about it, and
be turned on, but physiologically, nothing happens," Dalton
says.
But then there is that other critical sexual organ
- the brain.
A lack of testosterone can keep the brain from
responding to romantic movies or nibbles on the ear the way it used
to. But so can a host of other less-measurable problems, like stress
and fatigue, which can hinder adrenal gland function, or relationship
problems which can overshadow a healthy hormonal system.
While women approaching menopause are more likely
to lose their sex drive because of expected hormonal dips, it is
by no means a problem exclusive to those in their 40s and 50s.
Oral contraceptives have been shown to flatten
out the rising estrogen curve in the middle of the month, dampening
a woman's libido at the time when it is typically at its peak.
"I think there are about five women in my
practice with an intact libido," says Shackelton.
One of the first questions Dalton asks women struggling
with fading libido is "What are you eating?"
Protein is a critical building block for libido-boosting
hormones, yet it is one of the first things to go as women start
watching their weight.
"They start eating salads for lunch and fruit
for breakfast," and often as the weight goes, the sex drive
goes with it.
source:-http://www.citizen-times.com | 
