Taken from Dr Mark Stengler’s “House Calls”
21 June 2015 Email communication.
Feds approve dangerous and ineffective ‘female Viagra’
If you can’t win with science, try bullying. That may as well be the motto of at least one drug company.
The so-called “female Viagra” drug flibanserin has been rejected by the FDA for years, with the agency saying (correctly, for a change) that the med is both unsafe and ineffective.
Yet just this month, flibanserin was rushed through the approvals process and given the OK by an agency committee.
What’s changed?
Not the science. The studies still show exactly what they’ve always shown: A drug that provides a benefit so small you’d need a magnifying glass to see it.
Compared to women on a placebo, women who take the drug have exactly one extra satisfying sexual encounter per month. And on a six-point scale rating desire, the drug provides an “improvement” of 0.3 points.
But while the benefits may not be real, the risks sure are. Women who take the drug report sudden drops in blood pressure, which has led to fainting.
A woman in one study even suffered a concussion as a result.
What’s more, the risk of side effects is even higher when the drug is combined with other meds women commonly take, including birth control pills and the fluconazole given for yeast infections.
If you rely on the science, and science alone, the drug belongs in a trashcan. So the company that makes it stopped using science and resorted to politically correct bullying.
They bankrolled a phony “equality” campaign claiming that the FDA’s failure to approve the drug was sexist — and it looks like their bought-and-paid for charade worked like a charm since it’s passed the committee and is now well on the way to formal approval.
So, ladies, get ready for a wave of marketing like you’ve never seen. Watch out for commercials and magazine ads that will suggest this drug will put the spark back into your love life.
And if you’re battling the frustration of a low libido, it might be tempting to give in and try the drug, just for that tiny boost.
But you deserve better.
This drug company wants women to believe there’s no other way to improve desire and libido — that it’s their lousy drug, or nothing at all.
That’s not even close to true.
There are a number of safe and natural therapies, including the time-tested herbal remedy fenugreek, which is a natural hormone booster. One new study of healthy women between the ages of 20 and 49 finds 600 mg per day for eight weeks can increase both estradiol and free testosterone.
Those are the female and male sex hormones, respectively, but let’s just say the names are a little sexist. We all need both, with women needing more estradiol and men more testosterone.
Estradiol in particular can help, physically increasing the flow of blood to the vagina, which is essential to both arousal and orgasm, and helping with lubrication, which is of course necessary to make sure your moments of pleasure don’t turn into pain
As a result, women who take fenugreek extract have more desire and arousal, leading to more sexual activity when compared to women who take a placebo, according to the study in Phytotherapy Research.
Since the study was on pre-menopausal women it’s unclear whether it would have the same effect on older women. Since it’s safe, you can certainly give it a try.
But if it doesn’t work, don’t give up.
There are other safe ways to improve your sex life, including natural hormone therapies — and you can read all about it in this free report from my House Calls archives — http://www.besthealthnutritionals.com/blog/2014/12/11/testosterone-for-women/
God bless,
Dr. Mark Stengler