Science has found that viagara for women doesn’t really work. A study published in JAMA online this February used randomized clinical trials to assess the effectiveness and safety of flibanserin, known as Addyi, for use in pre and postmenopausal women to increase libido.
Eight studies combined looked at 5914 women and concluded that taking the drug resulted in minimal improvement- one-half additional satisfying sexual event per month-to no change in women’s sexual desire.
The study also found that there were clinically significant adverse side effects resulting when taking the drug, including dizziness, sleep walking, nausea and fatigue.
The drug, however, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June, 2015, (after being rejected by the FDA twice). Adding to discord, according to a recent article in the New York Times, this ‘viagara for women’ has been promoted by a group of women’s rights activists who argued it was unfair that men had many drugs to boost their sexual function while women didn’t have any.
But the libido-booster doesn’t seem to be almost useless for absolutely everyone. According to the New York Times, Dr. Lauren Streicher, an associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, has a number of patients who report having experienced significant increases in libido with minimal side effects, after taking the drug.
If science says it doesn’t work, but you feel better taking it, does it matter? Probably not. But it would be nice to have some products on the market with better general results and fewer side effects for women’s libido.
In the meantime, there are always tips like these.
