The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Addyi as the first women’s libido drug. It is only indicated for women whose loss of sexual desire has caused marked distress or interpersonal difficulty and is not the result of illness, relationship problems or side effects of other medicines.
Women Libido Booster Addyi
Addyi is expected to work by changing the balance of particular brain neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. It is designed to be taken on a daily basis but is plagued with many common side effects like severely low blood pressure, dizziness, fainting, nausea, and sleepiness. The medication is contraindicated for those who occasionally drink alcohol, have an impaired liver function, or with certain other drugs. Due to many of these barriers, compliance with consistently taking Addyi may be a big problem.
Lobbyists advocating for the approval of Addyi said that a drug to improve women’s sex lives was long overdue, given the many options available to men. They accused the FDA of gender bias for ignoring the sexual needs of women. The FDA had rejected Addyi twice, in 2010 and 2013, citing marginal effectiveness and significant side effects. Critics claim the FDA felt the pressure from the women’s movement and hence, approved the drug despite their ongoing reservations.
In the most promising of multiple drug trials, women who took Addyi had an average of 4.4 “satisfying sexual experiences” a month, compared with 3.7 for women receiving a placebo and 2.7 before the study began. Addyi did not increase desire more than a placebo when measured by a daily diary, but did do so modestly when measured by a monthly questionnaire.
Decreased libido may be caused by many factors. For example, there may be shifts in different hormonal levels like estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, serotonin, and dopamine. Obesity, chronic stress (such as from mental and/or physical exhaustion), declining liver function, chronic sleep debit, dietary imbalances, and sedentary lifestyles are common culprits of gradually decreasing sexual desire and function. Just treating the symptoms of decreased libido will not help one effectively treat the underlying problem. Worse yet, one is not able to understand what his or her body is actually trying to communicate about potentially broader health issues.
As a family physician practicing in San Francisco, CA since 2005, I concentrate on addressing the root cause of illnesses by combining the latest research in evidence-based medicine with integrative holistic care. By focusing on the whole person in the context of his or her nutrition, sleep, and mental and other lifestyle stressors, the underlying cause to problems can be more easily determined.
There are everyday things one can do to improve libido. By better understanding the most common bad habits which hurt sexual function, one can effectively reverse their patterns.
Common lifestyle habits that affect sexual function:
Here are the top 6 bad habits:
Persistent sleep deprivation is the primary cause of sex drive deprivation. Sufficient daily sleep helps improve testosterone levels, mood, energy, and mental sharpness.
Skipping workouts. Sedentary, but otherwise healthy, adults who begin exercising lightly three days a week for just 20 minutes at a time report feeling less fatigued and more energized after six weeks. Regular exercise boosts strength and endurance, helps make the cardiovascular system run more efficiently, and delivers oxygen and nutrients to tissues.
Not drinking enough water. Being slightly dehydrated, as little as 2% of normal fluid loss, takes a toll on energy levels. Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume making the blood thicker. This requires our heart to pump less efficiently, reducing the speed at which oxygen and nutrients reach muscles and organs, including genitals. Drinking a minimum of half your body weight in fluid ounces during the day (and not at night) can dramatically improve your sex drive.
An un-nutritious diet can make one feel sluggish, irritable, and prevent optimal delivery of essential nutrients and oxygen to each cell. Processed and pre-packaged ready-made foods, refined sugar, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, animal protein, corn, wheat, and soy are some of the most heavily consumed items in today’s diet but are devoid of sufficient nutritious value for the body to function optimally. Consuming a diet rich in fresh organic vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and seeds is critical to the body functioning at its best.
Heavy meals consumed at night is a recipe for the body feeling overworked and hence, overtired to engage in optimal sexual activity.
Working too hard and longer than necessary sets one up for physical and mental exhaustion.
The real benefit of the new women’s libido drug, Addyi, is it will help make it acceptable for women to talk about their sexual problems. Although there are many reservations to Addyi’s efficacy, the drug should help open up communication between patients and physicians on determining the many possible culprits to decreased libido. Women can become more empowered on how to improve their sex life.
