Please consult your doctor if nipples remain erect for more than 4 hours.
 

Viagra may help women on antidepressants


Associated Press
CHICAGO - Viagra's effect in women has been disappointing, but a new small study finds those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills.

The research involving 98 premenopausal women found Viagra helped with orgasm. But the benefits did not extend to other aspects of sex such as desire, researchers report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

"For women on antidepressants with orgasm problems, this may provide some wonderful relief," said psychologist Stanley Althof, director of the Center for Marital and Sexual Health of South Florida in West Palm Beach, who was not involved in the study. "But it will not improve their desire or arousal."

Antidepressants can interfere with sex drive and performance even as the drugs help lift crippling depression. Switching drugs or reducing the dose can help. But many people, men and women, stop taking them because of their sexual side effects.

The complaints are common. More than half the people who take antidepressants develop sexual problems, prior studies have found, especially for people taking Prozac, Paxil, Celexa and other drugs that work by increasing the chemical serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is thought to slow down orgasm, perhaps by diminishing the release of another brain chemical, dopamine. Viagra increases blood flow to sex organs.

Pfizer Inc. spokeswoman Sally Beatty said the company currently has no plans to pursue FDA approval for using its drug Viagra as a treatment for female sexual dysfunction. The company ended its internal research on Viagra for women in 2004. While Viagra was found to be safe, the results were inconclusive, Beatty said in an e-mail.

The search for a Viagra equivalent for women has been disheartening. A testosterone patch was sent back for more safety study by the Food and Drug Administration. A handheld vacuum device that increases blood flow to the clitoris does have FDA approval, and BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. is testing a testosterone gel called LibiGel.

The new Viagra findings are based on an eight-week experiment. The 98 women were using antidepressants successfully but were having sexual problems. Their average age was 37.

The women agreed to attempt sexual activity at least once each week. Each time, they took a pill, not knowing whether it was Viagra or a matching dummy pill.

While 72 percent of the women taking Viagra reported improvement on an overall scale, only 27 percent of the women taking the placebo reported improvement.

Althof said it's "worrisome" that 43 percent of the women on Viagra experienced headaches, compared to 27 percent of the women on dummy pills. Indigestion and reddening of skin (flushing) also were reported more often by the women taking Viagra.

Psychologist Leonore Tiefer of New York University School of Medicine said industry-funded research has oversimplified women's sexual experience. She noted the new study, funded by a Pfizer grant, found more side effects than benefits.

"Where's the question to the women: Is it worth it?" Tiefer said.

An earlier study in men taking antidepressants found more pronounced sexual benefits with Viagra than the benefits found for women, said lead author Dr. George Nurnberg, a psychiatrist at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque.

But the message for men and women who need antidepressants is that Viagra may help them stay on the drugs, he said.

"We're not talking about a lifestyle issue. We're talking about a medical necessity issue," Nurnberg said.

Pfizer had no influence on the design, findings or manuscript, Nurnberg said. He and several of the other authors disclosed financial ties to Pfizer and other drugmakers.

Yeah. Heard about this. A couple of highlights, the study was small. Statistically significant, but there are questions about its clinical significance (that is, the ability of the respondents to measure the effect.) Also, there was no effect on women not taking antidepressants. Indeed, Pfizer withdrew an application to market this drug to women (presumably non-antidepressant-taking women who wanted an increased sexual response).

Very clever title, though.

Thanks.

And now you straight guys know what you need to do. Find yourselves some depressed women and slip 'em the blue pill to go with the pink ones they're already taking. :D

So, no desire to have sex.
No change in the suppressed arousal.
Just the potential for an orgasm if you wait and stare at the ceiling.

Breakthrough!

I always thought wedding cake caused that problem?

I think any anti-depresant effects they get are from their husbands taking the medication.

Don't go to a doctor if the nipples got hard for an abnormally long tome; let me take of them for five minutes. I'll do it for free

I have had both wife and an earlier g/f take my Viagra (they asked, it was not my idea). Both reported increased sensitivity and general orgasmic goodness beyond their norms.

No, that's just 'cause you gots mad skillz. ;)

I do okay. I don't get a lot of complaints, anyway.

The best part is when other women go up and tell your wife that you're good, and she replies "Why do you think I married him?"

At those times, my ego is approximately the size of Jupiter. It isn't usually very long before it either deflates of its own accord, or I fail miserably and it is forcibly rendered microscopic, though.

I took it and it pretty much felt like I had a couple of energy drinks. Nothing sexual really.... I was also drinking coffee so that could have been the coffee.....Yep. One of those things where I detected no relavant changes...:D

Oh well.