Strong Enough for a MAN, Made for a Man!

Why should women be limited to off label testosterone use for HSDD which is made for a man, not a woman!  The side effects are not worth the limited ( if any ) benefit and some are irreversible.

Happy New Year and here's hoping for an FDA approval of a product made for a WOMAN!

http://www.sexhealthmatters.org/did-you-know/women-and-testosterone-therapy/P2

Is your LACK of DESIRE DISTRESSING???

Sexual consequences represent potential maintaining factors of sexual dysfunction that are highly distressing to women.
Lack of desire with associated distress is the primary basis for a hypoactive sexual desire disorder ( HSDD ).  I would know as I have been diagnosed with this disorder.  And yes, it is distressing!!    

Hoping the FDA's new year's resolution is to pass the first FDA approved option for women with HSDD to help EVEN THE SCORE!!

Read the study below for a better understanding of HSDD and the association between lack of desire and distress,  Very enlightening!!

Here's a highlight of what's in store... impaired female sexual function may be
distressing primarily because it prevents the experience of sexual pleasure and/or prevents sex altogether for some women. 

Go to EVENTHESCORE.org for more information!

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsm.12804/full

New Year's Resolution : Even the Score

Here's a highlight of the top 10 2014 women's health advancements! Here's hoping the top 2015 victory will be our "little pink pill"!!

Should my libido be forgot...😢😢

https://speakingofwomenshealth.com/column/the-top-10-advances-in-womens-health-in-2014

26 to 0 - Is 1 too much to ask??

All I wanted for Christmas was...an FDA approved treatment for HSDD!!

Men have Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Testosterone and the list goes on to 26 FDA approved medical treatments!!

Here's a sample of what women have.  All  UNAPPROVED, mystery options with unknown efficacy or side effects.

PLEASE visit the website below and enter your comments to the FDA before 12/31/2014!!

http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketBrowser;rpp=50;po=0;D=FDA-2014-N-1413

#WOMENDESERVE

• Avlimil
• Climestra
• Extenze for Women
• Fematril
• FemElle
• Femtia
• FemXL
• HerSolution Gel & Tablets
• Intivar
• K-Y Intense
• Libido for Her
• LibiGel
• Lyriana
• Provestra
• Scentuelle
• Vibrel
• Vigorelle
• Zestra

Over 50 in all!!

All I want from Santa is my SEX DRIVE Back!

                                       

Santa Baby, just slip a pink pill under my tree, for ME!

I've been distressed for so long!

Santa Baby, and hurry down my chimney tonight.

Think of all the girls who tried, and had dramatic increase in their sexual drive

Don't you think, after all of that, women deserve this Christmas treat?

Santa Cutie, an FDA approval will do, 'tis true!

So I can find my desire,

Santa Cutie, and hurry down my chimney tonight.

Think of all the sex I've missed, think of how I used to

always want to kiss

I really do, my husband too, just want a chance to get back my drive!

Santa honey, we've waited patiently through the years, oh dear!

We hope the FDA heard our voice

Santa Honey, and hurry down my chimney tonight.

Think of all the times I'd flirt, think of how I used to always initiate

Now I'm tired and feeling blue, my husband wants me back and so do I.

Santa Baby, we'd like your help to Even The Score, once more!

The boys have 26 and we have NONE,

Santa Baby, and hurry down my chimney tonight!

Dedicated to all women who have experienced HYPOACTIVE SEXUAL DESIRE DISORDER, those who were fortunate enough to be on the Flibanserin clinical trial and the men who have endured with us during our quest to EVENTHESCORE.

I, for one, have a husband who is ready for the gift of initiation and flirtation from me this Christmas!!!

HO HO HO and Happy Holidays!

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder : Fact or Fiction

One year ago, same story only now 26 to 1!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anita-h-clayton-md/women-sex-myths_b_4372069.html

Anita H. Clayton, MD

Interim Chair, Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences; David C. Wilson Professor of Psychiatry; Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Virginia School of Medicine

Do you lack a desire for sex? If you're saying "no" while your partner reads this over your shoulder nodding "yes," you are not alone. Most women think it's natural for their sex lives to wane over time, and going from having sex several times a week to just a couple of times a month (if you're feeling lucky) is no big deal. 

The reality is: It is a big deal. The 1960 approval of the birth control pill was supposed to be the beginning of the sexual revolution for women. But nearly half a century has passed, and Western society has still not caught up. Nevertheless, even in the face of society's longstanding disregard of female sexuality, it is viewed by most as a critical component to overall health and quality of life.

One of the central factors being debated with regard to women's sexual rights is the question of whether female sexual problems are actually real. Some argue that female sexual disorders, specifically hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), are simply a conspiracy perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry to mislead women to feel that their sexual function is inadequate and that their problems are simple and easy to treat with drugs. Unfortunately, the result of this misguided message is to disempower women. Unintentional as it may be, this message invalidates the experience of those women who are having sexual problems.

The response of health care professionals, researchers, policy makers and activists should be to listen to women and respect what they are saying about their experiences. It is wrong to make women feel like they are defective when they do not feel that way themselves. However, it is just as incorrect to discount women's distress when they express it. Are we really going to revert to telling women who are suffering from sexual problems that ''it's all in your head''? 

Instead, let's help women uncover their personal truth.

Sexual dysfunction, including low sexual desire, is a real medical condition. It is known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD, and occurs when there is an absence or lack of sexual thoughts, fantasies or interest in sexual activity, which causes distress and difficulty in a couple's relationship or communication. It is estimated that 1 in 10 women in the United States suffer from low sexual desire that causes distress. That's 16 million women who feel the loss of an integral part of themselves.

Women want to want but they often don't want to talk about it. Sexuality is an important part of who we are as women, but as many of us lead busy professional and personal lives as wives, mothers and caregivers, it's easy to put sex low on the priority list. When women talk honestly about their desire, they don't typically say "I can live without it." Instead, they talk about how they want to get it back. They want to want. 

Unfortunately, talking about sex is still taboo, so much so that women and even health care professionals will avoid it. This gap in communication, along with the societal notion that it's normal or acceptable for women not to want sex, can stifle a necessary discussion about the real sexual problems women are facing.

Low sexual desire impacts more than just sex. It can be associated with significant distress that goes way beyond the bedroom and affects every aspect of life, including body image, mood, self-confidence and self-worth. Many women say they keenly feel the loss of desire, leaving them feeling disappointed, frustrated and inadequate. 

If a woman routinely plans to go to bed after her partner falls asleep to avoid being approached for sex, her partner may feel at fault or undesirable and, simply put, they just throw in the towel. This results in a downward spiral of blame and avoidance, which equates to less sex, less intimacy and less connectedness.

It's not a simple on/off switch for women. Desire is the result of a complex interplay of social, psychological and biological components. If, for example, a lack of sexual interest is due to a cultural or religious belief system, it is socially rooted. If psychology is at the heart of low sexual desire -- for example, relationship issues -- talk therapy/counseling is the appropriate pathway for intervention. 

If both the social and psychological components are not causing low sexual desire, then biology may be to blame. New science into women's sexual function has shown that there can be an imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory processes mediated through key neurotransmitters, or chemicals, in the brain that affect sexual drive.

There are no treatments currently available for low sexual desire in women. Male sexual dysfunction has been addressed for almost two decades now -- there are 23 FDA-approved treatments for either erectile dysfunction (ED) or low testosterone.* Yes, it may be easier to measure ED (does he have an erection or not?), but it's not okay to neglect women's issues, which unlike men may not be visibly identifiable, and then place the blame on stress, kids or time. 

Having treatment options that address each of the social, psychological and biological components at play only seems logical. Let's face it -- we've had answers to the primary components for men for a while now. HSDD is just as much a problem in women, as ED is in men. In fact, more women than men voice some form of sexual complaint when asked -- 43 percent vs. 31 percent. Yet, after several attempts, no treatment for low sexual desire in women has been approved. 

As a psychiatrist who has been treating women with low sexual desire for more than 20 years, I am excited about the advances in research that we've seen for women in recent years. Research has shown that women's loss of desire is not made up or a myth. But research isn't enough. If men are allowed to have a choice that will help improve their sex lives, women should be afforded the same. Let's take discussions about sex out of the bedroom, make a solution for HSDD widely available for women, and let women make the choice. Heck, we make the decisions about everything else, don't we?

*References:

There are 23 FDA-approved treatments for either erectile dysfunction (ED) or low testosterone: low testosterone treatments, PDE5 inhibitors and alprostadil treatments.

The LITTLE PINK PILL

It’s called the “little pink pill,” a tiny tablet that could have a huge impact on treating female sexual dysfunction. If it’s approved, it would become the first drug of its kind on the market.

But that’s a big IF.

The drug Flibanserin is locked in a heated battle for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, raising controversial questions about why there are so many sexual enhancement drugs available for men and zero for women.

Cindy Whitehead, the founder and COO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based company focused on producing only Flibanserin, has been fighting for FDA approval for the drug for three years.

“There are 25 approved drugs for some form of male sexual dysfunction, but still a great big zero for the most common form of FSD [female sexual dysfunction],” Whitehead said. “No matter how or why we got here, we're here, and we've got to come up with a solution for it.”

Flibanserin is more than curing a weak libido. It’s specifically for treating Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, or HSDD. Gynecologist and sexual health crusader Dr. Lauren Streicher explained that HSDD goes much deeper than just a low sex drive.

“[HSDD] is a very specific problem in a woman who doesn’t think about sex, she doesn’t fantasize, she doesn’t desire sex,” Streicher said. “What makes it different is that it’s distressing to her. This has a negative impact on her. She’s worried about it, she’s frustrated.”

According to the International Journal of Women’s Health, as many as 1 in 10 women suffer from HSDD. While many doctors agree HSDD is a problem that should be addressed, there are no medical treatment options.

Whitehead believes Flibanserin is the solution to solving female sexual dysfunction, but said it’s not accurate to call the drug “female Viagra” because it doesn’t work in the same way that Viagra does for men.

“Viagra is a blood-flow issue, a mechanical issue, and Flibanserin works on key chemicals in the brain,” she said.

Scientists have known for years that a woman’s most significant sexual organ is actually her brain, which is what makes female desire disorders so hard to treat.

Flibanserin is taken daily at bedtime, but it’s not a hormonal supplement. Instead, the pill manipulates certain chemicals in the brain to achieve desire.

To test it in clinical trials, Whitehead said it was important to find women who genuinely suffer from HSDD, and not just boredom.

“There's a diagnostic questionnaire that physicians go through, and they really can pretty quickly get to whether or not this is a relationship dynamic or something that's happening biologically,” she said.

Amanda Parrish said that’s exactly what she was facing. A mother of four from Nashville, Tenn., Parrish said she used to have a smoldering sex life with her husband, but over time, things cooled off. She said the problem wasn’t with him, but with her.

“I felt like even though we were close and having a great relationship there was something that wasn't extremely gratifying,” Parrish said. “There was something just not there, so I was in search of something that would make that happen.”

Feeling pressure to be a so-called “wholesome soccer mom,” Parrish said she never discussed the issue with her friends but had a feeling she wasn’t alone.

For the rest of the story, click the link below:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fight-pink-pill-boosting-womens-sex-drive-raises/story?id=23813586

Here's the link to the ABC Nightline piece...same story in video form

http://abcnews.go.com/topics/lifestyle/health/low-sex-drive.htm

Let's give THEM something to TALK about!!

Queen of DENIAL

Denial of a treatment for women with HSDD is cruel and unusual punishment.  Great read from health care provider's viewpoint who diagnose and attempt to treat women each day...with no FDA approved medical options in their tool box.  Only off - label options, over the counter supplements which have no clinical or scientific reliability and come from unknown origins, or a cocktail of couples therapy and toy therapy.
Sad but true and those of us who had the benefit of testing a medication which did not just work but dramatically improved our level of desire and decreased our associated stress about it, are left hanging again.


http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/do-women-need-their-own-viagra/383720/3/

To Treat or Not to Treat?

Thanks Barb DePree for your comments regarding the FDA approval of a prescription medication to treat HSDD if WOMEN CHOOSE to!  Just as men have the opportunity to choose!
#WOMENDESERVE



http://blog.middlesexmd.com/2014/12/12/we-can-each-decide/

26 TO 1

Here's news you can use...don't suffer silently!  Help 

Even the Score!

Women's Groups Launch Campaign to 'Even the Score' on FDA-Approved Treatments for Women's Sexual Dysfunction, Provide Voice for the 1-in-10 Women who Experience HSDD

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Highlighting a persistent gender inequity at the Food and Drug Administration regarding the approval of treatments for the most common forms of sexual dysfunction, a diverse group of women's health and research organizations today launched Even the Score, a new advocacy campaign created to serve as a voice for American women who believe that it's time for the FDA to level the playing field when it comes to the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). To date, the FDA has approved 26 drugs for the treatment of male sexual dysfunctions, compared with zero to address the most common form of female sexual dysfunction.

Today's launch of Even the Score: A Campaign for Women's Sexual Health Equity comes less than a week after the FDA approved a 26th drug to treat the most common form of men's sexual dysfunction, and follows a national poll by the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health and conducted by Public Policy Polling that revealed that almost two-thirds of American women believe that it's inappropriate that the score is 26-0 when it comes to federal approval of treatments for desire, arousal or orgasm dysfunction in men vs. women. 

"We have waited long enough. It's time for the FDA to act for women by approving the first-ever drug to treat the most common form of women's sexual dysfunction and open the field of research for a variety of treatment options to come," said Susan Scanlan, Chair emerita of the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), a founding supporter of the Even the Score campaign. NCWO is a coalition of 240 progressive women's groups representing 12 million women.

In addition to NCWO, other founding supporters of the Even the Score campaign include: American Sexual Health Association; Association of Reproductive Health Professionals; EmpowHER; HealthyWomen; HisAndHerHealth.com; International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health; Jewish Women International; National Council of Women's Organizations; Palatin Technologies; Sexual Medicine Society of North America; Society for Women's Health Research; Sprout Pharmaceuticals; and The Women's Research & Education Institute.

Through Even the Score, the groups will lead the fight for safe, FDA-approved treatment options for women's sexual dysfunction, and for the rights of women to be given the same access to treatments that allows them to make decisions on their sexual health with their doctors. In America, 1-in-10 women report experiencing sexual dysfunction with distress; and more women (43 percent) report experiencing sexual dysfunction than men (31 percent). 

The Even the Score campaign will work to:

• Educate on the prevalence of women's sexual dysfunction; 
• Inform on the gender disparity regarding FDA-approved treatments for the condition; 
• Advocate that the same standards are applied to approve safe and effective treatments for the most common form of women's sexual dysfunction as have been for men; and 
• Support women who are suffering with female sexual dysfunction by providing a community to share experiences and stand together for progress. Further to support the decision-makers and regulators who make this a priority.

"As supporters of the Even the Score campaign, we believe that women have the right to make their own informed choices concerning their sexual health; that gender equality should be the standard when it comes to access to treatments for sexual dysfunction; and that the approval of safe and effective treatments for women's sexual dysfunction should be a priority for action by the FDA," Scanlan said. "We applaud the FDA for their recognition that this is a key unmet medical need, and urge them to work fairly and urgently toward a solution." 

Earlier this year, four female members of Congress sent a letter to the FDA asking for appropriate treatment for the most common form of women's sexual dysfunction. U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), highlighted the "gross disparity between treatments for men and women."

"It has come to our attention that many of the nation's most prestigious women's groups and medical societies focusing on women's health have written the agency advocating for this important unmet medical need affecting so many of the millions of women they represent or care for. We are heartened and struck by the diversity of the organizations committed to this issue," the Congresswomen wrote in their letter. "Like us, these advocacy groups believe it is a woman's right to have access to a safe and effective medical option for treatment, and further believe sexual health is an important part of overall health and wellbeing. We believe approval of a drug to treat female sexual dysfunction that women could access can have a beneficial impact on the lives of millions of American women and men."

To learn more about the Even the Score campaign, please visit: www.EvenTheScore.org.

Is it possible to LOVE SEX AGAIN?

If this looks like your "to do" list, please buy this book!  Wonderful read by physician advocate for women's health, Dr. Lauren Streicher.

Having had personal experience moving sex from the "to do" list to the "can't wait" list while on the flibanserin clinical trial, I cannot wait for the FDA to EVENTHESCORE!!

Visit eventhescore.org and sign the petition or share your story.

Sex Talk

If you are struggling with low libido, low desire or any kind of sexual distress, please read the article below.  Being from the South, I, too, am one of those women who was afraid to talk about sex.  Shy?  No.  Embarrassed?  Possibly.  Shamed? Definitely!  After all, no true southern Baptist woman would consider talking about sex..much less enjoying it!!

Let's talk...let me know your thoughts.

http://www.ashasexualhealth.org/sex-life-better-lets-talk/

Want your SEX drive back?

Are you suffering from low desire?  There is help available but we need you to participate!  Please visit this sight and sign the petition to help Even The Score!
http://eventhescore.org

The Doctor is IN!

Following Day 1 of the recent FDA Public Hearing on Women's Sexual Health ( in which patients, such as myself, had the opportunity to  tell our stories ), physicians and clinicians were in the spotlight on Day 2.

Many experienced and compassionate physicians and clinicians voiced their concern over a lack of FDA medical treatment for women suffering from FSDD.  Many of these had either been an investigator for one or more of these drugs or were actively treating patients who suffer from low libido and are frustrated at the lack of options they can offer.

As always, there were critics.  One actually sat at my table for a brief time and she recently published her "opinion" in the Allentown, PA paper.  I have the link to her review below but more importantly the closing remarks from Dr. Michael Krychman who very eloquently defended the need for an FDA approval and the bias directed at women throughout history.

As a patient who suffers with HSDD and had the opportunity to be in a clinical trial  on which I had dramatic improvements not only in the frequency and quality of satisfying sexual events but also the distress that HSDD caused my emotional life.

Thank you to all the physicians who spoke on my behalf and countless women who are suffering silently.  Having DIRECT experience working with these drugs and seeing the positive effect with low side effects, I trust you as a spokesperson.

For critics such as Ms. Hicks who have never taken one of these drugs, it is my hope they will keep their opinions to just that and not interject data which are unfounded and can be proven factually wrong.

Thanks Dr. Krychman, Dr. Portman, Dr. Simon, Dr. Kingsberg, etc...

http://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-sex-drugs-for-women-hicks-yv-1201-20141201-story.html

Here are Dr. Krychman's closing remarks...well said and delivered!!

Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Michael Krychman. I'm a sexual medicine gynecologist, sex therapist, and clinical researcher. My disclosures in Shionogi, Pfizer, Palatin, Noven and my funding was partially supported by Sprout. I'm also the social media chair for ISSWSH and I want to clarify that ISSWSH did not provide any grants for anyone to be here.

I have been here for two days and heard the word "complex." I stopped counting after 20. We have oversimplified men and overcomplicated women. We agree it's multifactorial and multifaceted. I am the sole financial provider for a family of four, 8-year-old twins anticipating an overnight flight to give an educational lecture on sexual medicine and sexual psychology at a major University tomorrow morning so please don't minimize my stress or fatigue.

We have heard today that women respond in implement different treatments to address their symptoms. As a clinician, I provide ingredients so we can uniquely provide a safe, effective recipe for individualized women who are impacted by this medical issue. Woman choose pills or not, counseling or not, hormones or not. No medically approved option hurts women. I'm cautiously concerned that the FDA is now scrutinizing and getting involved in healthcare provider prescribing behavior. I believe in women.

Let us learn from history. We did not think women were smart enough to vote. We denied them this privilege. We have been taught wrong. We didn't think women were strong enough to defend our country and we again have been taught wrong. Allow the philosophy of the sanctity of the therapeutic alliance between healthcare provider and patients. Healthcare providers want to help. Women want to be helped. Women will not remain on treatment if not effective or experience adverse events. Allow women their constitutional autonomy to be smart and strong.

Sex, Lies and the Little Pink Pill

Well, the critics are at it again.  This time, she is a patient suffering from HSDD herself and was at the FDA public hearing last month and was actually at my table for a period of time!

Her opinion is, once again, clearly biased against pharma and is even snarky in tone throughout her piece.  Last time I checked, no one was forcing anyone to participate in a "movement" against their will...any more than the critics were forced to come speak out against an FDA approved medical option.

I still proudly wear my button and scarf, just as others wear pink ribbons, red bracelets, etc...

It is one thing to disagree with what others are passionate about but I don't appreciate those critics distorting facts and pushing their own agenda while insulting and wrongly accusing those that personally are experiencing HSDD, had the wonderful opportunity to have the symptoms alleviated just to later have the rug pulled out from under us.

My mother taught me three valuable lessons early in life:

• Consider the source ( of information - either WHO is giving it or the VALIDITY of it )
• Check you facts ( verify that your information is factually grounded and credible )
• Never attempt to take a spec from someone's eye before I remove the LOG from my own ( do not speak on behalf of someone else when you have not walked in their shoes )

Here's a link to her "opinion" and my response below.  

http://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-sex-drugs-for-women-hicks-yv-1201-20141201-story.html

Sex, Lies and the Little Pink Pill

I continue to be stunned by the PDA (public display of anger) published in media by women with regards to the approval of a drug to treat low desire in women. From the LA Times to the Washington Post, critics continue to lash out, grossly distorting facts and misinterpreting intent about a clinical drug trial on which they were not even a participant. I was raised on three principals and I feel these critics would do well to follow these rules: consider the source (of information), check your facts (there is published data which discredits your claims) and don’t try to speak as an expert about something for which you are not (if you are suffering with HSDD but were NOT on the trial, do not attempt to speak about its effects).

The most recent attack came from a woman in Allentown, PA who was, in fact, a patient panelist at the recent FDA hearings in Silver Springs, MD… I was also at the meeting as an actual patient on an actual clinical trial for an actual drug being studied to treat low desire in women. It is this willful and misguided active opposition to flibanserin (by someone who has NEVER taken it) which I find distressing. 

To say that a pharmaceutical company hopes to “convince women with sexual problems that a drug called Flibanserin will cure them” is absurd. .  Being one of those women myself, and being raised here in the Bible belt, I would say the campaign is geared more toward empowering women to share their experiences and seek help.  We live in a culture where women are supposed to be soccer moms and June Cleaver, not passionate women who actually initiate and enjoy a healthy sex life. Most women I know are hesitant to speak about sex, have bought into the idea that sex after babies is for the benefit of their husbands and quite frankly, this is wrong.  You cannot turn the TV on without seeing a Viagra or male Low T advertisement.  Informing women that there is a potential therapy that may help them, to me, is just cause.

The  claim that “Flibanserin has not been shown to have a significant effect relative to placebo, and there are safety concerns about long-term side effects” is factually wrong.  According to published trial data, Flibanserin not only demonstrated a highly statistically significant difference over placebo on three key endpoints but also was well tolerated with side effects not unlike those found when using Advil.  Further, Flibanserin has been studied in over 11,000 women making it one of the most studied women’s health products in history.

Here’s where I can offer personal perspective. In terms of the three primary endpoints of the study, I reported YES, YES to YES to all three!  In fact, while on Flibanserin, I definitely had an increase in my sexual desire, experienced a significant drop in the distress caused from the loss of sexual desire and happily increased the frequency of satisfying sex. Who better to ask about the effects of Flbanserin than my (now) husband?  He enjoyed all the same benefits as I did and will tell you emphatically that the dramatic change from obligatory sex to my inner kitten initiating sex was like a fruit cake… it was the gift that kept on giving!

Although Ms. Hicks may have arrived in MD in her 10 year old car, there were other critics who were compensated to speak out against a medical option for HSDD.  The truth is, I read about the FDA hearings on twitter and signed up that very day, booked a hotel and purchased by plane ticket LONG BEFORE eventhescore.org became involved. My husband and I went because we were lucky enough to have enjoyed the benefits while I was on the trial. For the record, I, too, had cereal for breakfast.

The calculation that 5 of the 8 panelists were part of the PR campaign is exactly what you said… YOUR calculation.  Regardless, they were HSDD patients like yourself so does it even matter? Yes, I am a white, middle class woman in a stable relationship (at the time of the trial but am now married) who tried off label testosterone after the flibanserin trial ended, to no avail.  Of course women with more serious medical issues or emotional based relationship issues were excluded from the trial.  If a woman is bouncing from man to man her lack of desire is more likely rooted in an emotional issue.  Lack of desire in the absence of emotional issues within a stable and happy relationship is true HSDD. A vast majority of prescription and over the counter drug labels reflect the same disparity.  Not many companies are willing to enroll patients with known medical issues into a clinical trial and logically so!  Pregnant women are almost always excluded, patients with heart troubles, risk for stroke…

I do agree that the use of testosterone by women is risky.  Potentially serious and life altering side effects can occur but the side effects reported on flibanserin were nuisance side effects: headache, fatigue, nausea and dry mouth.  Further, they were transient and guess what?  Read the product label for ADVIL which carries the same nuisance side effects but far more potential for serious adverse events. Consider this.  The FDA just approved a drug for men with curved penises and the number one side effect?  RUPTURED Penis!  Seriously? And you are worried about a headache or a touch of nausea?

Yes, you could give women a little pink heart shaped placebo pill and it may work for some, for a while.  Same can be said for anti-depressants, weight loss drugs, anti-age skin creams… almost every drug ever studied shows a high placebo effect in the short term.  But the honeymoon will end which is why the over the counter industry for libido enhancing products is booming.  Women will pay insane amounts of money on unfounded, unproven promises of increased desire. They’ll work temporarily, but soon she is back ordering off the internet or visiting her local supplement shop for something to help.  God forbid she actually tell anyone!

Lastly, Ms. Hicks, no one will force a woman to get a prescription and pay for it.  You certainly don’t accuse pharmaceutical companies of forcing men to buy Viagra which is outrageously expensive.  They buy because they choose to.  They make a decision with their doctor to try an FDA approved medical option.  Yes there are risks (blue vision, heart rate issues…) but the benefits of satisfying sex far outweigh those and at least men have several choices.

In conclusion, hypoactive sexual desire disorder is a very real and common condition for women. Perhaps it is a silent disorder because women are either afraid to talk about it or more importantly, there is no FDA approved medical option for them.  Therapy may work but for many, like myself, my lack of desire is not rooted in emotional distress.  It causes emotional distress but having been together for ten years, we are very active in romancing each other, speaking each other’s love languages and most importantly still have an insane physical attraction to each other. We are a well -oiled machine that happens to be missing a spark plug.  All the moving parts in order and working, but that spark would help “start things up”.

All I know is I will be the first in line to get a prescription when the FDA finally gives its stamp of approval for flibanserin. That is, if my husband doesn’t beat me to it!