Viagra Improves Sexual Function In Women on Anti-Depression Drugs

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.  Viagra doesn’t only boost men’s performance in bed, but as it turns out, women too can reap benefits from the magical pill to fight sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect of antidepressants and a major reason why people stop taking medication for their depression. This is particularly problematic given that twice as many women as men are prescribed antidepressants but the most effective drugs used to combat sexual dysfunction in men are not approved for use in women, the authors wrote.

Researchers from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine found that women who took the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil, a.k.a Viagra, had an improvement in sexual function versus women who took a placebo.  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 this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.  The researchers said this is the first randomized controlled trial showing that there is a treatment for the sexual dysfunction women experience as a result of taking antidepressants.

“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.”

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 or stayed the same on an overall scale, only 27 percent of the women taking the placebo reported improvement or stayed the same.  Some of the women experienced headaches, flushing and indigestion but none of them withdrew from the trial because of side effects.

“These findings are important not only because women experience major depressive disorder at nearly double the rate of men and because they experience greater resulting sexual dysfunction than men, but also because it establishes that selective phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors [such as sildenafil] are effective in both sexes for this purpose,” the authors wrote in their study.

• Viagra For Women, Not So Fast!
• Viagra for Women? revisited
• Pfizer’s Viagra - Tenth Anniversary of Little Blue Pill
• Sexual problems in gay men: an overview of empirical research.
• What Malaysian women believe about Viagra: a qualitative inquiry.