I swear I've seen a dozen threads about "female viagra". Well, there is now a candidate.
The Testostone Patch.
It is still in studies, but they are looking promising. Basically, you get a trickle of testosterone into your system, and it appears to increase sexual desire/functioning.
The tests are being done with females with ovaries removed as far as I can tell. They haven't tested it on random women yet, unless I misread something.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2194980&EDATE=
(exerpts below:)
Quote:
About Testosterone & The Female Patch
Testosterone is produced naturally in a woman's ovaries and adrenal glands
and has long been linked to female sexual function. When a woman has her ovaries surgically removed, she experiences an immediate decline in testosterone. The loss of sexual desire can be associated with this testosterone drop. According to a recent study, an estimated one in three surgically menopausal women in the U.S. has low sexual desire and nearly half of these women report being distressed about it(1). Low desire is the most commonly reported type of female sexual health complaint.
In the study, the thin, transparent testosterone patch was worn on the abdomen and is designed to work by releasing a low, controlled dose of natural testosterone. There are currently no products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat HSDD in women.
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Quote:
The study of 533 surgically menopausal women with HSDD showed patients receiving testosterone via a transdermal patch experienced a statistically significant increase (p=0.001) in the frequency of total satisfying sexual activity, as well as a statistically significant increase (p=0.0006) in sexual desire versus placebo. Significant improvements were also seen in arousal, orgasm, pleasure, responsiveness, concerns, self-image and distress levels for women using the female testosterone patch. Overall, adverse events (AEs) were similar in the testosterone and placebo groups. Although the overall incidence of androgenic AEs was low, the incidence was slightly higher in the
testosterone group. Most of the androgenic AEs were mild and did not result in study discontinuation.
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http://www.testosterone.uk.net/testosterone-patch.htm
(entire text below)
Quote:
What is a Testosterone Patch?
In basic terms, transparent testosterone patches are stuck onto the skin and release the male hormone testosterone into the system. The idea is to try and help women regain their love lives through an effect on their sex drive theoretically as potent as Viagra is for men. The patches have been available for men for a while, but the patches hadn’t been available for women-only until a while ago, and was welcomed by menopause specialists in particular, who could prescribe a course of treatment which was less dangerous than others. It is also convenient as women can take it on and off and stop and start treatment whenever they want to.
Before the patch, women were asked to use an implant that released testosterone. This required expensive surgery and also may not suit all women as it gives a continuous supply for six months rather than being stopped and started when convenient.
However, that doesn’t mean that you can just stick the patch on your arm and “off you go” as it were. Doctors have warned that testosterone patches take time to have an effect and cannot be worn “just for the weekend”.
The testing that was done of these testosterone patches was on almost 80 women aged 30 to 60 who had all had a hysterectomy. Over a six month period, some of the women wore low dose hormone patches and others wore what is known in the scientific world as a “placebo” which is an inactive patch. None of the women knew whether their patch was active or not, which is the main point. The women who received the active patch with the hormone being delivered reported a quote significant increase in their sex drive and also reported that their arousal and sexual satisfaction was doubled.
But it’s not only that – all over the world women who have used hormone patches found that they had improved feelings of wellbeing matching their rise in blood testosterone levels.
When the scientists announced the results of their research, they emphasized the warning that the patches must be used according to instructions which state that they must be used for a considerable length of time before you can really feel the benefits. This allows the hormone to get into the bloodstream and then be absorbed into the body and start affecting the health and wellbeing and sexual function of the recipient.
It should be emphasized also that testosterone patches are a relatively new way of administering testosterone, which means that whilst these studies have been proven to work in the short term, any problems that they might cause in the long-term have not yet been ascertained.
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I thought some people might like to know that while there is no answer availiable right now, there is one coming down the pipe. Note that testosterone is a hormone that occurs naturally in females: so this won't make you grow a penis. ;-)