Women who lose their sexual appetite as a side effect of
taking antidepressant could easily gain it back if using Pfizer Inc.’s Viagra, usually
prescribed for impotency in men, new research in the July 22 issue of the Journal
of the American Medical Association reveals.
According to background information of the study, about 70
percent of men and women taking antidepressants for major depression experience
sexual dysfunction. Women generally experience painful intercourse, lose their desire,
and end up without having orgasm while being prescribed antidepressants. These
side effects bother both women and men so much that up to 70 percent stop
taking their medication for depression within the first few months, co-author
of the study Julia Heiman, director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in
Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at
Why antidepressants slow sexual appetite? Previous research
has shown that these drugs usually increase the chemical serotonin in the
brain, which is thought to slow orgasm, most probably by diminishing the
release of another brain chemical, dopamine.
For the study, conducted at seven US research centers
between September 2003 and January 2007, the researchers divided 98 women
taking antidepressants, average age 37 and all premenopausal in two groups:
half of them were given Viagra and the other half were given a placebo for the
eight-week study. None of the women knew which pill they were taking.
The woman involved in the study had been taking
antidepressants (Celexa, Effexor, Paxil and Zoloft) for two years and has
suffered sexual problems for at least four weeks. These antidepressants comprise
up to 90 percent of the 180 million antidepressant prescriptions filled in the
After eight weeks, the researchers found that 73 percent of the women on placebo had no improvement in sexual functioning but only 27 percent of the women given Viagra reported no improvement. More exactly, the women taking Viagra reported an improved ability to reach orgasm and increased orgasm satisfaction. On the other hand, the study did not find significant differences in terms of desire or lubrication.
“What Viagra did was increase the orgasm and the time to orgasm. But it
didn’t increase drive and desire,” said Harry A. Croft, MD, medical director of
the
Previous research made by Dr. Nurnberg and colleagues
reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry showed that Viagra was helpful
for men who suffered from erectile dysfunction because using antidepressant
medications.
“By treating this bothersome treatment-associated adverse
effect…patients can remain antidepressant-adherent, reduce the current high rates
of premature medication discontinuation, and improve depression disease
management outcomes,” Dr. H. George Nurnberg, MD, the study’s lead author and a
professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque and
his colleagues wrote in the study.
“What Viagra does in women with normal testosterone [levels]
is engorge their clitoris [with blood], which allows them to have orgasm. Viagra
acts on a man's penis and a woman's clitoris,” Irwin Goldstein, MD, director of
sexual medicine at
The study showed no serious adverse effects. Headaches were
the most common side effects, being reported by 43 percent of the women on
Viagra and only 27 percent of those on placebo. Also, 14 percent of the women
on Viagra reported transient vision disturbances compared with 2 percent of
those on placebo. Indigestion and reddening of skin were also reported more
often by the women on Viagra.
The study was funded by Pfizer whose spokesperson, Sally
Beatty said the company has no plans to pursue FDA approval for using Viagra as
a treatment for female sexual dysfunction.
Viagra sales totaled $1.76 billion last year, up 6 percent from 2006, Pfizer reported in January. The drug was approved in 1998 and was the first impotence treatment available as a pill.