Looks like she means a BEER-bie Pill (for him, not her).
Posted on 05/19/2004 5:47:14 PM PDT by vannrox
Sexual dysfunction affects both men and women and can potentially ruin relationships but now a new hormone may be able to help.
Dr. Stephanie Ash, a gynecologist at Bay Regional Medical Center in Bay City, Mich., says that lack of labido is wreaking havoc on women and that nationally 43 percent of women suffer from a low sex drive.
"Many women are distraught about it,"said Ash,"... and actually I would say at least 50 percent are reduced to tears in discussing it."
However a drug on the market is working to change all that, it is nicknamed the "Barbie pill" and it is a synthetic hormone that drug companies are rushing to develop. It not only promises better sex but it also promises a knockout body with a year-round tan.
Drugs like Viagra for men, work on stimulating blood flow to overcome impotence but for women it generally does not work. Symptoms of sexual dysfunction in women are more psychological than physically driven. The problem can be triggered by anything such as: heart disease, depression, thyroid disorders or family concerns.
Ash says that sexual dysfunction may be an interpersonal or relationship issue and may not require any medication at all but that it may prevent couples from working on the problem in the relationship itself.
I'm 53, have been through the change and don't have much of a sex drive anymore. And I am just fine with that and don't need a bunch of doctors telling me there's something wrong with me cause I don't want to screw around all night and all day long.
I guess... cheaper than plastic surgery.
,,, either I've gotta stop cutting my Viagra with Valium or that's the most alltime trashiest two sentences jammed into one that I've read for months.
I once heard that women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a location.
"Vomit inducing images ahead"
nice pic.
will it shrink my butt?
(CNN) -- Last year's U.S. approval of Viagra, the first-ever pill for impotence, has sparked great interest in developing more remedies for sexual dysfunction. One promising lead comes from the University of Arizona, where researchers had been hard at work on a drug to prevent skin cancer.
Melanotan II was being tested as a safe way to get a protective suntan, explains Dr. Norman Levine, a dermatology researcher. "Our goal was to try and induce a tan without exposing them to potentially harmful rays of the sun or tanning booth."
As expected, Melanotan darkened skin pigment, but researchers soon learned that's not all it could do.
"It so happens that one very astute observer who took this drug reported to us that he was developing spontaneous erections," Levine recalls, and with that, the dermatologists brought on the urologists and charted a new course for developing Melanotan II.
Melanotan to the test
Dr. Hunter Wessells alternated doses of Melanotan II with a placebo in 10 men diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. All of them were impressed by the results. Nine out of 10 developed erections when given the real drug.
And, Wessells adds, it happened without any effort on their part. "These men were not looking at erotic video tapes. They weren't engaging in sexual activity. They were just sitting around. And on the placebo, none of them got any erectile activity -- zero."
"Jim," 42, became impotent a year and a half ago. It took him several months to admit the problem, even to himself. "'Cause I figured ... new girlfriend ... maybe it's getting nervous, and this or that. But it never got any better, and it was, like, absolutely nothing. So I went and checked with a doctor."
Injectable medication helped him, but he didn't like giving himself shots. He was relieved when Viagra hit the market, and disappointed when it didn't work for him. But Melanotan did.
"The Melanotan, the first time, was absolutely amazing. I knew something was going on. It was a very large effect." Neither Jim nor the other participants in that trial were exposed to any sexually illicit material. They were sent home after receiving the drug and told to wait around to see what might what happen.
Within 40 minutes responders reported a need to stretch -- a harmless side effect of the drug -- and soon after, spontaneous erections. Although they were instructed not to have sex, "Jim" says it could have taken place under the right circumstances. "This would have been fun. This would have been enough to have intercourse," he said.
Libido booster?
Researchers believe Melanotan II works directly on the brain, where it affects sexual desire as well as physical performance. Viagra, by comparison, appears to have no direct effect on libido. According to Wessells, "with Viagra the man has to initiate sexual activity or Viagra won't work. With this it sort of comes on its own." If further testing confirms the drug to be safe and effective, doctors say it might be useful for treating both psychological and physiological impotence.
Viagra may be one of the most successful new drugs in history, but it has been clear from the start that the first impotence pill approved in the United States isn't for everyone. Depending on the cause of their sexual problems, the little blue pill fails to produce erections for a quarter to half of the men who try it. And men on certain heart medications have been warned not to take Viagra due to the chance of dangerous drug interactions that can even prove fatal.
Melanotan doesn't appear to affect blood pressure adversely, as Viagra can, so its promoters say it should be safe for just about anyone. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised the Arizona researchers to proceed with caution. New studies, slated to begin this summer, will test Melanotan in the laboratory.
Volunteers who've lost their sexual function after prostate removal surgery, but who have an intact nerve (necessary for erection), will be given the drug under close observation. In addition to measuring sexual response, doctors will conduct blood tests and other measurements to assure the drug is as safe as they think it is. For now, Melanotan must be injected under the skin, but it's probable, doctors say, that a commercial version would be formulated as an eyedrop or nasal spray.
The University of Arizona researchers remain optimistic about their work but are quick to point out that Melanotan II faces years of testing before it might become available to men in need.
Looks like she means a BEER-bie Pill (for him, not her).
Hence a mid-'80s research push at the University of Arizona to attack the problem from inside. Being tan is healthy; ironically, people who work outdoors and see the sun every day are at low risk for skin cancer. But getting tan is where the danger lies. The faster it happens - worst case: a tanning booth - the more harmful it is. The U of A team, which included endocrinologist Mac Hadley and dermatologist Norman Levine, came upon a synthetic hormone a thousand times more potent than the body's own tanning triggers. They called it Melanotan and pinned high hopes on its sunless ability to protect, beautify, and gently fleece the pale peoples of the world.But that was only the beginning: The molecule turns out to activate five different chemical systems throughout the body. It's a potent anti-inflammatory, and in 1996 further tests of the drug showed that it also promotes sexual arousal. Not simple vascular stimulation, as with Viagra, but a direct action in the hypothalamus, the brain's emotional switchboard. Impotence is largely an organic, mechanical problem, but here was something that could potentially address the murkier issues of frigidity, and even that old-time marriage killer: simple lack of enthusiasm. (On Melanotan, female lab rodents triple their levels of courtship behavior.) And as if that weren't enough, the molecule also targets an appetite-suppression receptor popular with the makers of weight-loss drugs.
The last time I looked, Barbie had no genitals. That could be an impediment.
It required astute powers of observation to notice this?
Unfortunately, many guys keep their sex drive well past that age, which creates a problem for relationships unless the wife either tries hard to be accomodating anyway, or accepts his being accomodated elsewhere
Not quite- one side effect is the feet grow to four times the normal size--but they are tanned as advertised.
You attribute erroniously. The name "Barbie Pill" and the perpetual tan directed me toward the equation. Further, you errioniously assume that I'm NOT "randy."
This conservative isn't grumpy: You, however, seem to jump to assumptions.
Isn't "beautified" in the eyes of the beholder? Naw...it's in the image through the media.
Hey, if we live long enough, the guy's instrument's gonna' go south, and the lady's interest's gonna' slip(or not). If they don't hit the mark at the same time, loving couples just hafta' work with it.
(said Dr. Bannie)
To be added or removed, just say so. :o)
Count me in.
Side effects include: a corresponding drop in IQ, a compulsion to drive pink corvettes, and attraction to strange sexually ambiguous men named Ken.
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