How Bremelanotide Helps Women with Low Libido?
Sometime in 2012, the American Food and Drug Administration listed sexual dysfunction and one of twenty diseases that were high priority and needed focused attention. In 2016 following up on their observation, they published a draft guidance for companies developing such drugs. It was titled “Low Sexual interest desire and/or Arousal in Women: Developing drugs for treatment. This led to the creation and approval of Bremelanotide (Vyleesi) In mid-2019.
Before you understand the uses of Bremelanotide and how it helps Women, you need to understand the Medical Condition. People often mistake this drug for “Female Viagra,” but it is more than that, and here is why.
The Medical Condition
For women, the physiology of sexual desire and arousal is more complicated. Research has shown that about 40% of women suffer from a lack of sexual desire for various reasons. Some of these reasons may be age, background, childbirth, etc. One of the problems discovered Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), which was commonly found in pre-menopausal women.
This term was coined as a way to describe Low libido that could not be attributed to a specific cause. This disorder also caused personal distress. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the reason is psychological, but research has shown distress to be a by-product of the condition. Bremelanotide is explicitly created to treat generalized HSDD, which is inherently low libido regardless of the kind of sexual activity, partner, or environment.
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, a director at the Centre for women’s Health at Mayo Clinic, stated that there are several causes for low sexual desire. She said that it could be anxiety and depression, a poor body self-image, or a history of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, or substance). Low sexual desire could also be a function of poor sexual education or health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. However, all these cannot be directly attributed to HSDD though using Bremelanotide has been an effective treatment.
The Discovery of Bremelanotide
The Pharmaceutical company AMAG approached this disorder from the angle of the brain. According to them, desire is governed by a compromise between excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the brain. They stated that women with HSDD have an imbalance of this, with the scale tilted towards inhibition.
This is where Bremelanotide (PT – 141) comes in. The drugs target the excitatory receptor in the brain called Melanocortin 4, helping to even out the imbalance. By doing this, the woman’s desire improves, and there is a reduction in personal distress. The PT 141 reviews are very positive among the research community, which has given rise to higher purchase of the chemical by laboratories for research purpose.
Doses of the drug can be self-administered by injecting under the skin of the abdomen or thigh 45 minutes before sexual activity. Patients are advised not to use more than eight doses in a month. Use must also be at least 24 hours apart. After two months of using and no improvement in sexual desire and distress, the patient should stop taking the drug.
Although this treatment has proven to be effective in improving sexual desire, Bremelanotide can’t be said to be a direct cure when the lack of desire is attributed to:
- Being a side effect of a previous medication
- A psychiatric of medical disease
- Relationship issues.
Effects of Bremelanotide
During the clinical trial, the pharmaceutical company gave either Bremelanotide or a placebo to 1200 women for 24 weeks. After this period, they discovered that 24% of the women who used Bremelanotide had a consistent improvement in sexual desire. At the same time, 35% of the women who took Bremelanotide had some improvements in their distress level.
The results showed that the drug could not account for the sexual satisfaction of the users. However, there was a significant improvement in their level of sexual desire. Though Bremelanotide is quite useful for pre-menopausal women, there are no studies to show that it works for post-menopause women,
Side Effects- is it safe to use?
The tests and FDA approval shows that Bremelanotide is safe to use for women suffering from HSDD. However, there may be specific side effects like vomiting, nausea, flushing, headache, and injection spot reactions. 40% of the people administered Bremelanotide injections experience nausea at first use. 13% percent of them needed medications for nausea.
One infrequent side effect is the darkening of the skin and gums, affecting only 1% of the test subjects. According to the clinical trials, patients with dark skin are more likely to have this side effect, and the changes were permanent.
The drug is unsafe for people with high risk or cardiovascular disease or uncontrolled high blood pressure. This is because it increases blood pressure when used, although that resolves after a few hours. Women who have problems with alcohol dependence and use naltrexone should not use Bremelanotide. This is because it would cause naltrexone treatment failure.
Conclusion
It is beautiful today that women have the freedom to use drugs like this without being stigmatized. So, if you are pre-menopausal with Low sexual desire, it is safe for you to use Bremelanotide. The drug has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, if you don’t live in the USA, you have to be sure it has been recommended in your country.
