By: Joe Graedon November 21, 2024 211 Comments
    Women Who Want Sex More Than Men

    There's a popular stereotype that guys have only one thing on their minds. SEX! The implication is that women have to fend men off and that women are much less interested in making love. Based on our …

    By: Terry Graedon October 10, 2024 4 Comments
    How to Improve Women’s and Men’s Sex…

    Long before there was Viagra (sildenafil) for men or Addyi (flibanserin) for women, healers around the world were seeking ways to enhance human sexuality. That often meant special foods or spices such…

    By: Joe Graedon September 30, 2024 3 Comments
    Empowering or Risky? Testosterone Therapy in Wom…

    The way we teach the biology of hormones is confusing. From an early age, kids are told that testosterone is a male hormone whereas estrogen is a female hormone. Young men have sometimes been accused …

    By: Joe Graedon September 16, 2024 40 Comments
    Will Testosterone Help Women Feel Strong and Sex…

    If we say low testosterone, you might think of a TV ad starring a middle-aged man worried about "low T." But even though testosterone is considered the quintessential "male" hormone, women make it too…

    By: Joe Graedon May 27, 2024 24 Comments
    Statins Diminish Sex Drive and Lower Testosteron…

    As visitors to this website know, statin-type cholesterol-lowering medicines remain among the most popular drugs in the pharmacy. Many cardiologists maintain that such medications are extremely safe, …

    By: Terry Graedon January 15, 2024 12 Comments
    Is Saltpeter to Kill Sex Drive a Myth?

    The power of sex on our collective imaginations means that people have concocted scores of myths about this fascinating topic. One that comes up time after time is the idea of using a substance to sup…

    By: Terry Graedon November 27, 2023 8 Comments
    Advice on Lowering Libido Raises Ire

    It really should not surprise anyone that discussions about sex often elicit strong emotions. From time to time, we hear from a person who wants advice on lowering libido. Often, this arises because t…

    By: Terry Graedon March 18, 2021 8 Comments
    Show 1251: How Chemicals Are Threatening Our Hea…

    Sperm counts have been falling for decades. In fact, they’re down 50 percent over the last four decades. Should we worry about young men’s health and fertility? How can we explain this trend? Thre…

    By: Joe Graedon February 1, 2021 17 Comments
    Can Antidepressant (Paroxetine) Make Sex Exhaust…

    So many couples struggle with their sex lives. The partners may have inherent differences in their sex drives that create tension or guilt and interfere with enjoyment. In other instances, medication …

    By: Terry Graedon March 2, 2020 11 Comments
    Will Testosterone Shots Overcome Your Low Libido…

    Some men report reduced interest in sex as they grow older. For a while, the most popular explanation was "low T." This made doctors nervous, since they feared that men who wouldn't actually benefit w…

    By: Terry Graedon January 9, 2020 7 Comments
    New Guidelines for Treating Low Testosterone

    Around the turn of the 21st century, drug companies started advertising testosterone on television. They implied that many men suffered from low testosterone and suggested that “low T” could be re…

    By: Terry Graedon January 6, 2020 4 Comments
    What Can Woman Do About Lower Sex Drive from Flu…

    Balancing the benefits and harms of medications can be quite a challenge. Doctors have known for decades that SSRI-type antidepressant drugs such as fluoxetine (Prozac) or paroxetine (Paxil) can affec…

    By: Terry Graedon December 23, 2019 4 Comments
    How Testosterone Cream Could Revive Libido

    Most people associate menopause with hot flashes. Fair enough, but millions of women going through this change of life complain of a drop in sex drive. Is there any way to restore libido after menopau…

    By: Joe Graedon August 8, 2019 11 Comments
    Testosterone Enhances Libido and Improves Female…

    How well does testosterone work to increase women's sex drive? Many people assume that androgens like testosterone are purely male hormones. Wrong! Women actually make more androgen than estrogen (Fer…

    By: Terry Graedon August 8, 2019 0 Comments
    FDA Approved New Drug to Increase Sexual Desire

    A lot of medications can interfere with libido, but relatively few increase sexual desire, especially in women. Four years ago (on August 18, 2015), the Food and Drug Administration approved a pill ca…

    By: Terry Graedon May 6, 2019 8 Comments
    Prostate Drug Dutasteride Shrinks Prostate and P…

    Dutasterice (Avodart) has a powerful effect on the prostate gland. The history of this medication and its chemical cousin finasteride (Proscar) is a medical mystery. It all started in the Dominican Re…

    By: Joe Graedon May 2, 2019 11 Comments
    How Can a Man Tell if He Needs More Testosterone…

    The FDA has been quite clear that it doesn't approve of routine prescribing of testosterone, even if men have low levels of this hormone. Here is the official word from the feds: "None of the FDA-appr…

    By: Joe Graedon October 22, 2018 10 Comments
    Bupropion Helps With Mood, Sex and Quitting Smok…

    Bupropion (Wellbutrin) was first approved by the FDA in 1985 to treat depression. It remains a totally unique antidepressant. There is no similar antidepressant on the market. Unlike SSRI and SNRI ant…

    By: Terry Graedon October 4, 2018 13 Comments
    Show 1137: What Should You Know About Women̵…

    Viagra became a household name almost as soon as the drug was introduced. Before that, though, few men were willing to talk about erectile dysfunction. When it comes to women’s sexual health, we see…

    By: Terry Graedon September 10, 2017 6 Comments
    Mint Tea Lowers Her Sex Drive to Match His

    What can a woman do when her sex drive is more powerful than her partner's? We have heard from innumerable women with this problem. Sex and desire are still sufficiently taboo topics that there are ve…

    By: Joe Graedon June 26, 2017 12 Comments
    Dutasteride (Avodart) Sexual Side Effects Can Be…

    Avodart was approved by the FDA in 2001 to treat symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland. Dutasteride (the generic name) inhibits an enzyme called 5 alpha reductase (5AR). This reduces the conversion o…

    By: Joe Graedon March 16, 2017 9 Comments
    Will Drugs for Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH)…

    Millions of men are discovering that an enlarged prostate gland is negatively affecting the quality of their lives. But two popular prescription drugs designed to treat benign prostate hyperplasia (BP…

    By: Terry Graedon October 27, 2016 6 Comments
    What Is the Trouble with Too Much Testosterone?

    The FDA has just issued a stronger warning about the hazards of too much testosterone. The previous warning from January, 2014, told men that taking testosterone could put them at risk for heart attac…

    By: Joe Graedon September 26, 2016 2 Comments
    Sex Problems Result from Tamsulosin for Urinatio…

    When the prostate gland gets big, it can make it harder to urinate. Men with benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) often complain that they have to get up three or four times a night to pee. Medications …

    By: Joe Graedon September 26, 2016 8 Comments
    Prescription for Licorice Pills Was Almost Letha…

    When most people think of licorice (or liquorice in the UK), they imagine candy such as licorice twists, Panda All Natural Soft Licorice, Twizzlers, Good & Plenty or Dutch Licorice Cats. But licor…

    By: Joe Graedon July 4, 2016 8 Comments
    Testosterone Side Effects: How Scary Are They?

    Treatment with the male hormone testosterone has been highly controversial for years. The FDA makes it clear that testosterone side effects are worrisome and physicians should NOT prescribe the hormo…

    By: Joe Graedon March 3, 2016 5 Comments
    Is Flibanserin, the Female Sex Pill, A Big Fizzl…

    An article published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week reports that the new female libido-enhancing drug flibanserin (Addyi) led to "one-half of an additional sexually satisfying encounter per month…

    By: Joe Graedon February 28, 2016 17 Comments
    What Are the Pros and Cons of Testosterone Thera…

    Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been one of the most controversial and contentious treatments in medicine for decades. Now, TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) is following a similar trajecto…

    By: Joe Graedon February 18, 2016 17 Comments
    Will Testosterone Turbocharge Your Sex Drive and…

    A new federally-funded study about testosterone therapy published in the New England Journal of Medicine has created quite a stir. It seems that when testosterone gel (AndroGel) was given to men over …

    By: Joe Graedon October 12, 2015 17 Comments
    Husband Seeking Ways to Lower Wife’s Libid…

    Q. I am a male and I feel horrible that I can't match my wife's libido any more. We are both in our 30s, and my sex drive has decreased over time while her libido has drastically increased. I've been …

    By: Joe Graedon September 14, 2015 3 Comments
    Anti-Anxiety Drug Causes Problems in the Bedroom

    There are so many things that can interfere with a satisfying sex life that it sometimes amazes us. Many of these problems do have solutions, though, including one of the most common: an incompatibili…

    By: Joe Graedon August 24, 2015 7 Comments
    Is It Safe to Use Testosterone to Boost Sex Driv…

    When most people think about differences in sex drive between men and women, they automatically assume that men want sex a lot more than women. That is not always true. We have received an amazing num…

    By: Joe Graedon August 20, 2015 15 Comments
    The Inside Story on the Female Sex Pill Flibanse…

    There has been a great deal of excitement about the FDA's announcement that it has finally approved Addyi for women with low sex drive. Not surprisingly, this is the hot health story this week and the…

    By: Joe Graedon June 15, 2015 5 Comments
    Sex Pill for Women Cracks Medical Taboo

    The topic of women's sexuality has been taboo for centuries. Both men and women are often uncomfortable discussing female libido. Men's sexuality, on the other hand, has received a lot of attention. P…

    By: Joe Graedon June 4, 2015 5 Comments
    FDA Panel Votes to Approve Flibanserin, the Firs…

    The third try was the charm. In two previous presentations to the Food and Drug Administration the makers of flibanserin (Addyi) failed to pass muster. But on Thursday afternoon, June 4, 2015, a pane…

    By: Terry Graedon February 17, 2014 34 Comments
    How Long Do Drug Side Effects Last? For Some, Pe…

    When most physicians prescribe medications, they may not realize they could be in danger of violating the Hippocratic principle to first do no harm. That's because virtually every drug has the potenti…

    By: Terry Graedon February 13, 2014 3 Comments
    Will Drug for Boosting Women’s Libido Pass…

    An experimental drug for low libido in women may yet find a way to earn FDA approval. Flibanserin failed to receive a green light last year because the agency determined that the drug's effects were t…

    By: Joe Graedon October 17, 2013 404 Comments
    What Can A Woman Do To Kill Her Sex Drive?

    This article was written several years ago in response to a question from a visitor to this web site. Since that time we have received nearly 400 comments from other visitors to this page. Many are he…

    By: Joe Graedon March 1, 2012 6 Comments
    Can DHEA Turbo-Charge Your Sex Life?

    As we get older, we may find it more difficult to stay sexually active. Could the over-the-counter supplement DHEA be the answer to turbo-charge your sex life? Can a Supplement Turbo-Charge Your Sex L…

    By: Terry Graedon February 1, 2012 6 Comments
    Older Women Are Still Interested in Sexual Satis…

    People often assume that older people are not interested in sex. A new survey from Southern California suggests that is not true. 800 women between the ages 40 and 82 answered questions about their se…