HORMONES TO INCREASE LIBIDO IN WOMEN

Report #6671 12/5/95

Women can expect to lose interest in making love when they are tired, overworked, sick, miserable or in an unrewarding relationship. Some women lose interest in making love, when everything else seems to be under control. These women can often benefit from testosterone therapy, the only known aphrodisiac for women.

Women with low blood levels of testosterone (below 10 nanograms per milliliter) usually have little interest in making love. No woman should be given male hormones until she has had a thorough health screen by a doctor who is familiar with the use of that hormone. If and when her desire increases, she can stop taking testosterone.

Short-term administration of the low doses of testosterone necessary to revive a woman's sexuality rarely cause a woman to grow hair on her face. There are several ways that a woman can take testosterone. She can have a pellet containing 100 mg of testosterone inserted under the skin, not more often than every 6 to 8 months.) Another method is to receive 50 to 100 mg of testosterone enanthate by injection once every three or four weeks for a few months. Testosterone pills can lower blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol and increase a woman's chances of suffering a heart attack. The FDA has just approved a new testosterone patch for men, called Androderm, that can be placed anywhere on the skin. There are no studies yet on how it should be used on women.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News