The content of this podcast is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as,

nor should it be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.

Welcome to Ichi and Bichi, a podcast where you can get answers to health problems that you thought couldn't be solved.

I'm Karen Nicholl, Family Nurse Practitioner, and I am in with Forest Wenzel, our producer and writer of our theme music.

And I have a listener questions today from Connie with a K.

And normally I would do questions from several listeners, but Connie had many questions and I wanted to make sure to answer all those and I think the answers will be helpful to many of you.

Her first question is, please discuss things to do for low libido.

I went from nympho to no-no.

They make viagra for men. Why not something for women? We need it worse.

So Connie Viagra, which is generic name, Sildenafil, can be prescribed off label for women.

Off label prescribing is when a drug is prescribed for you that the US Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, has approved to treat a condition different than your condition.

This practice is very common and is indeed legal, as a matter of fact, one in five prescriptions written today are for off label use.

Sildenafil is a class of medications called phosphodiesterase inhibitors or PDEs.

These meds dilate blood vessels, which results in increased blood flow to erectile tissue.

Of course, we assume that only means the tissue in the penis, but the female clitoris is also comprised of erectile tissue.

So guess what? It can impact females as well.

Medications like viagra increase sensitivity, arousal, and orgasmic function.

They don't really target sex drive, although that may be a secondary benefit if your sensitivity and orgasms are better.

It also has been seen to provide benefit to women who are taking antidepressants that cause sexual side effects, like difficulty achieving orgasm.

Because it dilates blood vessels, the meds in this class can cause low blood pressure.

So people who are taking other meds that cause vasodilation, like daily nitroglycerin, should use these meds with caution.

Because your blood pressure could get just so low that you could have injury or even death.

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