February 11, 2009 8:06 PM
Womens' Sexual Woes Get Attention
Female sexual dysfunction: For years, it was hardly talked about, but that's changing now. This is the first in a two-part HealthWatch investigation series.
For decades women have been quietly keeping their sexual problems to themselves, but that all changed about six years ago, when the little blue pill made it's big debut
Suddenly women started asking, "If men can have their sex lives fixed, what about us?"
So women began calling the offices of Dr. Irwin Goldstein, an expert in male sexual health at Boston University School of Medicine.
The women, he says, were calling "in droves. It was amazing." And, as CBS News Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports, a new era was born.
"Viagra became this empowerment moment, so a woman would say, 'Well, perhaps this little pill could help me, cause this problem is killing me,'" says Goldstein.
It turns out Viagra doesn't work for women, but it did shed light on the fact that 40 percent of American women of all ages have some kind of sexual problem.
It's known as female sexual dysfunction, or FSD. Symptoms include lack of desire, lack of pleasure and painful intercourse. The causes are equally varied: menopause, surgery, childbirth and sometimes no reason at all.
At age 42, Elizabeth Hartofelis had no idea why she'd lost interest in sex.
"It wasn't completely gone, but it didn't have the same oomph anymore," says Hartofelis.
For Lillian Arleque, the problems started after the birth of her first child.
It was, she says, like a switch had been turned off.
Both women were in long and loving marriages. Both were told the problem was mental, not physical.
"Clearly for me it was a physical issue, and I knew it, but I couldn't get anyone to diagnose it," says Arleque.
Arleque spent 25 years looking for a solution and eventually wound up at the office of Goldstein, who discovered she had low testosterone levels and prescribed a gel she rubs onto the back of her leg every day.
Hartofelis also had low testosterone.
"It was very reassuring that someone had a medical reason for what was happening to me," says Hartofelis.
Arleque is now writing a book on the topic, because she feels so many women are losing out.
"I say as long as you're living and breathing you should be able to have a great sex life," says Arleque.
But the topic of FSD is controversial. Skeptics like Leonore Teifer, a sex therapist, believe female sexuality is too complicated to brand with a catchall diagnosis.
"I think it's a manufactured term to create a market for drugs," says Teifer.
Sure enough, there's plenty of desire on the part of drug companies to find a cure.
In part two of the report: a look at the race to find the female Viagra.
For decades women have been quietly keeping their sexual problems to themselves, but that all changed about six years ago, when the little blue pill made it's big debut
Suddenly women started asking, "If men can have their sex lives fixed, what about us?"
So women began calling the offices of Dr. Irwin Goldstein, an expert in male sexual health at Boston University School of Medicine.
The women, he says, were calling "in droves. It was amazing." And, as CBS News Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports, a new era was born.
"Viagra became this empowerment moment, so a woman would say, 'Well, perhaps this little pill could help me, cause this problem is killing me,'" says Goldstein.
It turns out Viagra doesn't work for women, but it did shed light on the fact that 40 percent of American women of all ages have some kind of sexual problem.
It's known as female sexual dysfunction, or FSD. Symptoms include lack of desire, lack of pleasure and painful intercourse. The causes are equally varied: menopause, surgery, childbirth and sometimes no reason at all.
At age 42, Elizabeth Hartofelis had no idea why she'd lost interest in sex.
"It wasn't completely gone, but it didn't have the same oomph anymore," says Hartofelis.
For Lillian Arleque, the problems started after the birth of her first child.
It was, she says, like a switch had been turned off.
Both women were in long and loving marriages. Both were told the problem was mental, not physical.
"Clearly for me it was a physical issue, and I knew it, but I couldn't get anyone to diagnose it," says Arleque.
Arleque spent 25 years looking for a solution and eventually wound up at the office of Goldstein, who discovered she had low testosterone levels and prescribed a gel she rubs onto the back of her leg every day.
Hartofelis also had low testosterone.
"It was very reassuring that someone had a medical reason for what was happening to me," says Hartofelis.
Arleque is now writing a book on the topic, because she feels so many women are losing out.
"I say as long as you're living and breathing you should be able to have a great sex life," says Arleque.
But the topic of FSD is controversial. Skeptics like Leonore Teifer, a sex therapist, believe female sexuality is too complicated to brand with a catchall diagnosis.
"I think it's a manufactured term to create a market for drugs," says Teifer.
Sure enough, there's plenty of desire on the part of drug companies to find a cure.
In part two of the report: a look at the race to find the female Viagra.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
