NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – For years there has been a pill out there to help men with their sex drive.
But now a pill for women is one step closer to being available.
“It’s a really difficult thing to say to the man that you love that you are not really interested in having sex with him,” said Amanda Parrish of Brentwood.
She said her sex life used to be better.
“We had a really strong chemistry,” said Parrish.
She said about three years into the relationship she noticed a change.
“I was quickly becoming one of those women who would either pretend to be asleep before he came to bed at night or come up with a headache,” Parrish recalled.
She said she decided to join the clinical trial for a pill called, Flibanserin, or the “Female Viagra.”
“The first thing that happened, driving down the road one day talking to my husband in the middle of the day, for no apparent reason, I got a little flutter and it was not a flutter in my heart, so I immediately let him know, ‘Hey, I think this thing is working,’” said Parrish. “It literally was like the light switch was turned back on and I was having thoughts in the middle of the day about him.”
“This drug it was like really turning back the clock for us, so it was very exciting,” said Ben Parrish.
The Food and Drug Administration has twice rejected the pill since 2010 because of side effects including fatigue, low blood pressure and fainting.
Thursday an FDA panel voted in favor of approving it only if the manufacturer comes up with a plan to limit those risks.
“I was very fortunate. I didn’t have just modest benefit, I had significant benefit and I had absolutely no side effects,” said Parrish.
She said it has been a struggle since the clinical trial ended.
“Since that time I’ve done anything from read ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ 12 times, to ordering voodoo medicine off the Internet,” said Parrish.
Now that she knows what works, she hopes the pill appears on the market very soon.
“We’ll be the first in line to get it,” said Parrish.
A full decision from the FDA is expected by the end of the summer.