Keep it greasy…with Zestra®
Sexual desire an issue? Not feeling it?
That isn’t my problem but when I was approached by the folks at Semprae Labs to test Zestra®, their hormone-free, topical “Essential Arousal Oils™, I thought, hey, what the heck? I’m all for research! And they sent me clinical data supporting its theoretical effectiveness, which peaked my interest even more.
What is Zestra, you ask?
Zestra contains a proprietary blend of borage seed and evening primrose oils (purportedly to increase blood flow and nerve sensitivity), angelica root extract (to improve arousal/desire) and coleus forskohlii extract (to boost performance/orgasm). On its packaging, it says that “Zestra works effortlessly and within minutes by heightening your sensitivity to touch — for deep, pleasurable sensations, sexual satisfaction and fulfillment.
Zestra was tested in a small clinical study comparing its effectiveness versus a placebo oil in 20 women with and without difficulties with arousal. During the study, participants were asked to use Zestra 5 times and then complete a questionnaire on side effects and sexual function (i.e. desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain). Study findings showed the following:
- Participants with normal function reported highly significant improvements in arousal while those with female sexual arousal disorder reported highly significant improvements in arousal, orgasm and satisfaction.
- The most commonly reported side effect was a burning sensation in the genitalia that subsided within 30 minutes.
So, this was the study population.
What about me?
Zestra ain’t “zesty.” The oil has a unpleasant smell. Following application, it heats up the vaginal area but that’s about it – heat – and not the sexual, I want to/have to have you kind of heat. Nope. No increase in desire, arousal or sensitivity to touch. No added improvements in satisfaction. Just one unpleasantly warm, greasy vagina.
Is it just me? Evidently not. Here’s what some friends have to say about Zestra:
“Smells like an overly-sweet candle shop or bad potpourri. Not an enticing scent. Taste is chemical and bitter. Too greasy. Nice, slightly warming effect, but felt no unusual or heightened sensation. Actually had to work harder because I was so turned off by the Zestra scent. Zestra will be sleeping alone from now on!!!”
“OH. MY. F***ING. GOD. I hated that shit. It burned and I couldn’t even wash it off afterward. Who the f**k knows if it increased arousal? I was too busy burning to notice.”
Like my gal pals, I couldn’t wait to shower Zestra off. In fact, Zestra left me wanting less, not more.
I’ve got lots of zest. But not for Zestra. Zestra – you underwhelm and underwow me.
Sorry Semprae. This one’s a dud.
Read MoreWednesday bubble: Cheers! (Please, don’t let me burst this one!)
Can red wine help increase a woman’s sexual desire? Interesting data from an Italian study among 798 women between the ages of 18 and 50 suggest that indeed, it just might.
Researchers divided women without any sexual complaints into three groups:
- More than two glasses of red wine and other types of alcohol (including white wine) daily, and occasional drinkers
- One to two glasses of red wine daily (“moderate intake”)
- Teetotallars
All study participants were asked to complete a questionnaire measuring female sexual functioning, as well as report on their daily alcohol consumption. The questionnaire – the Female Sexual Function Index – contains 19 questions designed to assess desire, arousal, confidence, lubrication, orgasm, and the degree of pain during and after vaginal penetration.
The findings? Overall, women reporting daily moderate red wine drinking (one to two glasses) scored significantly higher in all domains of sexual functioning, including desire and lubrication, than women in the other two groups. More striking, however, was that the women who regularly drank red wine were reportedly older than women in the other two groups.
These study findings, which undoubtedly require more research and a larger study group, do suggest a link between moderate red wine intake and sexual desire, even among older women whose sexual functioning and desire, theoretically declines with age. Of course, there are many other factors that come into play for older women; we know that declining hormones affect the vaginal lining, causing pain and interfering with lubrication. We know that hormones can also affect weight and self-image, which affects desire. And of course, how we interact with our partners is also important.
But study after study all point to medicating ourselves back towards sexual desire. Could it be as simple as a few glasses of antioxidant rich red wine, which may help improve blood flow to key areas of the body, such as the vaginal region?
I’d love to think so.
The jury’s still out. But me? I’m planning on drinking a few glasses of red wine tonight…! I’m inspired; are you?
[Many thanks to my friend Daphne Swancutt for directing me to these data!]
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: sexual desire in midlife
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjNHzU81qY]
Since I’ve embarked on this blog, I’ve run across numerous studies and articles discussing sexual dysfunction and the lack of/declining sexual desire in women entering midlife and menopause. I’ve written quite a few posts about data that suggest that ingesting hormones can help to reverse these trends as well as a post that focuses on the often overlooked health aspects. If you’ve not read them, I encourage you to do so.
However, this post is not about me; it’s about you. It’s also excellent fodder for your partners and I hope that they derive some important tidbits.
I ran across some fascinating research in the online ahead of print edition of the Journal of Sexual Research that will hopefully burst a few bubbles about desire, more specifically, how women (versus researchers) define and characterize sexual desire and whether there is a huge difference between women with and without female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD, the inability to attain or maintain a sexual excitement (genital lubrication, swelling etc.).
The researchers, who based their study on one-one-one interviews with 22 women, mean ages 45 to 55, noted several challenges when characterizing sexual desire:
- Is it a state or action?
- Is it spontaneous and responds to a stimulus?
- Does it precede, follow or is it indistinguishable from sexual arousal?
They added that for women in midlife, social context is also important; mass media, for example, creates unrealistic expectations and culturally perfect images that are not easily recreated in real life or in midlife. Notably, the distorted views that midlife women have towards their bodies have been shown to influence sexual response more than menopausal status.
Here are some key findings:
- Both women with and without FSAD expressed that physical touch was a common trigger or enhancer of sexual desire. Physical proximity was also important, that is, feeling comfortable or safe. Additionally, visual stimuli (e.g. seeing their partner or appealing aspects of their partner, watching erotic films) were common stimulators
- One of the most recurrent themes was that perceived desirability was important: if women felt desired by their partners, they felt more desire. However, their desire was also influenced by their partners’ desire, sexual response, and emotional state of mind, such as depression
- Nearly all the women said that experiencing an emotional and intellectual connection to their partner was essential and the “goal of her desire” (as opposed to simply reaching orgasm or having intercourse)
Overall, the researchers found that women’s descriptions of sexual desire varied little regardless of arousal difficulties. They noted that current measures of sexual desire in clinical studies do not take into account factors such as emotional influences, responsive desire and the importance of context. Rather, they assess how frequently women experience spontaneous sexual desire.
They concluded that “what is deemed dysfunction on a questionnaire might not be dysfunction in reality.”
The key take-away from this study is that women have varying definitions of desire that only become clear when they reflect on them for a period of time. The answers, rather than divergent based on medical conditions, actually converge the longer that women reflect on their experiences.
I am not suggesting that hormones have no role to lay in how we perceive sex and respond to sex as we age. But I find it heartening to see that there are other controllable essential factors that come into play. Be open to the experiences before you and don’t take the answers as THE answers.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: Promises, promises
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Have you heard of Lyriana?
Billing itself as ‘The World’s Most Powerful Sexual Enhancement Product Designed Specifically for Women,” Lyriana promises to:
- Make sex a lot better
- Increase your desire to have sex
- Increase sensitivity, lubrication and…”that rip his clothes off feeling.”
All with a money-back guarantee.
Lyriana is an over-the-counter product containing extracts from the Amm Visnaga plant Visnadine, which evidently was used in ancient Egypt to widen the blood vessels and promote blood flow. Theoretically, the use of visnadine in this matter will improve blood flow to the labia and clitoris to enhance sensitivity, promote lubrication and improve th overall sexual experience.
According to the product website, clinical studies demonstrated the Lyriana effectively improved vaginal dryness in postmenopausal women and did so without irritation or other adverse reactions. Notably, only 27 women were enrolled in their key outcomes study.
So, what do you think? Can Lyriana effectively address sexual issues associated with menopause, including declining desire and lubrication? Or is it just a bunch of promises, promises; another bubble waiting to be popped?
Anyone?!
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: We Ain’t No April Fool’s
Jane Brody. You disappoint me. I wonder why you would lend your name and esteemed reputation to a rather narrow treatise on diminishing sexual desire during menopause and treatments half-answers to an issue that is not just physical but also emotional.
In all fairness, in an article published yesterday’s New York Times Health section Brody provides a thorough introduction to the “why’s” underlying changes in sexual desire. Indeed, I encourage readers of this blog to check it out as the personal anecdotes coupled with scientific information are nteresting and informative. But that’s where the article stops to inform and turns to the old paradigm “menopause as a disease.”
Brody suggests that Estrotest (a drug containing estrogen and testosterone) and transdermal (through the skin) estrogen formulations may help. She also recommends lubricants, and use of the antidepressant Wellbutrin. And she does give self-stimulation a blip, even though that’s where she stops.
So in the most respectful way possible, I’d like to suggest that we ain’t no fools. In fact, with regards to testosterone, data have been anything but favorable as of late. So, ladies, let’s take a look at a positive, empowering non-therapeutic approach that encompasses wellness and self-esteem.
The following was written last November. I am reposting it today to lend another perspective on the issue of hormones and sexual desire.
I’ve written several posts about the use of testosterone for sexual dysfunction in menopausal women and its less than pleasant side effects, such as unwanted hair growth and development of the metabolic syndrome.
Fortunately, Dr. Christiane Northrup has a different and much healthier perspective about sexual dysfunction during the transition.
One of the first things she writes, in her newly published “The Secret Pleasures of Menopause,” is that an important key to achieving health and healthy sex during and after the menopause is to boost one’s nitric oxide levels. Nitric oxide, she explains, is a free radical produced in the lining of blood vessels, by lung and white blood cells, and nerve cells in the brain, that “resets your power grid and reboots your body, a secret weapon for optimal health.”
In order to produce more nitric oxide, you need to engage your mind, body an spirit in positive activities, such as:
- associating with positive people
- eating healthily and exercising
- being kind/taking pride in yourself
- realizing you are what you believe
- letting go of the past and embracing the present
- understanding that health and sex go hand-in-hand
Dr. Northrup suggests that we become “ardent explorers” of our own pleasure, in essence, become our own partners in sex. Turn ourselves on and tell ourselves often that a turned on woman is irresistible. Recognize and release anger as much as we can. Commit to regularly exploring our pleasure potential and live our lives in ways that “excite, motivate, and turns on” other people in our lives.
A few additional tidbits:
- Think heartwarming, sexy, uplifting, kind, loving and positive thoughts about yourself and others EVERY DAY
- Strive for commitment, trust and vulnerability with your partner
- Do things that keep you in touch with your life force…cultivate your inner pleasure and exchange it for stress, and decide that this half of your life is really the best
- Get out of your head and into your body….regularly
Desire pleasure, know that you deserve it, believe you can bring it into your life, overcome your resistance to accepting it, and embrace it.
Honestly, I’m not usually into this touchy feely stuff. But I encourage you to read Dr. Northup’s book and start to practice some of these positive, life affirming, love affirming steps. Pleasure truly starts within by changing our mindsets about our limitations, we can fine tune our bodies in ways that make us and others feel great.
As Dr. Northrup says, our bodies were made to experience unlimited pleasure.
And of course, pleasure begets pleasure….
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: two thumbs down!
[photo credit: Kristian Olsen, photo.net]
There’s a whole lotta buzz going on around testosterone these days…testosterone patches, that is.
The March online edition of the British Medical Journal’s Drug Therapeutics Bulletin has given two thumbs down to Intrinsa, a testosterone patch developed to boost sex drive in women with hypoactive sexual disorder (i.e. who enter menopause due to removal of their wombs and ovaries). Interestingly, the US Food and Drug Administration had enough questions about Intrinsa to refuse marketing approval. However, the European Union gave it’s safety approval rating in 2006, paving the way for launch in the UK last March.
So, what are the concerns?
According to the article’s authors, testosterone patches should not be recommended to address low sex drive in women. Although research has indicated a slight increase in sexual desire/drive among women using the patch, the patches have primarily been tested in a small group of women who are taking HRT and not in other populations. What’s more, questions have been raised about study methodology; e.g. diagnosis was made on short, unvalidated questionnaires and some participants were already having sex regularly at the time they entered the trial, which begs the question – where was the improvement?
Concerns have also been raised about the long-term safety of the patches, which researchers say is unknown. Two pivotal trials demonstrated side effects rates in about 75% of women, mostly relating to sites on the body where the patches were applied. But 1% of women also experienced acne, excess hair growth, hair loss, breast pain, weight gain, insomnia, voice deepening and migraine headaches. Testosterone can also increase cholesterol levels, which potentially prevents their use in women who have an increased risk of heart disease.
Although no firm conclusions have been made, the researchers do say that they “cannot recommend Intriansa for use in women with sexual dysfunction.”
So, the jury’s out. Avoid testosterone patches. And focus on other methods to improve sexual desire and drive if it becomes problematic as hormone levels drop. Personally, I like Dr. Christina Northrup’s approach to boost nitric oxide levels — natural, empowering, pleasurable!
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