The studies attribute erectile dysfunction, who take it are enjoying more than ever

At the beginning of the year, Wired talked about Shane Desmond. Desmond (51 years) had been taking Ozempic for a few months, but already noticed its effects: not only had 18 kilos lost, but his sexual appetite had increased significantly. It was one of the many semaglutidal people who had seen how their sexual life He turned a party.

However, a year before, the magazine Ijir: Your Sexual Medicine Journalpublished a study that associated the use of this type of drugs with erectile dysfuction.

We all knew that Ozempic had been a ‘paradigm change’ in anti-obesity treatments, but what was happening with the panties?

A much more difficult question than it seems. Above all, because the world of sexuality, desire and its functions is something tremendously subtle and complex. More than many other parts of the body, really. We know this Medication Improves cardiac healththe kidney diseases And even sleep problems; But we don’t have much idea of ​​how it influences the sexual life of its users.

We have theories, yes.

And weight. To begin with, we know that obesity itself negatively affects the sexual health of people of all sexes. Statistically, like David Sarwer pointed out Of the Faculty of Public Health of the University of Temple, “we observe higher rates of sexual dysfunction (and a degree of difficulty in experiencing satisfaction in sexual activity) both in men and women with obesity.”

The problem here is that it is difficult to know how and why. After all, obesity has very determined comorbilities that already in itself complicate sexual life to anyone. How to know if GLP-1 agonists act on dysfunction itself or only about comorbidities?

Not very good, of course.

But neither does it matter too much because what we know is quite impressive: Sarwer himself He has continued More than a hundred women during the months after bariatic surgery and the improvement of sexual life is incredibly high.

So the erectile dysfunction is not true? Yes, it seems true. Obesity patients use semaglutida They have a slightly greater risk to have erectile dysfunction than the rest. It is not very clear why this happens, but it seems to be something linked to a decrease in testosterone levels.

However, as far as we know, this is a problem only halfway. Not because dysfunction is not something serious, but because the weight loss has associated benefits (doctors, physically and psychosocial) that make general satisfaction to rise in any case.

Anyway, all this is an indication of something else. That there are millions of people consuming a product that (although we know quite certainly that it is very safe) has a rosary of side effects that we do not know in detail.

It is not a problem per se, but it shows the pros and cons of An increasingly medicalized societymore open to biotechnology, more accessible to revolutionary drugs.

Image | HAVEREDAS | Andrea de Santis

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