Sex Hurts, But There’s A Pill For That

We all know that love hurts, but for many postmenopausal women, sex hurts more. That’s because lower estrogen render vaginal tissues thinner, drier and more fragile. Now comes FDA approval for a new drug, Osphena, which, in FDA speak, “acts like estrogen on vaginal tissues to make them thicker and less fragile, resulting in a reduction in the amount of pain women experience with sexual intercourse.” The FDA reports that three clinical studies involving nearly 1,900 postmenopausal women with signs of vulvar and vaginal atrophy, or thinning and fragile vaginal tissue, found that 12 weeks of treatment with Osphena (one pill a day) resulted in significantly less pain during sex than the women in the placebo group. Still, the agency notes that the drug should be prescribed for the shortest duration needed. Common side effects reported during clinical trials included hot flush/flashes, vaginal discharge, muscle spasms, genital discharge and excessive sweating.  Remember those? Read more from the FDA.