A new natural pill claiming to boost libido was an exciting idea for Alexandra Petra. Here’s a (quite detailed) account of what happened when she took it for 30 days!
There’s a point in every long-term relationship when desire flat lines. Love changes and other shared interests come to the fore.
It’s sad when the urgency ebbs away, the irresistible tug of lust, but ‘never mind’ you think at least we have our shared passion for film noir/early goth rock/rare stamps to fall back on.
Except this handy safety net for long-term love is not something I can count on because, in my relationship our shared interest IS sex. There’s nothing else, sex is the glue that bonds us. And I mean nothing except perhaps a similar taste in riding boots, which is how it all started.
He spotted my Spanish riding boots across the internet (OK, yes, it was Tinder). Our first real date was in my flat and four years later he’s still there unblocking the drains with swarthy forearms and buying cat food (we do both love the cat so we have that in common at least).
Research shows I’m far from alone in my dwindling desire
I’m not too bothered about the shared interests – he tells me I’m hot and I think he’s cool, who cares that the only author we both love is Charles Bukowski – if we’re into each other?
But what does bother me is the lack of lust. It’s not that I fancy him any less. Every time I look at him, I think PHWOAR, but it’s taking me longer and longer to get warmed up. There’s the small issue of a decade between us – and yes he is younger – yet we both collude in the illusion that I’m still 36, which seems to work, but the reality is my hormones are heading south.
I don’t want the fug pheromones that seem to have bewitched him to vanish in the puff of the menopause, but I admit, I’m struggling to keep up.
Not only is he a decade younger, with the lean honed body of a bona fide Diet Coke builder, who spends his working hours wrestling great lumps of steel, the advertised slogan on his Tinder profile: ‘armed and dangerous’ was no idle boast.
I’ve always been a highly sexed person, so that lust should dry up now seems like God’s cruel joke
What can I say, there’s a lot to accommodate and I’m just not as limber as I once was, which can be painful. You can have too much of a good thing, I find, if you’re not in the mood. I’ve generally always been a highly sexed person, so that lust should dry up now seems like God’s cruel joke.
As research shows I’m far from alone in my dwindling desire. Published figures on the prevalence of sexual dysfunction, as defined by both libido and satisfaction, in women vary greatly, with estimates ranging between 25% and 63%. The prevalence in postmenopausal women is believed to be much higher, with rates given between 68% and up to 86.5%.
Could a new, natural take on ‘female Viagra’ give me the hots?
If someone could offer me a little natural pill to switch it all back on and and rev it all up. Would I take it? Damn right I would.
I’m not really one for popping pills but unlike the little blue diamonds beloved of gentleman of a certain age, this is an all-natural, non-prescription supplement, containing a blend of natural aphrodisiacs. Lady Prelox, or Lady P as I soon start to think of it, offers a natural yet potent mix of plant-based ingredients backed by scientific research.
So what’s actually in this new natural pill to boost sex drive?
First up, Pycnogenol – pronounced pic-noj-en-all, a botanical extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree known for its potent antioxidant and vasodilatory properties, which restores healthy blood flow – more blood in your genitals equals more turned on – and is endorsed by over 40 years of research numbering over 100 clinical trials, 420 scientific publications and over 7,000 study participants. So not to be sniffed at.
Next up Rosvita a patented rosehip extract made from the blossoms of a wild rose plant and potent antioxidant bursting with vitamin C. This is an effective anti-fatigue agent, which can be extremely helpful to keep you going. There’s also L-arginine, an amino acid which plays a key role in making nitric oxide, which controls blood flow to the genital area
The final active ingredient is L-Citrulline. A naturally occurring amino acid and precursor of L-Arginine, L-Citrulline has been shown to help open-up veins and arteries to improve blood flow and reduce blood pressure. So, potentially, the cherry on the cake of your orgasm.
Is there any science behind it?
I’m interested to see what happens when I try this little pink pill for myself. But don’t take my word for it. There’s real science behind this stuff with not just one but two blind studies – when participants have no idea whether the pill they’re taking contains active ingredients or just sugar, ruling out the placebo effect – showing a significant effect in both peri-menopausal (whither intermittent periods, due to falling hormones) and menopausal women.
In the study, perimenopausal women improved by 73% after two months
The perimenopausal women improved by 60% after one month and 73% after two months, compared to the placebo group, who improved by 40 and 46%, so a significant difference in desire, arousal capacity and difficulty in achieving orgasm. The Lady Prelox group also reported fewer menopausal symptoms, like night sweats, hot flushes and insomnia.
What happened to the menopausal women? Their results were just as good, according to their FSFI (a questionnaire that looks at at desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain on penetration) they were approximately 75% more lusty than the experimental group.
In a separate study measuring the effects of the pill on a pre-menopausal group found that Lady Prelox stoked their libido, almost doubling their arousal and other sexual function scores in a month, with added improvements seen after eight weeks.
Yes, yes, YES, it works.
After the very first pill I felt a distinct tingle. The boy wasn’t around, so I was left to my own devices….. But then I read the Lady Prelox instruction leaflet and realised I’d fallen prey to the placebo effect – otherwise known as the power of the imagination. The results aren’t instant in the same way as Viagra, but instead build gradually, over the weeks and months, as the ingredients take hold.
After that it was business as usual. But then, after a month or so, things really did start to hot up.
The boy turned up with a bag of new underwear and I launched myself on him. The idea of this hulk of a man looking a little out of place in the knicker department of M&S was somehow incredibly HOT, or was it the Lady P working her way into my affections? ‘That was really not bad,’ – he is the master of understatement – he says when he finally comes up for air. ‘I should buy you pants more often.’
If we’re going to put a number on it I’d say clitoral sensitivity jumped from a lacklustre 6 to oh la la 8/10. Orgasm intensity is now a shuddering 9/10, like Guinness the Lady P was reaching all the right parts. My pussy is plumped up and juicy and more responsive to the touch, his, mine, the vibrator (once she gets going, she’s really not that fussy). I’m wetter. I’m ruder. I’m generally friskier. I feel sexy.
In the end, I think I was a little too much.
Lady P is nothing if not demanding. It didn’t seem to matter to her that my man was now working long night shifts, she still wanted her way and then some. ‘Do you fancy a shag,’ I’d say hopefully the second after he climbed into bed, looking totally shagged already. ‘Gawd no,’ he’d groan. I’ve turned into a sex pest. But secretly I think he’s enjoying it, this lusty new me. ‘You’re awesome honey,’ he says as I shower him with kisses at 5am, heading down under the covers before he can escape to work.
Credit: I tried a new pill to boost libido and this is what happened (healthista.com)