Oxytocin spray is used to increase sexual pleasure and promote well-being

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to instantly improve your mood and feel a sense of well being just by injecting a spray medication into your nose? It sounds like the synopsis of a science fiction movie, but it’s actually what some people have been looking for when using oxytocin, known as “love hormone”, in spray.

That’s what sports nutritionist Larissa Coelho, 37, did. “I got irritated very easily and anything was a trigger for me. So I decided to use the medicine on my own”, says the paulista who currently lives in Mexico.

Coelho says that, in fact, he felt very good after using the spray, but ended up giving up due to the quick duration and a side effect.

“It was very good, but it burned the nasal cavity. And it got even worse because I have rhinitis. I decided to try to manipulate it in a larger dosage so I don’t have to keep using it all the time. Can you imagine how much it burned? It felt like a blowtorch in the nose.”

However, unlike movie stories, it is not recommended to seek increased sexual pleasure, promote well-being, be more sociable or reduce stress with medication, indicated to assist in breastfeeding. There is a lack of scientific evidence proving that the spray can alter mood or promote more pleasure.

Oxytocin, known as the love hormone, is produced by a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, says gynecologist and obstetrician Karla Giusti, from Hospital São Luiz Itaim, from Rede D’or São Luiz.

“She is responsible for promoting uterine contractions, acting in labor and postpartum, to reduce bleeding after the baby is born and increase the release of breast milk”, lists the specialist. In addition, the hormone also assists in bone metabolism, participates in the orgasm mechanism, acts in social relationships and reduces fear.

It is precisely because it is related to these situations and is released when we are close to someone that oxytocin has been dubbed the “love hormone”. Along with other feel-good neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine and endorphin, it also lowers cortisol levels, which is the cause of stress and anxiety.

Because of its effect on childbirth and lactation, scientists have developed a synthetic version of oxytocin to help women who experience difficulties at such times.

“When a labor does not progress, we make an infusion of intravenous oxytocin to induce and help increase uterine contractions”, informs endocrinologist Mauro Antonio Czepielewski, director of the Department of Neuroendocrinology at SBEM (Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabology).

The spray version, in turn, is used to aid in breastfeeding. “If breastfeeding does not happen optimally, either because the baby’s suction is reduced or because the nipple is inverted, the oxytocin spray helps because it generates small contractions in the region to eliminate milk”, says Czepielewski.

Despite the hormone itself being associated with well-being, social relationships and sex, Czepielewski claims there is not enough evidence to recommend spray oxytocin for these purposes.

“There are a number of issues that are not well documented scientifically and the benefits are quite debatable. So much so that, if you look at the leaflet, none of this is present in it. There are no laboratories that have registered the drug for these purposes”, says the endocrinologist.

The expert says that in the last two decades, scientists have been looking into the possibility of using oxytocin in spray for other purposes.

A study by a group of scientists at the University of Vienna, Austria, followed 30 couples whose partners suffered from hypoactive sexual desire disorder – a syndrome marked by a deficiency or lack of desire to have sex – for five months.

During this period, women were given a dose of oxytocin nasal spray or placebo 50 minutes before having sex. After analyzing the perception of both women and men, the scientists concluded that the impact of the drug and the placebo on quality of life and sexual performance was exactly the same. That is, there was no benefit in using oxytocin.

When it comes to use for psychological or social stimulation, the results are similar.

A 2014 study by universities in Germany, China and the United States investigated the effect of spray oxytocin on fear.

The experiment with 62 volunteers showed that the drug had the potential to lessen fear stimuli more easily, but that more clinical studies were needed to hammer out this possibility. This is the conclusion of most research done to date on the effect of synthetic oxytocin spray in the treatment of psychological disorders.

A more recent review of studies from La Trobe University in Australia showed something similar. The researchers analyzed 17 studies, with the participation of 466 people in total, on the impact of the drug on patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, which involve disorders of attention, memory, social interaction, among others. They say it is difficult to draw conclusions about the drug’s potential and that the results underscore the need for better-designed randomized clinical trials.

“Although some people can use it for this purpose, it is not recommended because there is already endogenous circulating oxytocin, generated by the body itself”, concludes gynecologist Giusti.

In addition to the benefits not being fully clarified, there is still the risk of suffering from side effects. Larissa lived with one of them: nasal irritation. But this is not the only one.

“Indiscriminate or excessive use can lead to headaches, tachycardia, nausea, vomiting, uterine colic and eventually gastrointestinal disorders”, says the gynecologist.

“Of course, the aspirated amount needs to be large, but we have described cases in which the medication did not have the effect that the patient wanted and, therefore, he increased the dose until he began to suffer side effects”, adds endocrinologist Czepielewski .

The indication is to seek professional help if you suffer from any mental or sexual disorder. That’s what Larissa did, after being diagnosed with depression a few years later. “I started to treat myself with a psychiatrist and now I’m taking medication. It’s doing the job”, she concludes.