His and Her Health

Sept. 20, 2004 -- A drug used to treat seizures and shingles pain may
help men with premature ejaculation, a case study shows.

It's estimated that 25% to 40% of men struggle with premature
ejaculation. The report by Pierre Chue, MD, of the University of
Alberta, Canada, focuses on just one man.

It is, however, an interesting case. Mr. X, Chue notes, is 40 years
old and has always had a problem with premature ejaculation. Chue says
he tried all kinds of remedies, including:

* The "stop-pause, stop-squeeze" coital techniques with his partner
* A condom lined with lidocaine, a sensation-deadening drug
* SSRI antidepressants, which can have an antiejaculation side effect
* Antianxiety medications, which made Mr. X sleepy
* Alcohol

Only the latter treatment -- that is, drinking alcoholic beverages
before sex -- seemed to help. "Clearly this was not a feasible regular
option," Chue wryly notes in the September issue of the Canadian
Journal of Psychiatry.

But the patient's success with booze gave Chue a clue. Alcohol, he
reasoned, releases a chemical in the brain called GABA. The
antiseizure drug Neurontin also seems to up GABA. So Chue tried giving
Mr. X a dose of Neurontin one or two hours before intercourse.

Success! Neurontin worked just as well as alcohol for Mr. X, and with
no side effects at the 300-milligram dose. Doubling the dose to 600
milligrams delayed Mr. X's ejaculation even longer, but also made him
sleepy.

Neurontin "merits further consideration, particularly in those men for
whom other therapies are ineffective or poorly tolerated," Chue suggests.