In a 1997 report, published in Clinical Pharmacological Therapies, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham gave 107 depression sufferers one of four antidepressants: Wellbutrin or three SSRIs -- Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft. Among those taking the SSRIs, 73 percent complained of sex-impairing side effects. Only 14 percent of the Wellbutrin group reported sex problems, while 77 percent said the drug "heightened sexual function."

That same year, in a pilot study at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, eight people who complained of sex-impairing SSRI side effects were told to take a low dose of Wellbutrin in addition. After one month, half reported "marked improvement" in their sex problems. The results were published in Annals of Clinical Psychiatry.

In another 1997 study, reported in Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, researchers at Valparaiso University in Indiana gave Wellbutrin to 14 nondepressed diabetic men with erection problems caused by diabetes. After 10 weeks, they showed improved sexual functioning.

In a 1998 study, researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo repeated the South Carolina study, but on a larger scale. They tested Wellbutrin as an antidote for SSRI-induced sexual impairment in 47 depressed individuals who were told to take the drug an hour or two before sex. Wellbutrin successfully reversed the sex problems in 66 percent of them. The only significant side effect was tremor (in 15 percent).

Wellbutrin watcher Joe Graedon found these studies tantalizing. "There was mounting evidence that Wellbrutrin has a significant pro-sexual effect for people with a variety of conditions. No other drug had ever done that."

But the studies also left him frustrated. "One key question remained unanswered: Is Wellbutrin truly sex enhancing? Or is its ability to improve sexual function simply a result of mood elevation in formerly depressed people taking a drug that didn't kill sexuality? No one had nailed that down."

This year, two studies have focused on this question by testing Wellbutrin as a treatment for sexual dysfunction in people not suffering from depression or any other serious medical condition. Both studies used placebos that looked identical to Wellbutrin pills so subjects could not tell the difference.

At Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, a team led by R. Taylor Seagraves, M.D., a professor of psychiatry, gave Wellbutrin to 66 women, ages 23 to 65, who had experienced low or no libido for an average of six years. All 66 took a placebo for six weeks, then the drug for eight weeks. At the end of the placebo phase of the study, the group averaged 0.9 sexual encounters. But by the end of treatment with Wellbutrin, the figure had more than doubled to 2.3. Extent of sexual arousal also increased significantly, and number of sexual fantasies more than doubled (0.7 to 1.8). "Before starting treatment," Seagraves says, "100 percent of the women were dissatisfied with their level of sexual desire, but by the end of the [Wellbutrin] treatment phase, 40 percent reported feeling satisfied." The drug's only signficant side effects were insomnia (18 percent), tremor (6 percent) and rash (6 percent).

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