Can taking the pill dull a woman's desire forever?
<b>Can taking the pill dull a woman's desire forever?</b>
27 May 2005
Special Report from New Scientist Print Edition
ORAL contraceptives may free a woman to have sex without fear of getting pregnant, but they could also extinguish her desire.
The pill has been associated with many side effects, including blood clots, migraines and weight gain. Perhaps least talked about is its tendency to dull libido by decreasing testosterone levels.
Contraceptive drugs curb the hormone's production in the ovaries and also raise levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), a substance that takes it out of play. But it is unclear how common problems are in pill users. Until now, any sexual dysfunction, including loss of libido, muted or non-existent orgasms or painful intercourse, was thought to be reversible when women stopped taking the drug.
Irwin Goldstein, Claudia Panzer and their colleagues at Boston University studied 125 young women who attended a sexual dysfunction clinic. Sixty-two of them were taking oral contraceptives, 40 had previously taken them and 23 had never taken them. The team measured levels of SHBG in the women every three months for a year, and found that in pill users they were seven times as high as in women who had never taken them. Levels had declined a bit in women who had stopped taking the pill, but remained three to four times as high as in those who had never taken it, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in Washington DC last week. "There's the possibility it is imprinting a woman for the rest of her life," says Goldstein.
From issue 2501 of New Scientist magazine, 27 May 2005, page 17
Ugh... that's fun to hear. I had a big problem with the BCP Demulen - totally killed my sex drive and a pill had never done that before and it seems it never really came back since then... and that was 4 years ago! I have often wondered if it may have had some long term effect but I kept feeling nah, that's impossible...
Hmmmm.
Arg!
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And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
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That's interesting because the only reason I'm on the pill is because my sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) is very low, so the oestrogen in my pill (Dianette) should increase my SHBG and maybe keep it high for a few years....probably the same level as 'normal' women. My sex drive hasn't changed one bit in the past 4 months of Dianette by the way.
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This is kinda weird. I have a kinda higher than normal sex drive. I actually want it more than he does sometimes. I’ve been on BCP’s since I was 16 (when I started having my problems with PCOS that wouldn’t be dx’d for 5 years). I stopped taking the pill for about 2 years when I was without health insurance. During that time was when I had a low drive. I’ve been back on the pills for almost a year and a half now and my drive is back up.
Yes!! I am Orvo Novum 777 and it kills my desire. But I love threst of the benefits from it. I'm now looking into seeing about another BCP that will give me all the benefits I like plus give me my sex drive back.
It's also worth remembering that so much of a woman's sex drive is psychological and not worrying about pregnancy can really relax her and make her feel keener to have sex! I know that it is possible for BCPs to lower the libido - it's in the list of side-effects in the packet - but this is not always the case. I've never noticed any problem.
Alex
Well I never had a problem with my sex life and I didn't know that the BCP would kill my desire but it did. I'm 42 and I don't won't any more children so I know there's no worries and there and that isn't keeping me anxious to want sex or not. It's the BCP!
I've been on Microgestin FE, on the lowest dose in existence, for about two or three years and haven't had any decrease in sex drive whatsoever. (And I would've noticed, because I've always had a strong libido -- maybe I've got more testosterone? I don't know, though I don't think my levels were higher than normal.)
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OMG Yasmin has totally rid me of the desire. i never want sex anymore!!! GYN put me on Estrogen cream but thats not working either, i can go forver without it now.
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When I went on spiro, a clinically testosterone-lowering drug, my sex drive actually went up. Now that I'm on gluc there's no libido again. IMO too much estrogen (without progestERONE) can lower libido too--and some of these pills/patch are mighty high in estrogen content.
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I'm on spiro & gluc and the pill (as I said) and still no decrease in desire. But, for the record, my bcp is a combo pill with both estrogen and progesterone.
There HAS to be something you guys can do to get your libidos back! Has anyone talked to their doctors? I guess that's not the type of thing that's easy to do.
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~Heather
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Almost all pills are combos...but the synthetic progestIN they contain is different from natural progesterone (creams, Prometrium pills, that one strange IUD with real progesterone that has to be replaced annually) and I don't think it opposes estrogen the same way the natural P does.
But I think that Microgestin is pretty low in estrogen, which should have less side effects (but also a potential greater chance for "spotting)...the ring is pretty low too, and so is Mircette according to RE... whereas Yasmin, OrthoTriCyclen regular, etc are pretty high in estrogen (Ortho TriC screwed me up bigtime when I took it before). I also read that The patch makes blood levels of estrogen pretty high.
__________________ Whoa! bfp 11/22/08. A YAZ "reset" baby!
allergy shots 2 yr
Soma sleep apnea pillow--yeah it works, but it wears out after a year
Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.
Can taking the pill dull a woman's desire forever? 
