LIBIDO KILLER-Birth Control Pill May Reduce Your Sex Drive!

By Kellen

Birth control pills are probably the most popular contraceptives but they may inhibit more than just pregnancy.

It has been proven that the pill may significantly, and perhaps permanently, reduce your sexual drive.

The birth control pill prevents pregnancy primarily by suppressing a woman’s natural cycle of ovulation. Taken daily, the birth control pill delivers a combination of synthetic hormones (usually ones that mimic estrogen and progesterone) to your body. These hormones work to prevent your ovaries from releasing an egg for fertilization every month and by interfering with implantation during months in which ovulation is not prevented. There are a variety of different birth control pills, each containing varying levels of synthetic hormones, available to women.

Pill and Sex drive

Easy to take and relatively inexpensive, the birth control pill has been used by more than 80% of women in Uganda and the world over.

For the past thirty years, researchers, health care providers, and pill users have acknowledged that the pill can cause a number of side effects. Ranging from weight gain to depression, the pill is definitely not without its drawbacks. An additional drawback for many women is that the birth control pill can inhibit sex drive. In particular, the pill appears to decrease libido, decrease sexual enjoyment and decrease lubrication during sexual intercourse.

This is true of the combined oral contraceptives. Other medications such as pills for high blood pressure, mood stabilizers, and tranquilizers have been shown to decrease both sexual arousal and desire.

“If you experience decreased sexual desire or arousal while on the Pill, or other medications, talk to your health care provider about using a different oral contraceptive or other possible alternative medication

The birth control pill allows women to control their reproductive cycle, delay childbearing, and develop careers” Dr. Kenneth Mugisha. He also adds that it also may have the potential to disrupt sexuality by blocking normal hormonal surges that occur in a woman’s cycle.

He says that the pill works by tricking the body into thinking it’s already pregnant. The usual ovulation that occurs around mid-cycle is suppressed, along with hormonal changes that can contribute to a woman’s sexual drive. Oral contraceptives disrupt the normal mid-cycle surge of both estrogen and testosterone, a hormone that occurs in women as well as in men. Testosterone is made in the ovaries and adrenal glands and helps fuel female libido.

How the pill affects sex drive

It appears that the birth control pill affects sex drive because it acts directly on a woman’s sexual hormones. In particular, the birth control pill inhibits the production of androgens, including testosterone, in a woman’s ovaries. Androgens have a direct effect on the pleasure that you experience during sexual intercourse. Additionally, the birth control pill also appears to increase the amount of sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in the body. SHBG is a protein that binds to testosterone, preventing a woman’s body from using it effectively. High levels of SHBG have been directly linked to decreased libido and sexual desire.

Features of sexual dysfunction included problems with orgasm, desire, satisfaction, lubrication, pain, and arousal.

Way out

If you find that you are experiencing the effects of a low libido, you may want to speak to your health care provider. Your birth control pill may indeed be contributing to your diminished sexual desire, but this does not necessarily mean you should discontinue taking the pill. Instead, your health care provider can find you another type of pill that may better suit your needs.

Other sex drive killers

Other causes of decrease in libido and sexual function, including fatigue, depression, anxiety, physical pain during intercourse, certain medications (such as beta blockers and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor anti-depressants), medical problems like diabetes or low thyroid, and of course relationship problems.

Posted by Admin on July 25, 2011. Filed under HEALTH. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.