Hormones out of wack?

Damana

Really Experienced
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May 2, 2012
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149
Happy start of Turkey Month Lit!

Just something popped into my head before I'm off to bed and would like your thoughts on it.

I discovered something both interesting and a little sad. I need a pill to have a sex drive.

I have PCOS and have been unable to be on any type of birth control due to other health conditions. Before all this I was on birth control for 5 years so everything to me was stable. I would have flights of fancy and desires and appease then without issue and to satisfaction.

But once I was unable to take them..my desire for intimacy be it personal or with my fiance is just DEAD I mean full on "Could care less if I have sex) It's harder to get aroused, stay aroused, and most importantly get satisfied. Where as before, it wasn't a problem at all. ( I understand there could be other reasons for this no worries.)

It's just very disheartening for the fiance and myself. He obviously wants to be intimate with me but I'm just eh... on it even though I'd love to be able to just go "Ok!" and get to it and enjoy it.

So Lit, Thoughts, Opinions, Suggestions?


Damana
 
How recently have you stopped taking the birth control pills?

I know it's quite different, but a GF of mine found that when she came off them it had all sorts of strange effects. It messed up her skin and she started getting loads of spots on her back, also it affected her sleep. These things took about a year to go away, but they did eventually settle down as her normal hormone levels reasserted themselves.

Her sex drive was unaffected so maybe this isn't totally relevant, I just mean that being on a constant level of artificial hormones for years means that your body may take some time to readjust when you come off them
 
How recently have you stopped taking the birth control pills?

I'd be interested to know this as well. It can take several months for your body to return to natural hormone levels. Of course it's hard to know what those natural levels are going to be with the PCOS issue.

You don't need a pill to have a sex drive. You need certain hormones at certain levels. Sometimes you need a pill to get those hormones in line. This is a very common problem that both men (Low T problems that come with age) and women (for a variety of different reasons) experience. You're not wierd or broken - it happens.

I'd give it about three months or so and then re-evaluate. If things don't pick back up you could try Welbutrin. It's an antidepressent but unlike a lot of the current SSRIs, there is evidence that it can help with reduced libido in some women. You should definately talk to your doctor about that though as I'm no MD.

Also remember - your future husband hasn't suffered the same reduction in his libido. You two may need to work together to make sure that the sudden imbalance doesn't lead to larger problems in the relationship due to a lack of intimacy. He may have a hard time understanding what's going on with you and may start feeling distant. Lots of men NEED physical intimacy to connect and feel close (not just to get off - it's an emotional thing).

That's my .02 - take it or leave it, but good luck and I hope it works out for you.
 
What are you doing to treat the PCOS now?

As someone with a lot of experience with the pill, PCOS and hormone issues, I'd say it's likely either your body adjusting to the lack of hormones from the pill or your PCOS ramping up. The pill tricks our bodies into thinking we're pregnant, and coming off of that can certainly mess with our libidos. In my case, an actual pregnancy and breastfeeding killed my libido, whereas my libido increased when I stopped taking the pill years ago.

At any rate, I think you need to see a good endocrinologist who specializes in PCOS. See where your hormone levels are, try some different treatments and give your body some time to level out. Chances are, if you can regulate your cycles and start ovulating, your libido will come back. :)
 
I have PCOS, which hopefully you have been informed is closely related to type 2 diabetes. I also can't take birth control pills any more, after they caused me to develop a cyst in my liver. Changing your diet and/or being prescribed a diabetes drug like metformin can help regularize hormones. I menstruate regularly and have a fairly strong libido now on metformin, compared to neither when I was first diagnosed with PCOS as a teenager, before I was prescribed the birth control pills in the first place.
 
In response to the birth control question

1. I was on birth control for 5 years

2. Stopped taking it due to orders from my Endo April 16th 2011 so a little over a year.

The original reason I was put on the birth control in the first place was due to my period being very irregular. Being on the pills gave me a normal aka monthly flow. As soon as I was off them my period stopped. (This could also be due to quite a bit of extra weight)

After having explained to my doctor several times that 1. I have a very irregular period and that the pills helped fix that. and 2. My last natural period was in April 2012 she finally put me on monoprogesterone (I think is what it's called) and that worked like a charm... made me go into overdrive in the sex department but that wasn't a bad thing.


I'm slowly but surely looking into other forms for birth control but the thought of injections or implants just put me off for the sheer reason I'm *stuck" however it makes me for the next 3 or so months.


Hopefully that helps clear things up a bit more.


Also, thank you all for the thoughts and suggestions I do appreciate them. The other half has gone with me to every doctor's appointment since that started so he knows what's going on. He might not fully "get" it but he knows something is out of sync. We'll get it worked out though. As far as treatment besides the progesterone I can't think of anything else I'm on to help the PCOS. But being diabetic and having (stable) kidney disease does put quite a kink in things and not in the good way.


*hugs and thank you loves*

Damana
 
@ sunandshadow

I can't take metformin as much as I would LOVE too.. thst stuff was a god send when your a1c is 12...but due to my other issues I have to take novolog and levimir aka shot :p I no like shots.
 
If you can't take the pill, wouldn't stronger/longer forms of hormonal bc be out of the question as well? :confused:

And I know you know this, but diet and exercise are critical when it comes to managing both diabetes and PCOS. Are you eating right and on a good exercise plan? If you can't take metformin or the pill, losing weight and getting as healthy as possible is probably your only other treatment option. And balancing your hormones by shedding estrogen-producing fat might just solve the libido issue!
 
Thank you loves!

I'm working on the diet and exercise bit by bit...It's taken quite a while to "come to grips" with everything having been tossed at me at once. But most of my issues are weight related from what I can figure. 5`2 and 206 I know ...I know DAMN to quote Fluffy.

My goal for my Endo is to have me lose 10 pounds by January. My ultimate goal is mostly to get off these meds but weight wise...165 for now and if I want to lose more I will....just can't see myself as a tiny thing.
 
Happy start of Turkey Month Lit!

Just something popped into my head before I'm off to bed and would like your thoughts on it.

I discovered something both interesting and a little sad. I need a pill to have a sex drive.

I have PCOS and have been unable to be on any type of birth control due to other health conditions. Before all this I was on birth control for 5 years so everything to me was stable. I would have flights of fancy and desires and appease then without issue and to satisfaction.

But once I was unable to take them..my desire for intimacy be it personal or with my fiance is just DEAD I mean full on "Could care less if I have sex) It's harder to get aroused, stay aroused, and most importantly get satisfied. Where as before, it wasn't a problem at all. ( I understand there could be other reasons for this no worries.)

It's just very disheartening for the fiance and myself. He obviously wants to be intimate with me but I'm just eh... on it even though I'd love to be able to just go "Ok!" and get to it and enjoy it.

So Lit, Thoughts, Opinions, Suggestions?


Damana

there are herbal remedies to assist with this problem. To help stabilize hormones You may wish to try Remifimin (sp?) found in the vitamin section.
 
Being PCOS, I can tell you that I notice a huge difference in my sex drive (hell in my energy plain and simple) when I lo carb. The fact is as we all know PCOS sucks but it is similar to type 2 diabetes and we need to limit those carbs. IT SUCKS. It sucks donkey balls! It sucks like Diet Pepsi sucks! But there it is.

I hope everything works out for you. And if you need anything, I am just a short PM away. ((HUGS)) :rose:
 
I, too, wonder if some of the herbal compounds out there might not help, there is a product called "woman to woman" herbal equilibrium my spouse takes that has helped her tremendously with libido and other factors. I will add that I don't recommend trying anything like that without running it by a doctor to make sure it won't interact with other things you are taking. I can't say whether it will help, my spouse doesn't have PCOS, but I wonder if it might not help since it is designed to balance out women's hormones (product was developed by a female MD)
 
With respect to the weight loss efforts. I lost 25 pounds in one year by doing nothing more than giving up diet soda. When I added it up, I was drinking close to a 2 liter bottle per day. I didn't change my exercise or eating habits, just replaced diet soda with flavored seltzer water. The weight starting dropping off steadily 1 pound every 2 weeks........If you drink alot of soda, even diet, this might help..........Good Luck
 
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I hope this doesn't sound like a snark, I am being dead serious, another thing that might help is regular exercise. I am not saying that because of your weight (put it this way, I need to follow my own advice, I am well over the weight I want to/should be, and exercise has been MIA for several months, thanks to a job from hell these days...). I am not as much suggesting it to bring down your weight but rather that regular exercise can do a lot of things, regulate mood and from what I have read, also can help the endocrine system. The key from what I have been reading these days it not the duration, but the vigorousness of the workouts, walking for an hour doesn't do as much as 20 minutes at a high rate (big study published in one of the UK journals I believe). A rapid walk might do it, or using a treadmill, swimming is great exercise, but anything that gets you moving and your heart rate moving up is the ticket.
 
My wife is 52 gone through the change,Is there a pill she can take to get her desire back?
 
Have you tried a low GI diet? A friend of mine has endo and that helped her have more energy generally, and more energy meant more interest in stuff.

Sometimes I just find I don't have a massive libido, and I end up stressing myself out about it, and find that if my SO takes his time, that will bring me round eventually (not always a guarantee).

Hope you find something that works for you!
 
My wife is 52 gone through the change,Is there a pill she can take to get her desire back?

There are herbal supplements that may work, that are designed to balance out the hormones. My spouse takes one from company called "Women to Women" that is called "Herbal Equilibrium". Has she had her hormone levels checked? The chief bad guy in loss of desire is extra low levels of testosterone (women have it as well as men, just in relatively lows levels). I can't promise it will work, but it seems to have had a major effect on my spouse, that is all I can say for sure:)
 
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