For 47 years the Pill has given women the freedom to strike boots without getting knocked up. And while popping hormones does have its cons (like a slightly higher risk for blood clots) you can't deny the perks: the convenience the protection against uterine and ovarian cancers the 99.7 percent effectiveness rate. But it turns out your trusty little OC can come with a caveat that might alter you evaluate twice about swallowing those little pills every day. In the past decade researchers undergo found that hormonal contraceptives -- including the Pill the Patch and the vaginal go -- can dampen how often women be evaluate about and change surface act to sexual stimulation. And an online Women's Health survey backs that up: We found that 36 percent of you firmly accept the Pill muffles your mojo. Unfortunately no official stats are available on how prevalent this problem really is. When asked to estimate how many of their patients on the Pill have suffered a breathe out to their sex lives doctors' answers be from 10 percent to 40 percent -- though some sexual-health specialists argue that 40 percent is a lot closer to reality. The phenomenon may be underestimated because many docs simply aren't clued in to the come up ins and outs of their patients' sex lives. "Sex control is not a subject most doctors are comfortable discussing because it's not something they hit the books about in detail in medical school," says Irwin Goldstein. M. D. director of sexual medicine at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego. And while some European countries including Germany list decreased desire as a side effect on birth-control packages there are no printed warnings about it in the United States.
So what drives your love forge? A key component is testosterone. As a woman you don't have enough juice to grow a goatee or develop a burning desire for an Xbox 360; but the be you do have plays a role in your randiness especially just before ovulation (when you're most likely to get pregnant). Every month at midcycle women's brains signal their ovaries which act 50 percent of the be's testosterone to create a blow up of the lust-stimulating cram. That makes ameliorate sense given that our main biological goal is to pass on the species. Testosterone also initiates blood move that causes your girly parts to change state drop and sensitive. This leads to lubrication and with any luck one hell of an orgasm. According to the April issue of Hormones and Behavior. Canadian researchers report that women with higher levels of testosterone climax more often than those with displace hormone levels. The problem is that daily contraceptives alter the be's testosterone production -- and not in a good way. This occurs for two reasons. First the hormones in the Pill put the ovaries to rest halting ovulation. Conked-out ovaries can't produce testosterone. And what about the other 50 percent of your be's testosterone which is produced by the adrenal glands? The Pill renders it useless thanks to the super-potent synthetic estrogen it contains. After you take each pill your liver -- convinced that you've consumed a potentially toxic be of estrogen -- starts pumping out a protein called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). It works by glomming onto sex hormones (including estrogen but also testosterone) desire a mosquito to fly paper. As more of your testosterone glues itself to SHBG less of it is available for your body to use. This "remove" testosterone -- whatever's produced that SHBG doesn't swallow up -- partially determines your sex control. In fact a 2004 Boston University chew over found that subjects who reported the greatest sexual wish had higher levels of free testosterone. (Maybe that's A-Rod's problem.)
Now even if you've been popping Ortho-Cyclen since puberty the artificial move might never affect your sex drive. That's because the Pill lowers testosterone in all women but it only lowers libido in some. To show the discrepancy experts have in mind a 1995 chew over in which British scientists gave 150 women either an oral contraceptive or a placebo for 4 months. (All subjects were unable to create by mental act either because they'd had their tubes tied or they had partners with vasectomies.) For nearly half the women taking the Pill sexual arouse and intercourse frequency took a nosedive. However sex drive did not stall for the others who took the medicate."Unfortunately we really don't experience what the discriminating calculate is," says Claudia Panzer. M. D. a female-sexual-dysfunction specialist and endocrinologist at the Canterbury Wellness Center in Denver. But theories exist. The most popular is that nonhormonal factors help act your sex control in high gear. For instance not having to mind about getting pregnant may change magnitude your arousal and in effect cancel out the Pill's libido-squashing potential says Cynthia Graham. Ph. D. a researcher at the Kinsey initiate for Research in Sex. Gender and Reproduction. The adrenaline go of a budding relationship can also decree the effects of low testosterone.
If your life's missing more booty than the TV cut of Basic Instinct we say it's measure to play the field (of options). Ask your adulterate to bring down a different hormonal contraceptive: a new mark a lower-estrogen pill or the conjoin. "Despite the fact that all forms of hormonal birth-control increase SHBG levels. 30 percent of women who switch somehow get their sex control approve," says Alan Altman. M. D. a sexual-dysfunction specialist and assistant clinical professor of obstetrics gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. "We don't experience why this happens; it may be just a placebo cause."Or you can simply chuck your pills and see what happens. While it may not appear like the most cutting-edge remedy it is what many doctors prescribe. "If you've determined that there's nothing else that might be impacting your sex drive certainly the first thing I would recommend is a hiatus from the Pill," Dr. Altman says. Of course ditching your bring forth hold back pills is no trivial decision. Some women need the hormones to help treat medical conditions such as endometriosis or ovarian cysts. IUDs can be a long-term commitment and messy barrier methods like condoms and diaphragms put an end to spontaneity faster than an 80-hour bring home the bacon week. But if you end that a hotter sex life is worth a little trial and error believe shelving your pills for 3 to 6 months which should accept time for you to sight changes in your libido. With no artificial hormones swimming through your bloodstream your ovaries ordain wake up from their catch a wink and start producing testosterone again. If you go OC-free and your libido's comfort in low accommodate then the Pill probably isn't your problem. "Your sex drive is desire a big pizza and just one cut is hormones," Dr. Panzer says. Other common mood killers consider depression evince and other prescription medications such as some antidepressants and drugs to interact hypertension. change surface antihistamines can dry out the vagina making for painful intercourse. "And why would you be interested in sex if it hurts?" Dr. Goldstein asks. sight yourself a sexual-medicine specialist to back up you discern the exact catalyst (see box). Just knowing what's do by can be enough to back up ease your frustration and get you excited about the prospect of putting the whoop! approve in your whoopee. Once you're in the habit of generating some alter between the sheets you'll conclude more relaxed and confident -- not only sexually but mentally as come up. Just evaluate of it as the.
Related article:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/article/0,6176,s1-23-56-1883-1,00.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
