Why does birth control lower libido?
With more research going into birth control these days, there have been some amazing findings, such as birth control lowering libido. This issue is rather surprising to some women, and so today we wanted to dive into the topic so that you can understand more about why does birth control lower libido.
What is birth control?
Birth control is also known as contraception is the medicine, device or surgical procedure to prevent pregnancy. In the past, most women opted to take the birth control pill. However, in time we’ve seen a decline in the use of birth control pills with only 16.6% of women between the ages of 15-19 using the pill with a mere 5.1% of women between the ages of 40-49 using the birth control pill.
Contraception became popular in the late 1960s, and over time increased usage until recent times as more science comes out about this contraception have come to light. There isn’t information inside of the birth control pills pamphlet citing that this lowers libido.
With that being said, researchers are convinced that the birth control pill works to lower circulating testosterone, your sexual hormone, thus causes a reduction in sexual desire. While this isn’t disclosed, even your doctor may not talk about it since it isn’t something many people discuss until later on.
Why does birth control lower libido?
There are many ways birth control may lower libido, and it can be caused by the following side effects of birth control:
Decline in Desire
Some women experience a decline in desire right away, while others experience this over time. There is no normal amount of days or weeks to share, since so many of you experience the decline in desire at varying levels.
Other women don’t express much of this change in desire for their partner. The key is to be aware that birth control can lower libido, and to watch for the signs that yours is getting lowered from your normal sexual desire levels.
Dryness and Pain
Another factor to consider when it comes to learning why birth control lowers libido is the dryness and pain associated with sexual intercourse. Since your contraception is working to change how your natural hormone levels flow, it can cause pain and dryness down in your sexual genital region.
This dryness and pain will cause you to decline most sexual experiences for you don’t want to do something that causes discomfort. You can use lotions and gels to overcome this part of the side effects from birth control though.
Hormone Changes
The biggest reason why birth control lowers libido is how it messes with your hormones. This contraception reduces the amount of testosterone in your bloodstream by reducing the production of testosterone and increasing a protein that attacks testosterone to render it ineffective.
If you’re concerned at this point, I would be too! This contraceptive that you’re taking is doing the job to prevent your body from running naturally to reduce pregnancy, and in order to so it must intercept the natural hormone changes that occur to cause a pregnancy to occur.
Since most of your sexual desire stems from your body’s desire to reproduce, it makes sense that having a birth control option that keeps you from getting pregnant would diminish that natural desire. The sexual desire from hormone fluctuations is what makes you interested in engaging in sex with a man so that you can make babies.
How to Offset the Lower Libido from Birth Control
There are other birth control options that don’t lower your sexual desire as much as the one that you are taking. If you’re lack of sexual desire is really bothersome, consider talking to your doctor about other prescription medications that help with pregnancy prevention.
Change your Diet
The first part of helping offset the cost of lowered libido from birth control is to consider changing your diet. Saturated fat is one thing that causes many women to have a decline in sexual desire. Try to limit the number of heavily processed foods that you consumer.
Start Strength Training
Strength training can increase testosterone levels, and help you become stronger, too! The bonus is that by doing some form of exercise, specially strength training, you’ll become more energized with this natural dopamine boost so you can feel more spunky when you get home and connect with your partner.
Talk with your Partner
Another way to help offset the damage from your birth control pill and libido, is to try to talk with your partner. Consider doing new things and sexual positions with your partner so that you can get excited about that physical connection and intimacy again.
Try Something New
As we said above, try something new with your partner. Consider having a meeting together each week as you work to get that libido back while taking birth control pills. If you’re not ready to swap out the birth control method, you can always swap out the bedroom routine with a fresh idea.
Stop taking the Birth Control Pill
Of course, you can always stop taking the birth control pill and use other options for pregnancy prevention. We live in an age where there are multiple options to consider for birth control. Have a discussion with your doctor so that they can best advise you on which direction to go.
Consider Supplements
Lastly, you may want to consider adding an herbal supplement to your daily life. Things like DHEA and libido boosters may help offset the side effects of birth control lowering your libido. Maybe give a holistic approach a try in getting your groove back by using over the counter supplements.
As you can see, we’ve offered you a brief explanation of why does birth control lower libido along with other ways to bring back the spark in your life. All we can say is that we hope that this article has inspired you to try something new and consider positive solutions to help you through this new phase of life without having to decline that intimate side of your relationship.
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