Poll: Does The Pill Affect Your Sex Drive?
Posted by: Simcha Whitehill
Filed in:
polls, sex
11:30AM, Friday October 3rd 2008
This Pill, which started the sexual revolution by preventing pregnancy, has also been accused of casting a curse on libido. A couple of the women interviewed for Time Out New York’s Sex Issue made it sound like the pill is damaging to their sexual desire and ruined their physical need to be ravaged. It’s ironic that the thing that makes women able to engage in slightly more carefree sex is also conversely making them chaste, eh? One of the women, referred to as “Ditched The Pill,”, who had been struggling with her lack of interest in having sex with her boyfriend, noted, “When I went off it, my libido skyrocketed; suddenly it was easy again.” Is the pill that powerful?
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dangerousdebbie
wrote on October 3 2008 @ 01:01 pm: [report]
yeah, there’s a good reason why i have an iud now…no pill hormones messing with my good times!
Lynn
wrote on October 3 2008 @ 01:05 pm: [report]
I’ve been on two brands of birth control - Ortho Tri Cyclen and the generic. The generic makes me ca-razy and cranky and sad all the time. So now I’m back on name brand. Thankfully, neither have ever put a damper on my sex drive. Sometimes I wish it would - I want sex more than any boyfriend I’ve ever had!
JT
wrote on October 3 2008 @ 01:47 pm: [report]
I like taking estrogen because it keeps my skin much clearer than it would be otherwise. But it definitely reduces my sex drive. Anyone know of any particular birth control formulations that are nice to the skin but minimize libido loss?
V
wrote on October 3 2008 @ 02:43 pm: [report]
I think the pill (and Nuvaring, too) bothered me more as I got older. I’m in my mid-30s, and definitely notice a huge difference in my libido when I have gone off of it in the past couple of years. I’m willing to try other formulations, but it’s such a rollercoaster switching to a new pill or whatever. I’m thinking about the IUD, too, though my gyno isn’t in favor of it. We’ll see.
Colette
wrote on October 3 2008 @ 08:45 pm: [report]
The Pill killed my sex drive. My gyno said it was stress. I went off it to see if there was a difference: there was a big one. I’m in my 30’s, and the Pill affects my libido more than when I was in my 20’s. It completely dried me up, so terrible. I started taking HerSolution and went off the Pill, and things are slowly coming back. I don’t ever want to go back on it. I’m looking into natural methods of bc. I’ve heard great things about LadyComp, but it’s pricey.
Caracala
wrote on October 4 2008 @ 10:39 pm: [report]
Yeah, it kinda did. I definitely crave it less now during various times of the month, but when I’m faced with a situation where sex could happen, I can still jump right in, even if I wasn’t horny or thinking about it beforehand. It also really messed with how wet I get, so even if there’s tons of foreplay and I’m the horniest I’ve ever been, during some of the pills, I’m practically dry. That can be a mood killer in itself. :( Regardless, I love being on the pill as it’s helped with so many other things, so I can’t really complain much.
toyen
wrote on October 5 2008 @ 08:24 pm: [report]
Heck yes BCPs do kill the libido (and sensation), as do SSRIs. I’ve gone au natural, and am slowly beginning to feel like myself again. Without BCPs, my migraines and cramps are going away, too!
AM
wrote on October 16 2008 @ 01:11 am: [report]
Yesterday I decided to stop the pill (cerazette). After 5 months hopping for the symptoms to decrease, nothing happened. I gained 4 kilos, have my period twice a month and it really decreased my sex drive. I was literally dried up too. I suffer from migraines so I can only have this pill. I just want to have my normal life back again , hopefully without babies too.
Meg
wrote on October 23 2008 @ 08:34 pm: [report]
It has decreased my libido, and I think it mostly is because I have gained so much weight since I got on it! Almost 20 pounds, and I have a petite frame so I look huge now, and feel so unsexy. It has also made me drier. On the upside, I have clearer skin, shorter lighter periods, and no kids!
Katie
wrote on October 29 2008 @ 04:23 pm: [report]
My pill has definitely killed my sex drive. It happened gradually, though, so I didn’t really notice it until a few months ago when I realized I never thought about sex, I was totally dry even when I did want sex, and it was almost impossible for me to have an orgasm during sex. The pill also gives me a really painful swollen gland in my breast (checked out multiple times and is definitely just a gland). Has this happened to anyone else?
Lauren
wrote on November 4 2008 @ 07:10 pm: [report]
To Katie: I had a really painful lump in my breast too and have gotten it checked out twice. My gyno said its just a gland too. Since I have been off the pill it has gone away.
The pill definitely killed my sex drive. I could never get wet enough for sex to be comfortable. I never thought BCP could have that big of an effect on libido but as soon as I went off them I was back to normal.
Sheree
wrote on November 9 2008 @ 08:00 am: [report]
I am 21 and as others have mentioned, my lack of sexual desire gradually decreased to an almost stand-still. I was on dianette for 2 years, and for the first few months i could have happily had sex 4 or 5 times a day. when i no longer felt like this, i assumed i had lost interest in my partner. I got a new partner and switched to Yasmin…no change. The prospect of having sex physically made me worry. I only really saw my partner on weekends and even just that once or twice a week made me fret. When i split with that partner after 2 years and met my new bloke (who i still find very attractive indeed) things got no better. My new partner now lives with me, and although we usually have sex every other day, its a chore, and i would still rather just watch TV or sleep. I don’t have problems with wetness really, and i can reach orgasm through my clitoris after about half an hour of trying to get me in the mood…but the actual pleasure of a penis entering the vagina is gone. It just feels like a penis going in and out. no pleasure at all unless there’s clitoral stimulation.
I want off the pill, but im on it for my acne…and i don’t want acne either but i want my sex drive!!
I also have bad problems with heavy discharge on the pill and NO DOCTORS WILL HELP ME
AGGGHHHHHH
joyy
wrote on March 27 2009 @ 07:02 am: [report]
I went off the pill a few weeks ago and I feel better already. The bf has been out of town since and we also recently cleared the air on some stuff, so I won’t attribute the more sudden improvement just to the lack of hormones overall. I still had sex, I just didn’t really care. I also had the dryness problem. It’s like - I’m way too young for this #&@$%.
The pill also turned me into an over-emotional wreck. For the longest time I thought it was just a semi-normal way to react to/cope with an ever changing life full of new stressors ... then only recently I realized that the pill has been the most consistent thing in my life for the last 3 years and since mood swings/etc are a known side affect, maybe THAT was the problem - DUH!
My dr. also didn’t seem to encourage the idea of an IUD, and the side affect of spotting/bleeding for the first 6 months didn’t light my fire either, so I’ve handed this off to the bf (who is delightfully not afraid of getting a vasectomy!). I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.
nikki
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 07:25 pm: [report]
I think birth cntrol is not a good thing, just use sex toys
JT
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 08:46 pm: [report]
I switched from the pill to an IUD about 6 weeks ago. Pros: I don’t have to remember to take the pill every day; sex drive is great when I’m ovulating. Cons: terrible periods so far; without estrogen MY SKIN SUCKS.
Queen Frostine
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 09:00 pm: [report]
Depo-provera (the 3-month injection) killed my libido and made me more lethargic than a three-toed sloth.
Ortho Tri-Cyclen didn’t affect my libido, but made me cramp intensely and my boobs grow huge.
Ortho-Cyclen is wonderful with no side effects and my periods are almost non-existent.
duckie
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 09:24 pm: [report]
Yasmin is a new pill and has relatively little side effect- although I think my breasts grew on me from taking (not desirable in my case) I personally really liked the depo shot and they’ve also cut back on the dosage so there’s less side effects than a few years back. The thing about introducing estrogen to your body is that estrogen effects more than just your cycle, and it is lipophilic so it can go into pretty much any cell in your body and effect it if it had receptors so its hard to control side effects- there has been studies though that show a portion of the side effects are somewhat psychosomatic. And good news… we’re getting really close to a birth control pill for men!
Antiquity
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 09:28 pm: [report]
Anyone ever use the season-el pill that gives you your pd. four times a year? I would like to try it out but the thought of all those hormones in me kind of freaks me out… Im currently on the ortho-tri and don’t mind it but the four periods would be amazing.
joyy
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 10:45 pm: [report]
IUD4lyfe