A recent study by Boston University Medical College researchers found that women who take oral contraception may suffer a *permanent* loss of sex drive.
While researchers knew that oral contraceptives lower levels of testosterone (and therefore sex drive), and increase levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), scientists had previously believed that levels of SHBG would decline when women quit taking the pill. However, the new study found that levels of SHBG remained elevated. Dr. Claudia Panzer explained that: "You would expect levels to drop back to normal after about six weeks, but the worry is that these women will always have more. That means they will have very low testosterone, which has huge implications for their sexual function." Whoa.
However, in her interview with the Guardian, Dr. Mayur Lakhani, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, remarked that: "I am unconvinced by this study; there is no cause for alarm...I want to reassure women about the safety and efficacy of the contraceptive pill and to stress that there's no need to stop taking the pill as a result of this study. Loss of libido is a recognised side effect but in the experience of GPs and practice nurses this is uncommon among most women." Hmmm...
Regardless, the findings may be worth a chat with your gynocologist on your next visit.
1 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Take the Pill, Lose Your Libido?.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/1922
If you had any doubts that abortion was the best method of birth control, they can now be laid to rest. I for one will not stand by while even one Read More
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
What really concerns me about this article is that there is, to my knowledge, no "University of Boston".
There's Boston University (my alma mater). There's also University of Massachusetts, Boston. Could be that they mean one of those institutions. But if they're wrong on the university name, what else did they misrepresent?
Whew!! Thats a relief. I had thought she didn't want me anymore because I was getting fat and old and hairy. It's nice to know its "her" problem.
Lauryn,
No need to worry. The article tells us nothing about the effect of OCPs on libido.
"It has been long known that oral contraceptives lower levels of testosterone, and thus sex drive, and increase levels of sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG."
OCPs do lower free testosterone (T) [free T is the active component], and increase SHBG levels. First, this doesn't mean the user has abnormally low T levels; just lower T levels [still within normal limits]. Second, a lower T level doesn't mean a decreased sex drive. [In women, as opposed to men, libido is multifactorial. There isn't a direct relation between T level and libido.] Third, the effect of OCPs on sex drive hasn't "been long known". There's no consensus: some studies show users have decreased libido, other studies show no effect, while still other studies show an increased libido.
"Based on 125 women attending a sexual dysfunction clinic, researchers measured their SHBG levels every three months for a year."
I haven't seen the actual study, but if the researchers only measured SHBG levels, this doesn't give us any information on the free T level. To get an accurate picture you need to measure SHBG, total T, and free T levels.
"Women who quit taking the pill still registered SHBG levels that were four times as great as non-contraceptive users."
Just because a woman's SHBG levels are elevated, you can't conclude that her sex drive is impaired, much less that it's permanently impaired.
Bottom line: Either the original study isn't a very good one, or the linked article does a poor job of convening information.
While I was not part of this study, I have been a patient of Dr. Goldstein for several years.
In the regular hormone tests he prescribes for patients with hormone deficiencies he DOES measure both free and total testosterone levels. (I believe bound testosterone can be extrapolated from just those two tests) along with several other hormones I can't recall off the top of my head.
I have a physiological sexual dysfunction and based on my history I strongly suspect the Pill was the cause. [And though I don't have any hormone tests from before I went on the Pill, my T levels when I first met him were practically pre-pubertal (much lower than they had been shortly *after* I went off the pill years before).]
Given my personal interest, I've been following the research for a while as scientists are discovering just how important testosterone is to female sexuality. I could go on, but don't want to bore you or take over your journal. I've attended many of Dr. Goldstein's lectures and here are a couple summaries for laypeople written by my husband and me. Also I've heard anecdotally that the pharmeceutical industry has tried to suppress research into any links between contraceptives and lowered libido.[near the end of this post]
Anyway, sorry for taking up so much space. I don't want to hijack the discussion. But if you (and this if for everybody commenting or reading this) have questions, feel free to ask me. Unfortunately, I've had to become quite knowledgable.
The only women whose sex drives go *up* as a result of BC pills are those who are paralized by anxiety of a pregnancy.
I went on the continuous plan of BC pills (no periods) from 2003 to 2005 (at the recommendation of a *feminist* article run in Seattle's "The Stranger" www.thestranger.com) and it killed my libido. Now it's well into 2006 and my free testosteron levels are yet to return. I'm pretty far from menopause.
These pills aren't birth control becauase they stop ovulation. These pills are birth control because they make you want no sex at all and if you have it, it hurts. It's the best kept secret that the anti-sex abstinence-only promoters have yet to learn about.
Oh, and by the way, thanks a hell of a lot Planned Parenthood.
Yah, I'm a little bitter.
I think I'll have to start a blog just to track my crawl back to normality. It might help someone, somewhere, make the trip faster or avoid the problem altogether.
I've managed to save up roughly $74408 in my bank account, but I'm not sure if I should buy a house or not. Do you think the market is stable or do you think that home prices will decrease by a lot?