Not in the Mood? It Could Be Your Birth Control

By Allison Perkins

You’ve gone to great lengths to prevent pregnancy. The pill, IUD, NuvaRing — whatever your choice of birth control — is in control. Now you’re ready to attack your loved one with wild abandonment.

Find that you’re just not in the mood?

There’s a chance that the device which has given you this grand sexual freedom is making sex seem pretty unappetizing.

In January 2006, a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine reported that women using birth control showed a larger decrease in sexual desire than those not using the drug. It also reported that women who stopped using the pill after long-term use continued to suffer the side effect.

Experts say that while this study, and others, show that birth control may decrease libido, there are just as many studies that prove the opposite.

Sexual desire, it seems, isn’t that simple.

“Overall, the libido is a very complex thing,” says Dr. Ram Parvataneni, assistant professor of ob/gyn at UCLA. “It is not only hormonal, but also situational, emotional and physical.”

The vast majority of women taking birth control have a normal sex life, or at least what they define as normal, Parvataneni says. And therein lies part of the problem. One person’s level of sexual desire may be very different from another. So how do you define decreased libido?

“This is very hard to study. It’s not something that’s easily quantifiable,” Parvataneni says. “Everybody has a different idea of what they consider a normal sex life.

“If it is affecting your life, then it is abnormal. For some people, that may mean sex once a month; for others, it’s something different,” he says.

The effects of birth control differ for each woman. Most use the drugs and experience no problems, experts say. However, different types of birth control each have their own side effects, ranging from blood clots to weight gain.

For some women, however, the pill can diminish desire or decrease the amount of natural lubrication during sex.

The 2006 study attempts to better explain how the pill puts sex drive into slow gear. The pill, it says, slows the production of androgens, a sex hormone, in the ovaries.

At the same time, the pill also increases the amount of “sex-hormone binding globulin in the body.” This substance sticks to testosterone, found in the androgens, and stops a woman’s body from using the testosterone. The higher the levels of SHBG, the less sexual desire she experiences.

The study says the amount of SHBG found in women’s bodies, long after they stopped taking the pill, remained significantly high, suggesting that the effect may not simply wear off once you stop taking the drug.

There are no studies that demonstrate one type of birth control is more liable to cause decreased sexual desire than another.

Still, experts say, more research needs to be done. The study’s results are not typical for everyone.

So, are you feeling bored in the bedroom? Don’t throw out that pack of birth control yet. Parvataneni says it is important to work with your doctor to find the cause.

“There is not a one stop solution. It may take a few visits to look at what has really changed,” he says. “Usually, it’s more than one thing and not just the pill that is causing this.

“It is possible it is the pill, but that may not be the only culprit,” Parvataneni says.

Parvataneni says other factors, such as lifestyle and stress, play an important role in sexual desire. Too much stress can make for lacking libidos.

“It’s important to talk to your physician about all these things,” he says.