Low sex drive? No sex drive? We’re talking to you, ladies! When it comes to sex drive, the focus is usually on the men, but did you know that an average of 40% of women suffers from low sex drive? And that number goes up after you hit menopause. If you spend more nights wanting to Netflix and chill rather than get naked with your partner, it’s time to take charge of your sex drive again.
Sexual desire is a pretty complicated system. It starts in your brain, so anxiety, depression, body image issues, and stress are major factors that play a role in your sexual health. Talk to your doctor about your sexual health concerns- they can get you sorted on any physiological or psychological conditions that could be contributing.
Talked with the Doctor but Aren’t Getting Results?
Many things can cause lowered libido, but hormones are probably the problem if you enter perimenopause or menopause. Hormone deficiencies cause low libido and lead to clitoral atrophy and vaginal dryness, which makes the idea of having even sex less attractive. The hormones at play here are your sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. When they decline, then you need a boost. That boost comes in the form of Hormone Replacement Therapy or Hormone Optimization.
HRT for Women’s Sexual Health
You’ve probably heard of hormone replacement therapy as a common treatment for menopausal symptoms in women. In a recent study of postmenopausal women, researchers found that hormone replacement therapy significantly increased the libido, interest in sex of the participants. When we say “significantly,” we don’t just mean a little bit. The study reported a 44% increase in sexual interest. This study was initially intended to measure how HRT affects memory in menopausal women, so the results about how progesterone and estrogen therapy came as a surprise.
There’s been a lot of media, both negative and positive, about Hormone Replacement Therapy. You work hard on your body. As with anything that you are considering putting into your body, you should weigh the benefits of such treatment against the possible negative side effects.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
In 2002, HRT got a bad rap. The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)] clinical study and The Million Women Study (MWS)] were two of the largest HRT studies ever undertaken. The published results started a widespread panic in the press around the safety of HRT. The two scariest issues: extended use of HRT may increase the risk of breast cancer, and HRT may increase the risk of heart disease. These results created a wide-scale panic big enough that the guidance on how doctors should prescribe hormones was changed. Many doctors even stopped prescribing HRT altogether, and women dropped HRT like hot potatoes.
As time went on, the full WHI results came out. And it was a shocker. The results showed that the apparent increased risk for breast cancer originally reported was only found in women who had taken HRT before entering the study. There was no increase in heart disease in women starting HRT within ten years of the onset of menopause. Even though these results should have quelled everyone’s fears, the damage was done.
We bring this up because when most women think of HRT, they think about the negative press that still lingers from the original panic caused by these two studies.
Since then, the balance of benefit to harm has shifted favorably for HRT. If you are concerned about the risk of cancer and heart disease associated with HRT, research has shown that women who start HRT around the time of menopause are at minimal risk. A study came out of Denmark in 2012 that found that healthy women taking combined HRT for ten years immediately after menopause had a reduced risk of heart disease and of dying from heart disease.
Testosterone
So, far we have focused on HRT for women’s sexual health that is estrogen and progesterone based, but testosterone therapy is also an effective treatment for low libido in women. In Europe and Australia, women can buy testosterone patches that boost sex drive. These aren’t available in the US because the Food and Drug Administration has rejected their sale for fear of long-term side effects. The FDA has also not approved testosterone for use in women yet. But that doesn’t mean your doctor can’t prescribe it for you.
Testosterone therapy is excellent for women who:
- Have reduced sex drive
- Suffer from depression and fatigue after surgically induced menopause
- Aren’t getting the results they want from estrogen therapy
- Are postmenopausal, are undergoing estrogen therapy, and have a decreased sex drive with no other identifiable causes
There are side effects to consider with testosterone use. Testosterone can have negative effects on women, especially at higher doses. These may include:
- Acne
- Growth of hair on the face and chest
- Deepening of the voice
- Lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels
- Male-pattern baldness
Hormone Optimization with Oxytocin
Oxytocin. You may have never heard of this one before. Or if you have, you may associate it with childbirth. That’s because oxytocin is the bonding hormone. During labor and birth, the mother releases oxytocin so that she can bond with her baby. Oxytocin also releases during intimate moments like hugging, cuddling and having sex. Increasing your oxytocin levels through hormone optimization will increase your desire to do more of these things, which will increase your sex drive!
Although not entirely risk-free, Hormone Optimization and HRT for women’s sexual health remain the most effective solution for the relief of menopausal symptoms and low libido associated with hormone imbalance.
We Get Results!
If your sex drive is out of gas, it’s time to do something about it. Hormone Optimization is our business. Our practitioners know what it takes for you to be your best – no uninformed or restrictive options here, just scientifically-backed solutions. Explore our wide variety of protocols and our transparent prices. We have options for everything you need and nothing you don’t. Select your protocol today!
