Abstinence Clearinghouse

Does the Pill Kill Your sex Drive?
by Janet Aspen
[12.31.2005]

Here's what I want to know...if I'm on the pill and have no sex drive, what's the point? This is an interesting article in Oprah magazine about how the pill kills your sex drive.

Does the Pill Kill Your sex Drive?
By Alison Motluck

The Findings: In research being published this month in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, 124 pre-menopausal women who attended a sexual dysfunction clinic were separated into three groups: birth-control-pill users, former users, and those who had never taken the pill. Blood samples showed that current users had high levels of a protein calls SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin), which pulls circulating testosterone out of action and dampens libido and overall sexual function.

Levels declined when women went off the pill but were still elevated six months later. “This is surprising,” says study author Irwin Goldstein, MD, editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. “The effect of oral contraceptives on SHGB levels should have subsided at that point.” Now scientists question whether extended use of the pill have long-lasting-or permanent-effects on sexual enjoyment.

The Takeaway: Reduced sex drive is a known side effect of the pill. Practitioners had previously assumed, however, that a woman’s libido bounced back after she stopped taking contraceptives. Laura Berman, PhD, director of the Berman Center in Chicago, advises patients struggling with low sex drive to consider other methods of birth control.

From Oprah Magazine, January 2006 issue