Low Sex Drive

There may be any number of reasons why you have never been interested in sex, some of those may be physiological (that is, physical) and some of those may be psychological.

The physical factors may often include hormone insufficiencies. Hormones are a critical component of normal sexual response. Low levels of testosterone related hormones, estrogens and DHEA-S (most commonly associated with post-menopausal women) can have a significant impact on a woman's drive for sex. Even younger women may have hormone levels and that translates into a surprising and disappointing lack of desire for sex and intimacy.

Understanding the hormone balance is complicated and a very new area for most physicians. Therefore a woman who complains of low sex drive will require a full battery of blood tests run under the supervision of a physician who specializes in the area of female sexual dysfunction.

The medications you may be taking may also be affecting your level of desire, particularly if you are taking antidepressants. Birth control pills can also throw off the balance of hormones and create a lack of desire or libido in many women. In fact, sometimes we just suggest going off birth control pills first to see if things improve. Sometimes they do!

Psychological factors can be varied and complex. They may include a history of physical or sexual abuse, or simpler issues about body awareness and acceptance. They may involve a woman's own feelings about her body and sex, those sources in her religious or cultural environment, and they may also involve her partner’s feelings about her body and sex.

We also observe in our practice that spontaneous desire may be more rare for women than we originally believed it to be. It may actually be necessary for women to access or arrange the conditions conducive to desire and arousal; to deliberately provide for themselves by accessing those things that “turn them on” and retain them as a part of their lives. A woman who is interested in raising her level of desire may want to explore some ways to add these factors into her life. See pages on this website about vibrator use, erotic reading , and other accessories to help jumpstart desire.

Since having children my interest in sex has diminished.

As I've gotten older my interest in sex seems to be diminishing