Side-effects of Pill

[breathless]

oki doki, so i've been taking the pill for a while now and so far everytime i've had sex it seems less enjoyable than when i wasn't on the pill. Could this be a side effect?
Help please, cause this really sucks

[demonbuttercup]

one of the side effects of the pill is lowered sex drive.
which i always thought was a cruel joke..lol.
its like ok now im protected, but i don't even feel like doing it.

[Brandye]

This is a possible side effect. Some women try three or four different pills before finding one that is appropriate for them. Talk to the prescriber and discuss the alternatives. The iud is a possibility as well as trying a different pill. You do not simply have to live with it. Ask about your alternatives.

[wax]

now say someone was new to sex....could it lower thier sex drive?

[demonbuttercup]

i don't think that has any effect.
i think it has to do w/ the hormones.
you are adding estrogen (female hormones) to the body.
females have testosterone too and the lower the levels of this, the lower the sex drive.
i think is how it works, brandye should be able to explain it more. or correct me if im wrong.
i take ortho tricylen lo which has lower doses of hormones.
i didn't see too much of a change in sex drive tho i sometimes go through phases where i don't feel very sexual.

[Brandye]

The hormonal approaches to birth control - pill, patch, ring, shot, implant - all cause some change in our "natural" hormonal balance. Virtually all women have some change in their periods using these. That is evidence that the hormone mix is being affected.

I do not like to prescribe birth control pills to very young women. The pill has become the treatment of choice for dysmennorhea (difficult periods) and I do use it sometimes. For birth control in women having only occasional sex, I do not like to mess with the young endocrine system. One reason is what you ask, wax. A sixteen year old does not know what her sex drive is. If it is suppressed by hormones, she will never learn the difference and could never really learn what her natural sex drive is. This can have long term psychological consequences.

The lower the dosages, the less the effect. I am encouraging women more and more towards the ring. It seems to create fewer side effects. If the pill is what is wanted, I start with lower dosages and adjust from there.

The downside of the low dose approaches is that they are a little more sensitive to timing and being disrupted by other short term medications.