As a woman with PCOS, I am hyper aware of what I am feeling (physically and mentally) and I often wonder if it is caused by the disease. I was recently thinking about my lack of sex drive and whether it is due to PCOS or something else. This got me wondering if any other women with PCOS have sex drive issues.
For this post, I decided to do some more looking into the matter.
What the research shows
I was able to find a few science articles regarding how having PCOS might affect sex drives. The results mainly showed that the unwanted physical characteristics of the disease was what made the study participants report low sex drive (high BMI, excess hair, ecne etc.)
The treatment of the condition was shown to result in sexual arousal and satisfaction increasing. This was especially true in the study that involved the use of Metformin on its participants (see here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16549423).
There was one interesting study that talked about the testosterone levels of the participants. It showed that women with PCOS who had levels in the normal range were more likely to experience low sex drive issues than those with levels in the high range.
Anecdotal evidence around the internet
All of the forum posts that I have read seemed to indicate the aforementioned studies were pretty accurate to what a lot of women with PCOS experience. The physical characteristics of PCOS can come with low self-esteem. When you don't like the way you look it is hard to get excited about showing all of yourself to a partner which in turn affects the desire for sex.
Some women on the forums talked about having really high sex drives. They mentioned that their testosterone levels were in the high range and believed that was the cause of it. Other women developed higher sex drives after getting their hormones balanced and/or insulin resistance lowered.
Women that were on birth control said that their sex drives diminished greatly while on them. This is said to be a common side effect of taking them so it is no surprise that some women on the forums reported that.
My experience with sex drive
My sex drive started way too early in my opinion- 11 years old. I didn't even know what sex was at the time but I just know I felt "something" down there from time to time. This was especially true when I would steal my mother's romance novels.
During my teen years I was pretty hyper sexual. I thought about it all the time and wanted it all the time. As a black female in predominately white schools, I never got attention from boys. This meant that I had to look online for male attention.
I am sad to admit that I met up with a couple of them in person to relieve my sexual appetite. Looking back on it, I can't believe I would do something that risky! Fortunately, I was smart enough to use condoms and did not end up with STDs.
This high sex drive I had lasted until I was 25 and had been with my now husband for a while. I got pregnant, gave birth and it has been gone ever since. The only time I have even a hint of a drive is around the time I ovulate.
I don't feel that bad about the way look so this low sex drive issue is not due to that. In regards to my hormone levels, the last time I had my testosterone checked was years ago and it was normal. I have no idea what my hormones are like now though or if it even matters.
If my very low sex drive is due to insulin resistance, that is all the more reason for me to reduce my carbohydrate intake (I haven't been doing good with that yet). Right now I have sex with my husband because he desires it and I want to keep him happy. I wish things were different and I wanted it too.
Final thoughts
Sex drive levels in women with PCOS are clearly variable due to individual reasons. I am going to keep trying to stick with a low carb diet to see if it brings my drive back.
If you have PCOS, how is your sex drive? Did you do/take anything that changed it? Let me know!
Thanks for reading!
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