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Well Women Guide to Libido and your Thyroid
Libido, female sexual dysfunction or low sex drive, call it what you like, is one of the taboo subjects of thyroid disease with both the medical profession and most of all, your partner. I have researched products that may help with this so read on and see below for my findings. Your partner can not understand why you are behaving like the Ice Lady and why your feelings seem to be there one minute, gone the next. Nor can they understand how you appear to find it so distressing too, but do absolutely nothing to make them feel wanted and desired. They become angry, hurt and frustrated. You are just plain weary, exhausted and tearful. You can see their hurt but are powerless to do anything physical about it. You have run out of steam and nothing seems to work properly any more in that department. You just want to curl up and sleep. Sex and the effort that goes with it is the furthest from your thoughts. Sleep, just being left alone and worrying about your partner possibly being unfaithful, or worse, deciding to seperate from you are the first things on your mind. "Why can't I make myself?" Is your question. "What is wrong with me?" You love your partner and no doubt desire them, but your body just will not respond. You feel tired and irritable and start to dread going to bed. Sometimes you don't even want to be touched for reasons unknown to you. You are just as puzzled as they are. We can probably all identify with this. Both hypo and hyper thyroidism can reduce libido or sex drive to virtually zero. Self esteem is probably at an all time low, especially if you have gained weight. Depression reduces self esteem. It makes you feel tired and weepy so that sex is the last thing on your mind. It is because you have no energy too. In order for you body to respond, you endocrine system and hormones need to be in balance. Sad thing is, thyroid medication does not always correct low libido or restore it to it's former glory. My research has combined many things that should be taken into consideration, as well as other ideas that may help. These are taken from internet and book research from a variety of sources including Mary Shomon herself who has written a book called "The Thyroid Hormone Breakthrough" (overcoming sexual and hormonal problems at every age.) She certainly knows her stuff and libido is one subject that she obviously identifies with being a Hashimotos sufferer herself. That is why she is such an inspiration to us all. When you can talk from experience, you can help others better than any GP. It is her that inspired me to build this site. She wants us all to educate ourselves and in turn, educate others. I am also arranging for a free E Book by Mary Shomon called "How to make a thyroid hormone breakthrough" to be available to download from this site and will notify all on the "latest" page when this is on. (Those of you who subscribe to the RSS feed will be automatically notified.) Why is this and what can I do? Firstly you need to check that you are on the best dose of medication, remembering the rule that TSH levels need to be around 1-2 to be optimal. Secondly, does your medication suit you? Are you getting the most from it? Would Armour thyroid or a T4/T3 combination like Thyrolar suit you better than levothyroxine (synthroid)? What about sex hormone levels? Are you taking synthetic Oestrogen? This can go into war with your thyroid. Switching to natural progesterone will help. Progesterone complements the thyroid, syntheitc oestrogen opposes it. Read my menopause and natural progesterone pages to find out about Dr John Lee who pioneered Natural progesterone. Get your hormone levels checked. Ask your doctor about oestrogen gel if you are low in this. The check should include, oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA. Remember that taking or eating soy products or supplements can worsen hypothyroid symptoms as they mimic oestrogen isoflavones in the body. Testosterone patches are also available in very low doses for women suffering low libido. Check that you have low levels first in case this is not the problem. Are you suffering from Adrenal insufficiency? Get your adrenal function checked. What other medications are you taking? Some medication, including supplements should not be taken at the same time as thyroxine as they interfere with absorbtion. Also there are over 150 medications that interfere with libido. Antidepressants are one of them as are blood pressure drugs, heart and angina drugs, synthetic contraceptives and HRT, Cimetidine the stomach ulcer drug and tranquillisers to name but a few. Getting the answers to these questions is near impossible with GP's in the UK as their views are completely different. They usually see thyroid illness as "all in the mind" and think that popping a levothyroxine pill is all it takes for you to be well. As I have said time and time again.....WRONG. Please Email me for a list of private doctors in the UK who can evaluate this situation and do all the relevant hormone tests above including adrenal isufficiency. Check that you are taking the right supplements to benefit your thyroid. Selenium is needed, Zinc, copper, supplements that increase blood flow like Ginko biloba, Siberian Ginseng, Maca the rolls royce of libido increasing supplements. It can cause symptoms of overactive thyroid when combined with thyroxine, but this can be allieviated by reducing your thyroid medication. Maca can help correct thyroid imbalance. MACA is available in a choice of
Organic MACA Powder
or Organic MACA Capsules
Shazzie recommends Barefoot Doctor Sexy which contains natural herbs (also Horny Goat Weed) said to help libido and is definately worth a try, I feel and is said to provide 33 days of feeling sexy!! I have tried this (although not for 33 days) and it does seem to work!!!! Also, Zestra Feminine Arousal Oil really helps you get going when your body just won't!! It contains all natural ingredients too. However, although it can be used during oral sex because it's ingredients are safe to be eaten, it is not very nice tasting, therefore it's application is best after oral sex has occurred. It has been proved to heighten sexual pleasure in women who are not experiencing difficulties and to greatly improve sexual arousal in women experiencing the problems associated with fatigue and anti-depressant medication side effects. Not recommended for pregnant or breast feeding women. This product is 100 per cent natural and certainly sounds great, although a bit pricey at £25.00 and is one for my wish list.
Sensitille Female Sexual Enhancement Cream
Alternatively Optima Horny Goat Weed Complex may be of interest for it's well known aphrodisiac properties and a two month course is recommended for first time users. It could be used in conjunction with Zestra for real power. A new product called Avlimil has come to my attention. It is a gentle, non-prescription daily supplement shown to promote better blood flow and increased muscular relaxation for an improved libido and a healthier, more energetic sexual response. It contains no sex hormones or steroid hormones and its ingredients have been shown to help those with low libido for whatever reason and can be used safely by women of all ages. It can also be used to boost sex life even if libido is normal. Each pack contains 30 capsules (1 months supply) and costs £39.95 which may seem a bit pricey but certainly worth it if you are having difficulties. V-RX is another supplement that is 100 per cent natural and includes Horny Goat Weed in it's ingredients. There is both a male and a female version, although I have only included the female version for the purpose of this site, so click here to read more about
V-RX for Women Female Virility Supplement
There are also certain essential oils that are said to increase libido due to their pheromone like action and these include Angelica, Sandalwood, Benzoin, Clary-sage Mace and Nutmeg. Cinnamon and Ginger are also said to stimulate sexual desire. Floral Oils like Rose, Geranium, Jasmine and Ylang-ylang are also very powerful aromatic stimulants displaying aphrodisiac properties. What do I take? A teaspoon of Maca powder and sometimes Barefoot Doctor Sexy in addition to natural progesterone cream. I feel these work for me, not just for this problem as that can still occasionally be a bit up and down (to coin a phrase!) when symptom flare up's occur, but it seems to be a good all rounder for lots of things including energy. Like everything, you need to listen to your own body and not cause yourself a build up of stress that not only causes your thyroid to go beserk, but your adrenals too. Don't burn yourself out. This will not help libido at all. Self esteem has a lot to do with libido. If you don't feel sexy, you will just not feel like sex. Womens expectations of their body's is often high but forget the glossy magazines. We can't try to be something we are not. Our partners love us and are attracted to us for who we are, warts and all!! However, improving our looks is a dead cert for increasing our desire and will definately work where all else fails. Improving our diet will also help so reduce all the bad food and start increasing EFA's, zinc, Cayenne Tincture or from the Nutricentre where they are available in capsule form if you don't like the taste, Ginko biloba helps circulation and should be taken in a cycle of 3 months on and 1 month off and a high dose of around 900 mg once a day is best. Korean Ginseng 500-1000mg is helpful too taken alternate months, one month on, one month off. A course of Suma which is a South American root 500-1000mg daily for around 3 months may help restore libido. Damiana may also help. 125-500mg. It is a natural aphrodisiac. I have also read about a South American herb called Muira Puama which is said to be nature's most potent viagra!! Suitable for both men and women and is available from the Nutricentre. Update Aug 2008 Whilst I was away on holiday I received an email from a lady who was very upset regarding her zero libido and how much it was coming between her and her partner. Having been there, I completely related to this email. She was traumatised by her lack of response and loving her partner so much, could not understand why she just didn't want sex with him. He was bewildered by her and she explained that this had been going on for around 9 months. She has been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid and is now on medication, but is very upset not to have regained her libido. She keeps "booking in" a night and promising to make love then when the night approaches feels to stressed and tired to carry it out, thus leaving him feeling rejected and angry. I suggested natural progesterone as this certainly helped me. Another question she asked was how many times a week is normal? When we are chronically ill, there is no normal, I'm afraid. In fact we can fluctuate between every day to once a month...or worse. Please don't feel abnormal as you are not, you are chronically ill but with time and proper care, you can regain libido again. You simply can't help it and thyroid illness is certainly an illness that does away with libido. Fact. I have improved greatly myself in this department, thank God, but have periods where I just can't despite being a lot better. This seems to be when I am very stressed which of course then causes a flare up. These days it can range from anything such as nightly to 3 or 4 times a week to once a week to once in two weeks. Years ago I would be lucky to be able to once in six months. It goes to show you that there is no normal. Just don't put yourself under pressure to "perform" Bear in mind that we feel very tired a lot too when we have a thyroid condition often to the point of exhaustion. Show this website to your partner. Share information about thyroid condition symptoms. Talk together to your GP or other doctor. Try natural progesterone and some of the methods on this page, such as maca in small amounts. Give yourself time and space as being under pressure will often put you off completely as it brings too much stress with it. Talking about the condition with your partner certainly helps, but bear in mind it can also sound like an excuse and a long playing record when mentioned too much. Act to resolve the situation by trying different things to see if there is an improvement as by doing this, your partner can see that you really are trying. Explain that feeling under pressure makes the situation worse. Never "book" it in (brings stress and pressure). Let it be spontaneous. Stop worrying and experiment with products until you find one that helps.
In the meantime as always, the research and provision of solutions will continue on this site so look out for new ideas all the time.
To see books about Libido and Thyroid please click HERE
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