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Thanks to the advancement of modern medicine, there now exists a plethora of medications that can provide relief and treatment for a variety of ailments.
For the most part, these drugs work as intended without any harmful side effects.
Scratch beneath the surface, however, and you’ll discover a world where some of these seemingly normal pills might affect something near and dear to us—our sexual health.
While it may feel as if our sexual vitality is no one else’s but our own, the truth is that it’s something we should absolutely care about.
In this day and age, having a healthy sex life can spell the difference between a satisfactory or unsatisfactory relationship with your partner.
Thus, it’s vital to know about any drug that might potentially cause sexual problems.
Let’s look into what low libido is and the type of drugs that reduce male libido.
What is Low Libido?
To put it simply, low libido means a reduced interest in engaging in sexual activity.
You and your partner may not match in terms of how frequently you want sex, or when you want to have sex with them. That’s completely normal. It’s rare to find a partner with a libido that matches yours with unwavering precision.
However, if you find yourself experiencing a prolonged disinterest in sex to the point that it negatively impacts your relationship and performance, you may want to get to the bottom of why you’re feeling a reduced sexual desire.
As a benchmark, most married individuals would prefer to have sex 51 times in a year, that is, a little less than once per week, to be happy. The frequency for single participants is a bit higher, at 54 times per year.
Of course, you don’t have to fall within that exact range to be considered normal, as libido can fluctuate from time to time. For many, a decreased interest in sex may occur due to the following factors:
- Aging
- Depression
- Chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure
- Stress
- Sleep problems
- Medication
Among the list, medication may seem like the factor that stands out the most. After all, medicine’s primary purpose is to remedy an individual’s ailments. How would something that’s been passed by the FDA for distribution cause problems?
To answer the question, the FDA outweighs the benefits and risks of the medicine before pushing it to the public. If it’s deemed a valuable addition to the catalog of medicine available for public consumption—despite its negative side effects—it’ll still get released and be made available for people to take.
With all that said, here are some medicines that may cause adverse reactions to one’s sexual health and libido.
List of Medications That Cause Lower Sex Drive
Here are some medications that can promote reduced sexual function.
Always consult a medical professional prior to starting or stopping any medications to determine the potential risks and benefits for your specific medical history and treatment plan.
1. Hormones Used for Prostate Cancer Treatment
Knowing that you have cancer can be anxiety-inducing, which can severely dampen your desire to have sex.
But besides cancer itself, the therapy to treat prostate problems to manage and treat it may inadvertently cause problems too. Prostate cancer therapy works by lowering testosterone levels in the body to stop or slow the growth of prostate cancer cells.
Prostate cancer treatment may also exacerbate the following symptoms:
- Enlargement of breasts
- Weight gain
- Lowered self-esteem
All of the symptoms above may contribute to feeling a loss of sexual desire. If you want to reignite your sex life,contact a doctor for testosterone replacement therapy and treatment.
2. Glucocorticoids
Glucocorticoids are a type of hormone that is used to decrease the body’s natural inflammatory response. They can also be made as a drug to reduce inflammation and suppress certain proteins that may cause parts of your body to experience inflammation.
Some glucocorticoids medications include hydrocortisone, prednisone, and dexamethasone.
According to a study, patients who use glucocorticoids medication reported the following symptoms:
- Decreased libido (58% of patients)
- Impotence or erectile dysfunction (52% of patients)
- Lower back pain (41% of patients)
These results show that chronic use of glucocorticoid medication can reduce sexual desire and cause male and female sexual dysfunction.
3. Pain Relievers like Morphine
Morphine is a pain reliever that is used to treat moderate-to-severe pain. It is an opioid medication, and it works by reducing the pain signals that are sent to your brain.
According to a study, taking morphine regularly for chronic pain may cause you to suffer from side effects like low libido or erectile dysfunction. This is very likely because addictive medicines like morphine cause adverse effects on the gonads, which affects sexual health as a result.
4. Antidepressants
According to a study conducted by A J Rothschild, a medical researcher from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, a whopping 40% of men who take anti-depressants will come up with symptoms of sexual dysfunction.
Antidepressants fall under the medical category of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs.
The introduction of more serotonin in the body alters the organic production of dopamine and testosterone, which has adverse effects on the body’s ability to become aroused when the time comes.
These types of medications may include the following:
- Escitalopram (Lexapro)
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Fluvoxamine (Luvox)
- Sertraline (Zoloft)
- Citalopram (Celexa)
One of the more perplexing ironies about this is that untreated depression may also lead to psychological ED, so many doctors recommend patients to take anti-depressants even if it may be counterproductive to their sexual health.
If you have problems getting aroused and maintaining an erection, as well as diagnosed or undiagnosed depression,contact an erectile dysfunction doctor today to get the right treatment plan for you.
5. Cimetidine
Cimetidine is a histamine blocker that is used for heartburn. It’s also used to treat GERD, when stomach acids back up into the esophagus.
Aside from headaches and dizziness, cimetidine may also lead to low testosterone levels and sexual dysfunction.
Contact your doctor if you encounter any problems when taking this medicine.
Consult St. Louis’ Top Men’s Clinic to Regain Your Sex Drive and Libido with a Medical Approach
Low libido can be a pain to deal with. It can cause strains in a relationship and can cause lifelong adverse effects if left untreated.
However, if you’re careful with how you treat your sexual health, you may be able to recover and regain agency in your sex life again.
So why not take the first step? Contact a medical expert today to get the treatment you’re looking for.
If you’re having issues with erectile dysfunction or low testosterone, call the team at Paramount Men’s Medical Center in St. Louis now to schedule an appointment to have a consultation with their experienced and specially trained medical staff. We are Missouri’s leading men’s clinic providing ED therapy, PE therapy, Acoustic Wave therapy, hormone therapy, and much more.
