Hormone Therapy Question

[SconesForDinner]

Hello, all,

Are there any asexuals/demisexuals/anyone on the ace spectrum who has exprience with hormone therapy? I am curious as to whether those who do have seen an increase in their libido (or any other changes related to a desire for sexual intimacy). If it's not something you feel comfortable discussing in an open thread, please private message me if you are willing to talk.

Thank you!

[Philip027]

I'm nonlibidoist and have been on a monthly testosterone shot for almost a year now, due to having low T among various other hormone imbalances. Despite people warning me about probable changes to libido that I'd see, I haven't noticed any real effect from these shots.

[DexM]

I had hormone therapy due to a form of brain tumuor. I was classed as having no testosterone, my levels were below 100, and I had three times the amount of eostrogen. My hormones were a mess, the tumour increasing, and so I was put on medication to sort it all out. My libido rose significantly, although it took a while to get going, and I most certainly hung up my aromantic label. Not to say that the tumour was the reason I was aro, I had been like this for a lot of years, way before any signs of my problems, but I was armed with a lot more info, thanks to AVEN, and it gave me a sense of maturity and knowledge to test what I had always felt.

[DerkhanBlue]

I am currently on hormones due to hormonal imbalances (female body, high eostrogen, very low progesterone, and let's not get into what else is fucked up - basically, I am 25 and in menopause, hell yeah), so I am taking progesterone and my libido has become freaking annoying. Nothing else changed, sexual desire's barely kicking, no attraction to other people, still aromantic as a stone, but freaking hell.. During those times of the month I have to take progesterone my libido has started to be distracting. I just hope that it's a temporal peak and will go down again when my body gets used to the hormones.

I also used to take eostrogen for almost two years due to not being able to afford the various tests my doc wanted to do - so she prescribed me whatever to see what would happen. Other than making me hysterical for the first two months, I can't remember noticing any difference in libido, desire or anything else. In fact, I preferred that to what I'M taking now, even though it apparently was the opposite of what I needed. There were a lot of good sides to it, but now I have only the downsides (or what feels like downsides, seeing as I don't care if I can spawn or not) for the moment.

I guess what I'm saying is, it's probably a matter of what else is going on with your body and people can react differently, so it's not always easy to predict.

[Schrecken]

I took birth control pills for 8 years to treat ovarian cysts, and during that whole time my libido was all but absent. But some women find that the pill does just the opposite for them, so it isn't a given that it will crash your libido.

[bare_trees]

I'm taking estrogen and an antiandrogen for a hormonal imbalance, and have been for close to five years. In the past five years, I've begun to feel like I have more of a libido than I ever did in my teens and early twenties. I've considered that the pills are a part of that, but I also wonder if it hasn't been other changes in my life that have brought it on instead or in conjunction with the pills. Difficult to say.

[deleted_account]

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[wyrdwyrm]

Hormones can affect your libido, as your libido is the product of hormones - however, they don't really affect who you're attracted to. If they did, I imagine the LGBTQ community would be radically different than it is. If you're attracted to no one, you'll just be horny and still attracted to no one. It might make you so horny that you'd be willing to have sex with anyone...but whether you're actually attracted to that person or just using them as a human sex toy is another story.

If you're in the gray range, a high libido might make you more interested in physically acting on any emotional attraction you have with someone.

I've tried hormones a few times in my life with no noticeable results, but I naturally have a pretty moody libido that wanders all over the place between extremes, and only once in a semi-relationship with someone I was very emotionally attached to did I think that maaaaaaaybe I might consider it...but in the end, my general issues with sex and sexual attraction outlasted the relationship and I'm right back to the status quo of me, myself, and I.

[SconesForDinner]

First, thank you everyone for the thoughtful feedback! I know it can be a touchy subject and I really appreciate anything you're willing to share.

It sounds like reactions to hormones can really vary, which I expected. I'll keep looking into it. I'm on birth control right now, which probably does contribute (like some of you, I also find my libido increases if I forget to take a pill or when I'm off them for a week), but the birth control does such nice things I don't know if I can give it up.

I'm looking into seeing a therapist, so I may see if they have any feedback. Any of you discuss this sort of thing with a therapist/psychiatrist/someone else that field?

[DonnieOS]

My testosterone level was 108. No libido at all. I wasn't bothered by it, but my doctor was. So I was put on Axiron (a topical daily testosterone treatment) and retested after three months. My level at that time was 1440 and I still had zero libido. So the doc took me off the meds and recommended a psychiatrist. Heh. :)

The only change I noticed during treatment was a slight increase in energy and being more easily agitated.

[Philip027]

My testosterone level was 108. No libido at all. I wasn't bothered by it, but my doctor was. So I was put on Axiron (a topical daily testosterone treatment) and retested after three months. My level at that time was 1440 and I still had zero libido. So the doc took me off the meds and recommended a psychiatrist. Heh.

Did you ever have a libido before, or did you ever exhibit any distress over it?

If no to both, I'm wondering why your doc would care all that much o_O Mine didn't seem to...

[DonnieOS]

Did you ever have a libido before, or did you ever exhibit any distress over it?

If no to both, I'm wondering why your doc would care all that much o_O Mine didn't seem to...

I never had a libido, and I wasn't worried about it. It came up in a general check-up and he wanted to test my T level. He was pretty alarmed at the low number, basically telling me I was 30 and had the testosterone of a 90-year-old man.

I told him I didn't care about it, but his angle was, "Testosterone is vital for muscle tone, including the most important muscle - your heart." (exact quote)

So I was like, "Sure, whatever."

When the number spiked after three months, he asked all the same questions and was puzzled as to the lack of libido. He took me off the meds and recommended I see a psychiatrist, because he said it must be psychological.

I've been tested twice since and my numbers are in the "normal" range. 350-380. But still no libido, which again doesn't bother me.

[Laika]

I have been on testosterone for a couple years because when first tested my level was in the mid 100's. I inject myself every couple of weeks. It has improved my energy level and my T levels have raised a bit, although it was in a "normal" level only once since I started testing. My current doctor wants me to up the dose to 1.5 ml every two weeks. I tried the topical stuff but it didn't work well for me, so I don't mind taking the shots.

.

[Kauko]

I started weekly testosterone injections back in April, starting levels were in the 200s, currently over 1000. I had a crazy libido spike briefly over the summer, but that went away and for the last three months I've been back to generally feeling indifferent, libido-wise. I was originally concerned about lack of libido--and it was one of the reasons I went on T, along with lack of energy and inability to put on any muscle no matter how much time I spend trying to lift weights--but since learning more about asexuality and beginning to think of myself in those terms, I'm not longer terribly bothered by having little libido. Funny thing is, though, the last time I spoke to the doctor I go to for this, and I told him that I'm tending toward asexuality and that I actually find the lack of libido to be kind of relaxing and less distracting, he looked at me like I was crazy and said, 'ooooooo-kay' in that way people do when you've told them something they have trouble accepting. I guess, though, that when your whole practice is build around people coming in to reclaim that libido they remember from being 18 years old, when someone comes in and says, 'libido...meh', it's pretty unbelievable for them.

[Rising Sun]

I had too much testosterone and not enough progesterone in the past, so almost 10 years ago, I started taking a treatment to kill androgens and have a more normal female cycle. It didn't change my libido at all. But it changed my sexual orientation, my romantic orientation and my gender Not to say, seeing all of that happen almost all of a sudden is surprising and extremely confusing, especially when you're an adult ! Fortunately, I handled it very well and now I wouldn't stop my treatment even for 1 million €. I feel so much better with it !