Article in Media re Pill and sex drive

[Damien Day]

This article from today's UK Daily Telegraph newspaper hasn't anything to do with asexuality really, as asexuals don't generally take the Pill, but it has some relevance to modern sexuality. I've always thought that ingesting hormonal chemicals for women had as bad an effect as steroids for men. I suppose this is the right forum for this article:-

Taking the Pill may lead to permanent loss of sex drive

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent

(Filed: 26/05/2005)

Taking birth control pills could permanently reduce libido, according to a study.

Oral contraceptives have been shown to increase the amount of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) - a protein produced in the liver that lowers testosterone levels, thereby reducing sexual drive.

It is well known that taking the Pill can reduce levels of sex hormones that drive libido. However, most doctors advise that this effect is reversed when a woman stops taking the contraceptive.

Researchers at Boston University found that women still had double the normal level of SHBG in their blood a year after stopping the Pill.

Dr Claudia Panzer, an endocrinologist at the Boston University Medical Centre and lead researcher on the study, said: "These results suggest that the hormonal changes induced by oral contraceptives are not immediately reversible after discontinuation of oral contraceptive use.

"Despite discontinuation of oral contraceptive use, SHBG levels remained continuously elevated after one year.

"It is important that when doctors advise women to take oral contraception that potential side-effects, including loss of sexual appetite and arousal, are pointed out.

"If, as our study suggests, the Pill can cause a long-term or permanent loss of libido, that is something women need to be made aware of."

Dr Panzer and a colleague, Dr Irwin Goldstein, measured SHBG levels in 124 young women who attended a sexual dysfunction clinic. Those who continued taking the Pill had four times the normal level measured in women who had never taken it.

A third group were taking the Pill until the start of the tests. After three months their SHBG had dropped by 50-55 per cent to around double the normal level.

After six months, those who stopped taking the Pill at the beginning of the test still had about twice the normal SHBG levels. This was also the case for many after a year.

Dr Panzer, whose work is reported in this week's New Scientist, hopes to carry out a larger study among healthy women who do not attend sexual dysfunction clinics.

Dr Anna Glasier, the director of family planning services for the NHS in Lothian said the study should be replicated.

She added: "The causes of loss of libido are complex and multiple. Taking the Pill has been associated with a short-term loss of sexual drive. However, I find it remarkable that this reported prolonged rise in SHBG should continue long after a woman stops taking the Pill."

Loki

[Shivers]

(deleted double post, which had less info from you in it anyways)