Decreased sexual desire can have serious negative effects on your relationship, as well as in your quality of life. Your libido is dependent on various factors including hormonal, somatogenic, and psychogenic factors. Unfortunately, when you’re not well and taking medications, there are also certain medicines that may further lower your sex drive.
Medications that adversely affect your sex drive typically have mechanisms that influence libido mediators such as testosterone, prolactin, and serotonin. Continue reading to learn about the various medications that can severely interfere with your libido.
Medication-Induced Loss of Libido
Losing your libido is a serious matter, precisely because it can ruin your sex life, destroy your relationship, affect your self-esteem, and reduce your overall quality of life. It’s an even more complicated problem when the one causing your loss of libido is the medication that you badly need to take for the sake of your health.
There are three general types of medications that can have serious adverse effects on your sex drive. These are broadly categorized as cardiovascular agents, neurologic or psychiatric agents, and miscellaneous agents.
Neurologic Agents
One of the unfortunate symptoms of major depressive disorder is a significant decline in sex drive. Sadly, antidepressants are notorious for their adverse sexual effects, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are known to cause a reduction in sex drive, as well as erectile dysfunction.
That’s because this class of medication basically work by increasing your levels of bioavailable serotonin, lowering your dopamine levels, and inhibiting nitric oxide production and secretion.
As you may already be aware, dopamine is basically a “pleasure” neurotransmitter because it regulates reward-motivated behavior and is associated with feelings of pleasure and bliss. Dopamine also promotes sexual arousal and regulates sexual behavior. Serotonin, on the other hand, has an inhibitory effect on your sexual behavior.
Tricyclic antidepressants are also associated with reduced libido and impaired sexual function and enjoyment. Examples of tricyclic antidepressants include doxepin and amitriptyline.
Antipsychotic and anti-mania medications such as haloperidol and lithium carbonate can also severely hamper your sex drive. Atypical antipsychotics such as risperidone may also increase your prolactin levels, but the effects are usually dose-related. Nevertheless, the higher your prolactin levels are, the more significant the reduction in your libido will be.
Cardiovascular Agents
Uncontrolled hypertension is not only bad for your heart and blood vessels, but it’s also damaging to your erectile function. Unfortunately, taking anti-hypertensive medications can make you lose your libido.
For the treatment of hypertension, the most commonly prescribed medications include beta-blockers and thiazide diuretics, and both are linked to reduced sex drive. Propranolol, a type of non-selective beta-blocker has been shown to have more severe sexual adverse effects than selective beta-blockers like metoprolol.
Other Medications
Since testosterone is the primary hormonal regulator of your sex drive, any medication that will affect your testosterone levels will also interfere with your libido. For instance, medications for treating an enlarged prostate such as dutasteride and finasteride can lower your libido by decreasing your dihydrotestosterone levels.
Other medications for benign prostatic hyperplasia like tamsulosin and alfuzosin are also known to have adverse sexual effects such as low libido, erectile dysfunction, and ejaculatory disorders. Opioids and other anti-androgen medications also reduce your testosterone levels, thus causing your libido to decrease.
Antihistamines, medical marijuana, and anti-hair loss medications can also affect your testosterone levels and libido. However, whereas antihistamines only cause a temporary loss of libido, anti-baldness medicines may actually have more lasting effects.
Natural Ways to Prevent Loss of Libido
Raising your testosterone levels is one of the best ways to really improve your sex drive. However, if that’s not viable because you have a health condition that’s sensitive to testosterone like benign prostatic hyperplasia, it’s still possible to improve your libido without increasing your testosterone levels.
Maca is, in fact, popular as a natural remedy for enlarged prostate, precisely because it can reduce your prostate weight without dangerously increasing your testosterone levels. In several animal studies, red maca has been shown to reduce prostate weight at levels comparable to finasteride.
Aside from its benefits for prostate health, maca is actually known to have potent aphrodisiac properties. In fact, this is one of the documented uses of maca ever since ancient times. On top of that, the herb is also a great adaptogenic and ergogenic agent, which means it can significantly lower your stress levels while increasing your energy levels.
If, on the one hand, you don’t have any testosterone-sensitive health conditions, Tongkat Ali, fenugreek, Ashwagandha, Tribulus terrestris, and Horny Goat Weed would be just perfect for you. These herbs can dramatically increase your free and total testosterone levels, and they’re also widely known as aphrodisiacs.
Moreover, these herbs are also excellent erectile function enhancers and fertility boosters. Tribulus terrestris, Tongkat Ali, and Horny Goat Weed, for example, have all been extensively studied for their pro-erectile and pro-fertility properties.
Although these three herbs can raise your testosterone levels, they work through different mechanisms of action when it comes to improving your erectile function. Horny Goat Weed, for instance, has PDE5 inhibitory effects, while Tribulus terrestris increases nitric oxide production and Tongkat Ali prevents penile detumescence.
Fenugreek, on the one hand, is acknowledged as a booster of free testosterone levels. This means that fenugreek does not directly influence your testosterone production. Rather, it helps you keep your free testosterone levels from going down, thanks to the herb’s aromatase inhibitory effects.
Ashwagandha is not only great for increasing your sex drive, but it’s also an excellent choice for lowering your stress levels and reducing anxiety symptoms. As a rejuvenating agent, Ashwagandha helps you energize you and improve your mood so that you’re in a better condition to really enjoy sex.
If you really want to restore your libido and enjoy your sexuality to the fullest, Male UltraCore can help you do that. A truly effective sex enhancement supplement, Male UltraCore is formulated using Ashwagandha, fenugreek, Tongkat Ali, Horny Goat Weed, Tribulus terrestris, and many other potent natural ingredients.
