So between my anti-depressants and my birth-control, my sex drive has been knocked back a few notches. This is a real pisser since I had kinda gotten used to being pregnant horny. I figure that if meds that I'm on can artificially dampen my libido, then surely there is something out there that can counter-act the effect. Anyone have any suggestions?

you could drop the BC and go for a more natural method? i've noticed that the pill does more damage then good to a persons libido.

Foggy,

Topless noticed the same thing after she was on birth control for years and then stopped to get pregnant. Afterwords we went to using a "copper-t" IUD and have been pretty happy with it. It's an all natural solution since it doesn't have any hormones or anything else that it gives off. Insertion and removal are pretty simple in the doctor office as well for when we're ready to go for round number two on the kids. We aren't quite the fuckbunnies that F&E are, but we manage to hold our own.

Update -
I ripped that stupid ring out and it's taken three weeks but I have my sex drive 90% back and was able to cut my anti-depressants back to normal (I had to double the dose a couple of months ago and didn't make the connection between that and the effect of the ring). After reading the IUD posts I think I'm just off all forms of hormone-based BC. I seem to be hyper sensitive to synthetic hormones. I don't know if we're ready for The Rev to see Dr. Snippy yet, and I hate condoms, for now we are finding creative areas for him to cum all over OUTSIDE the Play-Doh People Factory. Getting all the snythetic gunk out of my system has made me feel SO MUCH better!

I have to say that getting snipped was a good experience. S&SM and I had tried the condom route and the spermicidal jelly (absolutely horrid on toast!)and it's reaaallly nice not having to worry about getting pregnant.

5 good reasons for going on hormones

By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN

Empowered Patient, a regular feature from CNN Medical News correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, helps put you in the driver's seat when it comes to health care.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Dr. Bernadine Healy can't even count the number of women who've complained to her about how tough it is to make the decision about hormone replacement therapy.

"Women say, 'Oh it used to be so simple. Now it's so complex,'" says Healy, a cardiologist and former director of the National Institutes of Health. "And I tell them, 'Yes, it used to be so simple because it was wrong.'"

This is what she means: Before 2002, it was practically standard operating procedure to put women on synthetic hormones as soon as they reached menopause. ("We were putting them in the drinking water," jokes Healy.).

But that turned out to be not such a great idea. A study in 2002 found that hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, made women more vulnerable to heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer and blood clots. In droves, doctors yanked their patients off the hormones.

Six years later, Healy and others are pleading for a middle ground -- a world where doctors don't paint women with a broad brush, but instead consider the medical needs of each individual woman.

The stumbling block to this middle ground is that patients often don't know what are good (and bad) reasons to go on HRT. And it's not just the patients who don't know. "A lot of the doctors are confused as well," says Dr. Wulf Utian, executive director of the North American Menopause Society and a consultant in obstetrics and gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic.

But there's some good news in this hormonal mess. Since 2002, a consensus has developed among the experts about legitimate and not-so-legitimate reasons for considering HRT. Here are the big five legitimate reasons:

1. Hot flashes

If you have severe hot flashes, you're a good candidate for hormones, our experts say. "They alleviate the problem by about 95 percent," Utian says.

Many women -- probably about two-thirds -- have mild to moderate hot flashes and won't need hormones, he adds. "Generally speaking, they can get away with layering clothing, avoiding spicy foods, breathing techniques or yoga."

2. Night sweats

"Night sweats are hot flashes when you're under blankets, so you can't get rid of the heat easily," Utian says.

If night sweats are making you lose sleep to the point you're dysfunctional the next day, hormones might be a good option. "Some women say, 'I can't live my life like this.' That's the woman who should not be denied the hormones," says Marcia Stefanick, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.

Stefanick is co-author of a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that women who took a type of HRT called combined therapy (estrogen and progestin together) had a higher risk for breast cancer even three years after they quit taking the hormones.

3. Sleeplessness

The onset of menopause often gives women sleepless nights -- sometimes because of the night sweats, sometimes because of hormone changes. HRT sometimes helps, Healy says.

4. Osteoporosis -- sometimes

Studies have shown that HRT can cut down on bone fractures for women with osteoporosis, but it's not for everyone.

"A younger woman in early menopause who has osteoporosis -- or risk factors for osteoporosis -- might benefit from HRT," Utian says. "Older women should use something else." (See page 14 of this NIH report for other ways to treat osteoporosis.)

Women are at high risk for osteoporosis if they're thin, have a family history of osteoporosis, are lactose intolerant or smoke.

5. You feel better on hormones

"That's absolutely a legitimate reason for taking hormones," Healy says. "You very often can't measure what makes a woman feel better. But just because you can't measure it doesn't mean it's not real."

It's important, however, that women who go on hormones for this reason -- or any reason -- understand the risks of hormones. "I tell women, 'I'll give you the prescription as long as you understand the risks and the responsibilities and come in for regular checkups to see to it that all is going well,'" Utian says.

And what are some not-so-good reasons for going on HRT pills? Vaginal dryness and itchiness are better treated with estrogen creams, our experts say. Irregular periods should be tolerated, or treated with birth control pills, Utian says.

And certainly don't go on HRT because you think it might prevent aging, heart disease or cancer. The NIH study in 2002 rejected those reasons.

If you do decide to go on HRT, you need to keep several things in mind. First, take the lowest possible dose for the shortest possible time. That second part is pretty fuzzy. "The jury is still out. Is short-term two to three years? Five years?" Stefanick says. "When you go back to your doctor for checkups, ask, 'Should I go off it now?'"

Another question for your doctor: whether you should go on estrogen alone or combination therapy (estrogen plus progestin). Each has its pluses and minuses -- see Page 10 of the NIH document.

Choosing the right doctor is obviously of the utmost importance. Utian recommends an obstetrician-gynecologist rather than an internist. He recommends asking doctors how often they deal with hormone issues. "Some obstetricians are so busy delivering babies, they won't be spending much time on hormones," he says.

Elizabeth Cohen is a correspondent with CNN Medical News. Associate producer Sabriya Rice contributed to this report.

yikes! Those are good reasons?

Breast Cancer rates dropped 18% between 2003 & 2004, after a dramatic drop in HRT. 18% is HUGE. There can be NO other plausable reason than the discontinuation of HRT for a drop that big... a citation: www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/HRT/tb/6265

There are so many other ways to deal with those 5 problems than HRT that aren't associated with a dramatically raised risk of cancer, why do we always need to jump to such extreme measures?

Using HRT to deal with the 5 problems listed is like trying to deal with mice in your house by filling it up with uranium... yeah, it'll probably deal with your mouse problem, but it'll take you along with it.

"Another question for your doctor: whether you should go on estrogen alone or combination therapy (estrogen plus progestin). Each has its pluses and minuses -- see Page 10 of the NIH document."

Yikes! again.....

When HRT was originally introduced in the 1960's women were given unopposed estrogen. The increase in endometrial cancer rates were dramatic.
The treatment of those poor women has gone down as one of the great medical bungles in the last 50 years.

Except for very short term and stictly controlled special circumstances, you would not find a doctor in either Australia or New Zealand who would be prepared to write you a script for unopposed estrogen.

While some maintain you could bath in the stuff and it wouldn't do anything, my wife found the use of natural progesterone cream had a number of advantages.

helped with the menopause symtpoms, helped her sleep and was a wonderful face cream for skin care!

She was like a cat on a hot tin roof with any of the normal chemical remedies so willingly plied by classically, cynically trained doctors who are usually resistant to 'natural remedies.'