Complaints & connections · borters.ch
First the medication, then exhaustion, then thyroid, iron and hormones — and pain deserves naming.
Also known as: low libido · loss of desire · no interest
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Desire is not a switch but an interplay of body, mind and relationship — and it rarely declines for a single reason. The most overlooked part is medication: several drugs for depression, some blood pressure drugs, hormonal contraception and preparations for prostate complaints are known for it, and the timing usually shows it clearly. The second part is exhaustion in the widest sense: little sleep, ongoing stress, worry, low mood. The third is physical: a sluggish thyroid, an empty iron store, a raised prolactin, in men a low testosterone level, in women the dryness after menopause that makes closeness uncomfortable and lowers desire as a consequence. Pain during sex is a reason of its own and not a side issue — it deserves naming, because it can usually be treated well. And the fourth part is the relationship itself; that is not a medical question, but often the most honest one. Important: there is no right amount. It becomes a subject only when it bothers the person themselves.
Timing often answers the question without any investigation.
Without recovery no value and no remedy achieves much.
Pain logically removes desire — the real solution often lies here.
Thyroid, iron, prolactin and in men testosterone — one appointment, one picture.
Desire varies across life and with circumstances; there is no fixed normal value. It counts as a disorder only when it lasts more than six months and is a burden. In women, testosterone is not a reliable measure of it. Medicines are a common reason: SSRIs affect up to half of those treated, along with beta blockers, finasteride and the pill. After switching or stopping, desire usually returns within weeks.
Testosterone works in men with a documented shortfall; at normal values studies show hardly any effect on desire, and the body’s own production falls. In women after the menopause it has been studied at low dose and works for some. PDE-5 inhibitors improve erection, not desire — the two are often confused. What most often helps is a change of medicine: SSRIs affect up to half of those treated.
The most common and most easily overlooked reason — and one you can talk about.
Then exhaustion is the foreground, not sexuality.
A reason of its own and treatable — not a side issue.
If it is there alone or with others, the body is probably not the reason.
An empty store makes you tired — and tiredness is the commonest damper of all.
An empty store causes exhaustion and lack of drive — and desire is the first thing to go with exhaustion. In women with periods that is the most common physical explanation.
Needed for making testosterone. A lack is more common with very little meat, with chronic diarrhoea and with alcohol; an excess, by contrast, achieves nothing.
Low values go along with tiredness and low mood, both of which lower desire. A direct link with libido does not show up in studies.
It loosens things briefly and, with regular use, lowers testosterone, blood flow and the quality of sleep. That is the most overlooked point in this row.
In small studies at 1.5–3 g a day over 8–12 weeks participants reported more desire — without hormone values changing. Traditionally the root is eaten in Peru as a food, not as a capsule.
300–600 mg extract a day over 8 weeks is the studied frame; the studies are small and often come from the manufacturer. Isolated liver injuries are reported — stop with yellowing or upper belly pressure.
With a proven deficiency testosterone rises again — without one nothing moves. That is the whole difference between replacing and boosting.
Clearly effective with proven deficiency, useless without. Take only with a documented deficiency — excess is harmful.
Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.
In both sexes the hormone of desire, not of erection. In men measure in the morning and repeat if low; in women a single value is hard to judge.
A raised value clearly lowers desire and is one of the few genuinely correctable causes. Several drugs for nausea and from psychiatry lift it.
After the menopause the drop explains dryness and pain during sex — and pain takes desire away more reliably than any hormone. Local treatment often does more here than a general one.
Lasting strain throttles the reproductive axis — not as an excuse but as a measurable road. Sleep and recovery act directly on desire here.
Alcohol lowers sensitivity short term and hormone production long term. A Mediterranean pattern improved vessel function and with it desire in studies — both over months.
Fading desire is often a sign of tiredness. These three values explain part of it and are all treatable.
Works on vessels, hormones and mood at once — measurable in studies for both sexes. Very high training volumes lower desire instead; here too the curve has two ends.
Small studies with ashwagandha and ginseng show effects on desire and the experience of stress. The studies are small and often manufacturer-funded — with thyroid disease ashwagandha belongs used sparingly.