Topic
Sexual dysfunction, childbirth and breast feeding – back to myself again
I am a 41-year-old woman who has had low sexual interest dating back to 2004. i have had a history of cervical dysplasia, yeast infections, urinary tract infections and have had HPV. I had a great sex life until I got engaged in 2004 to a wonderful and caring man who is two years younger. At that point, for reasons that I could not control or understand, my sexual libido sank dramatically. That was VERY frustrating, discouraging and disappointing. My desire prior to being engaged was a 10/10 and it fell to a 01/10. I had used birth control pills and the birth control patch for approximately 10 years. We were married in 2005. I told my stepmom about my sad low sexual interest that was causing great worries for me. I also had discomfort during penetration, my orgasms were really minimal and my lubrication response was virtually non-existent. My stepmom also had a long history of low sexual interest and was seeing a sexual medicine MD. Eventually, I also became a patient of the MD and my blood tests, low and behold, showed low levels of testosterone. In 2006, I was started on Testim. Approximately four and half months later, while on 0.5 gm daily Testim (1 tube over 10 days to the back of my calf), my overall sexual functions improved a lot. The treatment increased my desire, my arousal, my orgasms and stopped all the pain and discomfort. That was very reassuring. i was back to myself again.
We always wanted to have a family and were having more sexual activity and soon I became pregnant with our daughter and stopped all medicines. During the pregnancy, I had the poor sexual interest again. After the vaginal delivery in 2007 and then postpartum and post-breastfeeding, I stayed with the horrible poor sexual function.
While on Testim prior to getting pregnant for the first time, my desire was restored to 8/10 but post-childbirth, it was 0-1/10. Similarly, my arousal was restored to 8/10 on Testim but post-childbirth, it was 0-1/10. Same thing about my orgasms. Testim restored them to 10/10 but post-childbirth they were non-existent at 0-1/10. Finally, my discomfort/pain which was only experienced rarely on penetration, perhaps 1 in more than 6 penetrations, occurred post-childbirth 1 every 3 penetrations. While in discomfort/pain, I was completely distracted – no arousal, no orgasm – and I just wished that the sexual event was over.
The sexual medicine MD found that I had not only low testosterone but also I had a provoked vestibulodynia or discomfort at the vaginal opening, my labia minor were further reabsorbing, and I had reduced sensation in my genitals. Miraculously, Testim worked like a charm again. Within 6 months, all my symptoms disappeared and “I was back to myself again”. I was soon pregnant with my second beautiful daughter.
Four months after the childbirth, my milk supply had dried up and I stopped breast feeding. As predicted for me, I was back to having NO sexual interest, arousal and orgasm. Discomfort was still present. I had my blood tests and these values were very low. This time I had a testosterone pellet inserted. I am happy to announce that after several months, “I’m back to myself again”. This is such great news.