tkgoodspirit

Having no sex drive (or low libido) is very common when you are taking medications, as most of us with FM do. Any anti-D's like Effexor for example will drop your sex drive to null in most cases, as will a number of other meds. Pain meds will also have this side effect. If you take your meds and read the side effects, you will most likely see that decreased sex drive is one of them. When they came out with Wellbutrin XL it was believed that this anti-D would not affect your sex drive as much as other similar meds. Most of us who have Fibro were given anti-D's when we were first dx'd not for depression per se, but the ingrediants in a lot of these anti-D's act as a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor. It has been researched and found that people with FM lose serotonin through their urine, so we are given these type of meds to help replace the serotonin. I was just reading about this the other night, and I knew we suffered from low serotonin as well as another chemical we make naturally but can't recall it right now, but I didn't realize that we lost it through our urine. Ya learn something new everyday! That is why I always encourage people with FM to research the web as much as they can to learn about what is going on with our bodies. There is a lot of new research available to look at on the web. But anyway, yes, loss of sex drive is common amoung us Fibromites, even w/o meds, mostly because we are in pain and exhausted, but when you throw medications into the mix it only adds to the problem. I have quit taking the serotonin re-uptake inhibitors and choose to tackle the problem naturally, like with 5HTP. There are ant-D's out there that aren't considered re-uptake inhibitors for serotonin and if you think you are depressed and ned meds, you can ask your doctor or your pharmacist. I found out about this from my pharmacist. Withdrawl from these type of meds, like Effexor, is also very intense. You can't just stop taking them abruptly.

I would talk to your doc and see if they will do a full testosterone run on your blood. It may be low. Normal is around 14 and mine is 7. So, you can imagine my sex drive! LOL Right now I think the only medical way to increase libido is with testosterone, and it has some nasty side effects when given to women.

I must say, from mine own experience so far, that I can feel a wee bit more of my sex drive returning since I quit the anti-D's.

Hope this helps. I know it's frustrating.
tk