BIRDS, BEES AND LOW LIBIDO

GIVING “THE TALK”

You don’t have to be in the raging hormone years of puberty to be infinitely curious about sex. As you get older, your body goes through changes that affect how you think and feel about sex. Some of them are confusing times. Things don’t always go how you’d like. You wonder what’s going on with your body. You might want sex, but nothing happens. You might wonder why you don’t want sex. Which is even more troubling. So you have questions. Certainly can’t ask your parents. There’s no class for adults called Sex Drive and What the Heck Happened to it. And this time, there’s no Louie in the schoolyard to fill you in. Nope, getting vague answers and a cookie didn’t work when you were a kid. Not going to work now. So we’ll try to tackle the tough questions around sex drive or lack of it, here.

SEX IS GOOD, RIGHT?

Always has been.  Because of certain hormones, our bodies are hard-wired to want it. Due to all these chemicals moving in and around your body, desire can start pretty early; sometime between age 7 and 13 in girls, and 9 and 12 in boys. Just think back. As your hormones increased, your cheerleader or football captain lust increased with them. And that inner itch got more and more persistent. Your appetite for sex surpassed your taste for anything less spicy. Today, sex is out there everywhere. Name a video that isn’t Disney, and sex fills the screen. It’s a real turn-on. Or isn’t it?

HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD I HAVE SEX?  WHAT’S NORMAL?

One study that appeared in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found that the average adult currently enjoys sex 54 times a year, which equates to about once a week. It found that only 26% of couples are hitting the once-a-week mark, with the majority of the respondents reporting less. Another study stated that married couples are having sex about seven times a month, which is a little less than twice a week. Yet another claimed that married couples are having sex about seven times a month, which is a little less than twice a week.

DO MILLENNIALS HAVE SEX ALL THE TIME?

For single millennials, the rise of dating and hook-up apps means access to sex has never been easier. In theory. In what an article in The Atlantic termed a sex recession, young adults–especially men—are now having far less sex than prior generations. “How can that be?” is probably your next probing question. Millennials are living in a time of chronic stress that has an unwelcome impact on their sex lives. College debt, job worries, working in a gig economy, living at home, worrying about their futures, and the rise of what has been called “the hustle culture” leads to chronic stress. Which triggers the release of hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine, which in high levels can cause decreased sex drive. Whatever your age, when it comes to sex, there is no normal. So if you’re not having sex with the frequency of everyone in the Bridgerton Netflix series, it’s NBD. If you don’t really want sex at all, it’s definitely worth questioning.

WHAT’S A LIBIDO? IS IT A GOOD THING?

Libido. One of those words people think they’ve heard of, but aren’t exactly sure. It’s actually pretty easy; libido=sex drive. Actually, it comes from early 20th century Latin, literally desire and lust.

DOES EVERYONE HAVE ONE?

Well, yes, they do. Just like those birds and bees. And practically every living creature. They’re just different in men and women. Study after study shows that men’s sex drives are not only stronger than women’s but much more straightforward. The sources of women’s libidos, by contrast, are much harder to pin down. Often for them, libido starts in the head before it heads south. The majority of adult men under 60 think about sex at least once a day. Only about one-quarter of women say they think about it that frequently. But thinking isn’t doing. 

CAN YOUR LIBIDO GO PHHTT?

Waning libido doesn’t discriminate.  As many as 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men have experienced sexual dysfunction, and one of the most common problems is low libido or a low sex drive, You’re just not feeling it. A low libido puts your “gotta get it” in stall. You feel like you’re in a permanent no-nooky slump with a perpetual “not now, I’ve got a headache”. For both sexes, low libido is one of the most common sexual issues, and it can affect you in many ways. Low desire may mean not wanting to have sex, but it also means not wanting to masturbate, having few sexual fantasies, and being worried about the lack of desire. The big question; how could this happen to me? WHAT DO HORMONES HAVE TO DO WITH IT?

One of the biggest reasons “horny” disappears and libido languishes are hormones that are out of balance. It’s estimated that 70 percent of low sex drive cases are due to misfiring hormones. Testosterone and estrogen are key to maintaining a healthy libido. Other hormones which can influence libido in men and women include DHEA and thyroid. Since DHEA is the precursor to testosterone, inadequate DHEA concentrations in the body can lead to low amounts of testosterone and reduced sex drive. Also, an abnormally low amount of thyroid hormone may decrease sex drive by causing a slowdown in the metabolism of the reproductive organs.

WHAT’S WITH THIS TESTOSTERONE THING?

The hormone testosterone plays a big part in men’s health, but perhaps its most meaningful role is to fuel sex drive and performance. Testosterone levels tend to decrease with age. They peak by early adulthood and then can drop by up to 1% to 2% per year beginning in your 30’s. Today, more than ever, testosterone levels are under siege from sedentary jobs, stress, lack of exercise, and lack of sleep, to poor diets and lifestyle choices. Other factors can pull T levels down; antidepressants, blood pressure meds, and antihistamines. And yes, even too tight tightly whiteys. And as we’ve mentioned above, chronic stress (and who doesn’t have any, especially now?), plays a role. Anything that increases stress can cause decreased libido because the body reacts to stress by releasing cortisol. Cortisol decreases testosterone hence libido suffers. It’s a sex-free circle.

WHAT’S WITH THIS ESTROGEN THING?

Actually, it isn’t just estrogen that’s responsible for low libido in women. Nearly one-third of women aged 18 to 59 suffer from a lost interest in sex, and it’s not all in their heads. An imbalance of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels can lead to a reduction of sexual drive and energy in women. Women are on a hormone roller coaster from year to year with more spikes than the post-Covid financial picture. Hormone levels fluctuate throughout their cycles. The 30s are a prime decade for baby-making where hormones go haywire through each trimester and then during breastfeeding, triggering a lack of desire. Hormonal changes are also on the charge in your 40’s. Perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause can definitely hit the pause button on your libido. The older you get, the more all your hormone levels decline.

WILL I GET TO HAVE SEX WHEN I’M OLD?

First, accept old is arbitrary. Contrary to common myths, sex isn’t just for the young. There’s a lot of action going on between the sheets as seniors (we need to come up with a better word than that) continue to enjoy their sexuality into their 80s and beyond. There is no age limit on sexuality and sexual activity, according to the sexual research group The Kinsey Institute. The thing is, the drive to do it is often dependent on getting the hormones that can make horny happen, balanced. And give your libido a healthy boost.

IS THERE ANYONE I CAN TRUST TO LIFT MY LIBIDO?

That’s easy; Denver Hormone Health. At DHH, ask any and all questions about sex, sex drive, and sex drive that seems to have disappeared somewhere, with absolutely no embarrassing hesitation. DHH’s concerned and understanding experts want and encourage you to talk about this part of your life. And the first thing they’ll tell you is that if your libido is low, you don’t have to live with it. All those hormones we’ve been talking about, the specialists at Denver Hormone Health know all about them. How they can hurt you. And how they can help you. Comprehensive testing and evaluation will let them assess the problem and restore imbalances that kept you from shifting your sex drive into full throttle. Sex toys aren’t an answer. Nor are bizarre herbal remedies. Especially those libido lifters clogging the internet bandwidth. At Denver Hormone Health you’ll get straight answers you can trust, along with a personalized program of safe, natural bioidentical hormones you can trust to put the sizzle back in sex.

So, that’s “The Talk”. At least the adult one. Did you get all your answers? You can get even more by making an appointment at Denver Hormone Health now. (Gee, where was DHH when you had acne, stashed slutty magazines under your bed, and couldn’t talk sex with mom and dad for anything?)

MENOPAUSE; HOT AND EXTREMELY BOTHERED

WHAT YOUR MOTHER NEVER TOLD YOU ENOUGH ABOUT

That’s easy. Mostly everything. It’s like after everything they battled to go through it, they never wanted to relive it again. But then, most of us never asked, either. We were still dealing with our pad or tampon period issues. Maybe, the change of life didn’t change their lives so much. But then maybe they were living in an alternate universe. The Chinese call menopause “A Woman’s Second Spring”. Spring? More like summer hurricanes with blizzards with winter storm warnings.

MENOPAUSE, THE LONG ROAD THERE

There are actually three stages of menopause.

The first is perimenopause which lasts for several years before actual menopause. In the last year or two of this stage, a woman can begin to experience menopause symptoms. The second stage is menopause itself. This is when a woman has irregular periods, going longer stretches at a time without a menstrual cycle until she does not have a period for a 12-month time span.

The final stage is post-menopause. During this stage of menopause, symptoms decrease or stop altogether.

PMS ON STEROIDS

Your body is under siege.

You go from Mary Poppins to Cruella de Ville in less time than you can eat a pint of rocky road. You’re sure you’re getting early-onset dementia. There can be times you feel like a raving maniac for no reason. What fun, huh?

Oh, but there’s so much more. Hair loss or hair thinning. Or both. Difficulty falling asleep. Sadness, depression. Think we’re done? Migraines, joint aches, and pains, osteoporosis. And is your imagination, or are wrinkles taking up residence on your face? Does your vagina feel like it dried up? Has your libido left town? And ooooo…the hot flashes. Typically lasts two to four minutes, but seems like a year. They can occur once or twice a day, or as often as every hour. Enough to make you want to call 911.

No wonder your mothers didn’t want to relive it.

CAUGHT IN A HORMONAL TAILSPIN

There are some 50 different hormones happily flipping and flopping throughout your bloodstream. When they are out of balance, they can really muck things up. One of the big ones is estrogen, which is really 3 hormones called estradiol, estriol, and estrone. But we’ll just keep it at “estrogen” for our purposes. Estrogen imbalances are what make you wonder if you’ll ever make it to the other side. And on that side, the good side—something actually good about menopause? —there’s help. And it’s easy to get. But more on that in a moment. We’re on a learning curve here…

BHRT COULD BE JUST WHAT YOU NEED

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Hormone replacement therapy? Nope. Heard too many bad things about it. Here’s where a little education could help. The hormone therapy you’re thinking about uses synthetic or fake hormones. Hormones synthesized in a lab and marketed by happy profit-seeking pharmaceutical companies. Your body doesn’t like them. And lets you know it.

Bioidentical hormones are what they sound like; identical. Scientifically, they are hormones derived from natural sources and have an exact structural match to the hormones produced by your own body. So the risk of side effects is minimal and the safety and efficacy of the treatment, optimal.

DENVER HORMONE HEALTH IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED

Despite being a common issue, menopausal treatments are often limited. In fact, research has shown that the average doctor is ill-equipped to help modern women manage menopausal symptoms. The hormone experts at Denver Hormone Health are doctors who have had years of medical training and experience in the use of BHRT to help menopausal women be who they want to be. Not the estrogen-possessed woman who can burst into tears and implode in minutes.

Hormone Pellet Therapy is simple. Once tests tell your DHH doctor what your body needs, they are able to tell the exact dosage you need. No one-size-fits-all solution here. Hormone pellets as tiny as a grain of rice are painlessly inserted under the skin. This allows them to slowly release into the bloodstream, allowing your body to naturally absorb the hormones on a 24/7 basis. And pellets only need to be reinserted just 3-4 times a year.

At Denver Hormone Health, we’re here for you, however, you need us. And we’ll be there for you, monitoring your progress, making adjustments as needed. Stop thinking you have to sweat menopause alone and get real help. Call Denver Hormone Health for an appointment now.

HAPPY YOU YEAR

IT’S JANUARY, AND I DON’T KNOW WHERE I PUT MY RESOLUTIONS

Happens every year. Good intentions fill the air around the globe. Lists are made. But memes and jokes glut the Internet:

“My goal for 2021 is to accomplish the goals of 2020 which I should have done in 2019 because I promised them in 2018.”

You laugh. But not for long. Studies have shown that less than 25% of people actually stay committed to their resolutions after just 30 days, and only 8% accomplish them. But you don’t have to be part of the statistic.

THESE DON’T COUNT

  • Dear me…this year I will:
  • Stop mispronouncing Kamala and Chipotle
  • Try to come up with passwords more creative than “password”
  • Stop leaving Eggo boxes under the bed
  • Never use “it is what it is” when it comes to sex
  • Get my whites whiter

Again, more funny. But funny on January 1st, can only take you as far as January 2nd. OK, maybe 3rd.

IT’S HARD TO MAKE GOOD RESOLUTIONS WHEN THINGS SEEM SO BAD

It’s a daunting task to sit down and make some serious resolutions considering the stress of 2020 that made the ball coming down at midnight feel like it came down on your head. Life has taken a toll on your whole body. Stress off the charts. Less exercise. More eating. You can’t sleep, you ache all over. The only thing you can’t seem to do is social distance from is depression.

HOW HORMONES CAN HELP YOU KEEP SOME HEALTHY RESOLUTIONS

To say you don’t feel your best is an understatement. But consider this; a lot of what you’re feeling could be due to unbalanced hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers freestyling it through your bloodstream, messing up how you feel at whim. Unbalanced hormones can affect all your most important resolutions:

LOSE WEIGHT

Hormone imbalances can program you to put on the pounds. Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone imbalances can lead to weight gain in the hips, thighs, and bottom. An imbalance of cortisol stress hormones is another roadblock to losing weight, with high levels fueling appetite, sugar cravings, and the accumulation of belly fat. Low thyroid hormones and/or deficiencies of elements like selenium or iodine crucial to active thyroid conversion can also slow metabolism, making it easy to gain weight and harder to lose.

SLEEP BETTER

To sleep, perchance to dream; this too is a hormone matter. We need at least 6-7 hours of contented sleep. Consistently. Balanced levels of melatonin in tandem with cortisol regulate the rhythms of sleep and waking. A well-rested mind and body provide the inner calm and tranquility needed to help us deal with all that life might throw at us. And this year, Covid is playing hardball. 

GET ORGANIZED

Hormone imbalances can run interference on getting your house in order. If, for example, you have low testosterone it can be tough to think straight. Out-of-whack cortisol levels can make us unfocused and easily distracted, while estrogen lows are linked with foggy thinking and difficulty finding anything but your secret stash of assorted flavor Pringles. 

STAY FIT AND HEALTHY

Hormone fitness is a must. That means that all the hormones in our body need to be in the right proportions with one another: estrogens, androgens, adrenals, and thyroid hormones work closely together to protect the health of our heart, brain, and nervous system, muscles, and bones, skin and hair.

YOU CAN DO IT. YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY DO IT

It’s all possible with the help of your hormones and Denver Hormone Health.

Denver Hormone Health is all about everything “hormones”. They understand the delicate balance your hormones need to be in to help you be your best. The professionals at DHH take the time to really talk with you about what’s been bugging you and what could be the health consequences of your hormones feeling bugged. With simple tests, they can get the whole picture. This helps them create a treatment plan that’s uniquely tailored to your needs. While looking for toilet paper and cleaning supplies has become the new Gold Rush, the rush should be getting your hormones balanced. Resolve to make an appointment at Denver Hormone Health now. And Happy You Year.