You And Your Sex Drive

By guest blogger Sara Gottfried, MD

Sex drive. If you have one, lost one or have friends with one, you need to read this.

Low sex drive triggers embarrassment. Humiliation. Shame. Do you talk about it with your friends? Do you admit what feels like a failing, perhaps in your marriage? Do you ask your doctor for help? Women are so acclimated to being dismissed by mainstream medicine, that they don’t even notice how poorly served they are by clinicians in the area of low libido.

Here’s where you start with solving low sex drive: you need a clinician who is both interested and has the bulk time to investigate thoroughly your root causes and the natural solution.

Seventy percent of low sex drive is hormonal, including problems with estrogen, thyroid, cortisol (the main stress hormone), and testosterone. Many women think they just need a pill – to top off their testosterone level, but the truth is that the cause of low sex drive in women is usually multi-faceted and requires a more holistic framework and inquiry.

Even so, let your body be your guide. Your sex drive tells me a lot about your relationship with yourself and others, your hormone levels, your general energy – both amount and consistency, and your health.

Women fit into one of three categories when it comes to health: super-vital, OK or sick.  I find that super-vital women rarely have a problem with sex drive. But women who just feel OK? They’d rather be on Facebook than have sex. Often, they have a growing restlessness, boredom with the sexual routines in their marriage or partnerships, and hunger for something different. They seek wholeness, fulfillment, authenticity, and a deeper connection to their sensual self.

5 Natural Cures for Low Sex Drive

1. Maca. Also known as Peruvian Ginseng, maca has been shown to increase libido and improve both anxiety and depression in randomized trials, the best quality of evidence we have in medicine. It helps your cortisol level, the main hormone of stress. You can pick this up at your local health food store as a capsule, tincture or even combined with a protein powder on Amazon.
2. Don’t let ordinary sex differences turn into big relationship problems.
3. Check your neck. I find that most doctors under-diagnose thyroid problems, yet they are a leading cause of low sex drive. Many clinicians use an older scale for normal thyroid function, rather than the latest recommendation of a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) of 0.3 to 3.0. For women trying to conceive or in pregnancy, we want an even tighter range.
4. Orgasmic meditation. We are re-defining female orgasm with a powerful practice defined by Nicole Daedone that takes 15 minutes and dramatically increases female sexual energy. For more information, go to http://onetaste.us/
5. Eat right, eat sexy. If your sex drive is low due to low estrogen, add flax seeds to your diet. If your sex drive is low due to low thyroid, add coconut oil. If your sex drive is low due to low testosterone, make sure you are getting enough protein, such as with a Paleo Diet, and avoiding sugar and dairy.

The first step in re-igniting sex drive is to stop blaming yourself (or accepting your partner’s blame) and to act on every little glimmer of interest. Next, find a doctor who is willing to work with you on finding natural solutions such as those mentioned above. The new paradigm of 4P medicine – predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory medicine – will best serve to optimize your sex drive, and the happy byproducts are greater vitality, flexibility and more consistent energy.

Dr. Sara Gottfried, M.D. specializes in teaching women how to re-ignite sex drive, increase energy and lose weight with natural hormone balancing.  She is a Harvard-trained, Board-Certified integrative physician with a mostly virtual practice in Berkeley, CA. She offers wellness and hormone coaching to women across the country. For a FREE “How to Balance Your Hormones” WELLNESS BREAKTHROUGH KIT, visit http://www.SaraGottfriedMD.com

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