Maybe.
From my prior blogs, I’m sure that you can see that desire and arousal are actually quite complicated. Sometimes when we try to simplify it down to “it’s just your hormones”, we miss ALL of the other reasons that you could be experiencing a low libido.
However, if you suspect it really could be, here’s the two main hormones that you need to know:
Testosterone is the hormone most often linked to libido, and it matters for all sexes. In men, low testosterone commonly brings reduced desire along with fatigue, low mood, and erectile changes. It becomes more common with age, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and opioid use.
Women produce testosterone too, in the ovaries and adrenal glands, and levels fall gradually from the twenties onward and drop sharply after surgical removal of the ovaries. Oral contraceptives can also play a role. They raise sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which binds testosterone and reduces the amount freely available to the body, and some people notice their desire dips on the pill.
The relationship isn’t simple, though. Blood levels correlate only loosely with desire, and many people with “low” readings have no complaints while others in the normal range do. The 2019 Global Consensus Position Statement on testosterone in women concluded that the only evidence-based use was for postmenopausal women diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and only after other contributing factors had been addressed.
Estrogen affects desire more indirectly. Falling estrogen during perimenopause, menopause, breastfeeding, or after certain cancer treatments can cause vaginal dryness, thinning tissue, and pain with sex, a cluster now called genitourinary syndrome of menopause (or genitourinary syndrome of breastfeeding.) When sex starts to hurt, desire often follows it down, which ties back to the “brakes” discussed earlier. Hot flashes and poor sleep from shifting hormones can compound the problem through exhaustion alone. Postpartum is a particularly concentrated case. Estrogen drops sharply after birth, and breastfeeding raises prolactin, a hormone that suppresses both estrogen and desire, often for months.
There are solutions available if it is ultimately related to hormonal dysfunction - chat with your care provider about your options!
