How Is It Treated?
Depending on the cause, possible treatments include:
- Healthier lifestyle choices. Improve your diet, get regular exercise and enough sleep, cut down on the alcohol, and reduce stress.
- Change to a new medication, if the one you’re on is affecting your libido
- Testosterone replacement therapy
- Counseling
Your doctor may recommend therapy if the issue is psychological. In many cases, a low libido points to a desire for a closer connection with your partner -- one that isn’t sexual, but still intimate. It can help to talk through these issues with a therapist, either alone or with your partner. If the issue is depression, antidepressants can help. Some of them actually lower your sex drive, though.
What about the meds you may have seen in TV and magazine ads, like Cialis, Levitra, and Viagra? These don’t boost libido. They help you get and keep erections.
The bottom line: Know your body and tell your doctor what you’re feeling. Don’t hold back. That’s the only way he’ll know whether the root of the problem is physical, psychological, or both.
And the sooner you know, the sooner you can get back to feeling like yourself again.
