Pain Medications Killing Your Sex Drive?

Chronic pain is a serious problem. It can affect its sufferers’ daily lives and activities in many ways and often the medicine used to treat chronic pain can have its own series of unpleasant side effects. A healthy sex life is one of the common casualties of chronic pain; as if that wasn’t enough, medicines like the painkillers usually prescribed for such conditions can further slow down one’s sex drive and reduce desire. Pain and its related medication can effectively kill the sex drive, but luckily it’s not a permanent problem. There are ways to negate the sexual side affects of pain medication, and you should know how before you buy cheap tramadol from anywhere online.

The most commonly prescribed medications for pain, like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, are part of the opioid family. These types of medicines have been found in studies to actually lower the levels of testosterone in men along with reducing sexual function and in some cases even cause erectile dysfunction. On these medicines, both men and women can experience lowered sex drive and difficulty achieving climax.

Along with pain medicine, depression medicines are used by many patients to deal with the symptoms of depression that commonly come with a chronic pain condition. These too can have an effect on one’s sex life. Selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are the most frequently used depression medications. Just like the opioids, these medications like Zoloft and Prozac can reduce sex drive and increase difficulty achieving climax in both sexes.

To help decrease the sexual side effects of these types of medication after prolonged use, there are a few options. Men can take testosterone injections as a supplement to help bring their hormone levels back to normal. Other medications like Viagra can be used to counteract erectile dysfunction. Women’s choices are a little more limited. Vaginal dryness can be handled by store bought lubricants or creams. Those women suffering with a low sex drive and trouble with climaxing may need to have their medication adjusted or switched to a different type.