Author Archives: SuzyKnew!

About SuzyKnew!

SuzyKnew! is dedicated to improving the sexual and reproductive health and sexual pleasure of women of color.

It’s All About The Exchange Rate: ‘The Morning After Pill’ In Luanda, Angola

Contraceptives Reproductive Health No Comments

Today, we’re visiting pharmacies in Luanda, the world’s most expensive city, as a part of our year-long series going all around the world where lovely ladies of color live too see what brands of emergency contraceptives (EC) are available.

As in most locations SuzyKnew! has visited, pharmacies in Luanda are generally offering two brands of levonorgestrel-based emergency contraceptives: a brand name and a generic. In Luanda pharmacies, the most seen EC is Norlevo. It’s generally priced around 5,000 kwanzas which is anywhere between $12 – $50 depending on whether you’re using the unofficial (i. e., black market) rate or official rate. This is a big difference, and this is the highest price we’ve seen in Africa for manufacturer’s HRA Pharma’s Norlevo. But, Luanda isn’t called the world’s most expensive city for nothing! (And, don’t forget in Zurich Norlevo was $55!)

We are also finding generics such as an Indian-manufactured EC called I-72 for lower prices – around 1000 Kwanzas. This is anywhere between $2 and $10 depending on your exchange rate.  And, this price is similar to what we’ve been finding in other African countries. But, it’s all about quality, too, which is important to keep in mind when you’re trying to not get pregnant.

While there were more brands and types of emergency contraceptives available in Luanda last year ago before oil prices fell and the economy fell with it in this oil-dependent country. Pharmacies in urban areas routinely carried several brands and types of EC including ella.

So, if you’re Angolan living here earning kwanzas EC, is more expensive and if you’re paid in foreign currency or visiting, it’s all about the exchange rate! But, nonetheless, today in Luanda, Angola, we lovely ladies of color continue to have a choice in emergency contraceptive brands.

Looking forward to seeing you at our next pharmacy!

Photo courtesy on MS-Moniz Silva, one of Angola’s largest pharmacy chains.

How To Prevent Acne After Going Off The Pill – Dr. Lara Briden

Contraceptives Fertility Awareness Reproductive Health 1 Comment

Dear Menstruation Mechanic, Dr. Lara Briden:

When coming off of birth control, are there any recommendations you could give as far as supplements that can help with skin? I had cystic acne before getting on the pill and I want to maintain decent skin during this detox process. I know that hormonal birth control depletes lots of essential nutrients so I want to do the best to balance that out.”

Cindy

*****

Dear Cindy,

You’re smart to think about your skin before you actually stop hormonal birth control. Acne is the most common symptom of Pill-withdrawal, and it can get pretty bad–even for women who never had a skin problem before!

What Causes Post-Pill Acne?

Hormonal birth control works for skin because it suppresses skin oils (sebum) to “childhood levels”. That’s a bit frightening when you think about it, because adults are supposed to have a lot more sebum than children. Your skin reacts to this abnormal situation by up-regulating its sebum production, and unfortunately, that upregulation persists even once the Pill is stopped. The result is post-Pill overproduction of sebum, and post-Pill acne (see diagram below).

flowchart.png

Post-pill acne is essentially a withdrawal from birth control’s strong sebum-suppressing drugs: ethinylestradiol, cyproterone, and drospirenone. It’s also affected by a natural surge in androgens (male hormones) that occurs when going off hormonal birth control.

Post-Pill acne usually peaks about 3-9 months off the Pill, which is just about when many women give up, and go back on hormonal birth control.

So, what can you do about it?

How To Prevent and Treat Post-Pill Acne

For best results, start treatment at least two months before you come off the Pill. That way, your skin will be less reactive, and better able to withdraw from the drugs.

  • Avoid cow’s dairy. Dairy causes acne. That’s what the research tells us, and that’s what I’ve seen in clinic again and again for nearly two decades. Dairy-free diet is usually the most important treatment.
  • Avoid concentrated fructose (sugar). Sugar causes acne because itspikes a hormone called IGF-1. Concentrated fructose includes all desserts, honey, fruit juice, and dried fruit. Whole fresh fruit is usually okay in moderation.
  • Consider supplementing zinc. Zinc reduces keratin production, so it keeps pores open. It also kills bacteria, and reduces testosterone. And as you point out Cindy, zinc is one of the nutrients depleted by hormonal birth control!
  • Consider supplementing DIM (diindolymethane). DIM is a phytonutrient from broccoli. It works for skin because it block androgens (male hormones) at the skin receptors.

Even with the best treatment, some post-Pill acne is usually unavoidable. Take heart and remember: It will worsen for a few months, but then it should start to improve. Continue the treatment until your skin is better, and then you shouldn’t need the supplements anymore.

Please see my book “Period Repair Manual” for more treatment ideas and the Daysy Blog.

 

Dr. Lara Briden is a naturopathic doctor. She currently practices at Sensible-Alternative Hormone Clinic in Sydney, Australia. She is also the author of the popular troubleshooting guide, “Period Repair Manual.”

For Daysy, Dr. Briden is “The Menstruation Mechanic,” answering your questions on everything to do with your menstrual cycle. For more on her work go to LaraBriden.com.  In today’s post, Dr. Briden tackles the topic of stopping the acne some women can experience after going off the birth control pill.

My Body Of Evidence

Love and Sex 1 Comment

The last time I was in bed with a man he had to reach down and lift my breast up to his mouth before he could suck on the nipple. I’ve slept with this man in the past — he is an ex —

and there was a time when he just had to put his mouth to my chest and suck away. Now my boobs are three full inches lower, gravity is no longer my Facebook friend, and my boobs got covered in deep jagged stretch marks on their journey to my toes. In the last four years I’ve gained over 40 pounds. It’s not just that I’m fatter. Things have … shifted. After having an ovary removed I have the equivalent of a C-section scar running from my left hipbone to my right. Somehow this scar has caused the skin to pucker and created this weird flap of skin that has filled with fat and become a floppy pouch. So basically, I have a gut, and then beneath it I have a fleshy fanny-pack. The inside of my thighs have grown these fatty pockets that stretch around to the bottom of my butt and when I pee this hybrid-inner-thigh-lower-butt-fat-pocket crowds the space around my ladybits and the pee splashes up against it. The muffin top struggle is real outchea in these streets. I used to have a waistline. You know what, screw the faux-humility, I used to be a frickin Coca-Cola bottle. Any issues I had with my body came up when I was buying or putting on clothes but, naked, I felt like a goddess — free and sexy, and most importantly, present.

Things are different now. Once I take my clothes off I’m all up inside my head. I can’t relax and be in the moment. I’m seeing myself through the guy’s eyes and grading my body. I know I shouldn’t feel this way. When it comes to sex my view is that you do not ever take your clothes off in front of someone whose attraction to you is even slightly ambivalent. There are enough things that are not within your control that are designed to make you insecure and so the things you have some control over shouldn’t. I only get naked with men who make me feel good about myself. This was an easy rule to live by in the past; how I looked naked was exactly how, or even better, than how I looked with clothes on. So, if a man was attracted to me then the fact that he’d still be nuts with lust when I undressed was verifiable. Now I live in Spanx and a part of me, though I know it is rubbish, feels like I’m engaging in a little bit of subterfuge. False advertising, if you will. So the guy might be attracted when I’m clothed and then lose his mojo once the things come out of the support garments and start flopping around. I know enough about men to know that they don’t notice a lot of things that we do— we’re naked, we’re eager, that is usually more than enough for them. Yet I have trouble reconciling what I know with how I feel.

I think this is really common for all of us. We’ve believed Oprah, we’ve read Phenomenal Woman, we know the magazines are airbrushed. We know we are worthy of desire. Yet somehow we don’t feel it in the depths of our feet. We come from a community where, despite all the studies that claim that black men don’t care about weight, there is still a distinct standard of beauty. You can be what white people might consider fat but it all has to be in the right places, in the right proportions. And if you are dating professional men then all that has to come with the right face and the right hair and the right values and the right stove skills and the right credit score and the right degree. It took me a while to realize that I wasn’t just insecure about my body, I was insecure about allllllll these things. I defined myself more and more by my appearance the more I felt like I didn’t have all the other qualifications. I measured myself by the “young, gifted and black” metric instead of the “me, me and me” metric. Which is the only one that matters.

I had to do a lot of work to realize the standards of beauty and achievement I was holding myself to. I had to think about what it meant to live in this body in this country with these standards. The epiphanies I had didn’t come from looking at myself naked in the mirror and writing down the things that were beautiful (I’m sure it works but it was beyond my emotional maturity). It didn’t come from repeating affirmations in the mirror every morning. It came when I made some assessments about my sexuality and admitted three things to myself:

  1. I defined the degree of connection with someone by how good the sex was. I fell in love with a person’s values, personality and character but I stayed in love with them based on how often they made my toes curl.
  2. I measured a lot of my self-worth by how good I was in bed. The thought that a sexual experience with me wasn’t amazing made me pitifully melancholy. In order to be whole I needed to look good in bed and be good in bed. I thought of the look of my body as part of the sexual experience I was offering.
  3. I had never not hated my body. As much as I had convinced myself that I was comfortable in my skin and grateful for my figure, at every point in my life I had longed for the body I had before, instead of reveling in the one I had then. At 125 pounds I cried because I had lost my curves and longed to be 135. At 135 I felt flabby and wanted so badly to be toned. At 145 I was more toned but thought there had been less cellulite in my butt at 135, and at 160, how I had looked at 145 was suddenly perfect. At 180 I would have bartered my niece to look as stacked and snatched as I did at 160 and at 200 pounds I would have given all four limbs plus eight toes to go back to 180. I realized that one day I would be 250 and then the 200-pound body that I hated with a passion now would suddenly become something I aspired to. When would it end?

I think as black women our bodies have so much historical baggage attached to them. As I start to unpack mine I get a little closer to a path of acceptance. The last time the ex and I were knocking boots I tried to remind myself that just because I noticed he had to lift my boob to attend to it didn’t mean that he did. And even if he did, just because I minded didn’t mean he would. I told myself that it was silly to keep wondering if he was grading the average sex we were having against the always mind-blowing sex we had in 2011 and if he was feeling dissatisfied with the level of service at the establishment. I needed to focus on the sensations on my skin, revel in my limbs being moved around in interesting ways, enjoy the privilege of having a warm, chocolate, happy body to touch and remind myself that whatever was happening in that bed did not define me.

I’m not sleeping with anyone right now and there are still days when I look at my body and go “damn homie, in high school you were the man homie, what the f**k happened to you?” When that happens I take a breath and try to keep some perspective. I remind myself of all the things that I’ve learnt. I close my eyes and tell myself that I am whole and I am enough.

F.N. is a thirty something Ghanaian free-lance writer who alternates between living in Accra and Washington, DC.

Actually, Asexuals and Nonsexuals Can Have Satisfying Relationships

Love and Sex 2 Comments

After a bad relationship you may want to swear off sex forever. Nonsexuality may seem attractive – like a pleasant state of bliss. And, if you’ve ever been in a very fulfilling relationship with someone with no libido, “frustration” may have been your middle name.

But, new thinking shows that dating or being an asexual or nonsexual person can be fulfilling. So, your intimacy or romantic life doesn’t necessarily have to suffer just because you or your partner find yourself in one of these categories.

Lots of people don’t have sex for religious, medical or psychological reasons – and, ladies, let’s call it like it is: We might not be having sex because it can be hard to find a good man or we’re simply tired of putting out! These people are nonsexual; they feel sexual attraction, but don’t act on it. Asexuality is different, going beyond not having sex to not feeling any sexual attraction to people of either gender.

In his recent All About Sex article in Psychology Today, Michael Castleman explains The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) uses the terms and definitions for asexuality as follows:

• Asexual: someone who feels no sexual attraction to anyone. However, asexuals may experience other forms of interpersonal magnetism:

• Aesthetic attraction—feeling drawn to another based on appearance.

• Romantic attraction—a desire for love and intimacy apart from sex.

• Sensual attraction—a desire for affectionate touch but not erotic play.

• Gray-sexual. Someone who occupies the gray area between sexual and asexual. Gray-sexuals occasionally feel erotic attraction, but rarely.

• Demi-sexual. Someone who experiences sexual attraction only after a firm friendshipor romantic bond has been established.

Some say that chronic very low libido, once called “hypoactive sexual desire disorder” before the term stopped being used qualifies as asexuality. AVEN says people must decide for themselves if they are sexual, demi-sexual, gray-sexual, or asexu

Studies since the 1990’s indicate that less than 2% of people appear to be asexual and the majority of these people are single. However, depending on the study, 15 to 33 percent of asexuals living with someone, or married in straight or gay relationships s. As long as partners are attracted to each other based on beauty, romance or sensuality, AVEN says asexuals can have successful long-term relationships without sex.

Asexuals in relationships may have sex with their partner to satisfy their partner’s needs and/or to affirm the intimacy of the relationship while others may just go through the motions or really get into it even though they feel no sexual desire.

So, ladies, a satisfying relationship can be had by all…  Don’t give up the pursuit.

My Boyfriend Is Going Too Fast ASK JANICE

Ask Janice 2 Comments

Dear Janice,

I’m in a relationship with someone I’ve not had sex with. I’m still a virgin. We started dating about two months ago. But recently, when we’re kissing he asked me to touch his dick and suck. I touched it, but refused to suck it. I find it disgusting to suck his dick. But he said i will have to do that some other time. Please help me out what do i do. I love him so much and he loves me too.

Signed,

Help Me

***

Dear Help Me,

I’m glad you found someone to love and who loves you back.  Believe me, that’s not an easy thing to do.  Still, you should never do anything that makes you uncomfortable.  And anyone who really loves you wouldn’t expect you to.

Having sex, especially for the first time, is a VERY BIG DEAL.  So it’s important that when you choose to have sex, you’re absolutely ready.

This is true of oral sex, too.  When I was much younger and before I gave it a try, I thought oral sex was disgusting, too.  That’s because I was caught up in the many ways religion and society pressure women to suppress their sexuality.  You know, that whole good girl vs bad girl thing.  Plus, the thought of putting my mouth “down there” was just nasty.

But I was curious and open-minded, so my disgust didn’t last long.  Plus I got lucky and tried it for the first time with someone who was a patient instructor and, most importantly, someone who skillfully and generously reciprocated.  Reciprocity is a must in my book!

When done with the right person, oral sex is fun.  Sucking dick is fun.  It’s another form of intimacy, another way of communicating sexually that involves all the senses: touch, taste, smell, sound, sight … and when it’s shared mutually, it can bring you closer as a couple.

That said, you should NEVER, EVER do anything sexual you don’t want to do.  If, after doing a little research on your own with an open mind, you still don’t want to suck your boyfriend’s dick, then don’t.  If he dumps you over not getting his dick sucked, that says more about him than it says about you.  Because when you love someone, you respect their boundaries.  Period.

Otherwise, it isn’t love at all.

Good luck!

Photo courtesy of returnofkings.com

The GOOD, The BAD And The WHOLE Emotional State Of You – Lillian Ogbogoh

Opinion No Comments

We have been taught that as women it is unladylike to give into our baser emotions.  I am talking about emotions like jealousy, rage and anger are not something we should do while riding the positivity wave which requires that we wake up each day wanting to high five the sky. All this “positivity” constantly reminds us we are goddesses who make the world shine with rainbow-colored kisses. We should never pause to entertain a negative thought let alone feeling a negative emotion while riding our unicorns with stars in our hair and eating our non-dairy chia puddings… We are currently in a culture of 24/7, nonstop positivity which is being exacerbated by social media in my personal opinion. Pick any social media site, it is filled with one mantra or another for us to be positive or showing people living their best lives. Negative emotions are touted as a sign of weakness and inadequacy.

Goddess, newsflash! Even Aphrodite has off days. Forget off days. She experiences full on green-eyed monster moments. What do you think led to the Trojan war? If you remember the clash of the Titans *The original, not the remake, never the remake 🙂 *. Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda’s beauty to that of Goddess Thetis herself, and a full blown jealousy hissy fit takes place, bring the wrath of the Kraken. So, if the Goddesses of lore can experience these emotions, why do you think that you are exempt from these emotions?  Ladies, are we on the same page yet? We all feel these emotions, anger, fear, jealousy, sadness, pessimism, anxiety, guilt. You are not alone, and no, you are not weak or inadequate, you, my dear are just a whole being, we are not designed to be happy 24/7 just as we are not designed to be on the go all the time.  When we are tired, it is our body’s way of saying it needs to rest. When we experience any of these emotions instead of seeing them as negative, how about we look at them as indicators or our own GPS that is pointing us in the direction of what is going on for us and where we are selling ourselves short.

Are you ready for this to pull the covers back on what your internal GPS is telling you? Let’s look at jealousy. Someone once said that “Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own.” ~Unknown… You know that feeling when you click through Instagram, Facebook or having that conversation with that friend who shares with you, her grand news, she is getting married, bought a new house, moving out of the country whatever the news may be, you suddenly feel this tinge within you, as you feel inadequate against her/his achievements.  Here is the truth, you are not alone, just google jealous and the number of blogs on managing jealousy is staggering. So, what is your internal GPS telling you?

Look within:

The issue with jealousy as an emotion is that you are so busy looking at how great others’ lives are going that you begin to discount what is good and wonderful about your world.  All of a sudden these other people are living the Sak’s 5th Avenue life while you have consigned yourself to Payless.  So where are you discounting your fantastic life? Even if it is work in progress, where are you making progress? Like the old adage about other people’s grass and all that jazz. Their grass might be greener because they are watering it. So the question here is where are you starving your god/goddess self of some watering? Where are you neglecting your own life?

Feel your feelings:

With any of these so called bad emotions, they are a barometer of things going on within you and the easiest way to deal with this is not to avoid or pretend like it does not matter because all it will do is fester into a nasty pus filled bag of worms.  🙁  See – not a pretty picture here. Now I am not asking you to wallow in the emotion, rather to consciously face the emotion you are feeling and discover the root of it, asking a few questions of yourself.

Are you that feeling?

Look at what triggered the feelings and ask did you respond with the right magnitude? Or did your Diva come out speaking for you?

Are you playing the victim? Looking to be rescued by that Prince/Princess

You are asking these questions to get clear with you about what you are feeling, as you would find that once you start really inspecting the feelings the root cause will present itself and you can deal with it.

Let it go:

If you are a parent, that phrase will fill you with dread. As you wait for the onset of the Disney song being played on a continuous loop. Aside from the song being used as a form of torture, Elsa has it right as she bursts into song, complete with the attitude the cold does not bother her a bit…. To let it go you are going to have to take some conscious steps here – as it is all too easy to say let it go when you are in the midst of a full-blown anger session and someone says to let it go you are more likely to get more incensed. Elsa’s words are for all of us because holding on to these emotions longer than they are useful for us, they start to consume us and rob us of our magnificence, our self- belief and then we find ourselves in a very vicious cycle of self-fulling negative prophecies.  There are precise actions to take to letting it go:  Change your physical state. When you find yourself in that funky emotional state, move! I’m not asking you to walk up a snow-filled mountain but if that is your thing, enjoy. Whatever moves you, you will find that just simply moving your body forces your brain into rewiring mode. Find something to make you laugh – be it giggling babies or odd cats or that friend you find yourself creating the most hilarious scenarios with. Hey! I’m talking to you! 🙂  Your brain can only actively hold one thought so when you’re focused on happy thoughts you cannot be upset.

So to wrap this all up, your emotions – good or bad –  are all yours in its glorious technicolor form,  and your job is to accept them,  feel them – every single one – to embrace your whole you.

www.twitter.com/lillianogbogoh

Instagram- LillianOgbogoh

 

Help! I Have A Strong Musty Smell ASK AN OBGYN

Ask an OBGYN No Comments

Hello SuzyKnew! 
I have always noticed that my vagina gets an extremely strong musty smell, since I was 11. I sweat through my underwear every night and all day. I sweat even worse if I wear none!!!  My feet and armpits sweat as well. I am 21 and have been going through respiratory issues of severe allergies and congestion for the last 3 years. I am tired of constantly bathing and seeing no results. HELPPP please

*******

Dear  Reader,
It sounds like you have two problems: a musty smell and excessive sweating which are very likely related.   I’ll offer some advice here, but I encourage you to see a doctor to try to understand the underlying cause of your symptoms, especially since you have had these since you were 11 and they are not improving.
1. Switch your underwear to cotton and change it often.  You need a breathable and absorbing fabric.   Silky fabrics can make a moist environment worse and cause the bacteria to grow.
2. Don’t‘ wear underwear at night and when you are laying around the house.  Give your vagina some time to breathe.
3. Don’t douche or use powders, deodorants or sprays. These products cover up the problem and make it worse.  Use a clean washcloth with gentle soap and water to clean your vagina.
4. See your doctor.  I am concerned that you have had this problem for many years.  This points to an underlying health issue that has gone undiagnosed and untreated.  Share all your symptoms with your doctor and ask for screenings for high blood sugar and general blood work.
Take Care

Black Girls Rocked The Olympics. But, Are They Rocking Their Love Lives?

Love and Sex Opinion No Comments

The U.S. won the most gold medals of any country (46) during the 2016 Olympics, and Black girls played a large role in making this happen with a lot of “firsts.” Simone Biles took home 4 gold medals in gymnastics, the first American woman to do this. Gymnast Gabby Douglas also won gold this Olympics after being the first woman of color to win a gold medal in gymnastics in 2012. Boxer Clarissa Shields won a gold medal, back-to-back with Olympics 2012, another first. Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming, and Michelle Carter was the first U.S. woman to win a shot put gold medal. There were other gold medalists not to mention other Black female medal winners from the U.S. and other countries.

Ok. These ladies are rocking their game. But, what’s going on with their love lives? Do they have someone special who helps them relax, have fun or stay centered and persevere?  Here’s SuzyKnew!’s  quick run down:

Simone Biles – Miss Simone has a “Brazilian boyfriend” Arthur Nory, who’s also a gymnast – an artistic one. The two met in July at the Olympic Village. They were supportive of each other during@simone_biles

the games, and feted each other’s gold medals. But, apparently, Nory looks at other hot gymnast babes, in addition to Simone. Such as fellow Brazilian gymnast Jade Barbosa. Ouch.

No worries. Simone really adores and love kissing on Zac Efron.

Gabby Douglas says her man’s name is “Jim” as in Jim Nastics – devoting all her energy and time to her sport. Gabby_ian-somerhalder-gabby-douglas-articleBut, back in 2012 she did get a chance to meet her celebrity crush Ian Somerhalder.

Clarissa Shields has had some bad experiences with men, suffering abusive encounters. However, today she enjoys a positive relationship with another Shields_Holmes_1_800x375 (1)boxer, Ardreal Holmes, who like Clarissa is from Flint, MI. Ardreal won a gold medal in boxing in 2012.

Finding info on the Simone Manuel and Michelle Carter’s personal lives was more challenging. There’s not much information floating around on the internet. It’s clear Simone speaks out against police violence against black men and Michelle enjoys fashion and make-up, encouraging larger women to embrace their image. But, finding out whether they are rocking love lives is next to impossible. These two ladies must be rocking self-love, preparing for Olympics 2018.

 

Photo courtesy: Simone_Biles Twitter, Yahoo News and US magazine

Finding Emergency Contraceptives In Benin, West Africa

Contraceptives Reproductive Health No Comments

Today SuzyKnew! is in Benin, West Africa to see what brands of emergency contraceptives are available as a part of our year-long series of videos taken around the world in places where lovely ladies of color live.  In the urban pharmacies in Cotonou “the Morning After Pill” is easy to find. A downtown pharmacy had more brands than pharmacies SuzyKnew! visited in Europe and the U.S.

A pharmacy in the St. Michel neighborhood in Cotonou, the capital had a choice of Norlevo ($6) , Ella-One ($8) and generic Norlevo ($3 -4).

Join us at our next pharmacy where lovely ladies of color live.

Your Sex Drive After Going Off Birth Control Pills – What You Need To Know – By Holly Grigg-Spall

Fertility Awareness Reproductive Health No Comments

Tips for getting your sex drive back after going off birth control pills

One of the most commonly experienced side effects of birth control pills is low sex drive. In fact, so many women experience it, it’s become a bit of a joke, albeit a cruel one. You take a pill to have worry-free sex, only to find you no longer want to have sex!

There are a few reasons the birth control pill has a libido-squashing effect:

  • Birth control pills replace your body’s own hormone fluctuations with a stream of synthetic hormones. This flattens out all the peaks and troughs. When you’re on birth control pills you are experiencing very low hormone levels.
  • Testosterone is behind the sex drive of both men and women. Birth control pills are often very anti-androgenic, which means they suppress your testosterone levels. This can have the kind of effects that you like – for example clearing your skin, preventing unwanted hair growth – but it can also hit your libido hard.
  • Most women when experiencing their body’s own hormone cycles will have a higher sex drive around ovulation (thanks, evolution!) and sometimes also right before their period. If you’re taking birth control pills then you are not ovulating, and you won’t experience these peaks as a result.

Okay, so when you go off the birth control, your libido should just spring back, right?

Yes, it should. However, a study released in 2006 revealed that for some women when they come off birth control pills, they will find their sex drive does not bounce back. Their testosterone levels are impacted to the point that they do not regain the kind of sex drive they experienced prior to taking birth control pills.

However, most women who’ve switched their hormonal birth control for hormone-free Daysy to prevent pregnancy say this decision improved their sex lives – including their sex drive and enjoyment. They also say it has brought more intimacy and communication to their relationship.

This study did not take into account whether the women involved actively supported their bodies in producing hormones, including testosterone, again. Depending on your reproductive health prior to taking the Pill, the length of time you’ve taken it, and when you started, you sex drive once off birth control will either return as you expect and hope, or it will need some support.

Tips for getting your sex drive back after going off birth control pills:

  • Don’t stress it! It may take up to 3 months for your hormones to get back on track. You may feel some withdrawal symptoms at first, like insomnia or mood swings, which can be romance-killers. Give your body time to figure out life without the birth control pill. Start tracking where you are in your cycle – noticing when you’re ovulating and when you’re heading towards your period can bring awareness to your body. You’re probably never going to feel into sex all of the time, and that’s okay.
  • Give your body the nutrition it needs to make testosterone and balance out your estrogen and progesterone. The majority of women who’ve taken the birth control pill will be deficient in magnesium, zinc and B vitamins. Choose foods rich in these vitamins and minerals as well as taking supplements daily. You can also try the adaptogen maca root powder – put it on granola, in smoothies, or add it to hot drinks.
  • If you don’t see your real period within a few of months after coming off birth control pills, you can get additional support to get it to return – along with your libido-boosting ovulation and hormones. We now offer a special package that allows you to purchase a Daysy and get $100 off health coach Nicole Jardim’s “Fix Your Period” program. Nicole’s an expert in hormonal imbalance, missing periods, and low libido, post-Pill. You’ll need a regular cycle to experience a healthy, happy sex drive.
Holly Grigg-Spall

Marketing Consultant and Blog Editor

When she came off the birth control pill after 10 years in 2009, Holly decided to write a blog about the experience. That blog became a series of articles, and then book, “Sweetening the Pill,” which then inspired a feature documentary, currently in production and executive produced by Ricki Lake. She is a fertility awareness and body literacy advocate and educator, a Daysy enthusiast, and excited to help more women come off the birth control pill and find a natural, effective alternative.

holly.grigg-spall@valley-electronics.com