 |
|
|
UPDATED: Mon, 10/09/2006 - 10:15pm
Advertisement
Place Your Advertisement Here
All ad revenues support the mission
of the Epilepsy Therapy Project
Place Your Advertisement Here
All ad revenues support the mission
of the Epilepsy Therapy Project
rosegirl
sex drive
- Login or register to post comments
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- View/Print content
Anyone notice that it practically disappears? I certainly have. I know that it's probably because of the meds but it would be nice to have it back.
By rosegirl at Mon, 10/09/2006 - 10:15pm | 5006 views | 59 comments
Topic: Women With Epilepsy
Recent Comments on this Discussion
Before you lost your sex drive...how often were you having sex? How good was it? How many orgasms would you have during a session?
I'm on carbomazepine and primidone and I feel horny-- well, quite often. :-)I work in a primarily male environment and that is a turn on- a lot of these guys are fun to interact with. Many of them are real flirts. I also enjoy looking at pictures of couples having sex,reading about sex, thinking about sex, as well as having sex.
I'm on carbamazepine and primidone and I feel horny-- well, quite often. I work in a primarily male environment and that is a turn on; a lot of these guys are real flirts and they are fun to interact with. I also enjoy looking at pictures of couples having sex, reading about sex, as well as having sex.
Orgasms have never been a problem and I've been on this medication for years.
Wow. I understand, too. Even after having my cyst removed that caused the seizures and now being seizure-free since Oct. 2nd, 2006. I'm still on my meds (Topomax & Trileptal) for one year after surgery but i've got no drive to be with my boyfriend of 5 years. Partially because he's 6'8" and 475 pds. (If he was like the Rock, it might be different. LOL) But i'm just not horny, in general. I'd rather take my walks and get in shape and work now that I have my memory back and can do what I never could do before. I like to look at guys and go out sometimes, but i'm not into the evenings at home, if you know what I mean. I think it's the meds. It would be nice to have it back though and have a goodlooking boyfriend, too. :) -Kelly
I've been married for 8 years, but had no sex drive since switching to Tegretol several years ago. I just don't even think about it, and have no desire to do it. I had thought it may be my meds, as I was very eager before. So glad to see that could really be the case. I love my husband with all my heart and want him to be happy, all I've ever wanted to be was a good wife. And I feel like I'm not. But what can we do to fix this? Doing it out of duty doesn't seem very loving, ya know? And like someone said, why don't doctors tell us to expect this? Surely there is a med to counter-act it! I'm seeing my doc next week and will def bring up this issue! I'm 33 and should be in my prime, right??!
Hello im dawn and I am on trileptal and zonisamide and i have no sex drive either. It is hard. Before all my problems i used to be having sex alot and guys loved it . i have a high sex drive then i got on siezure meds and i dont have sex hardly at all. My husband now is very patient with me. He is trying to understand. I feel bad for him due to being a man and having a high sex drive. Also my lb is high also. I have been over lb for many yrs but now i am trying to lose but these meds dont help. My dr. states he is sorry but he is not my brain or my med. I have a great dr.
I want to thank you all for your candid comments. I was diagnosed with epilepsy just a year prior to getting married. Of course, once starting with meds, my sex drive declined rapidly and while I assumed it was related, my doctors (both gyn and neuro)claimed there was no remarkable connection. We've been married now for seven years, and while we have two wonderful children, the sex issue has been a major source of tension. I swear there was a day when I really enjoyed it, and now...almost no interest. Like some of you, I try to keep up with my husband's needs, but it's never enough and he's done everything from accuse me of having an affair (convinced that if I'm not wanting it at home, I must be getting it some where else) to implying that there is something wrong with me sexually and most recently in a fit of frustration, decided I was just a negative old woman! (I'm 38). Anyway, desparate for something to validate my experience, I logged on yesterday and found this. I printed out the whole thing and shared with him last night (along with detailed information about my medication to help him have a better understanding). I think (hope) your comments finally helped him begin to see that this is an unfortunate side effect of my treatment and not something else.
What I want to know is why are doctors/ pharm companies not more forthright about this issue?!?! And why don't they have anything better than "eat peanut butter" to offer as advice? :-) Clearly, we're not alone and this is a rather serious side effect.
Thanks again.
LOL I have the same problem I'm on topomax and tegeretol.. My doctor told me to eat as much peanut butter as I can tolerate. He said a spoonful here and there. He said it enhances the sex drive. I haven't tried it only cause I dont like peanut butter lol
LOL, It seems we all have the same problem here. I'm on dilantin and depakote extended release, my sex drive went out long ago. I would love it back!!! I never heard of the peanut butter enhancing the sex drive...it ain't working here, as I buy it by the jars and actually eat it LMAO
hi carolyn, i was just looking at ur entry. my boyfriend of a long time now is on the same meds as you are.. and he has no sex drive at all. its nice to see people posting this for others to see because i have been feeling so damn bad about my self, i thought it was me, and as many times as he tells me, its hard to beleive its the meds.
Wow, I had no idea that the meds could do that. I figured it was my depression meds! So I guess I have a DOUBLE WHAMMY!!! My poor husband....A couple nights ago was the second time this YEAR. I just would be fine if I never had sex again!
I know exactly what you're talking about! my poor husband. i've absolutely no drive at all but i don't want to keep changing meds. not sure what to do. My husband is very understanding, thank goodness
Sex drive...what's that??? Lol
I have to say it must be the meds, because when I went without all those years I was fine. Now that I'm back on Depakote I have no desire at all. Like some other people said, I probably wouldn't mind if I never did it again.
Susan
I to used to have the same problem at first, then I got off most meds,not related to seizures and bing,bang zoom, now I can't stop. I am a man (sorry) now I am back to having the small head rule the big head (upper one with two eyes) Meds, can definetly due that, my wife even started to suspect me of having an affair or something. Now, she just asks me if I am trying to kill her or overdosed on viagra or that other one with the funny commercial. The one with the guy smiling all the time. No wonder I have been in a better mood lately. Hmmmmmm.
Dilantin doesn't seem to effect me that way, thank God, now i can be a pig again, as all men are. Gotta go to the troft and then wallow in some mud, then go hammer something just because.
Hmmmmmmm, I suppose it affects men and women totally differently. I'm not on anything but seizure meds right now, so I have no other drug interactions, and I tried Dilantin in the hospital in September of 2006 and had a SERIOUS allergic reation. I went through Kidney failure for a week...don't want to try that again. Oh, well, at least I tried.
Susan
On the contrary, I don't seem to have the same problem as everyone else. I had Epilepsy from 9-13 years of age. I was seizure free for 10 years. Thank God! No more pills...the taste of phenobarbital and Dilatin was gone for good.
At the age of 23 got married. I didn't have much of a sex drive when I didn't have Epilepsy. Married for 13 years, I was comfortable with my body and having sex twice a week was ok. Got diagnosed with Epilepsy 5 years ago, and found out my Epilepsy came back since childhood. ( I was in denial ) and decided to take the medication last year as the Neurologist originally had suggested. I was so upset about the fact that one of the side affects was gaining weight and had to go through the same thing all over again. So, I decided to loose the weight at home, eat right and be motivated. I guess being motivated and taking my medication daily is working well. I have lost 28 pounds and can't wait to lose another 20. That's my goal! My husband was starting to suspect me of having an affair and kept asking questions, once I started lookn hot. Taking those meds was the best thing that ever happened to me and my relationship with my husband. It has made us feel young again and wild. Surprisingly, sex is in my daily routine. It's another excerise class. LOL
I wonder can it really be the meds that are making some of us lose our sex drives or are we not trying to change. I think we should all think dirty. It works!! LOL
Sorry I just realized this was a woman's topic, I am a man, but still yes I have noticed my sex drive has evaporated. I had a brain tumor on my right temporal lobe, it was removed and now I have simple partial seizures there, maybe complex sometimes. I asked my Neurooncologist about this about a year ago and I think she said it was where the tumor was or maybe it was the meds too: keppra and tegratol.
The meds certainly aren't that night cap we all have in mind.
It didn't really matter if it was a woman's topic or not really. I would say that the majority of us would like to know why it disappeared and how we can get it back. And if you were curious about what meds I take: Felbatol (which I learned is a drug that they use when nothing else has worked), Zonegran, Lamictal and Tranxene.
The meds definately were not what I had in mind either.
Are you taking just Lamictal now? What were you taking before? Because I've been taking taking Dilantin and I'm switching over to just Lamictal and praying that things will be different- my boyfriend has been very supportive about the whole thing but I cannot tell you how hard it is to wake up in the night to hear him crying and realize I fell asleep in the middle of foreplay...
I just found this site today and I have been looking at all of these blogs for hours! I can't believe that there are so many people out there that can relate to me. None of my friends, or even family sometimes, understand what it's like. Recently I have been having the same sex drive (or lack of) problems. I take lamictal, trileptal, and keppra. Any suggestions???
I am on the same exact meds with the same exact problem. My sex drive went down hill not long after I started on lamictal. From what I have read on this website, a lot of people on Lamitctal are having the same problem. If you find out anything that can help, please share
I'm not really sure if it's ok to give suggestions on this site but i'm so glad that there is someone else out there who is taking 3 meds like me.
I'm on Brivaracetam, Lamictal(no help), Keppra... My Drive's been gone for ages. Every once in a while I'll get a little urge, but it's not enough. As much as I insist that it's my meds ("It's not YOU, honey, It's the meds"), I know my husband still thinks he's doing something wrong, and I just cannot fake it.
You basically took the words right out of my mouth. I had to sit down and write my husband an e-mail because I could not say what I wanted to say out loud...and even in the e-mail I pretty much directly avoided what I really wanted to say. I am constantly thinking that it's not anything my husband is doing wrong because he is a good man and he makes sure that I have what I need, but the way I used to feel has gradually died as I continued taking topamax. I kept thinking, what is going wrong?? It wasn't because we were having problems. I was the one with the problem, not him. I told him I was sorry for being so cold (emotionally) and basically blamed that on the medication and stress it caused me with the hair loss and terrible acne, but he has stuck with me through the experience, even though at times he did not understand it or why I felt the way I did. I feel like I am faking that I am truly happy and some days it really eats away at my conscience. Things were okay in the beginning for about the first 2 or 3 months that I was living with him before marriage, but as time went on I just started questioning everything. I don't want to hurt him, so I've been trying my best not to tell him that somehow, I got emotionally messed up. He asked me why I don't say I love you as much as I did before, but I didn't answer him. I didn't want to tell him the excuse that it was the medication that had made me get all mixed up because I didn't think that he would believe me and also to be honest I don't know if that is the culprit or not. Sometimes I think that it's me...but I don't see how you could be completely in love and crazy about a person and then all of a sudden for no apparent reason it feels like you have died inside. :( I was on topamax for almost 1 year and just tapered off it over a period of about 1 month...now I have not taken any for about a week...so I guess I will see if the me I used to be will ever come back. I pray she does.
Thank you for your statement ! I'm on Brivaracetam, Keppra, and Zonegram. My husband is hot to trot, he used to be to busy. I cannot sleep during the night thanks to the first 2 but the seizures are better! My husband and I have energy to do other things together!
I only take trileptal, and it seems that I never need anything more than a snuggle. I don't know what to do to get my motor running again, and I'm still young - 32 years with one 3 yr old!
Wow! I had never thought my medicine could have caused me to have no sex drive. This has helped so much. Since I have been married it has been an issue, sometimes a very serious one. He did not understand and I could not explain it either. Thanks so much for all of your replies. It has helped me so much.
I am on loestrin birth control and depakote 500 mg and my sex drive is also almost gone every once in a while a get a small urge but, its not enough to want so bad its not funny. I think its related to having a child and the medicine. But, what really sucks is I am only 22 and its like that so, whats a girl sappose to do?
Whew! I was worried it was just me! I am birth control pills and Lamictal and I have no desire at all to have sex. I just got married in August and have been on Lamictal since last December so it is really hard-my husband is very good about it though. I am so glad that I'm not just that boring wife who always 'has a headache' haha. Is there anything to do about it-any specific vitams to take or anything?
Ashley
Hi..
This lack of sexual urge is not uncommen. Sometimes it is soley due to meds, sometimes it's the area of the brain that's affected, and somteimes both.
Let me give you a page:
http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1064250527.html
hope that info helps,
~sol
Oh i know that it can be related to meds, that part of the brain or both. i was just wondering if there were any more people out there who were experiencing the same...problem.
(Sigh) Something I'm allowed to drive but the engine's dead! So not fair!
-Spiz
HA HA HA !!! Luv your sense of humor !!
Dawn
LOL! That made me laugh!
You know this question got me thinking....grin... (must be the B-12 shot...lol)
and i think maybe ,,,,just maybe...that at a certain age,,,one would expect foreplay to be more than getting undressed....lol..not everything can be blamed on the epileplsy...grin...
Heather
I've basically flat-lined, but I never thought about it being related to anything but stress. To anyone who is having this same problem: What meds are you taking?
I have started the same problem, restarted back on meds in June,2006 and plus Iam in Menapause. with all this plus I finally had my back surgery due to fall from Grandmals it was 2 fusions I had done had to remove 2 disks and they added rods and cages.I am still in recovery on back Surgery becuse it was dec,20,2006. So we will see what happens but right now I do not feel excited about any kind of sex what so ever and I have this feeling I will be like this for sometime after recovery.
hmmm sign me up....lol
as for meds... lets see
for seziures...its carbamazipine 1200 mg, and topamax 300 mg with ativan when necessary for cluster seziures..
add to that vasotec and norvasoc and plavix for blood pressure
add in oxycodene for muscle pain and nortriplyine for nerve pain for the MS
throw in pantoloc and estrogen...and of course naproxen for arthrutis.....
sigh...cripes after writing it all down i feel alot older than 40...
i think maybe i have not flat-lined but maybe just to tired after after all the bloody meds that say...."may cause drowsness" or just from opening all the damn bottles....grin...
But there is that two weeks a month after that B-12 shot....grin....that im game...lol lol
Heather
I've been married 9 years with 4 kids. If I never had sex again, fine. I haven't had a sex drive since I started my meds. But my husband needs it, and I do it when he wants to. I would LOVE to have my sex drive back, but as long as I'm on meds, I don't think there's much hope. I like to cuddle, and he's there for me with that. I guess we just have to look other places for satisfaction!
I am 18 years old and when I was 15, doctors removed my right temporal lobe due to a brain tumor. I have never enjoyed sex. I never had sex prior to the operation, but I did other things,like touching, that I enjoyed. But now, nothing turns me on and it ALWAYS hurts, even if it is just touching.
Can anyone relate and maybe help me out??
THANKS!
Wow, I feel like a minority on this one- my sex drive has only gotten higher as I have gotten older...sorry!!*LOL*...Well, actually I am not sorry, but I do feel badly for you ladies!!
From the sounds of it- I am an anomoly*LOL* Always have been one- but am glad it is in a good way this time! ;)
I am SO glad I found this. I have been married for almost 3 years but have been with my husband since I was diagnosed 8 years ago. I have been on different meds. DepakoteER at first, then lamictal, then topamax was added. My sex drive stated declining when I started the lamictal and now it is non-existant. It is very hard expecially since we would like to have another child, if the neuro will allow it. It would be nice it they made a little blue pill for women! My husband and I both suffer from this little problem.
Mine comes and goes! The reason is because of the amount of medication in my system. I am 3 medication. One Keppra, which has no effect on the sex drive, Zonegran which has had no effect on my sex drive, and a test drug where I am on a mystery dose. I tend to get toxic on Keppra.
I also am having more seizures too. My sex drive goes down. I am tired post-ictally too. The high dosage of medication does the trick too. When I am not toxic I do not have problem w/ my sex drive. I've been married for 17 years to a pharmacologist.
I am taking Topamax, Keppra, and Lamacital. I have been on all kinds of meds through the years but none have changed my sex drive at least not to my knowledge. I mean I never looked at it that way until I read this post. But I have had grand mal seizures the next day after having sex so I am very scared to have sex like talking about it. My husband says he understands but of course he is a man and he has his moments of tenseness. I tend to have my worst seizures (grand mals) when I get stressed in some way. It ususally happens a week before, during, or a week after my cycle. But I am just very cautious when it comes to sex most of time and of course, yes I am very excited just like my husband. But don't let him know that LOL! I just wanted to let you guys know my situation and thank you for sheding light on something I never thought of and now I can think about just in case need be. Thank you all :)
hi my name is susu i have been married for twenty years . i have alaways thought my sex drive was decent until my first seizure in 2007 i startyed on dilatin then carabatrol and last but not least tegretol .slowly slowly we started having sex less and less being married to an arab(they have very high sex drives) it became a daily fight over and over. but, i have slowly accepted it and everytime we fight i take a deep breath count to ten and repeat to my self how much i love him and that i am doing the best that i can. find a new way to get yourself excited everytime remember what you loved about him in the beining and you will be fine just remember you are doing what your body will let you do.
omg... i thought i as the only one with this problem. i started epilim(sodium valproate) at the end of nov and since then ive had sex twice. before i took the tablets, i was having sex 3 times a week and i thought it was all in my head!
I'm 20 and I take only lamictal twice a day- 150 mg. in the morning and 100 mg. at night. I've been on lamictal for 8 years. About a year ago my sex drive really picked up and hasn't stopped since, that might be due to my age and hormones happening, but I crave sex all the time. Which of course my boyfriend loves that because I never have "headaches" haha.
I'm new to this forum, but this one is unfortunately the most important one to my marriage. I have been on Tegretol and Cloabazam for almost 8 years and I was just changed over to topamax two months ago now. It took my husband almost 4 years to get me in the mood enough for me to get pregnant with our second child! I have no desire, and it is almost breaking up our marriage. It has been explained that it is nothing personal towards him by the doctors, but I can understand needs. I am not jealous if he goes on-line to; or watches adult shows, and I seriously wouldn't be bothered if he was with someone for this reason! It's that bad!!! 8 years is a very long time to only be involved with your wife of 11 years only 3-4 times per year!! We have no help from our doctors to help with these side effects but I noticed someone suggested peanut butter... can you tell me why and maybe hand out any other suggestions? Thank you to anyone who might help.
I was on topamax for about a year and in the beginning, I did not notice any adverse side effects. In fact, I only noticed positive effects...I lost the weight that I had gained from previously taking cymbalta and my daily migraines stopped. About 5 months after I had been taking it, I got married and things were going nicely with my husband. Then a couple of months later, I noticed that I was feeling depressed a lot and I got confused about my feelings (I didn't tell him this because I didn't want to hurt him). He was not doing anything wrong, but it was me who felt that I had changed. I was under a lot of stress because I started experiencing hair loss and severe acne with a weird rash on my forehead. I was embarrassed and didn't feel like going anywhere. I also never really felt like fooling around, but I would go along with it if he wanted to because again, I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but to be honest I felt like I was just laying there physically, but emotionally not there anymore. I found it hard to really get turned on like I used to. I would always be afraid to look into his eyes because I thought that he would see through me and figure out that I was not really feeling the moment and I knew that would make him feel like he was being rejected. I almost feel that the attraction is not there anymore...the butterflies I used to get inside are gone, and I have been beating myself up about it. I want the way I used to feel to come back! Sometimes he would be all into it and he would make comments that I was all wet down there and I would have this confused look on my face and be thinking wtf? Because I was not turned on at all and I didn't see how that would have happened. So he thought that I was horny, but I really wasn't at all. In fact I haven't been horny the majority of the time we have been married. I lived with him for a few months before we got married and I felt okay then, but it just started going downhill, especially when I started getting depressed and was having the adverse side effects. I have lost a lot of self confidence over that and don't feel very desirable anymore since I have all these acne scars on my face. It looks like someone put a mask on me and I have a lot of red and discolored marks because the acne got so bad in the months leading up to my eventual discontinuation of topamax. If I would have known that it was going to do all this to me, I would have stopped it much sooner. I feel like I have been damaged and I just want the old me back. I would hate to think that I have to live my life wondering about my feelings and feeling like parts of my emotions were ripped out and that I could never get them back. That would not be fair to my husband if I could not love him the right way like I used to...at times I feel like I am leading him on because I started getting so cold emotionally, not wanting to hug and kiss him as much like I used to and I don't even say I love you as much. He has noticed that and questioned me about it, but I couldn't give him an answer. I didn't know what to say. I feel so guilty because we used to have a really great relationship, but I feel like only half of me is in it now and I don't know where the other half went. All I can figure is that the topamax did something to me. I know it has caused me to look bad on the outside, so maybe it did something inside as well. I have been off it for about a week and I hope that I will improve as time goes on.
Amen!
well....... im 19 and ive been on dilantin, keppra, and now valproic acid amd it drastically makes my sex drive decrease idk what to do im too young to have these problems
well...do you have self-esteem issues? i know with me, its the medicine and the self-esteem. are you married?