How Bipolar Disorder Affects Sexual Health?
Welcome to the topic, “How Bipolar Disorder Affects Sexual Health”.
If you are suffering from bipolar disorder and notice some changes in your sexual health, then you’re not alone. Both your illness and some medicines used to treat it can change your sexual experience and behavior.
Knowing how to find key symptoms and negative effects will allow you to work with your therapist or doctor to find ways to recover your sexual health.
Effects of Bipolar Disorder
The defining effect of bipolar disorder is extreme mood swings. But shifts in sexual health and risky attitude are also symptoms of bipolar disorder. Here are some ways that include sexual changes:
Hyper-sexuality
Hyper-sexuality is also called compulsive sexual behavior. This occurs when sex becomes the main focus of your life. The individual may not be able to control it even if it harms both the persons involved. This usually occurs during the hypomanic or manic phase of the disorder.
Risky-behavior
It’s not only individuals who have bipolar illnesses who engage in harmful sex. But the disorder can lead you to take risks more often. Those risks can involve sex with unfamiliar persons, sex without protection e.g. condoms, or mixing sex with drugs.
Lower sex satisfaction
You may find that you love sex less than you do it. Or your sex drive may fall when you’re in the depressing phase of your disorder, which can leave you in a mood of tiredness or indifference.
Sexual dysfunction
You may face problems in four areas: pain during sex, arousal, orgasm, and desire. This can be a persistent symptom of bipolar illness and typically occurs when you’re in a “normal” mood and not feeling depressed or manic.
Effects from Bipolar Medications
Recovery with drugs can help you cope with mania and depression. But some medicines can have side effects too that can result in sexual problems.
Lithium
About 3 in 10 people who take this public drug report sex issues. Lithium may lessen testosterone levels, which is associated with low sex drive. It may also block a chemical that aids men get and keep an erection. And this can result in erectile dysfunction. Chances of complications get worse when you combine benzodiazepine (fast-acting sedatives) with lithium.
Other side effects include:
- Less sex
- Lower sex satisfaction
- Fewer sexual fantasies
Anticonvulsants
These can help with mood swings and mania, particularly if lithium doesn’t work well for the affected individual. Some anticonvulsants can restrict your periods or interrupt the functioning of your hormones. They may also affect your libido and make it difficult to acquire and keep an erection.
What You Can Do?
One thing that you can do is, to be honest, and vocal with your therapist or doctor about any side effects or symptoms you’re feeling so they can fine-tune your process of treatment.
It may help to spot any sexual symptoms of bipolar disorder so you and your doctor can work for solutions. This is mainly important during the period when you may be trying diverse medications to find the right dosage and type. Be sure not to skip or change your medicine without your doctor’s advice.