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I hope my message won't get deleted or blocked, as it's nothing bad...

I'm a 32 year old female with MS. I was diagnosed in 2008.

I find that for the past 2 years, my sex-drive is almost non-existant...
I used to have a pretty high sex-drive before I was diagnosed.

My husband is very understanding with all this, but I hate feeling this way!!
I don't want to not have any sex-drive and I don't think it's fair for him either...

If my husband doesn't initiate things, it's rare that I'll ever have the 'urge' to... I hate feeling this 'numbness' about things.

Anyone experience this? What do you do to help? Any meds out there for females?

hi there, try taking 50mg zinc each day. it does all kinds of good for all kinds of issues commonly seen in MS.

you want 50mg elemental zinc from whichever form you buy. in the research, zinc picolinate appears to have the best absorption. personally i just have zinc citrate and i do fine.

zinc levels in ms patients are usually in the low end of the normal range whereas healthy controls have zinc levels up around 18 umol/L.

i don't get blood work for zinc too often but i actually use sex drive as a kind of monitoring system. i find if i back off on the zinc to 50mg every other day, there goes the sex drive. you might not need as much as i do every day, but you might need the same amount, hard to say.

the numbness ... sensory? or do you mean more apathetic about sex?

anyway, try the zinc see if it helps. good luck! and have fun!

jimmylegs wrote:the numbness ... sensory? or do you mean more apathetic about sex?

Thank you for your reply. I'll definitely try the Zinc (50mg/day)

I meant the numbness as in 'more apathetic about sex', yes.

But I do find that MS has reduced my ability to feel things on my skin, in a lot of areas... and I think it's affected me 'down there' too.

well hopefully the zinc helps!

My low sex drive we think, is caused by the medication I take; Celexa??

odd, bubba. looks like its meant to push zinc levels UP..
http://www.spectracell.com/media/027ful ... onpdf-.pdf
Zinc and depression. An update
"Chronic treatment with citalopram or imipramine slightly increases the zinc level in the hippocampus and slightly decreases it in the cortex, cerebellum and basal forebrain."

but i don't imagine it can make zinc from nothing.. if zinc is decreasing in certain areas of the brain, possibly the drug is pulling zinc from other tissues too, potentially having an effect on testosterone production as a result??

this study potentially speaks to your other post, sc..

<shortened url>
Serum trace elements in animal models and human depression. Part I. Zinc
"The present findings confirm previous clinical data indicating decreased serum zinc levels in human depression."

shortcake wrote:I find that for the past 2 years, my sex-drive is almost non-existant...
I used to have a pretty high sex-drive before I was diagnosed.

I went through a "phase" were I considered it a problem. I found that like some other MS symptoms, this was one that passed.

For me it's since I was diagnosed and started on Rebif, I think... so ever since then...

oooo... me and Rebif were not friends. Some people do spectacularly on it, I went down hill, fast...

OK, the next section is going to be a little blue, and I may be preaching to the choir, but it may help. If you have delicate sensitivities, I advise you to stop reading now. And if you or anyone already is in the choir, you can also stop reading at anytime.

A few years back I had a girlfriend who was perfectly healthy. At the time I did not have an MS diagnosis, but I think it caused some minor numbness which made me "last" longer. Anyway, on one long "session" she had "arrived" a few times, and had clearly lost interest and also clearly had had enough. I noticed that her clitoris was no longer erect. I suggested we might bring out her "rabbit" vibrator (it was long distance, I wasn't always around, and I did mention her "health"... oh, and if you don't know what I mean on the device, search google for it), and within seconds, just the thought of it brought her erection back. Now, this device wont help with your husband, I only tell the story because I think maybe some of your reduced interest might be a self feedback loop from your numbness in that region. Now, another time, I brought a small "vibrating egg" to the "party". This small really cheap device allowed us to both "participate" ie hubby can join in, and you may also be "pleased" (I want to be more explicit, on how, but I am sure you will find your own way), and she said it was as if she was constantly "arriving".

I hope this helps, and anyone who might be offended, I hoped you stopped reading earlier. Sorry.