Can Low Thyroid Affect Libido?

Greenville SC Thyroid Doctor Answers – Can Low Thyroid Affect Libido?

The thyroid and its hormones are involved in many functions throughout the body, which is why low thyroid is rarely a simple condition. It’s commonly known that thyroid function is related to metabolic health. Most people are aware that struggles with unexplained weight gain and difficulty losing weight may indicate a thyroid problem. Low thyroid is associated with a slowing down in function throughout the body. It can affect your ability to metabolize properly, and it can diminish libido, too.

Low thyroid affects libido in multiple ways. A slowdown in adrenal gland function is associated with low thyroid. The adrenal glands produce hormones that are converted into testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. As levels of these hormones are diminished, so too is sex drive.

If you have low thyroid, you may struggle with fatigue, joint pain, depression, or sleep disturbances in addition to weight problems. You may be experiencing relationship problems or issues related to your condition. Certain medications, including antidepressants, that you may be taking for low thyroid symptoms can decrease sex drive. Any one of these factors alone could diminish libido, but it’s often a combination of factors. As an example, if you’re exhausted, obese, you’re experiencing headaches or joint pain and your mood is low, you’re not likely to have a healthy sex drive.

Loss of libido in low thyroid patients isn’t typically due to one cause, and sorting out exactly what is going on requires a comprehensive approach. In traditional medicine, low libido is often considered a symptom of low thyroid that will be best managed through thyroid replacement medication. It’s true that sex drive can be affected by hormone levels, but it is not true that simply bringing TSH levels within a ‘normal’ range through medication is all that’s needed for most patients. What’s needed is proper balance among all of the hormones—including the sex hormones.

Hormone imbalance is just one of many possible problems that must be addressed and resolved for thyroid patients seeking relief from stubborn symptoms like low libido. Nutrition, fitness, overall health and the effects of any medications being taken must be considered, too. Functional wellness is a great choice for the type of comprehensive testing and evaluation that’s needed to sort out symptoms of low thyroid such as low libido.

A functional wellness practitioner will get to the bottom of what’s causing your low sex drive and then work to improve your condition through customized care. Every patient is unique; what’s causing your symptoms is not the same as what’s causing them in someone else. A practitioner who is trained in functional wellness will develop a personalized plan of therapeutic support that is designed to restore balance and facilitate healing throughout your body in very precise ways. You can look forward to feeling much better, regaining your sex drive, and enjoying optimal wellness long-term as a result of safe, natural care that effectively manages your condition.

Schedule your FREE thyroid consultation today and learn how we may be able to help your thyroid symptoms.