Prescription Drug Addiction Can Ruin Your Sex Life

Many prescription drugs can cause sexual dysfunction or lack of interest. But with the help of a good doctor and drug addiction treatment center that specializes in prescription drug addiction or dependency, there are some drugs you may be able to do without.

Prescription drug addiction, dependency and abuse - and even taking prescription drugs at all - can cause so many serious problems that it's sometimes easy to overlook the things that may seem less important: like your sex life. Next to losing your house, your job, or your life to prescription drug addiction or dependency, losing your sex drive or ability to perform may not seem like a big deal. But the lack of interest in and desire for sex can be a major factor in the destruction of personal relationships.

 

Although it may be a touchy subject, sex is important. It's good for your overall physical and emotional health and it's an important part of expressing your love for your significant other. If your partner's not interested, it can easily lead to feeling that the problem is yours - that you're no longer loved or no longer attractive, or that your spouse is seeing someone else.

 

The good news is that the problem might be caused by prescription drugs that you may be able to stop taking. You don't have to have a prescription drug addiction or be abusing the drugs to have sexual problems, simply taking them is enough. With multi-millions of prescriptions being written every year, it's not surprising that studies have shown up to one-third of the population is suffering from sexual dysfunction or simple lack of interest.

 

What prescription drugs can cause these problems?

 

Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft and other antidepressants are among the worst. When people feel depressed they usually don't have much interest in sex in the first place.

Ironically, the medications make the situation worse. They reduce the sex drive further and cause sexual dysfunction. In fact, the trials for antidepressant drugs show that sexual dysfunction of one sort or another can increase by as much as 17 times - everything from lack of interest to vaginal dryness, reduction in orgasm and the ability to achieve or maintain an erection. Some studies on people taking Prozac, for example, showed that 75% of those taking the drug experience sexual difficulties. Many people also develop a prescription drug addiction or dependency with these drugs - another reason to get off them asap.

 

But what can you do about it? A lot of mental and emotional conditions - like depression - are actually caused by a physical condition. It could be anything from nutritional deficiencies to hormonal imbalances or heavy metal toxicity. Unfortunately, not many doctors test for things like that; they tend to simply prescribe medications. On top of causing sexual problems, these drugs may also exacerbate whatever physical condition was behind the problem in the first place.

 

OxyContin, Vicodin, methadone, morphine and other prescription painkillers also include sexual problems among their common side effects. Opiates lower testosterone (which is needed by both men and women) and can cause erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction in men and lack of menstruation and sterility in women - along with lack of interest. Of course, it is also well known that the risk of prescription drug addiction is very high with these painkillers - and, if that happens, your sex life will be the least of your problems. At that point you'll be fighting for your life, not your sex life.

 

There are many other prescription drugs that cause sexual dysfunction, check the inserts that come with your drugs, or check on the Internet or with your doctor. Then start off with a good physical exam from a health professional that will dig into the nutritional, hormonal, toxicity and other factors. They could be causing your problems. For those in pain, nutrients can also be a factor. For both, there may be non-drug remedies available.

 

Stopping prescription drugs is not necessarily an easy thing to do - especially when it's developed into a prescription drug addiction or dependency problem - and it can also be medically dangerous. But you can find a drug addiction treatment center that's medically supervised to make sure getting off the drugs is safe. And, from there, you can look for other solutions to your problems.