Sleeping Beauty

[Chiquitita]

Not sure whether it's being hypothyroid or menopausal or combination of the above... anyone know how to fix this low libido thing? Could do with a tip! Ugh.

[shaws Administrator]

I like your poster of Sleeping Beauty. Many suffer with insomnia and others just want to sleep all day.

I think you may not yet be on an optimum dose of thyroid meds if you are still plodding along. Nothing in our body works efficiently if we don't have sufficient thyroid hormones to bring our metabolism back to normal.

Have you had a recent blood test? If so, post your results with the ranges for comments.

[mirabelle in reply to shaws]

Yes I know exactacly I have been like this for a while again having blood test next week also been very down in my self put it down to my thyroid as I always feel like this from time to time.. Just coming out of it also feel really unwell struggle to get out of bed and feel very sluggish any one else feel like this .

[shaws Administrator in reply to mirabelle]

These are from Hypothyroid Mom and I think you will find them informative.

hypothyroidmom.com/18-thing...

hypothyroidmom.com/sick-to-...

[Hidden]

You could ask your Gp for some Estriol cream or a pessary..or another form of hrt. You could try mono herb they're pretty good as well. Good luck x

[KarenR]

Low libido can be a result of plummeting Testosterone levels. I know it's the hormone most associated with men but we need it too and we have less as we enter menopause. If you ask your GP to refer you to a menopause clinic some of them will prescribe Testosterone gel alongside HRT. Testosterone is no longer licenced in the UK for use in the menopause so your only chance of getting it is at one of these clinics or privately. I am presently pursuing this myself. Do look up about Testosterone and menopause on the internet to help you decide which clinic to ask to be referred to. I actually think the reluctance to prescribe this hormone so essential to our wellbeing to women is scandalous in the same way that the difficulty some of us experience in obtaining hormones to regulate our thyroid hormones is.

There are things you can do which will naturally impact your Testosterone and they are:

Keep a healthy body weight; difficult I know but it's important to control insulin and cortisol levels so I fast (16:8) this means I restrict my eating to an eight hour window and I calorie cycle eating more some days than others. I also do High intensity interval training three times a week on a stationary bike. In addition I keep to a very controlled carb content in my diet. Sleep is crucial for controlling cortisol as is keeping a handle on your stress levels (excersise is very helpful for this).

Muscle mass impacts on our Testosterone levels so since September I have taken up strength training with increasingly heavy weights. I started out with a dumbbell set but now need to purchase a barbell to allow me to increase my weights further. I have six excersises and I do each of them in three sets of ten, twice a week ( apart from plank which is just three twice a week). I do this three times a week so four excersises each time. The excersises I do are: squat, deadlift, row, overhead press, plank and push ups. I have also made a big effort to make sure I consume enough protein.

Do have a look at the impact of deficiency in Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium and vitamin D (all very common). The trace mineral Boron has clinical trials which prove its help in raising Testosterone levels in menopausesal women and also aiding better absorption of Magnesium and Calcium.

To assist in better sleep and to help with feeling satieated have a look at gut health and resistant starch. I am presently taking 15mg of potato starch (Farina) in water morning and evening.

Do have a look at the type of oil you consume because many of us have an imbalance of omega 6 to omega 3. Taking an omega 3 supplement may be helpful.

If anything may have impacted on your liver and I have had to have my gallbladder removed so this is me, it is worth supporting it because this is where fat is processed. I take milk thistle for this purpose.

Finally the root of the Macca plant available in tablet and powder form is reported to increase energy, Testosterone and libido!

Hope that helps. 😊

[Missyboobah]

I've just been prescribed Hrt patches, I didn't really want them but it gets to a point when you will try anything, I've been on them 6 weeks I've had a few teething problems, but the area in which you are interested has improved enormously 😘 , you have to get Hrt with testosterone in!

[KarenR in reply to Missyboobah]

Do you have patches with oestrogen and testosterone? I know a combination with testosterone and progesterone is available but I have a mirena coil providing my progesterone so these are not suitable for me and I'd be reluctant to have the coil removed just yet because the reason I had it in the first place was not primarily contraceptive.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to KarenR]

Mirena isn't real progesterone, you know, so if it's not for contraception you might want to consider an alternative.

[KarenR in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Thank you, I hope my GP will refer me to one of the menopause clinics I will discuss it with them.

[debber]

I take the creams and that really helps along with Nature Thyroid. You guys are right its the testosterone doing it and it plummets. Its not good when that happens as our body needs it so yeah go try to get some help with this. The same with estrogen. Without these we set ourselves up for further complications. So please get help with this. You will have a better balance.

[Mirthangelica]

Why even though the blood test for hashimoto give me figures within the normal range(0.5 -5.00) taking every morning 100 mg Eutirox +T4 cynomel and 12.5 mg (mexico) tsh = 0.01 yet still maintain the same symptoms when treatment was not 7 years ago ... I do not feel desires to move a finger...

[stockman27]

Hi, I may be missing the point here but you have not said what is wrong with you other than low libido, are you a diagnosed with hypo thyroid. Also you don't mention is your suffering from too much sleep.

Let me give you a general answer. If you body is not working correctly then the last thing it will want to do is give you a high libido. Your body will correct it self and make all the sex hormones if its working ok, that goes for sleep as well. I have had a total thyroid removal and for two years I was sleeping 19-20 hours a day, I would start to wake up around the last meal of the night and then find I had carb binges. Then in the morning I would feel like I had a hang over with out the headache, as I said this went on for two years. Regards my libido I had none and didn't think of anything like that.

It got so bad I had to take drastic action to try and get back to work. I attended a st Barts which was next to useless and was diagnosed with depression. I also at almost the same time sent my bloods to Joburg South africa and found I was insulin resistance, hence the night hunger. DHEA low. tosterone almost unreadable , adrenal function not readable. I was given DHEA and testosterone and felt much better with in four days and was back at work in 6 weeks.

My only concern is testosterone is a pure hormone and if you take it for a long time you body stops making it. I found a dr in London that prescribes pro hormone, i.e. it encourages your body to make its own hormones.

This is a really condensed email and what i am trying to say is its not a one pill and your fine its diet, supplements , the type of thyroxin your taking and a good dr.

Good luck as I know how you feel.

John C

[puncturedbicycle]

I know this is an old thread (ironically I got here via a search for 'sleep' lol) but, as this continues to turn up in searches I wanted to add my bit. Although I haven't found the solution to a low libido (despite trying testosterone/progesterone and a bunch of other things), I did find b12 injections a huge, huge help for the sexual anhedonia that was part of the problem. I can't overstate the difference that made. So if you feel that lack of sensitivity/reward is a component in the larger issue of lack of desire, you might want to give that a go.