Don't jettison your partner just because the sex is less than stellar -- at least, not before examining your choice of birth control. Oral contraceptives can impair mood and sexuality to such an extent that a significant number of users discontinue the Pill, according to a study by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. In a staggering 87 percent of cases studied by Stephanie Sanders, Ph.D., the frequency of sexual thoughts, arousability, emotional side effects and severity of PMS correctly predicted whether or not women continued using the Pill.
In a study published in Contraception, 47 percent of subjects randomly assigned either orthocyclen or orthotricyclen had discontinued it within one year (most within a matter of months), and 14 percent had switched to a different pill. Sanders' findings agreed with earlier studies indicating that one-third of oral contraceptive users discontinue the Pill after three months. But Sanders work is novel in that she asked why women reject the Pill, an issue largely ignored in the 40 years that oral contraceptives have been on the market. Hormones may be the culprit, because birth control pills decrease testosterone levels, which may affect female libido. But there is no definitive research.
