vaginapagina | From Alesse to the Patch: Questions about Sex Drive (Reply)

Hello ladies,

I've been on Alesse (the generic, actually) for about 4 years. I've had no weight gain issues, no skin problems, no nausea, or basically any other bad side effect from using this pill save one:

There is no more sex drive.

Common complaint, I know. I've been worried about trying to change pills because this one does seem to work really well for my body chemistry, but I"m about to get married in June, and darn it- I want to WANT sex!

I've done some research and read that sometimes gynos switch people to the patch if they've lost their sex drive because it isn't metabolized through the liver like BCPs are. The docs think that the reason loss of sex drive occurs is because taking birth control pills produces a protein that binds with sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen. By binding, it can cause side effects such as lower sex drive. If you don't metabolize the pill, then the proteins, in theory, won't be produced, you see where I'm going with this. (I get this off discussion boards at WebMD, if anyone else is interested)

So: my questions are:

1. Has anyone had an experience where they went from some form of birth control that was working pretty well save sex drive to the patch, and what was the result?

2. Would you recommend changing to the patch from Alesse, those of you out there that might have tried both?

3. Would you recommend the patch at all? I've read on this community that some of the more irritating side effects are the stickiness that comes from wearing something on your skin for weeks, and some mild skin irritation. Any other bad side effects that you ladies have experienced?

Just looking for some good old fashioned advice. Thanks ladies!!!