Published on July 17, 2025 by Zencare Team. Written by Willow Health.
Can medication affect your sex life? The short answer is yes. Some medications can affect sexual desire or performance. This includes medications for anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure. How do medications impact your sex life? Medications can lead to issues like low libido, erectile dysfunction (ED), arousal issues, and more. Many people don’t even realize that their medication might be impacting their sex life until they talk to a professional.
Talking about this can be tough, but it's common. Knowing how medication affects your lifestyle, including your sex life, helps you understand the changes in your body. With this awareness, you can begin to take action to help you feel more like yourself.
How Medications Impact Sexual Function
If you’re wondering how do medications impact your sex life, the answer is that medications can alter hormone levels, neurotransmitters, and blood flow, which can impact your sexual function.
For example, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are often used to treat depression, increase serotonin levels in your brain, which can lower dopamine and testosterone levels. These changes can cause sexual side effects of medications, such as decreased libido.
It’s important to note that the way your body reacts to a medication is individual. The dose and duration of your medication can change how your body reacts. You might even experience sexual side effects from one medication within a certain class of medications and not another. What further complicates things is the fact that certain health issues can impact your sexual function. For example, depression itself can cause symptoms like low libido, loss of interest, and low self-worth.
Types of Medications That Commonly Affect Sex Life
Medications that may negatively affect sex life include:
- SSRIs: Commonly used to treat depression, about 40-65% of people on SSRIs may experience sexual dysfunction. Low libido and difficulty with orgasm are common symptoms. SSRIs increase serotonin levels. This can affect important neurotransmitters for sexual function, like testosterone and dopamine.
- Blood pressure medications: Medications used to treat high blood pressure, like diuretics and beta blockers, can decrease blood flow and nerve signals to the genitals. This can impact arousal levels and lead to ED.
- Hormonal treatments: Hormonal medications include birth control and testosterone blockers, which help with gender-affirming care and some cancers. Both of these hormonal treatments can decrease arousal and lower sex drive.
- Opioids: Used to treat pain, opioids impact a system called the hypothalamic-pituitary-glandular (HPA) axis, which can lower sex hormones like testosterone. This can lead to a reduced libido and ED.
- Antipsychotics: Antipsychotics treat mental health disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. They work by suppressing dopamine, which can lower libido. Typical (first-generation) antipsychotics are more likely to have sexual side effects than atypical (second-generation) antipsychotics.
- Benzodiazepines: Used short-term to treat anxiety, benzodiazepines can have a sedative effect. This can reduce desire and arousal levels.
- Chemotherapy: Cancer drugs can affect hormone levels, nerve sensitivity, and blood flow. This can lead to low libido, vaginal dryness, and ED. Chemotherapy can also cause fatigue, which can impact your sex life.
- Over-the-Counter Medications: Some over-the-counter medications can also affect your sexual function. These include antihistamines (used to treat allergies) and H2 blockers (used to treat heartburn). Antihistamines can lead to symptoms such as sedation, vaginal dryness, and lower libido. H2 blockers may also result in reduced libido and ED.
Signs Your Medication Might Be the Cause
Sexual side effects of medication can develop gradually, which can make them more difficult to identify. If you experience any of the following symptoms while taking medication, speak with your doctor to determine if medication might be the cause:
- Low libido (low sex drive)
- Difficulty with arousal
- Difficulty with orgasm
- Changes in sensitivity
- Vaginal dryness
- Difficulty with erection
What You Can Do About It
It can be frustrating to deal with the sexual side effects of medications. However, there are several ways to manage what you’re experiencing. Sometimes, symptoms subside on their own over time. Other times, changes to your medications, lifestyle changes, or a combination of both are needed. A good first step is to investigate your medications. This might include:
- Talking to your doctor: Your doctor can help you determine if what you are experiencing is the result of medication and present you with options to help you feel better. It’s important to never stop your medication or change its dosage without talking to your doctor first, as this can negatively impact your health.
- Exploring medication options: Your doctor may suggest adjusting your medication dosage. They may also suggest changing medications, as some medications are known to cause fewer side effects than others. For example, if you take an SSRI for depression, your doctor might suggest an alternative depression treatment like bupropion, which has fewer sexual side effects.
- Changing timing or trying a drug holiday: For some medications, side effects are more pronounced within a certain time window of taking the medication. If you notice this, you might ask your doctor about changing the time of day when you take your medication to see if it helps. You can also talk to your doctor about taking a drug holiday, meaning a short break from your medication, to help manage side effects.
- Considering adding medications: In some situations, it can make sense to add a medication to your regimen. For example, men experiencing ED might try a medication like sildenafil (Viagra) or tadalafil (Cialis). Women experiencing vaginal dryness might use a lubricant.
Lifestyle changes can help lower stress, manage side effects, and boost your mental well-being. These improvements can also enhance your sex life. These include:
- Maintaining an exercise regime: Regular exercise can help improve blood flow, including to your genitals. It can also help boost levels of certain neurotransmitters, like dopamine, that can help boost sexual desire.
- Improving intimacy: Building a stronger emotional bond with your partner can make you feel safe. This can also lower any performance anxiety you might have. Communicating openly, increasing non-sexual physical touch, and prioritizing quality time together are some ways to build intimacy.
- Reducing alcohol and tobacco consumption: If you drink or smoke, then reducing the amount that you consume can help. Both alcohol and tobacco are associated with lower libido and an increased risk of ED.
- Attending therapy: When you’re experiencing changes in your sex life, it can bring up feelings of insecurity and anxiety. A therapist can help you work through these. A therapist can also help you and your partner improve your communication, which can lead to a more fulfilling sex life.
How Sex Therapists, Or Therapy Can Help
Medications that negatively affect sex life can impact your self-esteem and relationships. Therapy is one way to support yourself through these changes. Your therapist can teach you ways to handle anxiety, depression, or negative thoughts that may arise during changes in your sex life. They can also help you learn more about how your medications are impacting you sexually. This understanding can ease your anxiety and self-doubt. It also helps you be kinder to yourself.
Sexual side effects can also impact your relationship with your partner. Your therapist can work with you and your partner to improve your communication. They can also help introduce you to ways to enhance your intimacy, allowing you and your partner to feel more connected.
“Therapy can help patients navigate the negative emotional impacts of the sexual side effects of a medication. Also, the therapist can help someone bring awareness to the fact that it might be their medications. Oftentimes, therapists can help patients bring up this conversation to their psychiatrist or primary care provider,” says Christina Gerdes, MD, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Willow Health.
There are a few different types of therapy that might be recommended if you are experiencing sexual side effects. Your therapist might also combine multiple techniques. These include:
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Your therapist will help you identify thoughts and behaviors that might be impacting your sex life and work to introduce alternative thoughts and behaviors.
- Couples Therapy: Couples therapy, which you attend with your partner, can help resolve any relationship issues that may arise from the side effects you are experiencing and improve your relationship satisfaction. You’ll learn techniques for communication, emotional validation, and conflict resolution.
- Mindfulness-Based Therapy: Mindfulness-based therapy helps you focus on the present. This can lower stress and anxiety about sex. It also boosts body awareness and acceptance. To do this, you’ll learn specific meditation and relaxation techniques.
- Sensate focus: Sensate focus therapy is a specific technique that helps you focus on sensation and mindful touch without pressure. This can ease anxiety about sexual performance. It also helps boost intimacy and communication with your partner.
Your therapist can also coordinate with your doctor to improve how you’re feeling from both a mental and physical health perspective. Some people also find it difficult to talk to their doctors about sexual side effects, so a therapist can help support you in this process and make you feel more comfortable.
Conclusion
Understanding how medications affect your sex life is an important first step in showing compassion towards yourself by understanding why you are feeling the way that you do. While it can be uncomfortable to talk about, it’s not unusual to experience sexual side effects from medication. If you are experiencing side effects, know that help is available. A support system that includes your doctor, a therapist, and your partner can help improve your understanding of how you’re feeling, increase emotional intimacy, and reduce any feelings of stress and anxiety that you might be feeling.