Episode 33: Low Libido in Women: Desire, Arousal, and What's Really Going On with Ashley Madsen

<p>Ashley Madsen is one of our favorite guests, and after our peptides episode sparked a flood of questions about sex, desire, and libido, we had to bring her back. </p><p>This one is refreshingly honest. We start by untangling three words that get used interchangeably but mean very different things: libido, desire, and arousal. Then we walk through the stages of a woman&#39;s life and how desire shifts through each.</p><p>We get into the science without shame and why the single most powerful &quot;treatment&quot; is often a shift in relationship dynamics, a partner who lightens the load, offers affection with no agenda, and helps her feel supported rather than managed.</p><p>A note on this one: it&#39;s a clinical conversation, and it&#39;s candid. Ashley and Mimi discuss specific medical and hormonal treatments from a provider&#39;s perspective. All of that is educational and reflects their clinical experience, it is not medical advice, and every option mentioned is deeply individual and belongs in a conversation with your own qualified provider.</p><p>Above all, this episode carries one message we care about deeply: your desire and sexual wellbeing are a real part of your health, and you do not have to just take it. There is so much more that can be done than most women realize.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>More info:</strong></p><p>Combined oral contraceptives are linked to lower levels of several nutrients, most consistently vitamin B6, along with B2, folate, B12, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, selenium, and zinc; vitamin A tends to rise. A few caveats: the B12 change usually reflects altered transport rather than true deficiency, and symptomatic deficiency is uncommon on today&#39;s low-dose pills. Targeted supplementation may help, though it isn&#39;t routinely recommended, and diet matters.</p><p>The gut data are limited and inconsistent. A few small studies found minor shifts, but the largest and most rigorous (160 women) found no effect on gut composition or diversity, though it did find the menstrual cycle affected the vaginal and oral microbiome, just not the gut.</p><p>There&#39;s also a debated idea that because the pill suppresses ovulation, it may blunt the preferences naturally cycling women show, for more masculine faces, or the scent of genetically dissimilar men. The evidence for this is mixed and unresolved.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Follow us</strong></p><p>⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠<a href="https://www.instagram.com/mimi_aprn/">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagra