Symptoms: Depression, Loss of libido, Painful sex, Permanently low hormones, Hormone dependent at 60s
When I was 19 years old, way back in 1984, I was one month away from my wedding. I went to the doctor, a male OBGYN, to start birth control. He said to me, "I'm going to put you on this birth control. It will kill your sex drive." He literally said that. I did not know there were other options, so I didn't know to do anything different.
I began taking them. I became depressed and it did kill my sex drive. It also depleted my body of hormones, so sex was very painful. I didn't really fully grasp what was happening to me. I took them for one year, and got off. My hormones never recovered.
In my 30's I had my hormones tested. They ran them twice because they thought they messed up the test. Both times I tested lower than menopause levels. They couldn't explain it, and I was too young to take hormone supplements.
Now I am in my 60's. I am hormone dependent. It is a pretty good gig for the big pharma folks. Take their hormones away and people will pay lots of money to have it replaced.