Do not hesitate to address libido and other changes to female sexual health with your gynecologist.
How can Parkinson’s disease (PD) influence female sexual health?
- In women, Parkinson’s may impact libido (the desire to have sex) more than performance.
- PD may affect fertility. However, several young women with PD have successfully carried pregnancies to term and delivered healthy babies.
- Taking levodopa during pregnancy has not been shown to have negative effects on the development of the fetus. However, taking amantadine and selegiline has shown negative effects on fetal development.
- The onset of PD during the perimenopausal years of hormone fluctuations can be particularly challenging because hot flashes and drenching sweat could be part of the wearing-off phenomena as well as just part of the normal symptoms of being perimenopausal.
- It is important to work with a gynecologist and a neurologist to best combine hormone replacement therapy and Parkinson’s medications.
