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 levodopaThe medication most commonly given to control the movement symptoms of Parkinson’s, usually with carbidopa. It is converted in the brain into dopamine. 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 The years leading up to menopause, during which levels of female hormones fluctuate more widely than normal from month to month as hormone production gradually decreases and menstrual periods become irregular. Perimenopause lasts an average of five years. 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.
