Women Problem

When Desire Dies: Bringing Your Sex Drive Back to Life

By Colette Bouchez
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

"I used to enjoy making love with my husband but now it's something I do just to get him off my case. I can't figure out where my sexdrive went or how to get it back. "

"Once my partner and I 'get started, ' I really enjoy our sex life. The problem is I just don't ever want to get started."

"I always thought my husband and I would be making love until we were 90. But I just turned 39 and my libido is nowhere to be found."

If these sexual issues sound familiar, you're clearly not alone. Experts say that a lack of interest in making love - even with partners we adore in many other ways - is not as unusual as we might think.

"A disappearing sex drive is a common problem - sometimes in womenas young as her 30's - and while it hasn't reached epidemic proportions yet, I think we're only seeing a small portion of the women who are affected, " says Rebecca Amaru, MD, a gynecologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Indeed, in one global study of sexual problems published recently in the Journal of ImpotenceResearch, up to 43% of women expressed a loss of sexual desire, beginning as young as age 40. Similarly, up to 36% of women who were having sex reported they weren't enjoying it.