Hi, I am Dr. Somi Javaid. I'm a board certified OBGYN, a specialist of both menopause and sexual health. And I am a member of the plusOne Collective. And I'm here to answer questions from our community.

What can cause sudden increase or decrease in desire as perimenopause and menopause become a diagnosis?

Really, women's sexuality is very complex. It takes into account biology, psychology, and social issues, but hormonal fluctuations, particularly as we go into perimenopause and menopause and declining testosterone levels can be a big problem when it comes to our libido because we know that testosterone can support a lot of the domains of sexuality, arousal, orgasm desire.

And so, when our levels are fluctuating or declining, we can struggle with our sexual function as we go into perimenopause and menopause. We can struggle with anxiety, we can struggle with weight gain, which can negatively impact our self-confidence. Our sleep is negatively impacted, so none of these things will support a good, healthy libido.