Let’s Talk About Sex… and RA

A recent study found that libido is negatively impacted by rheumatoid arthritis.  This by way of a site called Celebrities with Diseases, through my google alert of course.  🙂  I was a little disappointed that the site that reported on this research didn’t name any celebrities affected by the disease or its side effects–I kind of thought that’d be the point.

In any case, at first glance I wasn’t surprised by this at all.  In fact, I have at various points in my treatment and life since diagnosis experienced this problem.  And, admittedly, I didn’t tell my doctor about it.   I had chalked it up to remnants of my childhood sexual abuse and didn’t realize it could be related to the RA or the RA meds.  Certainly I had found myself at points too stiff or uncomfortable to pursue or allow intimacy.   However, and I thought this was just me, there was always a personal or interpersonal thing to point fingers at for the lacking libido.

My personal experience and feelings aside, here’s study by the numbers:

• 1,271 RA patients surveyed
• 47% reported an absence of libido
• 24% reported stiffness in joints like knees, wrists and fingers that affected sex life

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While Celebrities with Disease did not share the ages represented by the study, their source (Yahoo News) did.  Apparently the average age of those studied was 64.  I would love to see a break down of the impact on sexual relationships by age.   I don’t really expect to have an extremely active libido at that age.  More importantly, I’m fourty years younger than the average participant.   Is no sex what I have to look forward to?  Dubious.  In fact, I find that very unlikely indeed. 🙂

The most interesting piece reported in this study is the reluctance of the participants to address these issues with their doctors.  Are we still that prude?  Truth be told — I know I didn’t want to acknowledge the connection, because it felt so outside of my control.  Have you experienced this connection?  And have you talked to your doctor?