How Does Fibromyalgia Affect Sexual Function?

1. Muscle aches may be increased by pressure during intimacy;
2. FMS may cause emotional problems, such as depression, poor self-image, anxiety, or fear of rejection. All these problems may make you less likely to feel like having sex.
3. Some types of drugs that can help fibromyalgia may have side effects that interfere with sexual desire. They benefit one part of the brain but mess up your sex drive.

So what does all this mean for women with fibromyalgia?

A group of Brazilian researchers decided to find out. They recruited two groups of women in their 40s and 50s - half had FMS and half (called "controls") did not. They were asked lots of questions about their sex lives - how often, how satisfying, who took the lead, was there pain or fatigue during intercourse, and more.

According to their report [1]:

• the healthy group were more likely to have had regular sexual relationships in the last six months than the women with FMS (80% vs 64%);
• "FMS patients were less satisfied with their current sexual life than women of the control group (55% vs. 21%);"
• "FMS patients tend to have more pain during sexual intercourse than control women (74% vs. 36%);"
• "FMS patients also presented more fatigue during sexual intimacy than control women (73% vs. 37%);"
• "FMS patients presented a lower tendency to initiate sexual intimacy than the healthy women who referred pain during coitus (73% vs. 50%);"

The researchers concluded that "sexuality is greatly impaired in FM patients when compared to healthy controls."

But that's not the whole story - because it doesn't have to be that way.

"We need a multidisciplinary approach - different doctors and social workers - working with patients to provide them with a better quality of life," explained Lais V. Lage, PhD, Assistant Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She discussed the study in an interview at the ACR meeting where it was reported.

"Medications that interfere with sex drive can be given at different doses or the medication can be changed to one that will interfere less," she explained. A doctor or social worker can help you with your emotional problems - and teach you sexual positions that will be more comfortable, depending on where you are having pain.

And a therapist can help you become more comfortable talking to your partner about your pain and fatigue - to help your partner understand how it changes from day to day - so you can take advantage of the good days together. That way your partner won't feel rejected on the bad days.

But none of this can happen if you don't speak up to your doctor. Doctors often don't ask patients about their sex lives, so you have to raise the subject. Don't suffer in silence.

If your rheumatologist doesn't ask "How's your sex life?", you need to speak up anyway. Say it's not going so well. Use any language you are comfortable with - or even the language of the study - less interested, less likely to start it, less often, more fatigue, more pain, less satisfaction - or use street language if that's what you are comfortable with.

You need to tell your rheumatologist that your fibromyalgia is interfering with your sex life. Tell your gynecologist too. A program should be developed to improve your sex life. It can happen, but you have to speak up! Maybe even bring your partner along for the chat!