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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

So if I never ever feel the slightest inclination to have sex, and he has I guess a normal libido, how often should I make myself ...

188 replies

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:09

... do it?

It's been a couple of years now in which I have absolutely no sexual urges at all, I would be quite happy to live a brother/sister relationship with just hugs/cuddles. Dh very understanding but I feel guilty, god I sooo wish there was a pill I could take. Should I force myself? How often? What way out is there?

OP posts:
SixSpot · 05/01/2009 22:16

Oh no, don't force yourself, that will just make matters worse!

Talk to a sex therapist about it. I think that many many women go through a phase like this (I certainly have) but it is really not a good idea just to give up on the whole thing.

If you wouldn't be happy talking to a therapist, can you try some ways of reconnecting with your own sexuality?

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:16

How?

OP posts:
morningpaper · 05/01/2009 22:17

Are you on teh pill / antidepressants?

LuckySalem · 05/01/2009 22:18

Hey I'm with you on this. DP keeps telling me how he feels as though we're just roommates and wants us to go back to how we used to be but since DD I'm not in the mood much and when I am he's not there (works nights)

I often wondered when I should make myself do it for him.

Will watch this

Catilla · 05/01/2009 22:19

Do you have a child(ren)? How old? It takes time, sometimes a lot of time...

Ingles2 · 05/01/2009 22:19

have you talked to your dr?

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:19

no to both

Youngest child is two and a half and stopped breastfeeding about a month ago. I thought not breastfeeding anymore would help, but so far it hasn't.

OP posts:
lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:20

embarrassed about talking to doctor

I mean there is nothing he could really do is there?

OP posts:
SixSpot · 05/01/2009 22:20

Well, to put it bluntly - what turns you on when you do it to yourself?

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:22

Well I don't do that very often - if I do I have some kind of fantasy about some male sleb or other...

OP posts:
SixSpot · 05/01/2009 22:24

Try doing it more! Sex is like a lot of things, the more you do it, the more you want to do it.

brazenhussy · 05/01/2009 22:25

I went through this for years

If I forced myself to do it, I would have huge tears rolling down my face and DH would be really upset as he knew I only did it for him.

I remember us being on holiday in spain. We had had a really lovely family day out, beach, swimming, eating al fresco in the evening. When we put the kids to bed DH and I cuddled up in bed then I turned over to go to sleep and DH said to me "Don't you ever feel like making love?, I mean don't you ever feel horny?" I lay awake thinking about it and realised that no, I never did.

That night opened up a whole new view on our relationship. Before then I had just stuck my head in the sand and hoped that one day I would wake up and feel urge again.

We talked about it (DH is usually a total stone waller) and found some common ground and eventually things did get better.

PintandChips · 05/01/2009 22:28

OH, so glad i've stumbled on this one! Me too! i have never had much of a sex drive, particularly, but since DS (now almost 2.5yo) I have only actually wanted to do it literally a couple of times. I dread it - when it's been 10 days or so I start to think, sh*t, i'm going to have to prepare for it...
luckily (really?) my dp suffers from prem ejaculation, so it's over really quickly, and he has never shown any real interest in what I get out of it, which on one level I'm grateful for because I can just get it out of the way.
I have a tendency to think that most women must be pretending they want to have sex regularly as I just can't imagine it.
Anyway, I am planning to go to counselling to talk about it, as I realise as it is probably a problem that I have personally. My relationship is shot to bits, but I'm sure this aspect doesn't help.
Are you generally happy with your DH and did you have an active sex life before the baby? That will give you a big clue I think... if it was all guns ablazing before, then you've got your answer, but then if not perhaps there are some of us that just aren't that into sex?

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:28

brazenhussy, did it get better by itself or was it something you actively did?

Dh will not say anything for weeks but then will start making comments about it but then the more pressure I feel the more I feel like crying and really unhappy

OP posts:
Ingles2 · 05/01/2009 22:28

but there might be libido. maybe there is a hormone imbalance or something. And you have nothing to be embarrassed about.. s/he will have seen/heard a lot worse than that, honestly. It's got to be worth ruling out

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:30

pintandchips, I had my first child eight years ago, before that we had a normal sex life I guess, but since it's been less, with things grinding to a halt since 2005.

Why does it give me the answer if it was "normal" before?

OP posts:
LuckySalem · 05/01/2009 22:32

See DP REALLY wants to please me so it makes me want to do it less. I LOVE the foreplay but as soon as we start having sex I want it over but he wants to make it last. I always wondered why and there is no way I'm going to ask someone in RL.

controlfreakyhohohohohohoho · 05/01/2009 22:35

because there's a difference between never wanting / enjoying sex and having once wanted / enjoyed it but not any more.... if you did have more interest it would suggest you can get your groove back. agree re the more you do sexual things the more sexual you will feel be....

morningpaper · 05/01/2009 22:36

I wuold Buy Lots Of Books About It and see where that got me

and probably wank regularly

rachaelsara · 05/01/2009 22:36

Luckysalem, he might think he's obliged to make it last. You don't want to ask anyone in RL, but maybe you could ask him?

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:36

I've read this advice before on other threads but the thing is I just can't be bothered, it just feels like a chore when I could be in bed reading/MNing/sleeping etc

OP posts:
sunnygirl1412 · 05/01/2009 22:37

I know just how you feel, lossoflibido - my dh makes me feel as if there's something wrong with me, because I have little or no sex drive. It's been like this for years - there's always been an imbalance between our sex drives, and mine has declined since I've had the children.

I don't know if it's due to my depression, my antidepressants, my weight, my tiredness or whether my libido has simply run out. I just know that I feel the same pressure as you describe, and that pressure makes me tense and stressed and therefore even less likely to want sex.

In answer to your question, I guess we have sex less than once a month. I can't help feeling that dh believes deep down that I'm doing this on purpose, and if I wanted to, I could just change how I feel, just like that.

He percieves sex as affection, and says he doesn't feel loved if he doesn't get sex, whereas I want to feel loved and respected by him - he upsets me a lot (he has zero empathy or people skills, and I get a lot of the flack even when it's directed at other people), and I feel he dismisses my views and intelligence as not worthy of his regard - and he fails to understand why all this puts me off sex with him, even though I have explained it 'til I'm blue in the face.

I wish I could be more positive and tell you something that will help you sort this out, but I hope it helps to know that you are not alone in this.
[un-mumsnetty hug emoticon]

lossoflibido · 05/01/2009 22:37

mp, do you mean books about sex or books about sexual problems?

OP posts:
brazenhussy · 05/01/2009 22:37

lossof - I had to work at it but at the time my DH was a good husband and father and I felt guilty that i didn't want to have sex with him. He saw it as a rejection and thought that it meant that I didn't love him when it wasn't that at all.

I did find that the more I did it, the more I wanted to.

thumbwitch · 05/01/2009 22:38

LoL - 1 month after stopping bf'ing might not be long enough, it can take a while for your hormones to re-settle down.
How long after giving birth did your periods come back?

I sympathise - have a similar situation with libido being MIA, plus an understanding DH - but he is getting more frustrated now so I usually manage 1 a month. I have only given in once when I really didn't feel like it and it was no fun at all, for either party, so I don't recommend it.