Fascinating research findings:
- Naltrexone reduces feelings of social connection – naltrexone (Revia, Vivitrol), used in the treatment of alcohol or opioid dependence, reduces feelings of closeness with our spouses and close friends. While you’re taking this important medication, make a commitment to your marriage and your friendships instead of relying on your feelings.
- Watch Your Mental Health, Your Mood, and Your Marriage When Your Prescriptions Mess with Your Gut – nothing definitive to report yet, but it’s looking quite likely that what’s happening in your intestines is affecting your ability to enjoy your spouse’s love for you, and both antibiotics and your diet can have a large effect.
- Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face – if you’re not on the Pill, the attractiveness of your partner’s face increases with each burst of oxytocin: each massage, each orgasm, each shared positive emotion. Not so for those on the Pill. But there may be an antidote, because…
- Attention Alters Perceived Attractiveness – just paying attention to a particular face increases its attractiveness. So use the Pill, but remember to stop and smell the roses. Take a good, long look at the face you married every day.
Hope you find these research findings as fascinating and helpful as I do.
I never even thought about the emotional effects of prescriptions, but now some things make sense. Recently, I’ve had to take several new meds, including antibiotics, and I just feel out of whack, cranky & anxious.
Good to know it may not all be in my head. Thanks, Patty!
Sorry you’re feeling so bad, Beth. Hope you won’t need those antibiotics for long.
Interesting post. After my now-husband and I started dating 6 years ago, he was put on a low dose of Naltrexone – it has off label use for patients with fibromyalgia, Crohn’s, inflammatory diseases, etc. That low dose of Naltrexone is what we give credit to for our “summer of love,” as we fondly refer to the few months he was taking it. 🙂 Our personal experience aside, it is so true that medications and health issues can impact how we see one another. He has long struggled with health issues, and at times I know the depression around that causes him to feel that he shouldn’t be a partner to anyone at all, though he does love me and I him. Now that I’m in menopause, I struggle with our intimate relationship. We’re both working through stuff — and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate having found your blog. I started reading a few weeks ago and it has sparked some great conversations between us.
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Mary. Crohn’s, depression, and menopause have all been part of my journey, too. Very glad to have discovered some tools that work. And very happy to share them.