My sex drive has been killed ever since I stopped Dilantin. I take Keppra now and this is killing me since I'm not married and with the way I have no function or desire have little reason to try and date. I'm 39 years old.
I've thought of going back to Dilantin despite some bone loss because I never had this problem while I took that, but my docs don't agree. Some say do it since I felt fine, other say that Dilantin can cause hypogonadism by lowering Bioavailable Testosterone, and they want me to do testosterone shots and other hormone drugs, but all my hormone test numbers are in the normal range. So, I'm not sure what to do or which direction to go and no docs are any help.
This article
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472884/ contains the below quote about clinical signs of hypogonadism.
"Low libido, impotence, fatigue, impaired concentration, and sexual dysfunction are important clinical problems that might not be raised by the patient in the clinic...treatment objectives might include improving sexual dysfunction, intellectual capacity, depression, and lethargy; maintaining bone mineral density and possibly reducing fracture risk; increasing muscle mass and strength; and enhancing the quality of life"
In addition to the sexual issues, I show the fatigue and bone loss, feeling of lack of mental sharpness, etc.
This article describes how Dilantin can cause problems sexually in men.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1868812
So, here I am stuck knowing I felt better and everything worked right while I took Dilantin, but now taking Keppra (which I have heard can be direct sexual hindrance to some men), and not having any sex life at all. With docs disagreeing on the approach to take and me left to figure it out.
This has been going on for nearly 3 years and I am wondering if I'll ever get my life back to normal.
If I could give advice to any man with epilepsy taking AEDs who is currently NOT having any sexual side effect it would be to have a full, detailed hormone workup done to establish what your numbers are when you are functioning normally. Because if you ever change meds and haven't established what works for you ahead of time and then you experience sexual difficulties, your docs may have a no idea of how to treat you since what is normal hormonally for each person is often very different and does not always comport with a reference range.