“I would make excuses around getting tired or feeling stressed, that kind of thing,” [44-year-old Peter] said. “It wasn’t an issue with attraction to my partner. It just didn’t enter my mind to initiate sex.”
In 2021, Peter saw an ad recruiting male volunteers for a new study on hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD. Researchers planned to inject the study’s participants with kisspeptin —a naturally occurring sexual hormone — to see if it increased their sex drive. Kisspeptin plays a key role in reproduction; without adequate levels of the hormone children do not go through puberty, for example.
Experts believe HSDD affects at least 10% of women and up to 8% of men, although those numbers may be low, said Stanley Althof, a professor emeritus of psychology.
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As published, the study did not follow the men long-term to see if the effects of kisspeptin lasted. For Peter, however, its impact has been life-changing.
“I have found there’s been a lasting effect for me,” he said. “I do find I have a much better sexual appetite even now some years after the treatment.”
