I am taking kariva and have really now problem with it, but i was curious...since birth control alters your hormones and delivers synthetic hormones into your body...is it better for your sex drive to have higher levels of estradiol ( synthetic estrogen) or lower...and the same question with progestin (synthetic progesterone). im wondering b/c my LIBIDO has declined some and i was considering switching to a method with different levels of estradiol and progestin. thanks so much!!

Sorry its kind of long! I included a list I found of androgenic activities of oral contraceptives.

Libido has to do with androgenic activity. Some progestins are more androgenic than others.

*Signs of too much androgen: increased appetite, weight gain, acne, oily skin, hirsutism, decreased libido, increased breast size, breast tenderness, increased LDL cholesterol, decreased HDL cholesterol

(I included some brand and generic names too!)

Progestins with high androgenic activity:
norgestrel (ogestrel)
Ethynodiol diacetate(demulen)
norethindrone (estrostep, ovcon, necon, orthonovum, trinorinyl, loestrin, junel, microgestin)

Progestins with low/medium androgenic activity:
norethindrone (lower doses)
levonorgestrel (trivora/triphasil/enpresse, plan B, seasonale, levlen/levora/portia)

Progestins with low androgenic activity:
Desogestrel (kariva, mircette, desogen, cyclessa, velivet)
Etonogestrel (Nuva ring-active form of desogestrel)
norgestimate (OTC/OTC lo, trinessa, triprevifem, tri-sprintec)

Anti-androgenic progestins:
Drospirenone (Yasmin, Yaz)

Ace 8484, you are seriously my hero!! lol. im glad your answer was long b/c it really helped. and thank you to the others that answered too. you were all helpful. :) now, ace, i have one more question if you dont mind....if too much androgen in a pill causes decreased libido, then what does low androgen cause? b/c luckily, my pill is in the lower androgen range that you described....as i said i am taking kariva...so i am thinking that it is better for my sex drive....but correct me if im wrong... thanks!

Quote from Bracelet:

It doesn't matter which pill you choose, they're all crap. I've not met a single woman whether in person or online who did not have some kind of negative consequences to her libido when on hormonal birth control of any kind.

Any pills, nuvaring, or IUD's that you use which have hormones are going to make your sex drive suffer.

That's why the pill sucks and shouldn't be taken by any woman who actually wants a healthy sex life.

well, I've been taking Kariva for years and I have to say, I've had no negative effects at all! This pill is the best I've ever tried. I've had no weight gain, no loss of sex drive (in fact, I want sex all the time!!!:D ) and my periods are practically non existant! I will be taking these right through menopause!