[GoingCrazy]

Anybody think that it's not just orgasm that causes this, that maybe orgasm "irritates" something in your head.  Like sugar, etc... Sleep for me gives me terrible brain fog when I wake up, especially during POIS.

If not cure it, does anyone know anything that you can do to at least shorten POIS?

...I'm on day 13...its not fun.

Dean, if you can find a doctor to work with you to review everything that's been tried here, and then carefully and cautiously try out some of those ideas, matching your POIS profile with other people here............

Day 13, is a while, I suggest no sexual stimulation whatsoever and to drink a lot of water.  Water helps me a lot.

Thanks GC, I'll try that. Thanks as well to you Demo, but I'd really like to exhaust all of my options before I have to go deal with the doctor again. I don't have any know health problems, my doctor actually said that I was "remarkably healthy." Despite this, I assure you that I'll take a lot of care with anything I try.

Any news on cranberries?

I stopped to be honest, generally because the sugar content is really high and that doesn't agree with my new diet, I did have one awesome no POIS incident, but after that I POIS'd dramatically.  I'm not sure about the cranberries, I think Limejuice was going to post a message after he had an NE.  If somebody could test cranberries/cranberry juice out for a few months without intentional orgasm that would be good.

[demografx]

I stopped cranberries again. Too difficult to determine if it adds anything beyond testosterone, because other variables affect increase/decrease of 75% cure, e.g., frequency, mood, circumstance.

[Dean93]

If not cure it, does anyone know anything that you can do to at least shorten POIS?

...I'm on day 13...its not fun.

Dean, if you can find a doctor to work with you to review everything that's been tried here, and then carefully and cautiously try out some of those ideas, matching your POIS profile with other people here............

Demo, as a slightly more out of pois response, I realize that you are trying to help me and I appreciate, it. I apologize for being stubborn.

Anyway, I'd like to go over my latest experiences with POIS:

Last month, I posted that I would report back on my results with exercise after orgasm. My results, in short, are that for me, running directly after orgasm does get rid of POIS symptoms, but ONLY after an NE. After an NE, I  ran on a treadmill at a 10 inch incline at 6-7 miles per hour for 16 minutes, which equates to about 1.6 miles. I stopped because I felt I had "hit the wall" physically, and my body was telling me to stop, or perhaps that was just my rationalization of my simply not wanting to do it anymore. Anyhow, that got rid off pretty much all my cognitive/mental/social symptoms. I hung out with my friends and had a good time, no problem. I was though, greatly fatigued. This wasn't POIS like "I don't want to do anything" fatigue, just a general lack of energy. Despite this, I was more than happy with my results and was completely willing to be indefinitely abstinent, and just run after NE's. My plan was to continue that, and next time, to try to run every morning for about a week after an NE, and possibly look into some energy boosting products. So as the days went on, I waited for and welcomed an NE. Well, I don't know if this happens for everyone, but my first few days without POIS are the best for me, but after a week or two, I start to lose my clearheadedness a bit, and, of course, get tangled up in huge amount of sexual tension (being on fire, but allergic to water <<my analogy of how I feel after a while.) Because of these negative effects of prolonged abstinence, I wanted another NE to sort of "reset" myself. It never came. The tension just compounded until one day, a Sunday, I felt my self in just about the same mental state as full blown POIS! Needless to say, I was angry. The same day, but importantly AFTER I realized my mental state, I had some emission of fluid that resembled semen during a bowel movement. I don't know what I expect anyone to make of that...

Two days after, I had an NE. Although doubtful, I ran for 10 minutes, which did nothing of course. That confirmed for me that I was really in POIS. That lasted for two weeks, like it normally does.

This Sunday, two weeks after that, I still don't feel fully recovered. I sort of feel like it has lifted, but I don't feel the strength or invigoration that I usually feel. Being in or out of POIS is usually black or white. Right now, it's gray. If this persists, I don't know what I'll do. If I can't feel good out of POIS, would it really be worth it to keep waiting through episodes...

Anyway, I'm hoping that I can fully recover. So badly.

About cranberry, I suppose I would be a good candidate for testing, since I've got the time, I'm willing to abstinent and I'm not on anything else. I'm going to retest fenugreek, and if that doesn't work or needs supplementation, I'll do the cranberry thing. I already have some "Cran-Max Ultimate Extract" capsules. They utilize the entire cranberry, and claim that the potency is 34:1 compared to whole cranberries. The bottle says 500mg a day, but on site about Cran-max I found that doses from 200 to 6000 milligrams are acceptable, and according to Cran-max, no negative side effects have been noted. After all, its just cranberries.

As a final note, my duration of POIS is longer than most, so next time around, I plan to do everything in my power to make sure that if its going to be that long, that I'm not contributing to it. Low carbs, no refined sugars, high protein, plenty of water, NO "second round" orgasms (those always get me). I'll also try to exercise everyday, and maybe even try some of the obscure stuff like alternating hot and cold in the shower, and getting more sunlight. For up to two weeks, its going to be hard, and could be a major disappointment, but could also be completely worth it. Any comments, suggestions, or words of motivation would be great.

I apologize for my ridiculously long post, thanks again to the forum for at least providing me with ideas, no matter how effective, that something might work. Good luck to everyone.

[GoingCrazy]

Dean, so you are saying that you had a self inflicted   [] orgasm on Sunday?  --or I think I just realized you still didn't "O"..  Yeah that fluid is weird, reminds me of candida... After exercise for me, I get really "foggy" headed, a pois fog, but this wasn't after an NE.  I know what you mean about pois being good for a couple of days but then being really irritating (happened to me during cranberry trial).  One of my theories of POIS being that our brain chemistry is out of balance and that our brain wants to keep this "out of balance" state, so when it doesn't get what it wants (orgasm) this will happen.  What I'm trying now is to just be on a good diet, exercise, and let only NE's be my only point of orgasm.  I think one day this will dramatically go away just like it dramatically came onto me, the fog that came into my head that never left.

[GoingCrazy]

About the auto-immune theory, wouldn't anti-inflammatory drugs help POIS? It didn't for me.  And if we were auto-immune to something our body makes wouldn't it be attacked at its source (where it is before it is released during/after sex) ?

[Defsync]

About the auto-immune theory, wouldn't anti-inflammatory drugs help POIS? It didn't for me.  And if we were auto-immune to something our body makes wouldn't it be attacked at its source (where it is before it is released during/after sex) ?

depends. auto-immune reactions can be a variety of things. they can release chems into the bloodstream that go everywhere or like you said attack specific areas.

[Dean93]

Note: I edited my last post after accidentally submitting before I had finished.

Thanks for your response GC, and no I didn't have an orgasm at all, self inflicted or otherwise.

You just reminded me of on thing that I left off my list: anti-inflammatory agents. Regardless of what any theory says, things that are anti inflammatory have proven to have positive effects on POIS, such as garlic and many others. I also read somewhere that mild exercise was anti-inflammatory, so I'm definitely not going to dismiss that theory.

[demografx]

My 90%+ cure

Since starting testosterone therapy last year, I have been continually reporting a POIS cure per episode of 75% to 90%, sometimes 100%. After today, I think I have a better idea of why...when it's 90%+.

Why was today (first 24 hours, "Day Zero"), good? Mostly Day Zero is still a mini-POIS-nightmare for me, but not today:

1. Was within frequency limits. Find your limits, and don't exceed them. If you can "sense" your own sperm regeneration, stay away from sex when you feel "empty".

2. Doubled dose of stimulants (with psychiatrist's approval). Finally quit caffeine and dying for it. Too bad.

3. Increased testosterone (with endocrinologist's ok)

4. Sunshine. Lots of it.

5. Engaged with other people socially for several hours.

6. Took "risks". Played piano for a group of people.

I hope this helps. But keep in mind that this is what works for me. We're all different.

[demografx]

Could "extra" testosterone work on POIS for sufferers, even if they are within normal T-range?

This is not advice. I am not qualified in any way medically to offer advice. This is pure speculation on my part, and is something I'm pursuing for myself. And it's a dangerous question: I am not suggesting that anyone else conduct this experiment.

I'm simply reporting what I am doing.

Work with your trusted physician, and preferably an endocrinologist, to determine what's right for you.

What made me think of this: (1) the first concrete recommendation of testosterone was made to me by a sex researcher from Czechoslovakia, who was recommended to me by a top sex researcher in the States. The Czech researcher did not know whether I was deficient in testosterone or not. (2) My endocrinologist feels confident with my idea of increasing my dose for POIS, even though my range is now within normal for testosterone.

[demografx]

I apologize for my ridiculously long post

Please don't apologize. You have a tremendous amount of terrific experience, thoughts and observations to offer us!

And you'll find a solution. We all will.

[GoingCrazy]

Demo, I was surfing the internet and found out that testosterone has anti-inflammatory properties and can suppress production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Then again, it said that carbohydrates reduce inflammation, and carbohydrates actually make me feel worse.

[demografx]

I don't have any known health problems, my doctor actually said that I was "remarkably healthy."

I used to think that.

But if we all look at ourselves carefully....we're not healthy! In POIS we are pretty sick! And that is, sadly, ALWAYS lurking just around the corner.

We are just thankfully "in remission" for a great deal of the time.

I'm not writing this to be depressing. Hopefully it will have the opposite effect, in that when we do "get sick" with POIS, we don't have to think, "Oh no! Look at this devastating sickness that just visited." Instead, we can say, "Lucky that we have ways to stave off the illness", e.g., temporary or fulltime abstinence, future medicine, etc.

As we all know, there are many maladies that are truly a 24/7/365 condition.

We have a part-time illness.

[GoingCrazy]

Visiting the psychiatrist tomorrow, my parents said no matter what we are going to get to the bottom of this.  I can't keep on living with this rediculous condition.

We have a part-time illness.

That's a lot of motivation right there

new symptom: anybody get a stiff neck?

[GoingCrazy]

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=100244372&imageindex=5

maybe another item to test?

[Dean93]

Yeah Demo, I sort of laughed when she told me that.

GC, thanks, turmeric is definitely something that Ill try, just because its so benign (in mustard!)

About phenylalanine, and the gum that you said the you chew, or used to, I read a lot of good things about it, but then I read some bad things about it such as in aspartame.

http://www.sweetpoison.com/phenylalanine.html

Can anyone clear up this confusion for me?

[hurray]

Interesting article from the BBC on how alcohol can help prevent brain injuries:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8262393.stm

"Experts believe the right dose of alcohol, however, stops the cascade of swelling, inflammation and further destruction of brain cells, known as secondary brain injury."

Interesting that they are considering that alcohol can have anti-inflammatory properties! I should confess that I have noticed that having an orgasm after a few beers does seem to alleviate my subsequent POIS symptoms - has anybody else noticed a link between alcohol and POIS?

I'm not encouraging people to go out and get drunk by the way! Although POIS sometimes feels like its driving me to drink ...

[demografx]

                                    


This is the 6,000th post at the Naked Science Forum's POIS thread, which began here on February 18th, 2007 with the very first post by John21, who is still with us today.

[demografx]

has anybody else noticed a link between alcohol and POIS?

I quit drinking 16 years ago. I always had excessive reactions to alcohol: a hangover would last 3-4 days, like my POIS did, although the symptoms weren't exactly the same.

[GoingCrazy]

Dean, is it me, or does that mustard seem to work?

[RhythmSpring]

well, keep at it, see if it works every time!