POIS: A Unified “Theory of Everything” + Suggestions for Healing

A few people have asked me similar questions for my thoughts on the underlying reasons / triggers for POIS, and suggestions on healing / recovery protocol.

I'm creating this post so I can link to it from other comments, and also start general conversations with everyone.

I will also offer some background about myself and my personal experiences with POIS.

POIS - What Is It?

The “POIS manifestation” could be described as a “chronic auto-immune-like response” that is triggered by arousal and / or orgasm, which leads to a cascade of inflammatory and damaging effects throughout the body and mind.

Some symptoms tend to be slightly different for each person who experiences this phenomenon, while there are many cross-over symptoms as well. Some have more flu-like symptoms, some have more neuro-psychiatric symptoms, others float in between.

The “specifics” of what is happening to your body are a unique mix of the following:

  • The immune system’s "inflammation response” is activated, becomes elevated, then runs amok
  • The nervous system’s “sympathetic fight-or-flight survival response” is activated, becomes elevated, then runs amok

During sexual activity and orgasm, there is a rising shift in many hormones that are related to the immune / endocrine / nervous systems.

In those suffering from POIS, the body has a hard time balancing these activations, which leads to a downstream runaway chain of events. These processes can become wildly exaggerated and uncontrolled, and ultimately deplete the body and mind of key nutrients, hormones, and neurotransmitters, leading to the variety of correlating symptoms.

For the body to recover from this fallout (after every single time you orgasm), the body needs to:

  1. Slow down and control the sympathetic fight-or-flight response
  2. Burn off / excrete the excess adrenaline
  3. Slowly metabolize the right hormonal balance
  4. Slowly replenish and rebuild the lost neurotransmitters
  5. Heal any physical oxidative damage caused by the inflammatory response

Depending on each individual’s body health and reserves, the impact may be minimal / controlled, or can be catastrophic and take a long time to recover. Quite often, more orgasms = more damage = harder and longer recovery cycles.

POIS - Science of the Cascade

For some science and theory on the “mechanics” of this phenomenon, check out this post from the POIS Forum by user nanna1. His background is in in the area of biomedical engineering and gene regulation networks:

Much of what is explained in this post correlates to many of the technical explanations from this link.

A simplified summary of this link is that during orgasm, the norepinephrine that is released will bind to a1A alpha receptors throughout the body, which triggers your body to start the fight-or-flight and inflammatory responses.

The body’s instinctual fight-or-flight response is a sub-conscious series of processes powered by your limbic system and ancient “mammalian” parts of your brain that are part of our evolutionary survival mechanisms.

nanna1’s theory is that there is a general over-expression of alpha receptors, leading to the excessive binding. The “why” behind this over-expression can be a variety of reasons (as in some conditions outlined below), or it can be due to an excessive amount of norepinephrine / histamine in relation to the available receptors. This imbalance also explains some manifestations relating to addiction pathways and limbic system triggering (further on this below).

During normal sexual activity, norepinephrine rises, but the fight-or-flight response is kept in-check by other counter-balancing hormones and metabolic functions.

In POIS, the response runs unchecked, resulting in full activation of the “fight-or-flight” sympathetic nervous response throughout the body, which sometimes cannot be easily turned off.

nanna1’s post also goes into great detail on several recommended supplement stacks for healing. The supplement stacks are in two forms:

  • Long term solution to help balance and regulate the body's chemistry
  • Short-term solution as a “pre-pack” to take prior to orgasm to temporarily improve the body conditions and suppress the chain reaction from happening

It’s really worth the read if you have time / interest.

Correlations to Other Chronic Conditions

The symptoms of POIS also show many parallels to other notable "chronic conditions" including:

  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Fibromyalgia
  • POTS
  • Lyme Disease
  • Lupus
  • MCAD / MCAS
  • Chemical / Food Sensitivities
  • Chronic Viral / Bacterial Infections
  • Toxin Exposure (mold / metals / pesticides)

I’ve seen countless people on various forums post links to the topics above, speculating correlation to these diseases.

Some of these posters have actually been diagnosed with those conditions (comorbid).

The correlation and similarities to these issues are the dysregulation of the immune / endocrine / nervous systems, and an impaired / cross-wired limbic system triggering the inflammatory and immune response through a variety of upstream triggers in the brain.

I have seen many other users post “successful treatment” recommendations that mimic the treatment modalities of these chronic conditions, specifically various prescriptions and supplements. I use quotes on “successful treatment” because these medications are generally treating the symptoms that occur, not solving root cause (no longer expressing the symptoms). More on this below.

Based on those posts by users, the treatments traditionally used for these other chronic conditions also seem to help with POIS. This indicates that the same bodily functions and pathways are impaired in POIS.

Particular “treatment” options for chronic conditions have included various prescriptions and over-the-counter supplements:

  • Sodium Cromolyn (manages allergy symptoms & stabilizes mast cells)
  • GABA Agonists & Precursors
  • Dopamine Agonists & Precursors
  • Inflammation Suppressors
  • Anti-Histamines
  • Anti-Anxiety Medications
  • Anti-Psychotic Medications
  • Lose Dose Naltrexone / LDN (temporarily flips and tricks the opioid receptor regulation)

In other words, POIS is a chronic condition involving the limbic system, just like all of these other chronic conditions.

This hints that the underlying manifestations of these chronic conditions parallel to activation of POIS.

Treatment vs. Cure

In modern western medicine, doctors and practitioners are trained on a system of “if this, then that” when it comes to treatment protocol, particularly prescribing pharmaceutical treatments based on observed symptoms.

Many of the medicines prescribed focus on resolving the symptoms and not necessarily treating root cause.

The many posts I’ve seen throughout the forums have been specifically focused on "treatment and management" of symptoms, not specifically solving root cause.

“Symptomatic treatment” of POIS generally involves:

  • Reducing / preventing inflammation response - this is generally when you see suggestions like high-dose Niacin
  • Reducing / preventing histamine / immune response - this is when you see things like Benadryl, Zyrtec, etc.
  • Rebuilding stores of GABA / other neurotransmitters - when you see things like Taurine / L-Tyrosine
  • Alpha Blockers and Heart Pressure Medication - suppresses binding of norepinephrine to alpha receptors
  • Reducing Anxiety / Reducing Sympathetic Nervous Response - When you see things like benzodiazepines / anti-depressants / anti-psychotics
  • Improving under-performing hormonal function - when you see things like testosterone supplementation

"Root cause" protocol goes deeper than that for a true cure. It’s about getting to the root of why POIS manifested for you to begin with, and treating the underlying problems that perpetuate the problem.

Many of us have seen the random YouTube videos and forum posts that seemly make no sense because they are all over the board with the cures:

Solutions are all over the place.

Well - that’s because much like other chronic conditions, the "root cause" is all over the place.

POIS - How Does It Manifest?

So this is where some more of the “theory” comes in.

The short answer is “POIS generally manifests for a variety of reasons”, and “the conditions for it to manifest are likely different for everyone”.

Unfortunately POIS is like many of the other chronic conditions. No “one” specific reason. No “one” specific cure.

However, like all other chronic conditions, there seems to be a formula for POIS to manifest which contains a mix of several key ingredients:

  • Some level of chronic underlying stress
  • Nervous System imbalance
  • Immune System imbalance
  • Endocrine System imbalance
  • A catalyst or trigger to imprint the condition on the limbic system, which keeps these systems imbalanced through trauma memory

In essence, it requires “a perfect storm” for the dominos to fall. Here is a great video that illustrates how chronic conditions develop:

A bonus ingredient for POIS can also be related to sexual addiction, reward pathway over-stimulation, and brain receptor dysregulation / priming / kindling.

Another outlier can be related to elevated prolactin levels due to a prolactinoma (a tumor pushing on the pituitary gland releasing too much prolactin).

The following sections explore each of the primary ingredients in detail, along with some suggestions on general healing protocol from pooling all of the resources together that I have found.

Stress, Disease, and Chronic Auto-Immune Conditions

Like most chronic disease manifestations, there isn’t one clear path to why the disease manifests (re: video example above).

POIS is no different, and there are “completely different” perfect storms.

There is an emerging field of study relating to epigenetics and the role of stress, thought patterns, and environmental factors that correlate to the manifestation of chronic conditions.

Just like how someone who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day may never develop lung cancer, while someone else who smokes 1/10 of that “can” develop lung cancer.

In general, the theory is that stress (in a variety of forms), over time, causes oxidative damage to the cells of your body. When the body is exposed enough to stress, the conditions become right for various diseases to manifest.

The “low end” example of this would be getting sick after you pull an all-nighter, or after you go out into the cold with wet hair. This is also why cold sores and canker sores appear when you are stressed. Stress leads to lower immune function. Lower immune function allows the herpes virus to propagate unchecked by your immune system, and bam, a fresh cold sore.

The “high end” of this example would be manifestations like cancer, or falling deathly ill to something like Covid-19.

Here is a great 10 min. video explaining the concept of stress and disease manifestation throughout the cells of your body:

So even if you don’t "feel the stress", it still manifests itself in your body. That IBS is still running in the background and keeps giving you diarrhea, even if you don't feel "stressed out" on a daily basis.

Healing protocol for stress reduction focuses on reduction and elimination of chronic underlying stress vectors. This may include or require lifestyle changes, job changes, relationship changes, and healing old / suppressed emotional trauma through a variety of therapeutic means.

There are emerging theories that the Psoas Muscle is where your body “stores” your long-term chronic stress.

Below are some videos on how to release anxiety and stress from the psoas muscle:

Psoas release isn't a "cure" all for all types of stress, but it's an example and a start for your healing journey.

Nervous System Imbalance and Dysregulation

One of the biggest issues in the POIS cascade is a subsequent burnout of the neurotransmitters in the nervous system including Dopamine, GABA, Acetylcholine, and Serotonin. This imbalance leads to an over-abundance of Glutamate, Adrenaline, and Norepinephrine.

The “why” behind this burnout seems to be from a combination of underperforming gut / immune functions, over-performing stress response, and / or underperforming endocrine functions (weak liver, weak digestion, weak testicular function, weak HPA-axis function, suppression or imbalance of parasympathetic nervous function).

The burnout and lack of these essential neurotransmitters are what correlates to many of the physical and psychiatric symptoms relating to POIS, specifically depression, anxiety, depersonalization / derealization, lethargy, anhedonia, insomnia, chronic pain, allergies, other flu-like symptoms, lack of motivation, lack of appetite, Parkinson-like symptoms, ADD-like symptoms, bi-polar like symptoms, and other psychiatric / physical issues.

The "Vagus Nerve" in particular has been implicated a variety of times in relation to POIS (and other chronic conditions). The Vagus is the autonomic highway that links your brain to your body and organs, and control parasympathetic functions like digestion and heart beat, as well as sympathetic functions like - you guessed it - fight-or-flight response.

Healing protocol focuses on replenishing lost neurotransmitters, building adequate storage of these neurotransmitters, and improved manufacture of these neurotransmitters for the long-term.

Daily supplementation of supplements and amino acids like GABA, L-Glutamate, L-Taurine, L-Tyrosine, Magnesium, and 5HTP will help promote the manufacture and storage of dopamine, gaba, serotonin, and acetylcholine.

Proper sleep hygiene (at least 8 to 9 hours to start) will help promote rest-and-repair functions of the body to manufacture these neurotransmitters. Try going to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 pm and don't get out of bed until at least 7:00 am. Keep this schedule even on the weekends until you build back your proper circadian rhythm.

Additional healing protocols target calming the sympathetic nervous pathways and promoting parasympathetic balance through de-stress / energy balance exercises like yoga, tai chi, qi gong, and mindfulness meditation.

Here is a great 20 minute video for Qi Gong that I’ve used that really helps calm the sympathetic nervous system and promotes more balance with the parasympathetic system. I did it at least once a day for two weeks straight with great results:

Healing protocol may also include stimulation of the Vagus Nerve to promote overall parasympathetic balance. This can be done through a variety of means such as gargling, gagging, singing, chanting, qi gong, various yoga exercises, and other light exercises.

Here is a video on vagus nerve stimulation, and its relation to digestion as well:

Immune and Endocrine Imbalance / Dysregulation

On the immune side, histamine imbalance can also trigger these chain reactions to occur. Histamine is generally not part of the hormonal shift during sexual arousal / orgasm, but by replacing norepinephrine with either histamine or glutamate, and replacing a1A alpha receptor with either the h1-histaminergic (h1H) or NMDA (NR2B) receptor, the inflammatory responses can fire off.

This explains why some POIS sufferers see more flu-like symptoms more-so than the neuro-psychiatric / chronic issues which are related to the fight-or-flight response.

The uncontrolled inflammation immune response also likely correlates to the rising levels of Prostaglandin E2 during arousal / orgasm, without enough E1/E3 to balance.

This can be due to a variety of reasons including weak testicular function for hormone production / conversion, weak liver function for proper enzyme production, over-taxed kidney/adrenal function leading to elevated DHEA / cortisol (stress hormone), weak intestinal function for managing the immune system, some type of chronic underlying infection (viral / bacterial) that is stealing resources from the immune systems, and / or an under-powered HPA-testicular-axis that isn’t charged enough to kick start the hormonal balancing process (“sexual exhaustion”).

Here are some theories and detailed info on sexual exhaustion and how it plays into the possible issues noted above:

There may also be underlying genetic or lifestyle factors at play that are implicating the immune system, which may include insufficiencies in conversion pathways of specific amino acids, vitamins, and proteins.

There is a lot of discussion on forums re: POIS and MTHFR, and there is suspicion that MTHFR mutations may play a role in downstream impacts on the endocrine and immune system in POIS.

Deeper testing is suggested with your healthcare team to better understand any predispositions you may have that could cause imbalances in your immune and endocrine functions.

I recommend working with a “functional medicine” practitioner who is more open to the concept of finding “root cause” of chronic disease and coming up with a specific supplementation plan that makes sense for whatever deficiencies you may have.

Healing protocol focuses on improving specific metabolic and hormonal dysregulations via proper supplementation, diet, nutrition, sleep regulation (focus on at least 8 to 9 hours / night), and lifestyle modifications.

Quite often, gut health is implicated in poor immune function.

Focusing on improved gut health can improve immune system functionality. Reduce intestinal permeability with supplements like L-Glutamine and other supplements that improve short-chain fatty acid production such as Butyrate.

Controlling inflammation in the body is also important to immune health. Supplementation with anti-inflammatory flavonoids such as Curcumin / Turmeric help.

Reducing latent viral loads can be important as well (dormant herpes virus strains like EBV, HSV1, HSV2, Cytomegalovirus). L-Lysine is a supplement known to suppress various strains of the herpes virus.

Elimination of toxins may also play a role, such as mercury poisoning or mold toxicity. There are independent detox protocols out there if you test positive for any type of toxic containments.

Nervous AND Immune Imbalance - A Double Whammy

Sometimes both sides of the coin can manifest together very heavily. When this happens, terrible things can happen.

The immune response creates permeability in the blood vessels so that your white blood / immune cells can “get to work” fighting infections throughout the body.

When the immune system up-regulates and your blood brain barrier in particular is compromised, a lot of collateral damage can be caused by your immune system carpet-bombing all of the cells in your body, including activated glial cells in the brain causing neuro-inflammation and oxidative damage (literal brain damage). This, in addition of the lack of GABA / abundance of Glutamate, can lead to neuro-toxic effects. Chronic exposure to oxidative damage can lead to neuro-degenerative issues like Alzheimers:

There is a lot of emerging theories that many auto-immune conditions are also related to dormant viruses in the herpes family, which attach to different parts of the body, and when triggered and up-regulated, the immune system notices these dormant viruses and attacks the location of infection, causing collateral damage.

Healing protocol focuses on suppressing viral / bacterial / infections / toxins and improving gut health for improved immune function. It also involves avoiding the trigger (orgasm) while focusing on healing protocol to avoid oxidative damage.

Limbic System Impairment

The Limbic System is a set of structures in your brain that deal with emotions and memory. It regulates autonomic / endocrine function in response to emotional stimuli, and also is involved in reinforcing behavior.

In general, the limbic system provides down-stream instructions for how your body should react to input stimuli from your environment and your thoughts.

Think of it like a computer that gets programmed through learned experience. When the body finds a new pathogen, it programs a set of instructions to automatically up-regulate the immune system to find, bind, and excrete the pathogen. This process is saved for continued future use.

This process also happens through imprinted memories of past stimuli (feelings, which are a body memory of an event). Say you live in the jungle and you saw a tiger eat your family member. This trauma is now imprinted in your limbic system as danger. The next time you see a tiger, your body reacts immediately and subconsciously. The trauma imprint is enough to kick in your fight-or-flight response the next time you see a tiger. Your metabolic priorities shift. You no longer focus on digesting your food. Blood rushes to your limbs and your heart rate increases. You focus on running the hell away from the tiger, or you mobilize and are prepared to defend yourself at all costs. Some of these instructions are so encoded that they've been passed on from generation to generation (our reaction to seeing a snake slither by, as an example).

When a chronic condition manifests, trauma is somehow imprinted on the limbic system, which then encode a set of instructions for how the body should subconsciously react. Sometimes these instructions are wrong, which result in the manifestation of chronic conditions which seem out of place (Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Chemical Sensitivity).

This is likely why some POIS sufferers can manifest symptoms just by arousal, having sexual thoughts, or going through habits and rituals that historically led to POIS (surfing porn, instagram, facebook, tinder, etc).

There is emerging science on how the brain can rewire, adapt, and change over time to recover from the maladapted limbic system that’s firing off improper instructions.

Neurons that “fire together, wire together” and the neurons that don’t, diminish. Through training and time, the limbic system can be retrained to stop sending false signals, as the brain can create new networks for new responses and allow the old networks to prune away.

There are a handful of programs and literature out there to help retain the brain and improve the mind-body connection:

Healing protocol focuses on neuro-plastic changes to brain pathways that improve the stress response reaction of a maladapted limbic system.

Reward Pathway and Correlations to Chemical Dependency

POIS symptoms also share many similarities to substance dependency / withdrawal such as alcohol / opioids / benzodiazepines.

Check these symptoms and tell me if any sound familiar:

This relates to kindled / primed glial cells and down-regulated dopamine / opioid receptors in the brain in those with sexual addiction (much like substance addiction).

When you continue to prime and stimulate over-exited neurotransmitters, you build tolerance, leading to excessive use, leading to chemical changes, and thus dependence.

During withdrawal, the body is dealing with a massive change in its chemical make-up. After building tolerance to a substance, the body up-regulates and down-regulates various receptors because it “expects” the presence of certain chemicals and neuro-transmitters as the “new-normal”. In absence of these chemicals, the body has a hard time maintaining homeostasis, and in part, the limbic system punishes you with "danger signals" to ensure that you “go find the chemical we need, right now, or we are in trouble”.

This is survival mechanism gone haywire because the body is trained to depend on something that it is now lacking. The new baseline of neurotransmitters aren’t enough to stimulate the level of receptor expression.

Some resources on these topics:

Healing protocol focuses on addiction recovery, healthier habits, and a long, hard road of abstinence to help down-regulating the pleasure / reward system to a more healthy baseline that can react properly to occasional stimulus and then subsequent withdrawal.

Oxidative Damage, Neurotoxic Damage, and Repair

Some of the neurotoxic damage can be catastrophic. I’ve seen posts from people who wind up on anti-psychotics and other psychiatric drugs due to diagnoses of psychiatric problems which may have manifested from the neuro-inflammation damage caused by POIS.

What’s very important in the healing protocol is brain health and repair.

  • Fish Oil / Omega 3 Fatty Acids (EPA / DHA)
  • High quality Vitamin D w/ K2
  • High-level anti-oxidant fruits
  • Natural detox foods and supplements
  • A good multi-vitamin that has adequate sources of B-Complex vitamins, A vitamins, C vitamins, and E vitamins High Quality Probiotic, particularly including Lactobacillus, which promotes neurotransmitter production

Every morning I personally make an anti-oxidant / detox smoothie with the following ingredients:

  • 1 cup Wild Blueberries (strongest anti-oxidants on the planet)
  • Banana
  • Fresh Organic Cilantro (viral / toxin detox)
  • Spinach
  • Teaspoon Hawaiian Spirulina (viral / toxin detox)
  • Organic Whole Milk w/ DHA

Exercise is also critical for brain health and repair. Try at least 30 minutes of walking each day. Even just around your neighborhood. Don’t overdo it if you are not ready. You don’t need to slam iron for 2 hours in the gym. Just focus on getting the body moving and healing.

Summary of the Unified Theory

POIS is really no different than many other chronic conditions involving the dysregulation of otherwise well-orchestrated bodily functions.

The factors to manifest the condition vary, and thus, treatment protocol varies.

It’s very likely that your manifestation of POIS is a "mix" of these factors, so you should consider a multi-factorial approach in truly solving the root cause of your POIS manifestation.

Here is a roll-up summary & high-level action plan:

  • Chronic Stress - Healing protocol focuses on reduction and elimination of chronic underlying stress vectors. This may include healing old / suppressed emotional trauma through a variety of therapeutic means.
  • Nervous System Imbalance - Healing protocol focuses on replenishing neurotransmitters, building adequate storage of these neurotransmitters, and improved manufacture of these neurotransmitters for the long-term. Additional healing protocol targets calming the sympathetic nervous pathways and promoting parasympathetic balance through destress and energy balance exercises like yoga, tai chi, chi gong, meditation, etc. Healing protocol may also include stimulation of the vagus to promote overall parasympathetic balance.
  • Immune & Endocrine System Imbalance - Healing protocol focuses on improving related metabolic and hormonal functions via supplementation, diet, nutrition, sleep regulation, and lifestyle modifications. Work with qualified healthcare providers on this one, as your situation is likely very unique.
  • Viral / Toxin Related Impairment - Healing protocol focuses on suppressing underlying viral / bacterial / infections / toxins and improving gut health for improved immune function.
  • Limbic System Impairment - Healing protocol focuses on neuro-plastic changes of brain pathways that improve the stress response reaction of a maladapted and cross-wired limbic system.
  • Reward Pathway Dysregulation - Healing protocol focuses on addiction recovery, healthier habits, and a long, hard road of abstinence to help down-regulating the pleasure / reward system to a healthy baseline.
  • If you suspect you have a prolactinoma tumor (do a blood test for elevated prolactin levels), work with a healthcare provider on treatment.

Getting to a “root cause cure” is not an overnight fix.

You will be focusing on altering and improving your body’s metabolic processes, immune processes, brain patterns, and overall downstream gene expressions. You will need to give yourself time, patience, and consideration.

This is a lifestyle change to improve your overall health.

Also, as hard as this sounds, give yourself room for periods of abstinence to see repairs.

Over time you can experiment and see if certain treatment protocol is reducing your symptoms. Build a framework for yourself to test and evaluate. Work with medical providers where applicable. Be patient, but also believe that you are able to heal and cure yourself. This mindset is crucial.

Other References / Links

A lot of the above is from personal research and cross-correlation of information found through the following sources, theories, healing protocols, and ideas. Plenty more out there. This is just a broad stroke overview.

POIS Forum: https://poiscenter.com/forums/index.php

POIS on Naked Scientists: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=6576.0

Research Studies: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6889685/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001999/

Overview of the Limbic System & Stress Response: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response

Neuroplasticity and the Concept of Limbic System Impairment re: Chronic Stress / Outside Factors: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3684250/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684432/

Kindling / Priming of Stress to Manifest Chronic Conditions such as ME/CFS: https:/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3022475/

Concepts of HPA-Axis Burnout / Impairment re: Chronic Stress & Neuroendocrine Systems: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6057754/

The Limbic System & Relation to Trauma Imprinting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_imprint easy context: https://www.phoenix-society.org/resources/calming-trauma

General Hypotheses relating to Vagus Nerve Infections and Vagus Nerve Implications in Chronic Conditions: https://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/documents/pubsVanElzakkerChronic.pdf

Limbic System Impairments and Retraining through Neuroplasticity: http://retrainingthebrain.com/ http://guptaprogram.com/

Theories on Sexual Exhaustion / Metabolic Functions / Restoration of Energy http://www.actionlove.com/extra/ses.htm http://www.drlin.net/#Benefits%20from%20Optimal%20Orgasms%20(the%20Tao%20of%20Sexual%20Orgasms http://www.actionlove.com/cases/case16665.htm

My Background and Experience with POIS

This is for context, and in case you want to be skeptical and take all of this with a grain of salt.

  • I'm 34 years old. I developed POIS throughout the course of last year. Prior to that, I’ve had a healthy sex life with little to no issues.
  • I’m 6’2 and 150 lbs (on the thin side, but still healthy BMI). I’ve test positive for EBV and HSV1. Slight gluten sensitivity. No other STDs. No other immune-related issues.
  • I test positive for the a1298c gene variant (heterozygous) related to MTHFR conversion problems. Regardless, my blood tests indicate that my homocysteine levels are still healthy.
  • I have marfan-like characteristics, though not confirmed tested for Marfan syndrome (I note this as there is a risk for connectivity tissue disorders).
  • For the previous several years, I've had underlying chronic stress in the background. I was in charge of running operations for a 75 person company, then made a big career change in 2019, divorced in 2015, a new engagement in 2016, and then another breakup.
  • Since 2017, I had issues with ever-increasing anxiety that peaked in the summer of last year (2019). I was using masturbation as a means of escaping anxiety.
  • In 2019 my addiction escalated to 3 hour long edging sessions, sometimes with no climax.
  • Heavy POIS did not hit me until I realized that 1) I was addicted to pornography, and 2) tried to stop the addiction for a month cold-turkey. Upon relapse after 30 days (abstinent through all of September 2019), the POIS symptoms “really” set in, and have only been worse with each subsequent relapse (addiction / priming / kindling).
  • “Physical Symptoms” of POIS for me have included chronic fatigue, whole body pains (myalgia), hand / feet numbness, intolerance to heat / cold, rapid heart rate and arrhythmia, increased blood pressure, adrenaline surges, increased urination output, loss of appetite, akathisia, IBS (mix of constipation / diarrhea), restless legs at night, inflammation, up-regulation of activated mast cells (white blood cells) burning and attacking throughout the blood stream, neuro-inflammation with significant stabbing headaches and pains in the head, neck, and eyes.
  • “Neuro-psychiatric Symptoms” of POIS have included crippling depression, anxiety, insomnia, periods of complete anhedonia, derealization, lack of motivation, suicidal ideation, periods of bi-polar like symptoms, mood swings, periods of ADD / attention issues, significant brain fog, body dysmorphia (feeling like my left limbs not exist or belong to me), and hypochondriasis
  • Eventually anxiety, stress, and alcohol would start to trigger some of these symptoms as well.
  • Prior to POIS onset, I’ve only ever had issues with IBS. None of the other symptoms were prominent in my life, particularly none of the neuro-psychiatric problems (never bi-polar, no anxiety, etc). Perhaps an undertone of high-functioning depression (dysthymia) but nothing over the top.
  • I met with countless specialists and "ologists" since the onset of POIS (before I fully understood it was POIS) including two separate primary care docs, a cardiologist, multiple endocrinologists, multiple gastroenterologists, a neurologist, multiple functional medicine doctors, a nutritionist, three therapists, two psychiatrists, and I literally even spoke with several psychics as well.
  • POIS-related panic attacks have also sent me to a handful of ERs and Walk-in Clinics. The worst was 3 days in a psychiatric behavioral center.

Through all of this, I’ve had an astronomical amount of blood tests, urine tests, stool tests, pathogen tests, gut health tests, food sensitivity tests, anti-sperm antibody test, and toxin tests. The only things that stand out on labs are elevated cortisol (stress), DHEA (stress / metabolic conversion), high estrogen / sub-standard testosterone (HPA-axis / conversion issues), borderline over-active thyroid (stress / endocrine), and sub-standard vitamin D levels. * I’ve had CT Scans of my brian, neck, abdomen, a chest X ray, echocardiogram, wore a heart monitor for 21 days, wore a blood glucose monitor for 14 days, had an endoscopy, an EEG for epilepsy, a SPECT fMRI scan to look for brain patterns relating to depression / anxiety / PTSD, and two prostate exams. All of these studies (every single one) indicated that I am "healthy and fine".

I did not fully realize all of my issues were related to the “POIS cascade” until about a few months ago. When I was stuck in the panicked fight-or-flight state of POIS, it was hard to see true cause and effect. In fight-or-flight, the mind races, you think you are dying, and everything you read about online you think you may have. I thought I had porphyria, fatal familial insomnia, bi-polar disorder, mercury poisoning, parasites, parkinsons, the list went on.

I hit rock bottom one night when I found myself writing a 4 page suicide note. I could no longer function at work or in my current relationship. At that moment I realized this was it. I have to go all in to get my life together. I went into full abstinence mode and focused on diet, nutrition, exercise, sleep, supplementation, and mental health to get myself back on track. Since then every day has been better than the last, and I feel myself recovering.

My background is not in healthcare or medicine. My background is in technology / IT / management. I spent a year working in IT-related healthcare, but that’s it.

The majority of my time from 2019 - 2020 has been researching & reading scientific studies, symptoms, theories on various chronic conditions and POIS, treatment & supplement protocols, and learning everything I can as it relates to the immune, endocrine, central nervous system, brain reward center, the limbic system, sexual organs, hormones, mast cells, proteins, amino acids, and, neurotransmitters.

None of the above makes me any more qualified or an expert.

I am just offering commonalities I’ve seen across all of the literature and reports, offering a roll-up of my research, experiences, and ways I am healing / seeing others heal.

Through this journey I have more context of what my POIS "is" and more importantly what it “isn’t”.

I appreciate you reading, and I hope that some of this was informative and helpful. If any of this resonates with you, I would love to hear thoughts / feedback.