Hi everybody. My name is Jon.
Let me start off by saying that I have a lot of respect for each and every one of you as I understand what you are going through. I still cannot believe that I came accross the nakedscientists forum last night. I am a 24 year old male who has been suffering since the age of 16 with this issue. I have seen multiple psychologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, urologists, etc over the years and none of them had any understanding of what I'm talking about and the other half of them thought i was crazy. I knew what I have been feeling all along so I have not given in to that belief. I am so thankful to you guys for making this website as it confirms what I have been feeling and it gives me hope. I have read more than a few of your conditions so let me tell you a little about mine.
I have a lot of the same symptoms as most of you, but my issue is chronic and I never fully heal. One day when I was 16 I masturbated and I felt drained at the moment of climax and I knew something was wrong. All of a sudden I felt very drained and things were mentally disoriented. I felt uninterested and unmotivated and almost disconnected with things, nothing was intriguing me. I never recovered from then. This was how i normally felt, and then the post orgasm 3 or 4 day period just made the issue worse over time. After this 3 to 4 day 'recovery' period I would then recover to that regular drained feeling. The problem is that over time, this baseline regular drained feeling has been made worse by orgasms. Each orgasm has made my baseline regular feeling worse and worse. I am at the point where i can not function corectly at all. I have had all sorts of physical and mental symptoms and after almost 8 years of this I have had to leave school and stop working. Mind you, I am not the type of person to stay in bed and drink soup when I'm sick. Its a never ending thing for me as I never fully recover and the last time I felt even close to normal was back before that episode when I was 16. My symptoms have gotten worse and worse over time. Today my symptoms are that of: almost no libido, erection difficulties, don't even feel that regular 'let down' normal men get after sex because I'm already feeling crummy, testicular pain, leakage, severe depression/confusion/slur words/thinking problems, extreme fatigue, hot flashes, immune system problems, and the list goes on.
I have gone months without any sexual activity and still never recover. Night time emissions happen from time to time due to my near absence of sexual activity and they also effect me but the symptoms are not as sever as masturbation.
I have read a lot of your symptoms and I respect you guys because i know its hard, but I havnt come across anybody whos symptoms are chronic with a 3 to 4 day POIS period on top of that. I have lost a lot of hope over time, but finding these forums has restored some of that hope.
I have been debating taking an antidepressant to help with the mental issues as I am even having trouble with the simplist of mental tasks, but I'm not sure that they will even work.
Any response is much appreciated.
Thank you guys again for making this forum possible. I am happy to help the good cause along.
We won't give up,
Jon.