Just came across POIS today - any help please?

[wdhp]

Like I said I have only just come across it today and don't know if I am a sufferer or not. Any advice please?

If something in my post is too explicit I will remove it.

I am 19 years old, male and wonder whether I am suffering with POIS.

I will quickly explain my background. Maybe from about the age of 12 I could masturbate and ejaculate, but I don't quite remember when but probably soon after that I felt a bit regretful practically every time I masturbated.

Skip toward to when I was 14 I became ill with Epstein Barr virus (glandullar fever) and then since then for over 4 and a half years have suffered from Myalgic Encephomyelitis (ME). During this time, when masturbating I would feel very depressed afterwards and now I feel so terrible afterwards I think I will never do it again and think I don't want to get married (and have sex with my wife). This happens after a few seconds, I guess maybe 20.

In the last two years I haven't masturbated as much as in the past but in the last few weeks I have done it more than normal (4 or 5 times a week maybe in the last three weeks), and now I am experiencing very bad headaches and generally feeling sick and like I have a very bad cold, especially when waking in the morning.

But my issue is that a lot of POIS symptoms are similar to ME symptoms so it is hard to tell if I am suffering from something or not. It is worth mentioning my ME symptoms are so bad that I am pretty much housebound and feel sick all the time to varying degrees and have cognitive problems, but, although not too much is known about ME, it is suggested it affects the immune system and some things I have quickly read today in regards to POIS, some words pop up that also have possible links to ME, but as I have such a severe depression after ejactulation it seems very odd.

I don't know if it is possible I suffer from both and they are similar?

I will finish by saying I do suffer from depression but didn't earlier in my illness and before it when I did experience a bad feeling after ejaculation.

Please feel free to ask me any questions as I would like to get to the bottom of this.

Thank you for reading this.

[Nightingale]

Glad you found us. I willl say there isn't enough of an understanding of POIS to eliminate you as a sufferer. Yes POIS has many things in common with ME, and your timing of onset matches with many of those with POIS including myself.

Viral attacks like Epstein Barr could very well be a trigger for POIS, as many others have had onset after illnesses. I have come across many accounts that make me seriously consider viral infection as a cause or trigger for development of POIS.

I believe depression is linked with POIS directly, and I started to see my youthful optimism begin to fade at 13/14 right when POIS was starting. I later went on to develop treatment resistant depression, and have spend the majority of my young adult life recovering.

I'd suggest you start treating yourself as if you have POIS and see if you get improvements. This includes our widely successful niacin treatment along with vitamins, specialized diet, exercise and more.  There are some good resources for those on this forum.

It seems depression is your biggest obstacle right now, and I add that I didn't make any progress with my POIS until I addressed my mental health. Make sure you have a psychiatrist who sees you. They will NOT understand POIS, but they can help you find relief from depression. I have accepted that depressive feelings after ejaculation are no longer odd for me, so I plan my ejaculations around times where I have the time and strength to recover.

Not sure if you've read about the study we funded, but the researcher who won the grant has the theory that we have a type of nerve dysfunction. I agree with him, and your story implicates the nervous system again.

Welcome, I think you've found a new "home" where you can find support