POIS for me has caused memory and cognitive dysfunction. Best way to describe it is this:
say a problem is before me. normally i would take into account everything i know about the problem to solve it. Under POIS, my ability at memory recall and remembrance is severely affected, to where I might only remember half of what i should know to solve the problem. And also believe that that half is ALL I know (no acknowledgement of missing memory).
another example ive had would be driving. I see the light is red. I know that it means something specific, but I do not remember that it means stop. So, in an open intersection I would drive right through not realizing until someone started honking that red means stop.
i might study for an exam for weeks, have a nocturnal emission the night before, then fail the exam the next day unable to recall the majority of the memorization over the last couple weeks. this would from the beginning of puberty around 11 until 18 when I graduated from high school.
I may have worked at a job for years, know procedures to follow like the "back of my hand", yet post orgasm the following days, POIS has caused me to forget procedures that I have done EVERY DAY since starting that job. And have fun trying to explain to a manager why you forgot procedures you know you know and have never failed to follow EXCEPT when under POIS symptoms.
in the marine corps infantry I might train for a live fire exercise for a couple days. have a nocturnal emission the night before the live fire exercise. during said exercise I am to control half a squad of marines using hand signals and judging visual distance to ensure no marine is too far ahead or behind (to avoid friendly fire). instead i forget hand signals and my ability to judge distance is greatly skewed, putting marines in the line of fire.
cognitive reasoning seems to be affected, for the main reason that memory recall is greatly stunted, IN ADDITION to the ability to REALIZE that memory is missing. This leads one to respond to situations or communication irrationally because in one's mind "i think i know everything there is to know about what im responding too" when in reality under POIS "im missing many pieces of the information that I know but am unable to recall and unable to remember that I am missing"
I believe it might be of interest in looking at the histamine that is released from the mast cells during orgasm. Note below in this dissertation the affect of Niacin on histamine, Niacin being one of "helpful" therapies to POISers. The hippocamus has histamine receptors. I wonder if the histamine released during orgasm can affect teh hippocampus ability to modulate memory functions.
So to this I would suggest, during fMRIs, that if possible some focus be concentrated on the hippocampal region of the brain.
"Research has shown that histamine is released as part of the human orgasm from mast cells in the genitals. If this response is lacking this may be a sign of histapenia ( histamine deficiency). In such cases, a doctor may prescribe diet supplements with folic acid and niacin (which used in conjunction can increase blood histamine levels and histamine release), or L-histimine."
I can see looking at the Vagus nerve since it would explain more the additional physical symptoms of POIS. I personally have had no physical symptoms, except perhaps a greater sensitivity to pain, tho I think that might be from the depletion of dopamine during orgasm.
I notice the longer I go without an O the harder it becomes to sleep, to the point of near insomnia for a day. Maybe in POISers we have brains that cannot modulate dopmine and pre-O our brains get too much dopamine because the brain has a hard time regulating it down, and post Orgasm levels stay low for too long because the brain has a hard time regulating it up.
Another theory is the release of excessive glutamate during Orgasm, and a brain unable to regulate that chemical down properly. 3 glutamate receptors have been shown to affect memory transmission and retention. A drug that does seem to significantly affect the memory dysfunction is Lyrica (pregabalin). This drug decreases the release of glutamate as one of its functions. Perhaps in a POISed brain this helps regulate down the glutamate that may be there in too great an amount, helping to relieve some of the memory dysfunction.
Having tried a gambit of drugs in order to look for a solution, the only one that seemed to actually increase memory function, although not 100%, post Orgasm is Lyrica (pregabalin). I would think stimulant drugs would have worked, if the vagus nerve is the cuplrit, by blocking the para-synaptic feedback of the vagus nerve that would be causing POIS memory symptoms. But I can tell you there is no stimulant drug that has ever worked for me to ANY effect to relieve the memory dysfunction. Again, Lyrica is the only thing that I have ever seen have an affect on that particular POIS symptom: memory and cognitive dysfunction. I will also state that taking a multivitmain, like one of the "completes" that includes minerals, has a MINOR but SIGNIFICANTLY NOTICEABLE iaffect n relieving a smidgeon of the memory dysfunction. Which vitamins or minerals are the reason, I do not know. I just know that doubling up on a complete multivitamin during POIS does help.
In short: I believe it may be worth looking at the levels of histamine and glutamate released during orgasm, and the ability of a POISers brain to regulate those chemicals back to normal levels, in case the hippocampus and associated memory structures are affected by high levels of these bio chemicals. I also believe that it may be worth looking at the hippocampus during fMRI studies (fMRI during orgasm, at 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, and every other 12 hours for 5 days) to see if the hippocampus functioning is affected during POIS.
One major point I would like to note: Men seem to be more affected with POIS than women. Note, men are prone to nocturnal emissisions (unscheduled orgasms) on a regular basis, where women are not. Also, POIS may not be an all or nothing illness, it may be a % of the brain inability to regulate post Orgasm. To this I say that there may be more people out there with some level of POIS but at lower levels. Some of us even after years of POIS had no idea what POIS was doing to us, so for someone who may have much lesser symptoms, they certainly may not even realize they are being affected so. I also propose that considering the vast majority of homeless in america are men, I wonder if a percentage of these homeless men have struggled because they have POIS (unrealizing their unscheduled nocturnal emissions are causing them cognitive dysfunction).
Make no mistake, a job that requires a fast response time and huge amounts of memorization can be gravely affected by the memory dysfunction from POIS. It is severe enough to take the lead from several mental disorders that citizens of the united states currently get disability SSI from. To me that merits that this condition should absolutely be looked into far more than it is.
Over human evolution as we have continued to increase our leisure time a hundred fold from the days oh hunter and gathering, more time for "liesure sex" over the time of this evolution may have resulted in a condition like this coming about because we were never built to have this much sex, but as centuries have gone maybe POIS is the brains reaction to this societal procreation, saying "too much, too much!". Certainly a human being affected with POIS does not try to have MORE sex, but of course tries to have LESS.
Well thanks again doctors for taking the time to organize this and move forward. It would be great to have an answer for that 12 year old little boy who suddenly finds his brain not working properly after an orgasm, to tell him that we know what the problem is and have a solution for him so that he can continue to have a normal life, a normal relationship, and never have to live in fear each night he goes to sleep, afraid that he will wake up a lesser human being.
~Defsync
