Hi,
I'm trying to find an endocrinologist who would like to take me (the one I saw basically gave up on the second appointment asking me to see a sexologist and didn't charge me).
I got normal levels of "free testosterone" but didn't get the serum testosterone tested.
I wonder if some of us suffer from POIS not because of a lack of testosterone but because of an issue with androgen receptors.
A study in rats (
study and
sci-hub unlocked version) showed that sexual activity decreased "
androgen receptor density (ARd) in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), but not in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST)".
So the theory would be that POIS can be the result of two different mechanisms:
A) Patient has a low testosterone level, but still high enough not to provoke symptoms. However, after ejaculation, the androgen receptor density decreases. Low testosterone * low receptor density -> POIS
B) Patient has normal testosterone level but ejaculation decreases the androgen receptor density more than usual. Normal testosterone * very low receptor density -> POIS
Type A) and B) POIS could both be cured by increasing testosterone level (Normal testosterone * low receptor density -> still OK / High testosterone * very low receptor density -> still OK).