Questions and help needed with my POIS

[Pleasehelpheal]

Hello everyone,

I would like to describe my POIS and hopefully get some help to start figuring out how to treat it. My POIS is mostly psychological. The first couple of days after (P)MO, or sex I get intense social anxiety, I feel way less masculine, I get strange attraction towards men (which I don't identify with, not sure how else to describe it, it might also come from a place of feeling worth less than the other) and kind of intrusive thoughts with it (HOCD-like), way less attraction towards women. I feel like a different person, I act like my normal self, but it feels as though there is only a glimpse of my normal self left. It's like I'm seeing through a veil, my vision is blurry, I usually describe this as looking through a puddle of water or as if there is a dark cloud in my mind which I have to fight through. It sometimes feels like I am going insane. Another way I sometimes describe it is as if I'm in an anti-flow state, nothing feels right. This song's intro has a similar vibe to what I feel like sometimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in58wtVI9sI . Physically, there seems to be a knot in my stomach often, I have mild headaches, weird sensations mostly on the left side in my head, there's tension in my inner thighs and a constant feeling of unrest in my chest.

After a couple of days, everything gets a little bit better, but my symptoms seem to be kind of chronic. I do believe it has something to do with PMO or sex and I feel like there must be some kind of solution through food, supplements or medication. I had been addicted to porn from the age of 14 to around 23. That is when my HOCD stuff started, and I knew I had to change something. That was when my journey to quit started, and around the age of 27 I managed to have it under control. I am now 29, but these symptoms remain. I have become a god at nofap, I can "easily" reach 90 days or more, I say "easily" because I do have these symptoms in the background constantly, but I have gotten so used to it by now, that I just live with them all the time. I don't necessarily want to O anymore, because I know how much worse my mental state gets when I do it, but I don't think that's the way it should be. That's why I want to figure out how to cure this.

I have tried the following things:

• different diets (gluten free, lactose free)
• supplementing vitamins, fish oil, magnesium
• microdosing truffles combined with lion's mane, ashwaganda and niacin
• microdosing LSD
• exercising

.
I just took some niacin, and it seemed to help slightly with the symptoms in my head, but I read that people often take it before O. I just took it to see what would happen to my current symptoms. Exercising seems to help slightly as well.

Can someone please give me some advice on what else to try? I am getting really tired of living like this honestly.

Thanks in advance.

[Hopeoneday]

Hi, those shift toward mans, it could be low testosterone, high
estrogen, estradiol, prolactin... Me personaly, newer had that.

[Pleasehelpheal]

I've had blood tests done and everything seems to be normal. Tonight I had a great night with a friend, no strange thoughts or feelings, just felt like my regular self, which was great. I just want to feel like this the majority of the time, but currently it's the other way around, I don't feel like myself most of the time.

[less_fogged]

Hi Pleasehelpheal

I know easier said than done but you must hang in there. I know the feeling I've been through the same and I'm going into my 50's. Sometimes it just feels like hell. But as you get older it becomes more manageable. Don't let it become psychological because it's not.

Even though your forehead and/or sometimes your body seems to be the main places that make it difficult...but....when you are under a lot of mental strain/stess have you ever noticed a slight bit of pain or agitation at the back/bottom of your head?
If that would be the case then maybe it's worth convincing your doctor you'd want to get a neurospect scan cause that would mean you have damage in brainstem area. Which would confirm you have ME/CFS.  That was my case at least after years of searching. I'm now convinced I have a POIS version of ME/CFS

[Pleasehelpheal]

Hi less_fogged,

I can't say I've noticed that feeling  at the back/bottom of my head. But out of curiosity, have you found a way to heal or better manage your situation?

[less_fogged]

Hi pleasehelpheal,

I think you should first try work more on figure out what foods make you feel worse regarding allergies. Try avoid as much as possible processed foods especially containing sugar. Or even better try stick to animal and vegetable diet. Eliminate not only gluten from your diet but instead rather get rid of everything containing wheat. Perhaps introduce just brown rice instead.
This alone will not solve everything but can possibly greatly reduce your symptoms. That was my case at least as I was allergic to wheat. Many people with POIS are know to have allergy issues according to a scientific article.
In fact over time perhaps give thought to most common known foods that cause allergy.
This website has many ideas for possible treatment plans; not everything works for all. And best let your doctor know what you want to try.

[less_fogged]

Tonight I had a great night with a friend, no strange thoughts or feelings, just felt like my regular self, which was great. I just want to feel like this the majority of the time, but currently it's the other way around, I don't feel like myself most of the time.

This sounds like mild ME/CFS to me and most doctors still don't understand this.

Did you know that ME/CFS patients can feel good, but while without them knowing, they put strain on their emotions and X hours later they feel crapy because there body used to much emotional energy. I'm not a doctor but it could be the wiring in your nerves in brain stem. For some the delayed time can also be prolonged. (also learn about post exertional malaise)

POIS in my opinion is also emotions related regarding the act of sex.

There are many illnesses out there but it's always a possibility.

[Warrior]

I would try D3, get serum levels at least to 50ng/mL ideally to 80ng/mL. Take with K2. Can take high dosages temporary for quick replenishment if levels are low. If concerned of side effects, do so with doctor approval.

I would try SAM-e 200-1200mg per day.

[Pleasehelpheal]

Thanks for responding guys,

 I am going to start an animal based diet this week and ordered some of nanna1's supplement stack, so hoping to start with that soon (that includes SAM-e and D3 & K2).

Will post results soon hopefully.

[Pleasehelpheal]

Hi guys,

I'm doing so much better, better than I have been in a few years I reckon. Most of the day I feel relatively normal. I think the key factor was the vitamin D3. I think I will stop doing the animal based diet, because I'm getting tired of the restrictions. If it starts getting worse again, I will get back on the diet.

Though in the evening, my brain will sometimes go back into this unhinged mode, so I need to figure out why that is, maybe it's because I'm not at the correct vitamin D levels yet.

Also, I tried MOing 3 times during these 2 weeks and the symptoms I usually get were either non existent or only a very mild version of what they were. And the onset of the symptoms, if any, is much later than usual.

Getting a blood test to check vitamin D levels coming week. Will maybe up my dose if it is on the lower end.

[Pleasehelpheal]

Went back to the diet, effects of supplements are waning. Everything is still better than it used to be, but how I felt last week was just how it's supposed to be. Not sure why it was that good and now it's not as good. Doing the diet again to see if it will get better again.

[Warrior]

Went back to the diet, effects of supplements are waning. Everything is still better than it used to be, but how I felt last week was just how it's supposed to be. Not sure why it was that good and now it's not as good. Doing the diet again to see if it will get better again.

Haha you might be surprised how much diet affects you. For me it’s foundational.

[Pleasehelpheal]

Can I ask how long it takes for you to feel the consequences of eating something you're sensitive to?

[Pleasehelpheal]

So I read/heard of people's experience with SAMe, the first week people feel amazing, but after that the working begins to wane a bit. That is what I experienced I believe. The question is, if there is a way to get back to that state of mind.

At this point I don't know if the diet is doing anything, I believe the reason I felt so good was just because it was the first week of using SAMe

[Warrior]

So I read/heard of people's experience with SAMe, the first week people feel amazing, but after that the working begins to wane a bit. That is what I experienced I believe. The question is, if there is a way to get back to that state of mind.

At this point I don't know if the diet is doing anything, I believe the reason I felt so good was just because it was the first week of using SAMe

Yes, SAMe seems to be a bit of a weird one. Appears to work perfectly for a short period of time, then wanes. My experience is that it appears to have improved overall baseline levels of symptoms despite waning, but unfortunately didn’t maintain the perfect remission lol

An analogy would be that it took me from 40 to 100 for 4 weeks, but then went down to 80 and has stayed at 80. It’s hard to put a number on exactly how much it has improved my sensitivities and all. Those numbers are just rough estimates.

You could try other methyl donors and methyl support nutrients: Choline, TMG, folate (folic acid, methylfolate), B6, B complex vitamins, L-methione, minerals like copper, zinc, etc.

I tried a lot of things and haven’t been able to move from the seemingly plateaued level of SAMe relief. I’ve kind of accepted it, happy with at least the overall improvement, but moving on to focus on other areas/nutrients like D3 and immune stacks.

[Warrior]

Can I ask how long it takes for you to feel the consequences of eating something you're sensitive to?

I experience my food sensitivities quite immediate. Like within 10-60 minutes I would say. It appears to change a bit, but overall it’s always within 1 hr. How about you?

[Pleasehelpheal]

Yeah I'm also happy with the overall improvement, my ocd thoughts are way more in the background if they are there. Now the problem that remains is just symptoms of depression, just not being in a normal state of mind, happiness is rare for me. Although I must say even after the first week of using SAMe, I had these sporadic moments of joy, which I don't think has happened in years lol. Also dealing with lack of libido (which is probably caused by my mental state).

I experience my food sensitivities quite immediate. Like within 10-60 minutes I would say. It appears to change a bit, but overall it’s always within 1 hr. How about you?

I never thought it could be noticed that quickly, but now that you mention it, I think it must be the same for me. For example, yesterday I ate some fruit and a steak, and after a couple of minutes I had this tension in my stomach, which usually comes together with anxiety and strange ocd thoughts. I guess it has to do with food sensitivity.

[Muon]

Now the problem that remains is just symptoms of depression

Cellular and Molecular Actions of Methylene Blue in the Nervous System

Depression and anxiety 15 mg/day in patients

[Pleasehelpheal]

Hi everyone,

I want to give an update on my situation. My POIS has improved significantly, to the point where it is almost non-existent. A couple of months ago I had a particularly bad episode of POIS, where I decided to go to the doctor once more. They diagnosed me with POIS and got me some prescription meds, namely alpha blockers called silodosin. You are supposed to take one of these pills 2 hours before ejaculation. So, within a couple of days I decided to try the silodosin. One of the side effects of silodosin is that you could get retrograde ejaculation, which means your semen doesn't come out as usual, but goes back into the bladder. This is what happened to me I believe. The next day I had practically no symptoms of POIS. However, I decided I didn't want to use the silodosin anymore, since the fact that no semen came out was just strange to me. The next week, I decided to try again without the silodosin a couple of times within that week. I had some mild POIS symptoms the day after ejaculation, but not as severe where it lasted about a week. Usually just a bit of brainfog the day after. This was a big improvement, however I wanted to reach a point where I had practically no POIS symptoms at all. So I went back to the doctor and we discussed the outcome of the use of the medication and we decided on having me try the rest of the silodosin (4 more pills) in the same way I did before and see if it gets any better. It did not get any better in this way.

Aside from the POIS symptoms I used to get, I also had some strange sensations in my head practically chronically (which at first I thought were related to POIS, since ejaculation worsened these  symptoms). These sensations came with a strange twisting / blurring of my vision. I believe I tried to describe some of it in my first post. Since these sensations were still there, even after the improvement of POIS, I was trying to figure out how to fix this. I came across a youtube video explaining how some blockages in your spine and neck could cause brain fog and other strange head symptoms. As someone mentioned in this thread, maybe I did have some kind of cranial instability or cervical spine issue. I decided to go to a chiropractor. They scanned my spine and figured out I had a huge amount of tension on the left side in my neck (which coincides with the fact that these strange sensations in my head were practically only on the left side). So they recommended me do 10 sessions of chiropractic care. The first two sessions we got rid of most of the blockages in my neck. The head symptoms improved somewhat, but weren't quite gone. In my fifth session I told the chiropractor that the symptoms had gotten worse the last week. He then figured out that there is a muscle in my neck on the front left side, which could cause the problem. When he squeezed this muscle, I could feel it all the way over my head on the left side, all the way up to my forehead near my eyes, which could be the cause of the blurry / twisted vision. Now, at this point in time, I still have 5 chiropractic sessions to go. I'm pretty sure that neck muscle is the cause of the head symptoms.

I also am still doing the animal based diet, I have been doing it for about 4 months now I believe.

In conclusion, one of these, or a combination of these things has improved my POIS to the point where it's practically non-existent. I hope this helps someone out there with similar problems. Feel free to ask any questions.