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| #Post#: 11-------------------------------------------------- | |
| What is POIS? (from Wikipedia) | |
| By: truthaboutpois Date: April 5, 2015, 10:43 am | |
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| Post orgasmic illness syndrome (POIS) is a rare condition | |
| characterized by debilitating symptoms following orgasm that | |
| last for a few hours to several days. The phenomenon was first | |
| described in 2002. | |
| Symptoms | |
| Symptoms usually appear within half an hour of orgasm and | |
| resolve after a few days. The person experiences mental | |
| symptoms, physical symptoms, or both. Common mental symptoms | |
| include cognitive dysfunction, intense discomfort, irritability, | |
| anxiety, craving for relief, susceptibility to nervous system | |
| stresses (e.g. common cold), depressed mood, and difficulty | |
| communicating, remembering words, reading and retaining | |
| information, concentrating, and socialising. Physical symptoms | |
| include severe fatigue, mild to severe headache, and flu-like | |
| and allergy-like symptoms, such as sneezing, itchy eyes, nasal | |
| irritation, and muscle pain. Affected individuals may also | |
| experience intense warmth or cold. | |
| Diagnosis | |
| Waldinger says this condition is prone to being erroneously | |
| ascribed to psychological factors or hypochondria. In a 2010 | |
| British Medical Journal case study, Dexter links a form of | |
| coital headache with POIS, and references a science forum in | |
| which thousands of sufferers (a number which is rapidly growing) | |
| have detailed their condition. Dexter's patient was found to | |
| have low progesterone. | |
| Management | |
| Affected individuals typically avoid sexual activity, especially | |
| orgasm, or schedule it for times when they can rest and recover | |
| for several days afterwards. | |
| Two people have been treated using hyposensitation techniques | |
| for semen allergies. One person, who had been symptomatic for 27 | |
| years, was treated norethisterone, half an hour before, and in | |
| the minutes just after orgasm. | |
| Pathophysiology | |
| Most recently, in early 2011, Professor Waldinger and | |
| collaborators further characterized POIS, proposed a specific | |
| immunological mechanism, and empirically supported their | |
| hypothesis on 45 Dutch Caucasian males. This study concluded | |
| that both Type-1 and Type-4 allergy to male's own semen | |
| contribute to symptoms of the illness. | |
| Dexter speculates that POIS could be caused by a lack of | |
| progesterone, a powerful neurosteroid, or a defect in | |
| neurosteroid precursor synthesis. In the latter case, the same | |
| treatment may not be effective for different sufferers. | |
| Different sufferers may have different missing precursors, | |
| ultimately leading to a deficiency of the same particular | |
| neurosteroid, causing similar symptoms. | |
| An array of more subtle, lingering symptoms after orgasm, which | |
| would not constitute POIS, may contribute to habituation between | |
| mates. They may show up as restlessness, irritability, increased | |
| sexual frustration, apathy, sluggishness, neediness, | |
| dissatisfaction with a mate, or weepiness over the days or weeks | |
| after intense sexual stimulation. Such phenomena may be part of | |
| human mating physiology itself. Habituation to a mate can drive | |
| the search for novel mates (the Coolidge effect). | |
| One researcher suggests that the symptoms may be produced by an | |
| autoimmune reaction against any of various hormones or other | |
| substances secreted during and after sex. Another suggests that | |
| chemical imbalances in the brain may cause the symptoms. | |
| It is difficult to demonstrate a causal relationship based on | |
| patient reports. | |
| Sexual activity for the first time may set the stage for an | |
| associated asthmatic attack or may aggravate pre-existing | |
| asthma. Intense emotional stimuli during sexual intercourse can | |
| lead to autonomic imbalance with parasympathetic over | |
| reactivity, thereby causing release of mast cell mediators that | |
| can provoke postcoital asthma and/or rhinitis in these | |
| patients�. | |
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