5-HT2A And MALE Sexual Function Thread

[Hans]

Thanks, any thoughts on how to downregulate or reduce that receptor ?

Ashwagandha is known to reduce it. I and others that have used my GABA + taurine combo reported enhanced endurance. Probably due to an increase in oxytocin as well.

 

[Lokzo]

I've said this before and said this again: Rexulti f***ed me up sexually (caused SEVERE premature ejaculation). Look at what it does:

"Brexpiprazole acts as a partial agonist of the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor and the dopamine D2 and D3 receptors...It is also an antagonist of the serotonin 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and 5-HT7 receptors."

Pharmacological Studies on the Role of 5-HT 1 A Receptors in Male Sexual Behavior of Wildtype and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Rats - PubMed

"Brain serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission plays an important role in male sexual behavior and it is well established that activating 5-HT1 A receptors in rats facilitate ejaculatory behavior."

I'm closing in one 1 year after stopping Rexulti. I haven't had sex in that time. I've also been practicing semen retention for over 2 months at this point. All very interesting stuff. That medication caused insane PE that I've never experienced before, to the point of not even being able to fully penetrate without ejaculating. From the moment of insertion, just my glans making contact with a vagina, I'd start to ejaculate. Awful, awful, awful, and never experienced that once in over 3 years of having sex on a regular basis with my ex girlfriend.

So I know for a fact that medication caused it, and it's a large part of why I stopped. I'm only hoping now that the changes were not permanent. You think you're in control of your mind and body until you experience something that totally takes you over and screws with your neurotransmitters and other chemicals/hormones.

Two things: ejaculation fantasy, and psychological control. It may be as simple as @Markus put it. Controlling your state of arousal. This is much easier said than done for people with severe PE. However, it gives hope.

In my experience, I think years of watching porn with a heavy focus on ejaculation ('cumshots' etc., girls making guys ejaculate in any number of ways), really screwed with me. However, the medication made any issues I had much, much worse. Many times I was able to have unprotected sex and maintain some control, even though I couldn't go as vigorously as I wanted without ejaculating. It was never at the level it was after medication: not even being able to penetrate at all without ejaculation. It was truly a nightmare and honestly it has made me afraid to even try having sex again at all for over a year since quitting.

I believe in the power of the mind. 100%. If you imagine ejaculating, and it excites you, there you go. You don't even need to have an erection to imagine this, and familiarize yourself with the sensation of the urge to ejaculate. The "ejaculation fantasy." It's basically a fetish. It was for me, anyway, and I noticed I'd always skip to the ejaculation points in a video, or simply look at GIFs looping ejaculation, as a result of a girl doing this or that or ejaculating during intercourse, etc.

In my years practicing "Faster EFT," which is heavily based on NLP, I learned a lot about the mind. It's going to sound crazy but I've tried using this technique while masturbating -- and as I mentioned, I'm practicing retention, and have not ejaculated in over two months. So masturbation for me always means self-stimulation without ejaculation. Still, I frequently have to pause if I get too excited.

Utilizing Faster EFT while masturbating I can maintain a lot more stimulation without the urge to ejaculate. Part of this is simply distracting yourself. That is not my goal. My goal is to go more fully into feeling everything and simply maintaining a calm state of arousal. Erection without the pressing urge to ejaculate.

I believe it's possible. I haven't tested with a partner but I've made tremendous progress on my own. Keeping in mind it's a marathon, not a race, just like building muscle. With PE we're talking about something either learned or even genetically ingrained that may take a lot of time and practice, over and over, to really gain control over. Never lose hope that it's possible.

But undoubtedly that medication (which is basically the successor to Abilify) really messed with me a LOT. There is absolutely a lot going on there with these receptors. And they can affect you in ways you'd never imagine. I was on Zyprexa for years as well and it zombified me, nothing I could have done about it. These kinds of drugs are not to be trifled with at all.

Man thanks so much for sharing this.

Some of these meds are actually poisonous.

Did you ever play around with cyproheptadine?

 

[Jib]

Jib - Damn bro, I’m sorry.... Things were bad for me after stopping Effexor back in 2008.... That’s what I think happened to me..... Things are better now, I have times when I last quite a while, and sometimes it’s just meh.... it gets better though, good luck... In your case, that’s definitely the medicine... what exactly do you think it did ?

I've been wondering the same thing. Must be some adaptive response in the brain. I'm not gonna pretend to know anything about all this stuff. But if PSSD is a thing with antidepressants, I wouldn't be surprised if there were long-term effects from antipsychotics as well.

I was on Zyprexa for years, and antidepressants starting at 12 years old...has been a true nightmare. It's almost no wonder I am the way I am now after being medicated from such a young age and in and out of mental hospitals and therapy my whole life.

On the plus side, I've more or less come to terms with it. Getting over circumcision also took years, and it's something I'll never fully get over, probably similar with these sexual issues. However, it has gotten better psychologically. I went through absolute hell on earth withdrawing from Rexulti for at least 4 months. I felt like I was dead. Constant anxiety, felt like I was going crazy, lost 15 pounds. I've been through some horrible BS but this nearly topped the list in terms of how abjectly hopeless I felt. The only saving grace was hoping that it was just withdrawal from the drug and was not permanent.

About 5 months off, I started feeling slightly normal again. Now almost a full year later, and almost 3 months on semen retention, I'm feeling better than ever. I don't believe the premature ejaculation issue has resolved and I'm prepared for it to never be resolved. Maybe I'll never be able to have sex again for the rest of my life. I didn't have sex until I was almost 26 years old and waiting that long really was awful. But I've done it before and if I have to go without it again, I'll survive.

It sucks. But on the other hand, feeling positive and stable, despite having absolutely no touch or affection or sex in my life AT ALL, is actually kind of amazing. I feel more powerful than ever and more grounded in myself than ever, and that feeling is building every day. It's very hard to explain. For most people I think the idea of going without any kind of intimacy again for the rest of their life, well, it would be overwhelming.

But I have already been through so much BS and now I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. My creativity in other areas of life has been exploding and I've been tuning more into that. Don't get me wrong: I still masturbate, just not to ejaculation. I try not to judge myself for getting very close to ejaculating very quickly and not being able to endure much stimulation, even completely by myself (also, this is without porn). I very, very rarely will look at porn but pretty much 99% of the time now I don't, and feel mostly done with it.

But it is what it is. Sexually shutting down is not an option for me and I think it's important to still experience and know what sexual arousal is like, even if you can't satisfy it the way you want.

How is your recovery going? 2008 is a long time ago. Do you think you had permanent effects from that drug?

Man thanks so much for sharing this.

Some of these meds are actually poisonous.

Did you ever play around with cyproheptadine?

I haven't yet. Curious about it. I've taken doxylamine quite a lot, which is also an antihistamine but I'm not sure if the mechanism of action is similar.

 

[Frankdee20]

@Jib - It takes a long time to recover bro, it took me 7 years... But I had something called Negative Reaction to SSRI and hypersensitivity of the nervous system... The worst experience of my life by far...

 

[Jib]

@Jib - It takes a long time to recover bro, it took me 7 years... But I had something called Negative Reaction to SSRI and hypersensitivity of the nervous system... The worst experience of my life by far...

Sorry to hear that. It's infuriating. No accountability on their part at all. To this day I wonder how many of my problems were from medication. I was extremely intelligent and focused as a child but ended up in therapy and on medication due to bullying and parental abuse and neglect.

Years of amtidepressants and antipsychotics. And no accountability. These companies are making money hand over fist while prescribing poison to people.

Metabolic changes too. Just so much damage.

What was the end result of your recovery? What reverted back to normal after all that time?

 

[Gustav3Y]

I haven't yet. Curious about it. I've taken doxylamine quite a lot, which is also an antihistamine but I'm not sure if the mechanism of action is similar.

It will antagonize cholinergic/acetylcholine receptors stronger than Doxy theoretically, while Doxy has no direct affinity on 5-TH2.
Serious affinity on H1 for the Cypro is claimed.

Interesting supposedly Doxy has no affinity on the Serotonin Norepinephrine and Dopamine transporter.

I would be curious if there is any D3 antagonizing like it is suggested for the Cypro also on the Doxy.

Added Diphenhydramine for the sake of comparison.

 

[Frankdee20]

What about Hydroxyzine ? It blocks 5ht2a and histamine.... No cholinergic blockade though

 

[Gustav3Y]

If you want to block H1, "anything under the sun" will do it, since this expression seems to be used lately, other H receptors not so much.

 

[Gustav3Y]

https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(05)80248-9/pdf

Affinity for H1 receptors
The mechanism responsible for the sedating effects of antihistamines is not clear. It is conceivable that anticholinergic effects of antihistamines are involved or influences on serotoninergic and oq-adrenergic receptors are possible. The sedating action of neuroleptics 9 and tricyclic antidepressants ~~ is associated with ~l-adrenergic blockade.

Cetirizine, hydroxyzine, and terfenadine were compared at calcium antagonist, oq-adrenergic, dopamine D2, serotonin 5- hydroxytryptamine 2, muscarinic cholinergic, and H~ receptors (Table IV). In rat brain tissue, cetirizine was more selective for the H~ receptor than was hydroxyzine or terfenadine. Its potency at H~ receptors was about 0.6 p~mol/L, whereas in concentrations even as high as 10 p~mol/L cetirizine failed to affect any of the other receptors evaluated. Conversely, hydroxyzine and terfenadine influenced binding sites in addition to histamine receptors. Hydroxyzine was about as potent at 5-hydroxytryptamine 2 receptors as it was at H~ sites and was only somewhat weaker in blocking dopamine D2 and oq-adrenergic receptors. Hydroxyzine was about one sixth as potent at calcium-antagonist sites labeled with 3H-desmethoxyverapamil but was inactive at 3H-nitrendipine-binding sites.