Amino Acids And Sex Drive

[Kunstruct]

@Jon
That is a thoughtful analysis.

 

[GreekDemiGod]

This is an interesting case. @farside44, Any updates?

 

[maillol]

More background info:

>23 years old, puberty at 15

>Erectile dysfunction hasn't changed at all in this time

>No morning wood, weak erections, takes too long to cum

>6'1", 170 lbs, male, puffy nipples, little body hair/facial hair

It's always been this way. Now days I work out 3 or 4 times a week (running and lifting). I have a 9-6 job and I get about eight hours of sleep. Back in college my sleep was more erratic, but I was still getting plenty most nights. Back in high-school I was working out six days a week during the track and cross country season and I was getting maybe six hours of sleep during week days. Over these past eight years, with all the changes in working out, stress levels, sleep levels, and general lifestyle changes, I have not felt any significant changes in my sexual functioning.

One interesting tid-bit is that I never (physically) enjoyed alcohol or other drugs. When I drink I don't feel any particular good feelings, mainly I just feel kind of spaced out and more impulsive I guess. I still drank a decent amount during college for social reasons. I felt the same way about tobacco too. Cigarettes I couldn't even feel. If I doubled packed lips with chewing tobacco I would feel a head rush and dizziness for five or so minutes and afterwords I would feel nauseous. Perhaps there's a problem with my limbic system? Perhaps whatever mechanism it is that makes me unable to enjoy drugs also makes me unable to enjoy sex?

I know you said you already tried zinc but it might be worth trying at a higher dose. I struggle with the same thing from working out a lot if I don't take 30mg - 45mg zinc. It would be silly to jump into hormones if all you need is more zinc.

I'm a big fan of zinc at the moment and I think exercise really depletes it.

Reductions in plasma zinc concentrations were also observed in men who participated in a 5-day intensive training course conducted by the U.S. Navy (Singh et al., 1991). This reduction in plasma zinc occurred despite an increase in dietary zinc intake during the training period. The authors attributed the reduction in plasma zinc primarily to a redistribution of plasma zinc into liver as a consequence of metallothionein synthesis stimulated by interleukin-6 (IL-6). (The observed increase in plasma IL-6 concentrations was associated with tissue trauma.) Consistent with the above finding, Lichton et al. (1988) observed a reduction in plasma zinc concentrations in male soldiers engaged in a 34-day field exercise at an elevation of 1800 m. The field exercise was simulated combat in which the men performed combat-support activities during both day and night and during which time they lost sleep. Activities included digging foxholes, building lava-stone walls, and walking. During the study, subjects were given a military operational ration, the meal, ready-to-eat (MRE), as their only food. Although the average zinc intake during the field exercise was lower than zinc intakes in a sedentary control group of soldiers who were fed the same food, intakes by both groups were considered adequate. Urinary zinc concentrations in the active soldiers increased from an average basal level of 400 µg per day to about 700 µg per day during the study. Sweat mineral losses were not assessed.