Postorgasmic Illness Syndrome (POIS)

[Muon]

Having read through the threads I see people whose experiences seem to differ wildly.

Yes, the great heterogeneity of POIS' clinical presentation is problematic. ME/CFS faces the same problem if I'm not mistaken.

 

[AwakeButAsleep]

Amusing something like this exists!! Thanks for sharing

 

[Muon]

The Team of Doctors and Biohackers Who Seem to Be Successfully Treating “Long Covid”

POISers are being treated successfully with Niacin by the way (not curing it, they still have to take it regarding Orgasm). There seems to be some similarities in symptomatology between Long Covid and POIS.

Analysis of the Symptomatology, Disease Course, and Treatment of Postorgasmic Illness Syndrome in a Large Sample

Online survey (N=302 men). Respondents reporting improvement in symptoms with:
Niacin: 19 of 25 (76%)
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs): 17 of 23 (74%)
Antihistamine: 44 of 90 (50%)
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI): 18 of 47 (38%)
Benzodiazepines: 9 of 33 (27%)

Funny...low circulating serotonin in my brother.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Analysis of the Symptomatology, Disease Course, and Treatment of Postorgasmic Illness Syndrome in a Large Sample

Online survey (N=302 men). Respondents reporting improvement in symptoms with:
Niacin: 19 of 25 (76%)
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs): 17 of 23 (74%)
Antihistamine: 44 of 90 (50%)
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI): 18 of 47 (38%)
Benzodiazepines: 9 of 33 (27%)

That's an interesting paper!

I note that there is a proposed set of diagnostic criteria for POIS:

Waldinger et al proposed 5 preliminary diagnostic criteria designed to capture most cases.

Criterion 1 states that at least 1 of following symptoms occurs after orgasm: flu-like state, extreme fatigue, muscle weakness, feverishness, mood disturbances or irritability, memory difficulty, concentration difficulties, incoherent speech, congested or runny nose, or itchy eyes. These complaints were also classified into 7 clusters of symptoms (general, flu-like, head, eyes, nose, throat, muscles) based on patients’ interviews.

Criterion 2 states that symptoms occur immediately to within a few hours of orgasm from sexual intercourse, masturbation, or nocturnal emission.

Criterion 3 states that symptoms occur in more than 90% of orgasm events.

Criterion 4 states that symptoms last for 2-7 days.

Criterion 5 states that symptoms disappear spontaneously.

In order for these diagnostic criteria to be compatible with orgasm-induced PEM, Criterion 2 must be changed to allow for the symptoms to start 24-48 hours after orgasm. (Of course, it's just a preliminary set of diagnostic criteria.)

The survey yielded these responses regarding Criterion 2:

Criterion 2: Symptoms occur within hours of ejaculation
<1 min 16.2%
1-30 min 40.1%
30 min - 6 h 28.8%

Apparently, 15% of POIS respondents felt that Criterion 2 did not apply to them:
"The remaining respondents reported POIS symptoms at 6-12 hours (21, 7.0%) and >12 hours (24, 7.9%)."

In the discussion section, it notes:
"Although not all patients satisfied all 5 criteria, most patients satisfied 3 or more."

 

[Muon]

Nice highlights, yes I did encounter a few POISers on the forum where the onset is at 24 hours. I found this remarkable; go to table 1 and check the prevalence of fatigue under constitutional:

Often seen, rarely recognized: mast cell activation disease – a guide to diagnosis and therapeutic options

And compare it to the prevalence of fatigue in the paper mentioned in previous posts:

Analysis of the Symptomatology, Disease Course, and Treatment of Postorgasmic Illness Syndrome in a Large Sample

 

[Muon]

CD57 defines a functionally distinct population of mature NK cells in the human CD56dimCD16+ NK-cell subset

Figure 2: CD57 in human natural killer cells and T-lymphocytes

My results:
NK cells 113 /uL (210 - 740)
CD57+ NK cells 35 .0 /uL (60 - 360)

The group of CD57+ NK cells is a mature subset of CD3-CD56 as far as I know.

Table 1. Leucocyte subset frequency in PBMC and subsets and activation markers of NK cells:
Immunophenotypical Characterization of a Brazilian POIS (Post-Orgasmic Illness Syndrome) Patient: Adding More Pieces to Puzzle

 

[hapl808]

My onset seems to be right around 18 hours. Otherwise the PEM from that is very similar to PEM from my CFS.

 

[Muon]

r/covidlonghaulers: Sex / Ejaculation induced relapse poll