His and Her Health

Hi guys.

I don't know if there are still people who remember me. I had, and still have anorgasmia. I've never orgasmed in my whole life. There is a sector I am researching, for this and other purposes: the muscles. This is different from other people here who specialized on the genitourinary system, the nerves or supplements.

I've stopped reading this thread months ago. At the time, some posters achieved orgasm with muscle relaxation. It wasn't easy to replicate the phenomenon, though. I know this personally, and for that I've been trying tecniques increasingly specific. Finally I've reached Reichian therapy.

Now, Wilhelm Reich in his late life became a little insane, maybe. Anyway, his theories before that point were sound. His idea was that the character of a person was the muscular response. There are muscles that are able to prevent certain emotions; if they do so they became "armor", chronically preventing those (and other) emotions. The removal of armor was Reich's work. Which, by the way, was centered around orgasm.

It seems some people here also got some results with GABA. I've got this covered, too. The excerpt below is taken from a Reichian book, written by Jack Willis. He was talking about hyperventilation.

Not only does deep breathing not increase oxygen, in fact it
has the opposite effect. Because of the changes in the blood
brought on by the decrease in carbon dioxide, the blood flow to
the cortex of the brain is decreased by 30% to 50%.

This reduction is caused by local constriction of the arteries in the
brain. The reduction effect has been known for decades, but the
recent advent of fMRI has allowed its more accurate measure-
ment. While blood flow and thus oxygen is materially reduced, the
metabolism of the brain (that is, its use of glucose) is unchanged.
Just like an over-used muscle, the brain then locally produces lac-
tic acid. There is a some data suggesting that the major effect of
this reduction in oxygen is on the production of and response to
the neuro-transmitter: GABA. This data, if verified by subsequent
study, would explain the increase in emotion seen in hyperventila-
tion.

So there is a link between GABA, emotions and good breathing. Good breathing means fully functional muscles.

I always discover new things about muscles. First there were trigger points, some kind of knot that causes pain in a different area of the body. Now I learn that muscles can fuse together. I think it's only the fascia part, a plastic connective tissue around muscles. Anyway, the muscles of the eye can fuse with the forehead, the intercostalis muscles can fuse with auxiliary respiration muscles. Maybe the muscles used in the orgasm are fused with some other muscles around. I don't know if it's like that, but there must be a reason why they can't relax.

The book I've talked about is freely downloadable from this site:

reichiantherapy.net/

along with the proper sounds you should make during your breathing sessions.

There are several simple exercises to dissolve what Reich called "armor". The only thing that's confusing is in which order the book should be read, since there are exercises that are better done daily and exercises that can be done less frequently, but in the book they are written ordered from head to toe.

The author wrote that he treated people expert in either yoga and pilates, and that didn't change a thing, they were like every other patient. Muscle problems may seem simple, but they are that difficult to solve.

While it is specifically written that the pelvis exercises will have a major effect on your sexuality, I still don't know if they will be enough to cure anorgasmia. Since it can give improvements in this and other areas though I post about it, and then those who try will tell.

@dan1121:
I am like that, I don't have much enthusiasm for anything. I don't even like much to be with people. And mind that I never had an orgasm in my whole life.

Jack Rosenberg of the book I mentioned above describes this as an inability to charge. Basically the person cannot tolerate increased excitement. Consequently, low levels of charge are reached and quickly released. On a psychological level, this can be seen as an inability to tolerate pleasurable feelings. On a sexual level, premature ejaculation is an example of this.

(there is also inability to release rather than charge)

A person should respond to an increase in excitement or charge by increasing his rate of breathing. Instead, many people are uncomfortable with the charge and they attempt to control thei excitement so they can stay "calm, cool, and collected". They do this by curtailing their breathing. The reason that they do this is that breathing deeply and fully amplifies their awareness of feelings.

Muscular interruptions to the charge may take the form of thinking, dizziness and/or nausea (usually a sign of anxiety), splitting off, "spacing out", fidgeting, scratching, squirming, yawning, falling asleep, muscle spasm, cramping, ear ringing, urge to urinate, talking, laughing, and a number of other responses that dissipate the intensity of the charge. Interruptions, rather than difficulties, are expressions of resistance.

@orangepeel:
The book in itself has every information you need, but in the end I think it's not really a book on self-treatment, and it doesn't substitute a specialist. Still, it can help.

I already mentioned it once, but I will repost it.

Wilhelm Reich's school of psychiatry has devoted itself to the orgasm and the orgastic reflex. This orgastic reflex is fully released only when the muscles are in a completely relaxed state.

Obviously though this isn't always the case, or otherwise there wouldn't be a point in psychotherapy. For example, let's say an event in your life made you sad. To be sad you lower your shoulders and chin (note that humans have some universal expressions for emotions). Conversely, you can try to stop being sad by forcing shoulders and chin up using other muscles, which then will typically remain contracted. This process was called by Reich "armoring". Armoring is an attempt at bearing upleasant situations. While in itself it somehow works, armoring prevents us to returning back to our normal state. Reich therefore developed, in addition to his own psychotherapeutic process to unlearn maladaptive behaviour, techniques that helped muscle release.

Jack Rosenberg, who uses Reichian techniques, focuses on the breath instead of the orgasm, but it is the same thing for the body. There is the same cycle of charge and release. When the orgasm is approaching, the breath rate should increase on its own. This represents the ability to let yourself go. Being able to breathe in the upper part of the torso (sympathetic nervous system) means being able to be energetic, being able to breathe in the lower part of the torso (parasympathetic nervous system) means being able to be relaxed. When you are able to charge yourself completely you just need to relearn the orgastic reflex pattern and you are done.

Jack Rosenberg founded Integrative Body Psychotherapy. There are 14 regional IBP Institutes spanning the globe, including the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. He also wrote the book "Body, Self, and Soul" in which he exposes these concepts.

I bought the book, and the book is very good, but emotionally it's not the same as having another person beside you. I've been trying several muscular release techniques, but I still can't manage to relax certain muscles. I think it's the human element that is missing. Sadly there is no IBP institute in my country. For other people however it may be easier.

My personal theory was pointing toward a physical problem centered around the muscles. It seems facts are starting to confirm this was a good direction.

Since the muscles form myofascial chains, not always the problem lies in the nearest point. S&T was emotionally alright; for her it seems it was touched only the last ring of the chain, the pubococcygeus muscle. For myself and others I think it's the psoas muscle, that rules all over the pelvis; when the psoas is contracted the pelvis is tilted forward. The body tries to correct the posture by deforming the spine.

Jaderr: assuming what you bought is the electric acupunture machine, I'll let you know there are no acupuncture points in the penis. It's not a muscle. If you ejaculate when the penis is stimulated it means the nerves in themselves are fine; the brain notices what you are doing, that's why you ejaculate.

I think we don't feel pleasure because our body is tense in critical areas. I think the pleasure comes from stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system. When the same stimulation is applied to the sympathetic nervous system the result is anxiety (I suspect there are people who are the opposite, they are blocked on the PNS and they feel pleasure when they should feel anxiety). This is a perpetual fight or flight response, and is triggered by the psoas.

I'm interested to know how your muscles feel after the electrostimulation. Does it relieve muscular tension?

orangepeel said it is psychological yet he pointed to a specific muscle. I think it's psychosomatic, meaning that it can be addressed on both fronts.

orangepeel, you may be onto something. Browse here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_muscles_in_the_human_body#Pelvis

(pelvis and perineum)

and see if you can tell us the names of the muscles you think are involved in this.

orangepeel, when you are about to ejaculate the testicles are brought near the body. This is normal in itself. I've never heard it was an intermittent contraction though.

Very good find.

GABA supplement is beneficial for our health and it prevents flawed messages from reaching our brain, which can cause stress and anxiety.

I've ordered it. As usual there seems to be problems with making it cross the blood-brain barrier that limit its effectiveness (plus there are actually 3 types of GABA, each stimulate its own receptors), but it could work.

The way I view it I think it means there is a source of stress in our body (which I postulated coming from vertebral subluxations in the spine) and our body isn't able to ignore it. This GABA, made by choline plus inositol, seems to send a signal that all is fine.

By the way, choline is a neurotrasmitter widely used by sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system in the spine, and inositol is part of the cerebrospinal fluid. I think there is a problem with self perception of the spine, that is in the case of S&T the body makes less inositol and choline because it can't correctly read how much is needed. In the case of other persons here, maybe the body doesn't think it needs much GABA, that is the problem here lies in the next ring of the chain. This could be an explanation on why S&T has memory problems and others here have not.

About vertebral subluxations, wikipedia has an interesting paragraph:

Feinstein referred to these symptoms as autonomic concomitants. It is likely that these autonomic concomitants were caused by nociceptive stimulation of autonomic centers in the brainstem, particularly the medulla. Feinstein indicated that "this is an example of the ability of deep noxious stimulation to activate generalized autonomic responses independently of the relay of pain to conscious levels." In other words, pain may not be the symptomatic outcome of nociceptive stimulation of spinal structures. Such a conclusion has profound implications for the chiropractic profession. Clearly, patients do not need to be in pain to be candidates for spinal adjustments.

That is, not always signals of malfunction of the body involve pain. This could be the invisible stress signal that is countered by GABA.

Jaderr:
That's not how acupuncture works.

Acupuncture aside, some days ago I was trying to inflate my belly like a ballon to found tight muscles in the abdomen. Something snapped behind in the sacrum, and I was suddenly overcome by fear, meaning that there were emotions stored in cronically contracted muscles down there. I've always read about that, but it was the first time I actually experienced it. There are still tight muscles on the right side of my belly and in my right hip though. The perineum feels tight, I don't think there can't be any contractions in such state, there's not space available.

As a side note, I think after these sessions the sensibility of my glans improved. I still don't find any real pleasure in touching there, but it feels more delicate now.

By the way, I found that Medisana is selling an "electro-acupuncture device ACP". It sends harmless electrical impulses. Maybe one day I'll buy it.

sickandtiredofthis:
It's obvious that women are different both inside and outside of the body. On the other hand, if we find commonalities even between these differences, maybe we could triangulate a specific cause.

By the way, I found an acupuncture point combination for "lack of orgasm" in this book:

books.google.it/books?id=Z8WrHOj07mYC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=acupuncture+orgasm+treatment&source=bl&ots=a0mp7YTnNa&sig=XHCcKyzWjGdViXMK6I3g8JaZc0o&hl=it&ei=EMmXSs72LI_imwOTpeHIBA&sa=X &oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=acupuncture%20orgasm%20treatment&f=false]books.google.it/books?id=Z8WrHOj07mYC&am...ture+orgasm+treatmen t&source=bl&ots=a0mp7YTnNa&sig=XHCcKyzWjGdViXMK6I3g8JaZc0o&hl=it&ei=EMmXSs72LI_imwOTpeHI BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=acupuncture%20orgasm%20treatment&f=false[/URL]

Acupuncture point combinations: the key to clinical success by Jeremy Ross

Lack of orgasm, sadness, anger, resentment, bitterness
Stagnant Qi and Fire of Liver and Heart
CV3, CV6, CV17, LU7, HT8, LR2 Rd
(Rd: reducing method)

I've tried to ask that to my acupuncturist but she is following her standard treatment that opens up other points first.

<small>[ 09-08-2009, 10:38 PM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

sickandtiredofthis:
I mean that most of people here don't have any memory problem, therefore there is probably no need for us (the ones without memory problems) to look for choline to solve anorgasmia.

Since you have memory problems, it may be useful for you, but if it works for anorgasmia it could mean the causes of your anorgasmia are different from ours.

On the other hand, it may be a less common subsymptom of a more general problem. One day someone will know.

Jaderr:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol_awakening_response

There is a cortisol level peak in the morning, while it declines during the day.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14508617

It seems there is an inhibitory role for cortisol in the mechanism of male sexual response and behaviour, although it is not well studied. I think that probably it's the same even for not anorgasmic people, meaning the sex in the evening is always easier than in the morning.

sickandtiredofthis:
I think you are the only one here who has memory problems, therefore I don't think it's the choline, which you may need.

Wikipedia gave me some interesting details on Inositol:

Patients suffering from clinical depression generally have decreased levels of inositol in their cerebrospinal fluid.

Whether or not because of the anorgasmia, almost all people here have taken antidepressants at some point of their life. In this regard, it seems a good compensatory supplement. This assuming the causes of your depression aren't actually gone; for example, your memory problems are typical leftovers of strong stressful situations. The decrease of choline seems to be correlated to an increase of cortisol (the stress hormone), which damages the hippocampus (the part of the brain related to long-term memory), and this chemical imbalance seems to have a key role in depression.

cjsteele:
I think what wikipedia says has to be put under proper context. The lack of gladipudendal reflex is a symptom of a spinal cord injury on the sacral vertebrae. When the injury is healed, the reflex comes back (if it's only a spinal shock the lack of reflex lasts as short as two days). Point is, such injuries usually entail things like neurogenic bladder and/or impotence. It is highly improbable anorgasmia would be the only symptom. That said, this is only the impression I got from internet, but I don't think you should invest high hopes in this.

I have packrat tendencies, which are a subsymptom of OCD.

By the way, in my previous post I mentioned an acupuncture treatment called "External Dragon", used for trauma. It is worth to mention that the condition cured by External Dragon originally was termed as "possession".

forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24223

To understand the meaning of the word posession however its better to see it in terms of compulsiveness rather than entity based demonic posession (although obviously that can happen too), but it is seen in terms more of compulsions and obsessiveness to feelings, people, places objects etc and the command veil that it draws over individuals and clouds their natural choice in life matters.

That is, OCD could be seen as such possession.

<small>[ 08-24-2009, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

Despite not having results, I will expose again my theory on anorgasmia for the newcomers. I think anorgasmia is caused by a fight or flight response that never turned off. This fight or flight response is triggered by the sympathetic nervous system (SN), which involves spinal nerves T1 to L2 or L3 (T = thoracic vertebra, L = lumbar vertebra). On the other ends of the spine there is the parasympathetic nervous system (PSN), whose functions are salivation, lacrimation, urination, digestion and defecation; basically, rest and digest. It is the parasympathetic nervous system for example that allows erections based on visual stimulation alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasympathetic_nervous_system

Another role that the PSN play in the pelvis is in sexual activity. In males, the cavernous nerves from the prostatic plexus stimulate smooth muscle in the fibrous trabeculae of the coiled helicene arteries to relax and allow blood to fill the corpora cavernosum and the corpus spongiosum of the penis, making it rigid to prepare for sexual activity. Upon emission of ejaculate, the sympathetics participate and cause peristalsis of the ductus deferens and closure of the internal urethral sphincter to prevent semen from entering the bladder. At the same time, parasympathetics cause peristalsis of the urethral muscle, and the pudendal nerve causes contraction of the bulbospongiosus (skeletal muscle is not via PSN), to forcibly emit the semen.

(Peristalsis = the wavelike muscular contractions of the alimentary canal or other tubular structures by which contents are forced onward toward the opening.)

As you can see, there is a cohordination of the nervous system involved (mind that in other instances usually they regulate each other). From all I've read though the orgasm is a sympathetic response though.

Personally, I think the problem is in the spine. Back home after a session from an osteopath, I once experienced a sharp pain alongside the spine. The particularity was that the pain alternated between one side and the other; for some vertebrae was on the left, then on the right, then on the left again and so on. The pain was so sudden and ceased so fast I couldn't even remember where it was exactly; I only remember its zigzag nature along the spine. Based on this, I think there is a mechanism that distributes tension on the spine, therefore no pain is felt even if there is something wrong. The body somehow adjusts itself and continues to work. This obviously makes difficult to us to find where the problem is.

The tecnique I am trying now is acupuncture. I already tried once but that practitioner used mostly points in the head and hands, so nothing could be done.

From what I gathered, the secret of acupuncture is that when the skin is punctured the muscles underneath relaxes. This is to limitate tissue damage. Obviously if you try to contract a muscle where there is a needle you feel pain, and that is bad for the body, therefore the body tries to relax the muscle. By the way, should they need to make a muscle contract Chinese used moxa. With these two systems the Chinese manipulated the body.

Muscles are pervaded by a connective tissue called "fascia". The fasciae allow muscles to contract without causing attrition to surrounding tissues, and also carry nerves and blood vessels. The trick is that fasciae form chains. There is a book about this, "Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists". They even dissected a corpse, the theory was proven.

anatomytrains.com/
(This seems to be the site of the authors of the book)

If you put the pieces together, you can see that manipulating a muscle allows to manipulate the whole fascial chain. This is the source of acupuncture.

The most important myofascial chain is what they called the Deep Front Line. It's the most internal line of muscles. It starts from the flexor hallucis longus and follows with the tibial posterior, the popliteus, the adductors, the psoas and the pelvic floor, the diaphragm, the pericardium (the sac that contains the heart), the internal muscles of the neck and the tongue (this is not a thorough list, but gives you an idea).

Comparing this to acupuncture, the lower leg part is the meridian of the Kidney. The jump between KD9 and KD10 is explained by the tibial posterior going to the external side; KD10 is on the popliteus. These points are used to treat problems in the throat, and this is because the myofascial chain includes even the throat. Also, these points in the lower leg are used even to help the Liver, and that's because the transversus abdominis is part of this chain, and on that muscle there is the upper part of the meridian of the Liver. Other points of the line ended up on the Bladder meridian in the back; more on this later.

The psoas is a key muscle in this chain. I must mention it's connected to the diaphragm not only through fascia, but also with two tendons of the diaphragm called the crura that extend down and connect to the spine right alongside the psoas connection, and also one of the ligaments of the diaphragm (medial arcuate) wraps around the top of the psoas. As it is, the psoas is important for the diaphragm, which is the principal muscle for breathing. It is worth noting that Qi translates with "breath". The energy acupuncture mentions is, in most cases, the oxygen. Since our organisms must breathe very often, it is easy to see how the functionality of the respiratory system has a deep impact on our psyche. Not by chance the sympathetic nervous system involves the spinal nerves of the thorax (although the nerve of the diaphragm comes from the neck, because that way a person is more likely to survive even with a spinal injury).

During a traumatic situation the fight or flight response activates and the psoas contracts. Although it is called the fight or flight response, there are actually more responses to a crisis, such as freeze and fear. The psoas, being a muscle involved in walking, may contract to allow faster movements, but the basic function is to make the body assume a fetal position. The legs are brought forward to protect the abdomen. Also when the psoas contracts the muscles of the abdomen tighten, to better withstand blows. Finally the neck is bend forward to protect sense organs; I think this is due to the whole fascia contracting together with the psoas, since it reaches even the throat.

I think our situation comes from a psoas that wasn't released after the crisis passed. The Deep Front Lines involves muscles that are redundant, therefore mobility in itself is not impaired and the source of the problem is less noticeable. In my case, the right psoas is more tight than the left psoas; I confirmed it with stretching exercises. This causes the spine to bend on one side, and then on the other side to compensate, creating a zigzag pattern that I felt once. In the first post I made in this board I explained how I emotionally solved my trauma. It lasted about three days, then I was back to my usual self. I didn't try to masturbate, so I don't know what real effects it would have had on anorgasmia, but I remember it was worthy just for the feeling of well being alone. And by the way, I felt tension was released at the center of the back on the right, although I remember something that was pulling down; I think they were the diaphragm and the psoas.

About acupuncture, Andrew_b mentioned that a point in the lower back allowed him to experience an orgasm once. I am fairly confident that point was UB23 (Urinary Bladder). It is located on the side of the 2nd lumbar vertebra, exactly on the psoas. This point is the most powerful to cure sexual dysfunctions.

There are treatments that includes this point. One of the most interesting one is External Dragon (GV20, UB11, UB23, UB61), which is used exactly to treat psychic traumas. Another treament is Aggressive Energy (UB13, UB14, UB15, UB18, UB20, UB23), used when there was something that stressed you deeply. Lastly, there is also Internal Dragon (CV15, ST25, ST32, ST41), which doesn't include the point, but is used when the causes of the disease are internal. It must be noted that in an "external" trauma there is usually even an internal component. Since the Internal Dragon points seem to treat the digestive system they are likely to be related to the parasympathetic nervous system; I guess they could be useful for lack of sexual pleasure, although I am not sure of this. These treatments cure functional blocks.

Some practitioners seem to think that these points are to be stimulated just once, but obviously the treatment must be repeated until everthing is back to normal. Point is, acupuncture practitioners are medician too, so some of them may be close-minded. Anyway, I think this is the route to follow. They don't know about anorgasmia more than you, but they'll try something; try to make them focus on the psoas.

About allergies, there is this site: asthme-reality.com/]
Doctor Gesret discovered that asthma is caused by a misalingment in the ribs. To be exact, it's the first rib on the right. That situation of ribs and vertebrae are the cause of some diseases. Eczemas for example comes from a misalignment of the 9th vertebra towards the liver (in acupuncture eczemas are fittingly caused, among other things, by Liver fire).

I personally tried the Gesret method with an osteopath. It wasn't completely successful in getting rid of my asthma, but on the other hand I harbor deep muscular tensions that seem to be a tough nut for everyone. I can confirm from various things though that the method in itself is effective. About allergies, the point he treated was on the right, beside the 8th and 9th thoracic vertebra, and he mentioned explicitly the bond between the psoas and the diaphragm.

Allergy does not seem to be very well explained by Western medicine. My theory is that there is some kind of sixth sense in the gut, and the diaphragm remembers circumstantial details about a traumatic situation (basically odours). Essentially the body tries to remember what made a bad situation bad, and then reacts promptly when it feels like such a situation is happening again. I don't know if the diaphragm actually "remembers" anything, but it seems to trigger something in the body that allows the creation and sustainment of allergies.

All in all though I don't think allergies are directly related to orgasm. I just think they are symptoms of the situation of the spine. Whether or not anorgasmia is due to a specific misalignment in a certain vertebra or a subjective excess of misalignments, I can't tell.

Beside acupuncture, Integrative Body Psychotherapy seems promising, although I can't try it because it's not in my country. It's a kind of psychotherapy that focus also on the physical release of tensions of the body. For example, they suggest stimulating the gag reflex to release tension in the diaphragm (although the goal is not to puke, it may happen). I found it because they talked about the orgastic reflex, and how to restore it. Right now when I ejaculate I feel the muscles in the back tightening so much one of the vertebrae snaps; I think I can understand why as I am I'm not fit for the orgastic reflex.

<small>[ 08-19-2009, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

robo:
Sounds similar to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasmic_cephalgia

I got it once, after a session with an osteopath. It depended on the muscles of the neck and the cervical vertebrae. Still no orgasm though, the pain came just when I ejaculated.

Although this site may not directly help you, try to look here if you find a similar pattern (there are muscular pain patterns. The X is the point that cause you the pain). It may be useful to you eventually.

I hope it's not the frenulum, I was circumsized. On the other hand, lots of other people lost their frenulum (even since birth) and they still had orgasms, so I don't think the cause it's there. It seems the important thing is the prostate.

I found a place where the pudendal nerve, the nerve of the penis, can be entrapped though. It's the pudendal canal (Alcock's canal), and it borders the obturator internus muscle (the pudendal nerve is actually inserted in the obturator fascia). It seems pudendal nerve entrapment is still understudied though.

By the way Skoiver, after stretching for a while, now I feel the muscles in my low back clenching when I ejaculate. Since I never had an orgasm, is this normal? Do you remember what happened to your back?

Skoiver:
Days ago I found what could be a good book: "Body Self and Soul" by Jack Rosenberg. I talked about it in the previous page.

It seems this Rosenberg invented something called "Integrative Body Psychotherapy", which had enough success now there are 14 IBP institutes spanning the globe.

The book talks about the orgastic reflex. It specifically says the orgasm is a reflex like sneezing, and it explains how to move the body "in a normal, healthy pattern that simulates the orgastic reflex pattern. In this way, the body will let go of fixed muscular patterns that inhibits the orgastic release". The book appears to mention only female anorgasmia, but I guess there could be something we could like to know too.

Basically, it seems the body at a certain point should be supposed to take over and start pelvic thrusts on its own. While someone may consciously thrust on his own, there is indeed a built-in foolproof automatic process. Our problem should lie somewhere in the chain, but I don't think it's in the brain.

I researched the psoas and learned it's part of a myofascial chain that goes from the foot to the tongue and includes among other things the pelvic floor, the diaphragm and the pericardium. I learned that tension of every kind (even emotional) stimulates the psoas to contract as to make the body assume a fetal pose to protect the body. I personally believe the problem lies there, there is a defense system that needs to be disengaged.

Creatine supplementation has been, and continues to be, investigated as a possible therapeutic approach for the treatment of muscular, neuromuscular, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases

Seems very good.

Varicocele, an abnormal enlargement of the vein that is in the scrotum draining the testicles. That's funny, I got sebaceous cysts on my scrotum. The sebum ideally should melt at blood temperature, therefore I thought I have issues with blood circulation in my scrotum.

Browsing wikipedia I found that:

Damage to nerves can be caused by physical injury, swelling (e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome), autoimmune diseases (e.g. Guillain-Barré syndrome), infection (neuritis), diabetes or failure of the blood vessels surrounding the nerve.

However I think the scrotum is at best only a symptom, not the problem itself. The area the scrotum is attached to contains muscles like the bulbospongiosus, which contributes to the feelings of orgasm (I think it squeezes the prostate).

prostatitis.org/muscle.html

This guy mentions a weakened orgasm due to prostatitis (a lot of pain was part of the symptoms, too). He stated he cured it with stretching pelvic muscles, deep-tissue massage and sauna, over a not so short time.

It seems there is something linking orgasm with prostate, although I don't know exactly what or why. The prostate receives its nerves from the inferior hypogastric plexus, which is not related to the pudendal nerve of the penis. I guess it's more due to the fact that the pelvic floor muscles sheathe the prostate, so the prostate reflects their health state.

I found some other interesting things in a preview Google gave me of the book "Body Self and Soul" by Jack Rosenberg, Marjorie Rand, Diane Asay.

books.google.it/books?id=jDzxjINoveoC&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=orgastic+reflex&source=bl&ots=s9VqeDn_jA&sig=epeYKL2sUQImqNZmS6xjIcn7bPU&hl=it&ei=G6NlSuboB4jMmgPezs34Dw&sa=X&oi=book_re sult&ct=result&resnum=8]books.google.it/books?id=jDzxjINoveoC&am...hl=it&ei=G6NlSub oB4jMmgPezs34Dw&sa=X&oi= book_result&ct=result&resnum=8[/URL]

It seems this Rosenberg invented something called "Integrative Body Psychotherapy", which had enough success now there are 14 IBP institutes spanning the globe (sadly not in my country).

The book talks about the orgastic reflex. It specifically says the orgasm is a reflex like sneezing, and it explains how to move the body "in a normal, healthy pattern that simulates the orgastic reflex pattern. In this way, the body will let go of fixed muscular patterns that inhibits the orgastic release". The book appears to mention only female anorgasmia, but I guess there could be something we could like to know too.

<small>[ 07-21-2009, 10:41 AM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

andrew_b:
First of all, chelation is harmful, ask the experts some tests before you decide to do anything.

Second thing, I've heard the heavy metal toxicity already being described as the cause of autism, and frankly I am quite skeptical. With all the people claimed to be affected, I think anorgasmia should be more common than what it is.

Also such kind of heavy metals usually accumulates first in the liver, the heart, the gastrointestinal tract... things associated with blood and digestion. I can't see why they should concentrate right in the prostate, and definitively they should be other kinds of signs to show up more rapidly than anorgasmia.

Tony4444:
First you stretch, then you strengthen :p That's what the last book I bought says. You don't strengthen a muscle that isn't working well, you must break the vicious circle first.

I thought that theorically when a duct is obstructed/restricted, the pressure at the nozzle should increase. I think the muscles around the prostate are kept partially contracted. On one hand they constrict the prostate, meaning that the prostate and the seminal vesicles can't build up much fluid for the semen, on the other hand they can't exert much force for the ejaculation in the state they are.

Skoiver:
I did try cyproheptadine. Nothing happened. On the other hand, while I took antidepressants, it was only after I developed anorgasmia. By the way, those who wants to try it must be aware that it induces sleep and hunger.

The EDO hypothesis looks good, only that in my case I have no penile pleasure and decreased emotions, therefore I am looking for something more complete. I remember clearly though that when my emotions went back to normal for a while I felt something loosened in my chest, in a specific point that later I learned to be exactly where the right psoas attaches to the spine. All my experiments with several types of stretching confirmed my right psoas is more contracted than the left one. In fact, I noticed that even other points related to the psoas are tense.

I've learned something new recently: the muscles are enveloped by a connective tissue called fascia. These fasciae form chains that connect muscles together, which explains how they are able to have effects on seemingly unrelated parts of the body. The myofascial group of the psoas is called Deep Front Line and goes from the feet to the neck. By the way, these myofascial groups have many similarities with acupuncture meridians. The Superior Back Line for example lies exactly where the Bladder meridian is.

The thing that is puzzling me is that the stretching I do is felt down the hip, and not up the spine where I think is needed, but I am working on it. This is another interesting site I found:

biologyofkundalini.com/article.php?story=PrimalReleasePose

Primal Release Pose addresses two of the major blocks in the body armor--The two areas in the bodymind where the reins on our spirit are pulled most tightly by the entrenchment of ego's defenses are: The diaphragm and the Iliopsoas muscle complex. If we can release these, we can free ourselves from the crippling effects of trauma, denial and the accumulation inner and outer negativity. It is these two somatic blocks that lead to the unconsciousness and inertia resulting from dissociation. Since these blockages are set up in order to curb emotion, we cannot be emotionally authentic without opening up these two neuromuscular areas...and in doing so the Heart is then given preeminence in our psyche. This primal contraction release for the lower body involves contorting the body in a yogic pose to compress the diaphragm and psoas, waiting for an emotional discharge to occur, then breathing and pressing into the muscular spasm that occurs when the pose is dropped.

This site seems to use some typical new age lingo, but aside from that I feel it's correct. When my emotions went back, I felt the inside of my chest hotter, there was more connection with the beat of the heart. The exercise proposed is very difficult though.

<small>[ 07-16-2009, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

pin_cushion:

I too had no breakthrough with TRE, but your progress seems meaningful. I think it may be too early for pelvic thrusts, as they may contract muscles that should learn again to stay relaxed.

One intuition I got is that maybe that technique is still not enough for us. I found on youtube a video called "standing psoas stretch" (it's a stretch based on a method called Active Release Technique). I tried it a few times and it felt good (although not a success, while ejaculationing I was more conscious of the front muscles of the body), so I searched more information about this ART. While the specialist who invented it receives directly his patients, he doesn't teach it through a book.

Searching more I found another book written by a person who learned ART and other cutting-edge tecniques. The book is called "The Permanent Pain Cure" by Ming Chew. I have no pain, but the book seemed useful, so I bought it.

A stretch that caught my attention is "Holding a small globe". This stretch affects the vertebrae known as T8 and T9. It seems this point is a pivot for the spine, the segment that moves the most when you walk and run (but desk workers may have problem in this poinst as well). It's not directly related to the psoas, but there's the diaphragm in this area, and the psoas connects to the diaphragm. Besides, this stretch boosts among other things the function of the adrenal glands, on which I was keeping an eye as well.

On the section "What it should feel like", the author wrote:

Some people have a big emotional reaction after they do this stretch. Other experience a tremendous physical release (almost like they just finished having sex), a boost in energy, or both. Still others just say, "I feel strange!" All these reactions are normal and actually great, because they mean you did it right.

Although this is kinda like overshooting, the stretches proposed by the book are very good, and the book is full of them (I just started with the spinal stretches, but there are stretches for every major muscle, plus strengthening exercises). I highly recommend it.

My research thus far, repeating some things for the new people:

The nerve involved in the orgasm belongs to the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), it comes out of the spine in the first lumbar vertebrae and follows the muscle called psoas. The psoas itself is meant to raise the leg, although it's not the only muscle able to do so. It seems it is the only muscles of the leg connected to the spine, which is a useless information, except for the fact that the psoas is also connected to the diaphragm. The SNS is situated in the thoracic vertebrae and the first lumbar vertebrae, it has control over all chest muscles, the psoas seems a trick designed to allow him to have some control over the lower part of the body, in the region of Parasympathetic Nervous System.

When there is a crisis, the SNS activates a reaction meant to protect the body, called Fight Or Flight Response. Someone says the reaction may include even freeze and fear.. well, you got it. The tightening of the psoas is a key mechanical process in this response, it triggers a muscular change to be able to protect the body. Other than running away, the quickest option is simply to crouch down in a fetal position. The legs positioned in front of the body protect the abdomen, while the head is lowered to protect sense organs.

I believe the origin of our problem lies in the psoas. Probably in the past we had some kind of startling or stressful event that contracted the psoas, and then it remained contracted. This doesn't usually cause pain, therefore the problem couldn't be localized (if you actually have back pain, then check triggerpoints.net/ to see what muscle is involved). A contracted muscle that belong to the SNS may still sends a negative feedback to the brain, preventing relax. I've even got a theory that such kind of anxiety promotes intelligence, but I won't explain it here.

According to David Berceli, the body shakes to release muscular tension. In his book, Trauma Release Exercises (or The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process, which I bought), he teaches a set of exercises designed to make the body shake. Berceli claims his method is more effective than others because the shaking affects the muscles at a deeper level than other types of exercises.

I bought even The Psoas Book of Liz Koch (both books were mentioned in this forum). I'd say that Berceli's exercises are probably better, but even Koch's are bound to work. In addition to that, I've had sessions with an osteopath who practises Gesret method to cure asthma; Gesret is a French physician who noticed that people with asthma got misalignments in the ribs (although not all kinds of asthma are treatable by realigning the ribs). In the last session he worked exactly on the psoas, behind the solar plexus, to treat allergy. He worked on that point and on the neck.

When I came home and tried to masturbate, I felt that something in the front of the chest was moving, but when I ejaculated I got a strong headache. In the following days as soon as I tried to have an erection I got the same headache, which lasted for many hours. I checked the site mentioned above to see which muscles were involved and massaged their trigger points. I felt something snapping in the neck. Never got a headache after that, but also felt that some progress was lost. I think I am somehow close, but there is still something to correct in the spine.

<small>[ 05-13-2009, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Moderator ]</small>

I've thought of a new trick for the people who found misalignments in their shoulder, ribs or spine.

Let's assume that some of these misalignments originated from a problem in the psoas muscles, which probably remained in a contracted state after some kind of trauma.

Now, among its functions, the psoas is used to raise the leg. The trick is this: keep your leg in the side of the misalignment in a raised state, ie: put your foot on a chair. With this, the psoas should be almost uniformly contracted, and this could trick the body into thinking all is fine.

concernedgirlfriend
Hi. A lot of people here developed anorgasmia before taking any psychostimulants, although I personally believe drugs stimulate nervous systems and muscles associated, and possibly leave them displaced. Therefore it is not a matter of permanent damage, but rather simply an issue that doesn't automatically fix itself over time and needs to be manually restored.

Anger issues are part of the fight or flight response. Although I don't exclude the role of head injuries, I have the suspect the fight or flight response may cause even neurological symptoms as well; I base this on the fact that even autism has lots of points in common with FOFR (and there are autistic people with normal MRIs), but this is not an important issue.

According to Gesret, allergies come from misaligned 9th ribs on the right (from what I've understood, in that side the shoulder is lower than the other).

So far the relevant body parts I've found are: L1-L2 nerves (orgasm), psoas muscles (emotions. Possibly also pleasure?), S2-S4 nerves (if stimulated they incite miction. Don't know if associated with pleasure). They are all in the lower back, it seems.

About doctors, most of them are not smart but they rather do things by the book and play the role of the person who knows things. Presenting them with something they know nothing of humiliates their life strategy. Even then, I assure you that anorgasmia, without other symptoms, is still an unresearched disorder. The anorgasmia actually studied is the one where a person is unable to ejaculate, which doesn't seem to be our case. So far we are in a territory uncharted by official science.

cureseeker2:
Misaligned shoulders are only the tip of the iceberg. I think the problem lies in the musculoskeletal system, and this affected the nerves and the autonomic nervous system (the one with the sympathetic and parasympathetic NS).

I see that saw palmetto herb helps relaxing smooth muscles, which are under the control of autonomic nervous system. This means is a legal alternative to marijuana, which also relaxes smooth muscles. It's a good find, I'll try it out.

schmaltz:
Stimulants act by increasing activity in the sympathetic nervous system (and/or the central nervous system). I guess such kind of stimulation could result in muscular tensions in parts of the body related to the SNS, kinda like a postural bad habit.

That said, maybe stimulants are not the direct cause, but they could have added a "structural weakness" by imposing constant excitement.

Exactly, the signal for the orgasm starts at L1-L2. More precisely L1, L2 is related to other things in the genital organs. The nerves follow the psoas toward the groin. L1 and L2 are nerves of the sympathetic nervous system.

Another group of nerves worthy of mention is the ones from the parasympathetic nervous system, that come out from S2-S4. I've found out that these nerves have control over miction, that is if they are overstimulated they don't let muscles block the outflow from the bladder; obviously tension makes things worse. While I don't want to make everyone paranoic with this, I feel that I go to the bathroom more than other people. Pin_cushion also mentioned that there was a time when he felt he needed to pee even when there was nothing to pee. Possibly it's because of this.

The tecniques mentioned may be very useful. Although basically they all seem to be some type of osteopathy, some tecniques are better than others.

pin_cushion
I believe these popping sensations are a good sign. My osteopath just pinched the skin behind some vertebrae, and while it hurt I also felt some kind of snap while he rolled my body afterwards, possibly in the vertebra L1.

The basic idea is that there are points in your body that hurt. These are exactly the points you need to correct (don't ask me how, but osteopaths know). Usually people not only don't make exercise, but also don't stretch their body much because it isn't needed in everyday life. Since these points only hurt when pressed though most people don't even know they were there.

Now, about my research, keep in mind that I can only make speculations. I am no medician, I make no x-rays scans. One of my hypothesis is probably right though. For example, the lower ribs are attached to muscles that reach the crotch. As quoted from wikipedia:

The aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle forms the inguinal ligament. The muscle also contributes to the inguinal canal.

Another important muscle for example is the iliopsoas, which is a muscle related to the spinal nerve of L1, which is where the orgasm signal starts. The iliopsoas starts from the back and circle around to the body reaching the groin. The nerve follows it with 3 branches.

When one of the lower ribs tries to open (during inspiration) there is some kind of effect on the groin. Since it's something natural it should be a good thing, although I don't know exactly what happens. I can only suppose it promotes blood flow (when a muscle press down maybe it creates a vacuum, which then sucks up blood while the muscle expand the area) and leaves nerves unconstricted when in good shape. Now, if the hinges between vertebrae and lower ribs are malfunctioning (due to a slight misalignment of the ribs), the muscles are either always pulled or can't be pulled at all, which I think is some kind of bad thing. Due to the muscles involved I also think that a misaligned lower rib may influence even ribs below, increasing the negative effect.

Possibly this doesn't have nothing to do directly with anorgasmia though. On one hand the spinal nerves may be constricted by misaligned ribs (although I can't explain you why there is no pain involved), on the other maybe the rib itself may be exerting constant if not excessive pressure unmeant to be on organs underside. An example of such organs that caught my attention are the adrenal glands, situated near the last ribs (the right one is under the liver). They are the greatest source of dopamine in the body (although the brain does produce its own). Now I read they are even involved in oxytocin and vasopressin, which are two chemicals involved in the orgasm (and also in social bonding). If there is some kind of dysfuction on adrenal glands typically a person become more "sluggish". Emotions are also impaired; "the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis controls reactions to stress and regulates many body processes, including digestion, the immune system, mood and emotions, sexuality, and energy storage and expenditure". I don't think we can interact with hypothalamus and pituitary gland since they are inside the skull, but the adrenal glands are relatively exposed.

Adrenal glands secrete cortisol, which is the everyday stress hormone. While in fight or flight response adrenal glands secrete other stress hormones like epinephrine (which is derived from dopamine) though. I think FOFR stuff is supposed to be expensive for the body, so adrenal glands become overworked if used continuously for that. Overworking means that we need time to make them (and us) properly rest, but first we need to release every trigger on the body that activate the sympathetic nervous system.

There is a theory on internet about "adrenal burnouts". Now, I think in itself is bogus, but it does have it merits, so you may want to check about that. Basically they tell you to change your lifestyle, eat lots of anti-stress vitamins and wait six months. I think a local neuromuscular problem (something like trigger points) is a more likely cause though (and would be a lot faster to solve).

KerryCollinsFan5
There are people here who had anorgasmia even before taking such kind of medication. Although it is highly possible there are several causes to anorgasmia, I personally doubt you'll find out a solution there; if you are still interested, I remind you there are antagonist drugs with opposite effect which sometimes work.

What I want you to note is that you taking those drugs means that you are depressed, and possibly you are not cured yet. I also suspect it is more a case of sluggish initiative than perpetual sadness.

jbeft4wellness
I think that is part of the solution, working on the sympathetic nervous system (stress) and the parasympathetic nervous system (relax). The problem though should lie in the fact that it's physically impossible to relax, because of some muscular dysfunctions.

rizsa:
I told every physician I met, but they didn't even know it was possible to have ejaculation without orgasm. They may still notice skeletomuscular dysfunctions though.

IcarusDown:
Interesting, but lacking of details. You hurt yourself where? I am not suggesting to hurt ourselves, but possibly the muscle entrapment starts there, and the damage or putting on the cream has moved the muscles. For example acupuncture suggests a point near the ankle to open up a point in the hip which opens something in the kidneys.

flexor:
It's the first post at page 26 of this thread.

Also I suggest reading the whole entry on Wikipedia about the Fight or Flight Response:

In prehistoric times when the fight or flight response evolved, fight was manifested in aggressive, combative behavior and flight was manifested by fleeing potentially threatening situations, such as being confronted by a predator. In current times, these responses persist, but fight and flight responses have assumed a wider range of behaviors. For example, the fight response may be manifested in angry, argumentative behavior, and the flight response may be manifested through social withdrawal, substance abuse, and even television viewing (Friedman & Silver 2007).

pin_cushion
Maybe the page you need to see on Wikipedia is the one on the penis. There you can find the occurrence of erection angles. There is quite some variation between penis and penis.