# Orgasms and Numbness



## lazarus (Oct 3, 2016)

Does anyone else experience numb orgasms (ejaculatory anhedonia) and does this connect to DP/DR?

July 2016 was an extremely stressful month. I felt like I was losing control of my life. I had a few moments of DP/DR that month caused by job-related stress. While I'd experienced DP/DR momentarily a few times in my life, I'd never had lasting DP/DR. That same month, I started taking Accutane (an acne medicine linked to depression and suicide). At the end of the month, I read about people who said that the drug had caused persistent sexual dysfunction. At the time, I was experiencing low libido and had been for a few months prior to taking the drug. My orgasms were normal, I just hadn't had much sex drive, but I wasn't worried because this happens to me when I'm under a lot of stress. However, after I read about the sexual dysfunction, I panicked. In that panic, I went to test everything out. When I came, I felt this wall or block in the front of my head and no pleasure. The orgasm was purely mechanical. I felt numb. Every orgasm since then has been the same. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was convinced that Accutane had permanently destroyed my sexuality and there was nothing I could do about it. This lead to overwhelming anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, and severe depersonalization. In the weeks that have followed, I've had a lot of symptoms. The hardness in my head got really hard. It was both a physical sensation (wanted to rub my forehead constantly) and a mental one (having a conversation was really hard because I felt like I had to push through the wall to form thoughts and express myself). I couldn't sleep for more than 1.5 hours of time and the sleep was very shallow. But I wasn't tired the next day. I'd get up in the morning and run for 5 miles at a pace I normally found challenging to maintain for a quarter mile. This didn't exhaust me either. I'd get bored with running and disappointed that it brought me no relief. When I drank, I couldn't feel it's pleasurable effects in my head. Just the usual warmness in my body. It was like my brain was locked in this unvarying hardness that was acute in the front of my head. I also had classic DP/DR symptoms like weird vision, inability to recognize familiar places, things feeling not quite real, feeling cut off/ disconnected from my past, brain fog, slow moving mind, hard time connecting to people, feeling fake, emotional numbness, etc. These symptoms aren't all present at the same time but cycle in predictable clusters.

Things have gotten a lot better in recent weeks. A lot of this stuff doesn't bother me that much. I've made friends with the experience. The one thing that is really tearing me up is the orgasmic numbness. I can't tell if this is part of my DP/DR or if the DP/DR was a reaction to this traumatic experience. Since I was already under such a high level of stress during that month and since I hadn't had trouble orgasming until I started to panic about sexual dysfunction, I wonder if this condition is connected to stress. And because head pressure seems to be a common DP/DR symptom and my numb orgasm coincided with this new head hardness, I'm wondering if this numb orgasm is itself a kind of dissociation. It's the one thing I'm still quite upset about and I'm curious if anyone else has had this experience.


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## TDX (Jul 12, 2014)

Dopamine agonists that are used in the treatment of Parkinsons disease can enhance orgasms and reduce the refractory period (faciliating multiple orgasms), so maybe even if it's permanent, it might be treatable.


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## forestx5 (Aug 29, 2008)

I have major depression with dp. During depressive episodes, I may have little or no libido. If orgasm is the ringing of a bell, then at times mine has been more of a "buzzer". SSRI/SNRIs have affected the sensation of my orgasm. Paxil and Effexor both did that in my case. I currently take Lexapro/Escitalopram without sexual side effects. I have been largely depression free since ECT in 2014. My orgasms are currently very healthy, thank you. LOL


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## lazarus (Oct 3, 2016)

forestx, does that mean that the medication affected your first? Or that you experienced a diminished orgasm before taking the meds?


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## Hellome (Sep 29, 2016)

i've noticed this a lot and it really gets to me... like, there's no mental reward to it. in fact, one of my biggest complaints of dp/dr is that i have very little mental rewards or punishments, really no normal responses to stimuli at all. it's really frustrating.

oh, and the exercising too. this is big for me. i hate that i don't have that voice telling me to stop doing things i normally don't fully enjoy, such as intense exercise or lots of studying. my boyfriend tells me i should feel grateful for this, but it makes me feel like there's no one home in my mind. no one who knows what i do or do not want. i like being able to do things, but not without the mental reward... it's like there's no mediator present. it's strange.


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## mezona (Sep 4, 2015)

Hellome, I feel exactly the same!!!


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## Hellome (Sep 29, 2016)

mezona said:


> Hellome, I feel exactly the same!!!


I'm desperately trying to find an answer for us, I will keep you in the loop as I continue to search, I'm so sorry you're experiencing this it's such a cruel thing that no one should have to go through...


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

The reason why your orgasm is not as good as before is probably because dpdr causes the kappa opioid receptor in the brain to become agonized which causes dopamine production to slow down.


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## Lellaboo (Nov 7, 2016)

mind.divided said:


> The reason why your orgasm is not as good as before is probably because dpdr causes the kappa opioid receptor in the brain to become agonized which causes dopamine production to slow down.


Would this affect just the mental reward then? Because things physically aren't feeling the same down there... before, during or after orgasm. All just numb.


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## Hellome (Sep 29, 2016)

mezona said:


> Hellome, I feel exactly the same!!!


What started all of this for you?


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

Lellaboo said:


> Would this affect just the mental reward then? Because things physically aren't feeling the same down there... before, during or after orgasm. All just numb.


Yes, this affects everything. Dopamine is essentially the neurotransmitter that makes us feel happy whenever we accomplish and do things so we get overall numbed in our everyday life when we have this disorder.


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## Lellaboo (Nov 7, 2016)

mind.divided said:


> Yes, this affects everything. Dopamine is essentially the neurotransmitter that makes us feel happy whenever we accomplish and do things so we get overall numbed in our everyday life when we have this disorder.


What I was thinking though, wouldn't this just affect the after buzzy, relieving feeling of the orgasm? The mental pleasures of it. Or would it also be responsible for literally taking away the pleasure of touch too, even before climax? Would having this lack of dopamine, make you physically numb and unreceptive to touch? I can't quite wrap my head how dopamine would make it more sensitive physically. I get that mind and body are linked, but I thought dopamine was just released when you reach orgasm.


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

Lellaboo said:


> What I was thinking though, wouldn't this just affect the after buzzy, relieving feeling of the orgasm? The mental pleasures of it. Or would it also be responsible for literally taking away the pleasure of touch too, even before climax? Would having this lack of dopamine, make you physically numb and unreceptive to touch? I can't quite wrap my head how dopamine would make it more sensitive physically. I get that mind and body are linked, but I thought dopamine was just released when you reach orgasm.


Our brains release dopamine all the time but during an orgasm an extreme amount of dopamine and other chemicals are released and gives us a huge rewarding feeling. If our dopamine levels are low we don't experience the same pleasure as we usually do if the balance was normal. If we for example orgasm to often our brains get burnt out and needs rest before we can experience the same pleasure again, this is the reason why people that are addicted to masturbating don't have nearly as good orgasms because their levels of dopamine is very low.


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## Lellaboo (Nov 7, 2016)

mind.divided said:


> Our brains release dopamine all the time but during an orgasm an extreme amount of dopamine and other chemicals are released and gives us a huge rewarding feeling. If our dopamine levels are low we don't experience the same pleasure as we usually do if the balance was normal. If we for example orgasm to often our brains get burnt out and needs rest before we can experience the same pleasure again, this is the reason why people that are addicted to masturbating don't have nearly as good orgasms because their levels of dopamine is very low.


Wow. So it is literally the brain numbing the pleasure. I was starting to think that were my nerves were cut during my C-Section it affected my ability to respond as well. Either that or my DP was so bad I couldn't feel physical touch properly anymore. Saying that, even when I do get a cuddle off my son, it feels foreign. Not my emotional connection, but like I've had local anaesthetic pumped all over. Would DP be responsible for inhibiting Oxytocin release or an interaction between that and Dopamine? Sorry to hijack the thread and ask 21 questions lol


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## Midnight (Jul 16, 2011)

i wouldnt know because i cant get laid


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

Lellaboo said:


> Wow. So it is literally the brain numbing the pleasure. I was starting to think that were my nerves were cut during my C-Section it affected my ability to respond as well. Either that or my DP was so bad I couldn't feel physical touch properly anymore. Saying that, even when I do get a cuddle off my son, it feels foreign. Not my emotional connection, but like I've had local anaesthetic pumped all over. Would DP be responsible for inhibiting Oxytocin release or an interaction between that and Dopamine? Sorry to hijack the thread and ask 21 questions lol


I don't know how Oxytocin and Dopamine interacts with each other but I found a study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15177920 ) that say "The antinociceptive (numbing) effect of oxytocin was attenuated (decreased) dose-dependently by intracerebroventricular injection of naloxone (kappa antagonist (dpdr cure))"

but I also read on another study (goo.gl/SysTMB)that say quote "Russell et al22 found that the kappa agonist (dpdr) U50,488 inhibited electrically stimulated oxytocin"

So i'm not really sure but dpdr can definitivly block oxytocin if we look at the second study.


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## Lellaboo (Nov 7, 2016)

mind.divided said:


> I don't know how Oxytocin and Dopamine interacts with each other but I found a study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15177920 ) that say "The antinociceptive (numbing) effect of oxytocin was attenuated (decreased) dose-dependently by intracerebroventricular injection of naloxone (kappa antagonist (dpdr cure))"
> 
> but I also read on another study (goo.gl/SysTMB)that say quote "Russell et al22 found that the kappa agonist (dpdr) U50,488 inhibited electrically stimulated oxytocin"
> 
> So i'm not really sure but dpdr can definitivly block oxytocin if we look at the second study.


Link isn't working. 
I'm not sure how, or if they do interact. You would think so. I've just had a quick read of this but it seems to be aimed towards male genitalia. Plus my comprehension on this stuff isn't great lol. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18655889
Seems perfectly plausible it would block Oxytocin though, this illness takes everything away. All the more reason to beat it!


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## mind.divided (Jul 2, 2015)

Lellaboo said:


> Link isn't working.
> I'm not sure how, or if they do interact. You would think so. I've just had a quick read of this but it seems to be aimed towards male genitalia. Plus my comprehension on this stuff isn't great lol. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18655889
> Seems perfectly plausible it would block Oxytocin though, this illness takes everything away. All the more reason to beat it!


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15177920


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## M1k3y (Sep 19, 2016)

On the real, I think DP has improved my sex game, I mean lasting longer yeah, at first fucking when dp was weird, now it's back to normal, but yeah I can last longer, kinda nice haha


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