The Chemistry of Sex Drive: It's All in Your Head (and in Your Drugs)

[Guest083011]

Originally Posted by Carrie Hillcrest

A life without orgasms would be miserable.

Word! I'm jealous of women in that they can be multi orgasmic.

[Iaintliein]

From what I've read the sex drive is a like an opera, the symphony of hormones, neurotransmitters, physical and mental stimuli, all have to work together so everyone can hit that high note. If the dopamine/serotonin ratio is too high it's over too quickly but play can often resume quickly as well, if too low then it never gets started.

Chantix, a dopamine receptor blocker stopped my smoking urge cold, but it also chilled all of my other urges. So, I've saved money on more than just cigarettes over the last couple of years (I'm sure it had nothing to do with getting a couple of years older :-).

Regards,

[WTF]

Originally Posted by SR Only

Word! I'm jealous of women in that they can be multi orgasmic.

Well you ain't hooking up with the right women! Damn SR, I thought you could spell your name out on her belly button

[charlestudor2005]

Originally Posted by Iaintliein

From what I've read the sex drive is a like an opera, the symphony of hormones, neurotransmitters, physical and mental stimuli

What!!! You just read this...NO personal experience. Dayum!

[am-a-pleaser]

I've been with women who excite me, and I excite them. We go at it all day and night. We each get wet hearing each other's voice or seeing each other. It's awesome. I've also been with others where it's not that way. Maybe it's reactive, maybe mental, maybe emotional. I know that it's always better when we both are getting wet over each other.

[npita]

Scientists are just starting to understand the way that sex drive can be influenced by certain neurotransmitters—chemicals in the brain—mostly by observing our reactions to drugs that are intended to treat other conditions.

Although that is true, it's true because everything you think, remember, feel, see, hear, etc. originates with chemical reactions in your brain. Noting that SSRI's and other drugs have unintentional side effects, is more a commentary on just how little about brain chemistry is understood.

that affect levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine and often have the side effect of creating an excessive sex drive.

Those drugs in large enough doeses (or taken over a long enough time) can also induce schizophrenia, which is a result of too much dopamine. The converse is also true. The same drugs that help with schizophrenia can induce Parkinson like effects, sometimes permanently.

These drug reactions serve to show us that our sex drive is at least partly a function of our body chemistry. But emotions have a major role as well.

However, emotions are nothing but brain chemistry, so what that really means is brain chemistry that is understood well enough to alter it with a drug (with possible unintended side effects) and brain chemistry that is not yet understood.

One theory is that sex is a reflex—automatic except that your emotions can override it.

The classic reflex test is the one where the doctor hits the tendon in your knee with a mallet, and the tendon contracts, all by itself.

I think that fails to explain why some quadraplegics are able to have orgasms, despite lacking any sensory or motor function in the relevant areas.