# Thyroid, Sex Drive and Orgasm - Embarrassing but Need Help!



## omron (Apr 22, 2014)

Hi all,

This is a somewhat embarrassing and sensitive subject, but as the title says, I could do with some help!

Over the past 18 months my libido has been very high. Throughout 6 and a half years of being ill it had always been pretty much the same as it was prior to being ill, which I guess was just normal, but now it's gone through the roof. I've read that this can be a symptom of hyperthyroid, and that would go with a lot of my other symptoms (low weight, very thinning hair, racing thoughts, pounding heart etc.) but my TSH has always been between 1-2 and FT3 - 4.8 (Range 3.5-6.5) and FT4 - 19.4 (Range 12-22), which on the face of it seems fine. Just wondering if anyone else has experience of a very high libido/sex drive and it's connection to the thyroid? Should I be looking at hyperthyroid as a serious cause of this or is likely to be coming from something else?

The other issue I'm getting is very, very weird, and I was just hoping to see if anyone else had ever suffered with anything like it. After having an orgasm, a few days later I feel much worse. I become more inflamed, my muscles are very tight, I get constipation, and just generally feel a whole lot worse. The funny thing is that I get all those exact same symptoms after anything that stresses me, be it mental or physical. So when I get really nervous about going to a medical appointment then I almost always get the same symptoms as after having an orgasm. Ditto for doing anything remotely physically straining or taxing. All of them are a few days later and very similar in their nature. The only connection I can come up with is adrenaline/cortisol, or some sort of stress hormone, as I think they are the only things that would be released during those 3 separate circumstances. Basically adrenaline or cortisol increase seem to cause me a whole host of problems. Assuming I'm right about it being those hormones of course.

So has anyone else had any experience with this in regards to thyroid, or any illness? Or just any thoughts would be great! And apologies again if this is a case of too much information. I wouldn't be posting it unless I was in desperate need of some answers!

Thanks!

(not sure if it makes any difference, but if my username seems a bit ambiguous, I'm male!)


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

I think some related stuff was brought up in your other post, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Memory just isn't what it used to be.  That being said, if you're worried about possibly being hyperthyroid, you could get tested for it relatively easily. There is a TSI test (Thyroid Stimulating Immunoglobulin, *not* the same as TSH) as well as the TRAb test (Thyroid Receptor Antibody). And same goes for adrenals / cortisol, relatively easy to test for -- there are take-home tests you do where you collect either urine for 24 hrs. or saliva for 24 hrs., with the collections broken into different time periods. A one-time cortisol test via a blood draw might catch if you have full-blown Addison's or Cushing's Disease, but isn't really going to show the rest of your day and how you react to stresses. If you want to dive even further into testing, you could look at catecholamines. This usually requires you to stand for a short while before having a lab draw. It sure sounds like your body is having a reaction of some kind to stress. Whether this is due to adrenals, thyroid, sex hormones, out-of-balance vitamins/minerals, general anxiety, etc. is hard to say without looking deeper.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

TSI
Normally, there is no TSI in the blood. If TSI is found in the blood, this indicates that the thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin is the cause of the of a person's hyperthyroidism.
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/thyroid-antibodies/tab/test
(Copy and paste into your browser)

Trab
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17684583
(Copy and paste into your browser)

TBG (thyroxine binding globulin) up, hypo............down, hyper
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003374.htm
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TBII
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9364248
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-thyroid_autoantibodies
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Blocking TRAbs (also known as Thyrotropin Binding Inhibitory Immunoglobulins (TBII)) competitively block the activity of TSH on the receptor. This can cause hypothyroidism by reducing the thyrotropic effects of TSH. They are found in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease and may be cause of fluctuation of thyroid function in the latter. During treatment of Graves' disease they may also become the predominant antibody, which can cause hypothyroidism.

High RBC, hyper
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(76)91920-6/abstract
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T3 Uptake test
http://www.drstandley.com/labvalues_thyroid.shtml (high, hyper---low, hypo)
(Copy and paste into your browser)

Oh, yeah!!! Hyper and increased libido.

You can solve the mystery quickly by getting the tests listed and I also recommend that you have a Scan of your thyroid.

Let us know the outcome if you will!


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