#thyroid symptoms in men

[wellextol]

Your Thyroid, Your Metabolism: How a 30-Second Technique Can Change Your Life After 35

[kailash-hospital-greater-noida]

Dr. Ashish Saini, Consultant Endocrinologist at Kailash Hospital in Greater Noida, is committed to unraveling the nuances of thyroid disorders specifically in male patients.

[kailashdeepakhospital]

In this article, we shed light on male-specific thyroid symptoms, the avenues for treatment, and the importance of seeking expert care.

[hopkinrx]

Hyperthyroidism: Its Important Symptoms, Causes, Treatment And Lifestyle

Hyperthyroidism: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment And LifestyleIntroductionFunction Of Thyroid GlandWhat is Hyperthyroidism?Causes of HyperthyroidismSymptoms Of Hyperthyroidism Physical Manifestations Emotional RollercoasterDiagnosis Of HyperthyroidismTreatment Options: Bringing Harmony Back Medications Radioactive Iodine Therapy Surgical InterventionEmbracing a New Rhythm: Living with…

[synbiosys]

So, I’m not proud of it, but I’m back to ask for help again. Above is the link to my Ko-Fi account; I can accept donations via Stripe and Paypal; I don’t have a preference of which method you use. Below is a more detailed explanation of the events that have led to my current predicament; it’s not entirely necessary to understand, but it should make sense of why this happened to me.

I’m dealing with some health problems and a recent car accident and I need help paying my bills for the next few months while I use that time to finish incomplete coursework for classes I took last year. In case it’s not clear, an “Incomplete” is a grade that can be given by instructors at some schools in situations where a student wasn’t able to complete a major assignment for a class due to circumstances outside their control, and allows students a pre-determined amount of time to finish that work beyond the end of the course. I had a plan for covering my expenses with a summer job at the Oregon State University Arthropod Collection (OSAC) while I finished the incomplete work, but the nature of my health issues, an outbreak of fleas, and a car accident have all prevented me from making it work. Now I’m kind of trapped; the cost of living in Corvallis is too high for food stamps to last an entire month, I don’t have a car anymore, and I’ll probably end up homeless if I can’t pay October rent and also pay November rent on time. I’ve managed to find some work doing landscaping and yardwork in my neighborhood, but I’ve realized that it’s impossible to make enough money and also handle the incomplete coursework; focusing on the former will impact the completion of my degree in June, while focusing on the latter will likely result in homelessness. The loss of my car is exacerbating all of this, in part because I live further away from all of the stores/banks/etc. in Corvallis, and public transit here is not very good.

Since late 2022, I’ve been experiencing sleep apnea-like health problems arising from swollen turbinate glands. I have some known allergies, but they’ve never caused swollen turbinate glands. The impact on my sleep quality became so severe that I had to resort to nasal strips every night. I saw doctors about this problem as early as spring of 2022, but none of them were helpful; most of them didn’t listen to me, and none of them considered trying any kind of testing. This ineptitude continued even after directly asking my primary doctor about autoimmune conditions and how we could test for them. Despite how obviously informative blood samples can be, nobody suggested a blood test. I finally lost my patience and demanded they give me a blood test for hypothyroidism at the end of August. Lo and behold, my thyroid hormone levels were an order of magnitude out of the normal range. Autoimmune problems run in my mother’s family, and it’s likely that I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis; this disease is rarer in men, and the symptoms appear very gradually. While I can understand how this would delay detection of the disease, there were FIVE different doctors who saw me in relation to the sleep/allergy problems and none of them considered a blood test. I started taking levothyroxine the same day as the test results, but before being treated, my symptoms became so severe that my ADHD medication stopped working, my OCD symptoms went out of control, and I was experiencing severe brain fog. This is what forced me to request incomplete grades for my courses; I was trying to complete coursework despite all of this, and I was barely able to keep up. Once treatment begins, it takes at least a month to take effect, so my symptoms didn’t start improving until early October. Most recently, I found out that I needed to increase my dosage, but thyroid problems often have complex consequences, and any changes to the dose of the medication will result in unwanted side effects.

My original plan for this summer was to work at OSAC to cover my expenses while I tackled the incomplete coursework. I calculated the gross income I’d need to meet my expenses, and working 30 hours a week at this position well exceeded that amount. My duties as a curatorial assistant change slightly depending on the tasks at hand, but because I am paid from grant money, I must work efficiently, accurately, and in an organized manner. Because I have ADHD, extra measures are necessary in order to meet these requirements. I’ve worked this job intermittently since 2018, so I know how prevent my ADHD symptoms from interfering with my work. Because of the failures by my doctors to address my health problems, I was already struggling to arrive at work on time by June. By July, my symptoms had worsened to the point that I was no longer able to focus on work consistently, voluntarily cutting some days short because I wasn’t accomplishing much, and continuing to work in that state was inherently a waste of grant money. By August I could only make it to work sporadically. As a result, I missed most of the income I could have earned for August and September of this year. I was able to make up for some of this impact by selling old trading cards and video games from childhood, but that money didn’t last very long.

I was also confronted with a flea infestation that suddenly appeared in August. I rent a bedroom in a house with housemates; we tried to eradicate them ourselves, but the landlord suddenly informed us in early September that he hired an exterminator, who was arriving in less than 24 hours. I have some pet reptiles and pet invertebrates I needed to protect from pesticide exposure, so I suddenly had to move my pets to a friend’s house. I also had to re-arrange my bedroom to accommodate the exterminators. Based on the chemicals that were used, the only way I could make room safe again for my pets was by mopping the floor in my bedroom and the adjacent hallway three times. This ultimately cost me four days, and then the exterminators came back in early October, which forced me to repeat the process.

As if this wasn’t enough, I had a serious car accident in late September that annihilated my car and left me with severe lacerations to my left arm and a fracture in my thumb. The car spun out and flipped in the process, landing in the opposite lane. If another car had been about to pass me, it would have caused a direct collision at around 55 mph, and I probably wouldn’t have survived that. I realized the danger immediately and crawled out of the car, but most of the other possible outcomes would have involved my demise. I’m very lucky, but it took almost a month for the lacerations to heal, and one of them was deep enough to cause nerve damage, which hasn’t completely healed yet. My left hand has healed enough for me to use it, but I’m still having some issues with my thumb.

I wish I could say that I had help from my family, but my parents were impacted by both of the recent hurricanes that made landfall in western Florida. Even before the hurricanes, my parents weren’t really willing to understand what I was dealing with. I grew up in an abusive household; my sister and I were neglected by our parents, and we experienced emotional abuse from them as young adults. This is particularly true of my father, who himself is the product of a highly abusive upbringing. Unfortunately, research on the dynamics of child abuse has shown that children from abusive households often suffer a lack of economic mobility relative to children from more supportive family backgrounds as a result of mental health impacts. This has absolutely been the case with my sister and I; both of us are well into our 30s, and neither of us is anywhere close to long-term financial stability. That’s why it was deeply hurtful to hear my father blame me for being unable to fly to Florida on a whim to help him clean up the house, blame me for paying $950 a month for rent, and shame me for being 35 years old without a “stable job”. Both of my parents visited me in Corvallis in late July; they could tell that I was struggling, they apologized for neglecting me, and they told me they’d be more supportive, but apparently everything they said to me then must have been an act.  

Hopefully, this explanation sufficiently articulates the situation I’ve ended up in. I almost have enough money to pay my October rent, and I need to have my November rent paid by 11/5. I would have tried using Ko-Fi sooner, but in the interest of upholding my own responsibility, I wanted to exhaust my other options before resorting to donations again

[scientia-rex]

Hysteria isn't a fucking thing

ok fun fact: I'm rapidly becoming a cult favorite doctor among our local privileged elderly white ladies, which I have mixed feelings about, but the #1 reason is that I just don't leap to "anxiety" as an explanation for symptoms unless the patient tells me "I am anxious, and then I feel these symptoms, and when I am not anxious, I don't feel these symptoms."

The sheer number of women I've seen who've been told for years to decades that the only thing wrong with them is anxiety is fucking staggering, in this Year Of Our Lord 2023, and I just keep digging. We checked a basic lab panel, sure. CBC. No anemia. CMP. Kidneys are fine. (Electrolytes are basically always going to be fine if someone is well enough to walk into my office under their own power to talk to me. Exception is mild chronic hyponatremia.) And we check thyroid. TSH and free T4. We check blood sugar. A1c, if the fasting is a little weird. Fasting insulin, if I'm still suspicious. We check cortisol. Inflammatory markers--ESR and CRP.

And eventually, if the symptoms support it, or right away, depending on my level of suspicion, we check rheumatological labs for abnormal autoimmune function. Anti-nuclear antibody. Rheumatoid factor. There's at least a dozen you can check, and which ones you should check is always a matter of debate and also of expertise that I 100% lack. We are out in the sticks. There are no "local" rheumatologists for me to send people to.

But a couple of weeks ago I found a woman--she has bipolar disorder and has been told for decades that's all that's wrong with her--who has an anti-centromere antibody titer that's fucking through the roof. I found an anxious 19-year-old with an ANA of 1:1380. And yesterday I found out why a sweet elderly woman I've seen for a year or two now started feeling crappy months ago: her rheumatoid factor is over 90.

Rheumatological disorders are always difficult. Our understanding of them varies from "pretty good, actually, and here are useful treatments" to "Well I Guess That Exists." Labs aren't always a slam-dunk and even labs plus symptoms can give you misleading impressions. Your immune system can decide that virtually any short chunk of protein is an enemy, and the problem with that is that your body is made up of many, many, many short chunks of proteins, so the odds that you'll develop some kind of antibody against yourself just keeps going up over your lifetime. Immune disorders tend to travel in packs; there's a clear genetic element to it, so the more first-degree relatives (parent, sibling, child) you have with any kind of autoimmune disorder (including Type 1 diabetes), the higher your risk of any kind of autoimmune disorder is, and if you already have one autoimmune disorder, you're at higher risk for developing another one.

But I think it's precisely because they're difficult that a lot of mainstream primary care prefers to pretend they don't exist, rather than try to sift through the utter fucking mess that is Mixed Connective Tissue Disorders, a title that has fallen out of favor since I learned it in my third year of med school. And women are at higher risk for autoimmune disorders than men. And older women are at higher risk than younger women.

So if I, as a family doc, just keep digging, just keep poking at the tangled knot of symptoms, there's a decent chance I will uncover something interesting. Hopefully something treatable. Sometimes we have nothing to treat with, and I just get to offer someone more understanding of their disorder, which feels pretty paltry but is better than the casual dismissal of "You're just anxious."

Never, ever, ever take anxiety as a diagnosis for a symptom other than anxiety. Not even as a rule-out. Keep those symptoms as an open question mark on the patient. Don't say "anxiety" just so you can close the door. And damn sure don't do it to women.

I'm actively working on learning more so I can be more helpful, in our Rheum-less community, so if you have good lectures or books, please drop me a lead.

[astrogirlythings]

My PCOS journey:

Vulnerabilities and all.

The biggest problem with new age women's health issues is that even many women fail to empathize with them. How can we expect men to empathize with women's health?

When I talk about women's health I don't mean "PERIODS" or "PTSD Post pregnancy" or "MENOPAUSE".. There are so many health issues that are not being talked about enough (at least from where I'm from 😒). Starting with a few - PCOS, PCOD, Thyroid, Hormonal imbalance and other lifestyle diseases. Not to mention that they have no cure and the only solution we have is to manage it and its symptoms.

While fighting with its symptoms.. one of the biggest things that helped me overcome my PCOS and Hormonal imbalance is some much needed moral support. Of course strength training, diet, 8 hours of sleep, managing stress and having a positive mind too.. but being surrounded by those who make an effort to understand ur health is a blessing.

I suffered excessive hair loss and weight gain and as a woman I've been constantly reminded that those "Assets" (Head full of hair and a slim figure) are the only things that add value to me and my existence.. and it's messed up how even the most educated are unaware about women's health.

Truth be told, I've spent years of my life picking up my pieces and reconstructing myself emotionally, mentally and physically. The sleepless nights I had were consumed by me obsessing about my body, its image and how it was perceived by everyone around me. The world has successfully convinced me that I am nothing without this so called "Perfect body". I lost many opportunities because of my negative body image. Deep down I knew that I am smart, creative, funny, kind and I am also known to be a good friend. But people succeeded in making me feel less than what I am.

As I write this, I want to convey that you are not alone. I believe that I am not the only one feeling this way.

Being surrounded by people who truly make an effort to understand ur health and ur erratic mood swings (because of ur health) is a huge blessing.. God knows that I want that in my life. Everyone wants to feel empathised and if u don't have someone that empathises with ur health.. I hope my empathy towards women's health helped u.

I am now 27 years old and I have finally succeeded in managing my PCOS symptoms (Physical and mental symptoms) after struggling with them for the past 9 years. Yup.. I lost most of my 20s to PCOS and I am cautiously optimistic that the struggle is over now. And even if it comes back.. at least I know how to deal with it.

[maaarine]

Hormones and their Interaction with the Pain Experience (Katy Vincent and Irene Tracey, 2008)

"One of the most striking physiological differences between men and women is in sex steroid hormones, both the absolute levels and the occurrence of cyclical fluctuations in women.

These hormones are known to be responsible for the embryological development of a male or female phenotype and for successful reproductive function after puberty.

More recently, observations such as the marked differences in pain symptoms between males and females in the period between puberty and the menopause, and the cyclical variations in many clinical pain symptoms in women have suggested that they may also have a role in altering the pain experience. (…)

With the onset of regular ovulation and menstruation, it can be seen that a number of clinical pain conditions show variation in symptom severity across the menstrual cycle.

Clearly the pain of dysmenorrhoea is, by definition, associated with the menstrual cycle, however, the symptoms of temperomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction, fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Interstitial Cystitis (IC) and migraine can also show cyclical variation.

The greatest reports of pain symptoms appear to occur at times of low or rapidly falling estrogen levels and the use of the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) to give a more constant hormonal level can improve these symptoms. (…)

From puberty onwards, men have significantly higher levels of testosterone and its metabolites than women.

Testosterone appears to have an analgesic effect protecting against the development of painful conditions such as TMJ pain.

Rheumatoid arthritis patients (both male and female) have been shown to have lower androgen levels than sex-matched controls, and androgen administration improves their symptoms, whilst female workers with lower testosterone levels have more work-related neck and shoulder injuries.

However, investigation of the specific effects of testosterone are complicated by the fact that much is metabolised in vivo to estradiol by aromatase, and this is therefore an issue which needs to be addressed in future studies.

Perhaps one of the more intriguing studies to be published recently explored the effect of systemic hormone administration to both male to female (MtF) and female to male (FtM) transsexuals (n=73) during the process of sex reassignment.

They observed that approximately one third of the MtF subjects developed chronic pain during their treatment with estrogen and androgens, and even those that did not, reported a decreased tolerance to painful events and an enhanced sensitivity to thermal stimuli (both warm and cold).

Of those FtM subjects who had chronic pain before the start of treatment, more than half improved after commencing testosterone treatment, reporting reduced numbers of painful episodes and shorter lengths of those that did occur.

Clearly, psychological effects cannot be ignored in this group of subjects, however, this is the only situation where the hormonal milieu in humans can be ethically altered to that of the opposite gender and therefore gives us interesting insights. (…)

In addition to its sensory aspect, pain is an emotional experience.

It is therefore of interest that the life time patterns in pain symptoms in men and women are closely mirrored by those of mood disorders, though with the addition of a perimenopausal peak in mood disorders.

Comparing post-puberty with pre-puberty, rates of significant depression increased two-fold for boys but more than four-fold for girls.

In Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMD), there is no evidence that abnormal levels of hormones occur (unlike in depression associated with thyroid or pituitary dysfunction), rather, it appears that some women are more sensitive to the mood destabilising effects of these hormones.

It is not inconceivable therefore, that a similar situation may exist for pain."

[hormonepelletimplant]

Experience the Benefits of Hormone Pellet Implant Therapy in Webster Texas at T360S Wellness Clinic

Are you feeling fatigued, struggling with weight gain, or experiencing mood swings? These common symptoms may be linked to hormonal imbalances, which affect many people as they age. At T360S Wellness Clinic, we offer advanced solutions like hormone pellet implant therapy in Webster Texas to help restore balance and improve your quality of life. Our clinic’s holistic approach to wellness addresses a wide range of health concerns, helping you feel energized and revitalized.

What is Hormone Pellet Implant Therapy in Webster Texas?

Hormone pellet implant therapy is a cutting-edge treatment that helps address hormonal imbalances by providing a steady, natural release of bioidentical hormones into your bloodstream. These tiny, custom-formulated pellets are inserted under the skin and deliver consistent hormone levels over time. This therapy is particularly beneficial for individuals experiencing symptoms of menopause, perimenopause, or andropause, as well as those dealing with thyroid imbalances.

At T360S Wellness Clinic, hormone pellet implant therapy in Webster Texas is one of the most effective treatments we offer. It is a safe, minimally invasive procedure that requires only a small incision to implant the pellets, providing a long-lasting solution for hormone replacement.

Why Choose Hormone Pellet Implant Therapy?

Steady, Natural Hormone Release: Unlike other hormone replacement therapies that require regular doses, hormone pellets release hormones steadily over time, providing more stable hormone levels.

Convenience and Low Maintenance: Once the pellets are inserted, there is no need for daily administration or regular refills. The therapy lasts between 3 to 6 months, making it a hassle-free option for busy individuals.

Customized to Your Needs: Hormone pellet implant therapy is tailored to each patient, ensuring the right balance of hormones is provided for your specific needs.

Improved Quality of Life: Many of our patients report feeling more energetic, having better sleep, experiencing improved mood, and noticing increased libido after receiving hormone pellet therapy.

Comprehensive Wellness Clinic in Webster Texas Services

In addition to hormone pellet implant therapy in Webster Texas, T360S Wellness Clinic offers a wide range of wellness services that focus on holistic care and overall health improvement. We aim to provide treatments that address both the body and mind, promoting long-term well-being for our patients.

1. Weight Management and Nutrition Counseling

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is essential for overall wellness. Our clinic offers personalized weight management programs and nutrition counseling to help you reach your goals. We focus on creating sustainable, healthy habits that support your long-term health.

2. Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)

In addition to hormone pellet implant therapy, we offer bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) to help balance hormones for men and women. Whether you’re dealing with menopause, andropause, or thyroid imbalances, our treatments are designed to restore harmony to your body’s natural hormone levels.

3. Stress Management and Wellness Coaching

Stress can have a significant impact on your health. Our wellness clinic in Webster Texas offers wellness coaching and stress management services to help you manage daily pressures effectively. With our guidance, you can develop strategies to reduce stress and improve mental clarity and emotional well-being.

4. IV Therapy and Hydration

IV therapy is an effective way to deliver essential nutrients directly into the bloodstream for immediate hydration and replenishment. Whether you’re recovering from illness, low energy, or just need a boost, IV therapy is an excellent option to restore balance to your body.

5. Aesthetic Services

At T360S Wellness Clinic, we understand that feeling good on the inside is just as important as feeling good on the outside. We offer a variety of non-invasive aesthetic services, including Botox, dermal fillers, and skin rejuvenation treatments, to help you look and feel your best.

Why Choose T360S Wellness Clinic in Webster Texas?

When it comes to your health and wellness, choosing the right clinic is essential. At T360S Wellness Clinic, we are dedicated to providing the highest level of care and expertise, ensuring that each patient receives personalized treatments designed to meet their individual needs.

Expert Team: Our team includes experienced doctors, wellness coaches, and certified specialists who work together to create customized treatment plans for each patient.

Comprehensive Care: From hormone pellet implant therapy to aesthetic services and nutrition counseling, we offer a wide range of services that address all aspects of wellness.

Patient-Centered Approach: We take the time to listen to your concerns and provide compassionate care tailored to your goals.

Convenience: Our clinic in Webster, Texas, offers flexible scheduling options, and we prioritize making your experience as convenient and comfortable as possible.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for Hormone Pellet Implant Therapy in Webster Texas or seeking a Wellness Clinic in Webster Texas to enhance your overall health, T360S Wellness Clinic is here to help. With our expert team, personalized care, and holistic approach to wellness, we’re committed to supporting you on your journey to better health. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and take the first step toward a healthier, more vibrant life.

[wanderrealms]

I got sent an article on Liam Gallagher talking about hashimoto's thyroiditis and the effect it has on his life. I think it's great he's talking about it, since people don't know much about the symptoms and I've read it is more common in women, so men might not be as aware and be less likely to seek treatment because it's less likely. But less likely does not mean impossible.

Hashimoto's is when your autoimmune system produces thyroid antibodies which disrupt thyroid function and make it underactive. The symptoms are broad and varied. Cold extremities is common, fatigue, brittle hair, goiter, dry scaly skin, it also causes swelling of the joints resulting in pain, abdominal swelling, facial swelling, slow heartrate.... and more. It can be hard to even suspect one illness might behind them and seek treatment.

The Mirror article in question

[wellextol]

Your Thyroid, Your Metabolism: How a 30-Second Technique Can Change Your Life After 35

[madamlaydebug]

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🚇#Chiaseeds are high in #Omega3’s which enhance overall moods, reduce irritability #hormone balance, all of which helps to put you in the right mood

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🛫#Avocados are just sexy all together now! Rich in essential fatty acids and B6 both increase male hormone production. They contain potassium, which helps regulate the thyroid gland in women, a gland directly tied to #energy and reaction to hormones.

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🎳Black raspberries are rich in phytochemicals that boost #libido and your ability to feel aroused. The ancient Chinese used them as medicine to boost libido.Experts say consuming 10 blackberries before hitting the bedroom.

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🌰#Walnuts are high in the amino acid arginine, which boosts circulation to the genital area

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🍉#Watermelon contains lycopene which relaxes blood vessels to improve blood flow.

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🎃#PumpkinSeeds are high in #Zinc. Zinc is #vitalfor #testosterone production which affects sexual desire and stamina in both men and women. Zinc deficiencies in men can cause #sexualperformanceproblems. Zinc helps to prevent PMS symptoms in women.

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🇮🇳In India cloves have been used to treat male sexual dysfunction for centuries, Cloves are also high in omega-3 fatty acids, manganese, and vitamin K increasing blood flow to the genitals

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🌵#Ginger is rich in copper, #magnesium and potassium. It is a remarkable anti-nausea food with#antiinflammatory proper tie. lower blood pressure and increase blood flow and it is high in magnesium, copper and potassium

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🍆#Maca is a good source of vitamin C, iron, potassium, and copper, and it has a decent amount of B vitamins. A study showed that 3g of maca daily significantly increased the libido in men and women on antidepressants.

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🎂Maca restore hormonal imbalance and related sexual desire and fertility in both men and women.

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⬇️⬇️Comment below if you know any other foods that turn you on?

[cyarsk52-20]

FOOD & DRINK

So, Here Are Some Teas That Will Make Your Sex Life So Much Better

SHELLIE R. WARREN

MAR 22, 2023 07:00 AM EST

Even though we’re officially exiting one season (winter) and entering another (spring), that doesn’t mean that your tea game has to slow down. Aside from the fact that springtime tends to still have some pretty chilly nights, there is nothing like a tall glass of herbal iced tea that’s been sweetened with honey and a bit of fresh fruit on the days when it’s warmer outdoors.

And while we’re on the topic of teas, why not consume some that will make things hotter in the bedroom? Yep, there are certain ones out here (12 in this article) that have some strong data to support the fact that they can do wonders for your libido — on a few different levels.

So, after reading this, commit to picking up some loose-leaf tea (oftentimes it’s best). Boil for 20 minutes, let it cool, put it in a mason jar and let it steep for 48 hours (with your favorite sweetener). Then add some ice and take it all in. You’ll have an all-natural concoction that will get you maximum herb intake and quite possibly some pretty intense orgasms too (whew-whee!).

1. Ashwagandha Tea

If there’s one artist who tickles me as much as he low-key terrifies me when it comes to the random ish that comes out of his mouth, it’s Kevin Gates. On the laughing tip, I literally cried as I was reading the comments under this particular Twitter post because it’s clear that either he doesn’t know how to pronounce maca (maa·kuh) or ashwagandha (aash·wuh·gaan·duh) or he was really going out of his way to make the cadence work in this song. LOL. Anyway, he does help to prove the point that this herb is that one when it comes to boosting libido levels.

Since ashwagandha has a solid reputation for reducing stress and anxiety, improving athletic performance, and even making depression-related symptoms easier to bear, it would make perfect sense that it’s known for being an aphrodisiac too.

There are studies that support that it can be helpful when it comes to strengthening women’s orgasms, in part, by reducing vaginal dryness and discomfort during intercourse. Some studies reveal that it can help to increase testosterone levels in both men and women as well.

A word of caution on this one, though. If you’re diabetic, breastfeeding, have an overactive thyroid, or take sedatives, run this one by your physician first. As with just about any herb, ashwagandha can be potent and come with unwanted side effects for certain types of individuals.

2. Green Tea

Okay, so from what I’ve read and researched, on average, a cup of brewed coffee is gonna have somewhere around 96 mg of caffeine per cup while that same cup of green tea is gonna land at around 28 mg. So, if you’re someone who wants to ease off of caffeine a bit this year or you want a pick-me-up that doesn’t pack as big of a punch as coffee does, green tea will do it. Some other benefits include the fact that it’s loaded with antioxidants, it can help to improve your brain function, it fights off the free radicals that are in your system and it can help you to lose weight.

On the sex tip, aside from the fact that the caffeine that’s in it can give you a boost of energy on the days/nights when the mind is willing but the flesh is weak, green tea also can improve and increase blood circulation which results in longer erections for him and better orgasms for you.

3. Saffron Tea

The brief backstory on saffron is it’s a spice that comes from a flower. It’s said to have originated in Greece and is one of the most popular spices when it comes to cooking. It ain’t cheap, I’ll just tell you that now. Still, it’s got some benefits that are worth noting.

Saffron reduces body inflammation, helps with weight loss, is effective at minimizing PMS-related symptoms, helps to put you into a better mood, and is said to lower blood sugar levels and heart disease risks too.

The reason why the tea form of it made it onto this particular list is that some studies say that saffron is beneficial in naturally treating men who deal with erectile dysfunction (ED) while also improving the libido of women who take antidepressants.

4. Vanilla Tea

Vanilla tea is dope on a few different levels. It’s slightly sweet even without anything like sugar or honey in it. It contains quite a few antioxidants. It’s got a way of increasing your metabolism while decreasing your stress levels at the same time. It also contains properties that help to soothe your nervous system and improve your quality of sleep.

Since I already know that vanilla is an aphrodisiac scent, I’m not surprised at all that it’s also a libido booster in tea form. Some studies say that it helps to heal erectile dysfunction while increasing arousal. Others say that it can enhance a man’s sexual performance over time. 

And again, since the scent of vanilla alone can increase arousal in men by almost 10 percent, that sounds like a solid enough reason to have a sip — or two.

5. Damiana Tea

One day, I’m gonna share my journey with Damiens. I’ve had three in my lifetime and whew, chile. Anyway, when it comes to damiana tea, one of the things that it’s most known for is improving the quality of sex lives.

As a shrub that is quite popular in traditional Mexican medicine, damiana has been used for everything from bronchitis and fevers to fungal infections, anemia, and gastrointestinal issues.

What makes it a win in the sexual pleasure department is it contains a powerful amount of flavonoids (compounds that are found in fruits and vegetables) that can intensify your natural sex hormones. The stronger your hormones are, honey…I’m pretty sure that you already know the rest.

6. Cinnamon Tea

I can’t believe that it’s (almost) been four years since I’ve talked about how applying cinnamon essential oil on your partner’s genitalia can make for a really good time (hey, don’t knock it until you tried it; I talk about all-a-dat right here).

As far as cinnamon in tea form goes, it’s another one that’s filled with antioxidants. Cinnamon tea also helps to lower inflammation and blood sugar levels, contains powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties (which is great when it comes to treating tooth decay) and it can make period cramps less painful. As a serious bonus, it also helps to fight certain HIV-related strains (the more you know).

And what makes it great for your libido? For one thing, the lower your blood sugar levels are, the less stressed you’ll feel and the less constricted your blood flow will be; this means longer and more intense orgasms. Also, because cinnamon is spicy, the turn-up of heat in your body can also heighten your arousal levels.

7. Maca Tea

If you clicked on that Twitter link, you heard Kevin (attempt to) combine maca with ashwagandha — and honestly, that’s one hell of a combination, y’all. That’s because maca is well-known for being an aphrodisiac too.

Before getting into how/why, some other benefits of this herb are it helps to keep free radicals out of your system, improves your memory, and is also pretty good at reducing symptoms that are directly associated with menopause.

As far as coitus goes, it’s got all kinds of ways to improve it. Maca has been proven to increase a man’s sex drive, make sex more pleasant for postmenopausal women, improve a man’s sperm quality and put you and your partner into a better mood. So, if you’ve never had a good reason to try maca before, now you’ve got a few of ‘em.

8. Ginger Tea

Ginger is another popular spice that comes with some strong medicinal properties. That’s why a lot of people use it to treat motion sickness, keep their blood pressure in check, help keep cancer cells at bay, and to reduce bodily inflammation.

Since ginger is also seen as being a natural stimulant that increases blood circulation while reducing oxidative stress, it’s just one more tea that can help your sex life out. Oh, and if you’re trying to get pregnant, that’s another reason to add it to your diet. That’s because the properties of ginger can improve the quality of sperm while also strengthening ovarian follicles. How dope is that?

9. Rose Tea

If you’ve always wondered what rose tea is made from, you can literally create it yourself by steeping fresh rose petals. As far as the reasons why it can be good for your health, rose tea is high in vitamins C and E, it contains properties that help to lower your blood pressure, the polyphenols in it can help to reduce pain and discomfort, it can help to keep your skin radiant and your hair healthy and it’s a great immunity booster.

And why would your sex life appreciate it so much? Rosewater, period, helps to decrease stress and increase blood flow. The calmer you are and the more blood that’s flowing to your genital regions, the better your sexual experiences can be!

10. Spearmint Tea

Off the rip, one of the things that I like about any mint tea is it can help to make my breath smell fresher. When it comes to spearmint specifically, it gets applause for also treating motion sickness and nausea, lowering blood pressure levels and even improving your memory. Some other things worth noting are the fact that spearmint tea helps to fight bacterial infections and decrease the pain that’s related to arthritis.

Sex-wise, because spearmint tea is a stress reducer, it can also help you to feel calm and relaxed. And, since it also is known to be a hormone balancer, it can make getting in the mood easier when you’re PMS’ing or you’re going through menopause.

11. Ginseng Tea

If there’s any herb on this list that you probably already knew was good for your libido, ginseng would have to be it. We’ll get to why in just a moment. For now, let’s tackle some other reasons why you should consume it more (or more often).

Ginseng helps to do everything from reducing fatigue and fighting inflammation to improving brain function and strengthening your immune system. In fact, if you feel a cold coming on, a few cups of ginseng, very early on, can help to knock it right on out.

Your sex life will appreciate ginseng because it’s another tea that helps to treat erectile dysfunction by reducing oxidative stress that may be lurking around in a man’s blood vessels (especially in the ones down below). Ginseng is also a winner because it can give women more energy to even want to have sex. Definitely something to keep in mind on the days after work when you want some, but you need a pick-me-up to get the engines started (if you know what I mean).

12. Horny Goat Weed Tea

I mean, for real, though, anything that has the word “horny” in it must work…at least a lil’ bit, right? Believe it or not, horny goat weed (also known as Epimedium) is popular in the traditional Chinese medicine world and has been linked to helping people who deal with asthma, osteoporosis, PMS and Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Diseases.

BY FAR (and yes, I am yelling it), what it’s best known for is getting bedrooms in check. It’s got a great reputation for naturally treating ED (which is why it has the nickname “natural Viagra”). It contains phytoestrogens which is a plant-based form of estrogen (which can help with natural vaginal lubrication, for starters). It can also balance out your cortisol levels (your natural stress hormone) and strengthen your libido. So, if feeling horny is what you want to do, horny goat weed can make that happen — and then some, chile.

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Featured image by Dean Mitchell/Getty Images

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SHELLIE R. WARREN

After being a regular contributor for about four years and being (eh hem) MIA in 2022, Shellie is back penning for the platform (did you miss her? LOL).

In some ways, nothing has changed and in others, everything has. For now, she'll just say that she's working on the 20th anniversary edition of her first book, she's in school to take life coaching to another level and she's putting together a platform that supports and encourages Black men because she loves them from head to toe.

Other than that, she still works with couples, she's still a doula, she's still not on social media and her email contact (missnosipho@gmail.com) still hasn't changed (neither has her request to contact her ONLY for personal reasons; pitch to the platform if you have story ideas).

Life is a funny thing but if you stay calm, moments can come full circle and this is one of them. No doubt about it.

Sent from my iPhone

[bumblee-stumblee]

I've been following radfem ideology tumblrs for a while and it's taking me everything not to make another blog just so I can join in, and that grey person is really making it hard not to.

When they use the 'as a white woman and based on my own experience, sex-based oppression doesn't exist/ isn't a huge problem because white privilege trumps all' they've failed to recognise one key thing. Social class. It's more likely that they haven't experienced as great an oppression as others because they come from a well off background on top of being white.

But we'll go off the assumption that all white women are from well-off backgrounds for the purpose of grey🙄's argument. Even with this in mind, they will still face oppression that is sex based.

There's a whole book on the data gap we have for women (Invisible Women). In medicine the male body is the default and women are often prescribed the wrong thing for their body. I personally suffer from an autoimmune disease which is more likely to affect women (took 5 years of having debilitating periods where doctors just told me it was normal to have to wear 2 night pads all the time, be on two sets of pain medication, blood clotters, and female house mates asking me if they needed to call an ambulance several times because I looked that ill before I was finally taken seriously and they found out my thyroid was completely shot). Whenever I look up a disease that says, not much is known about this disease/there is no known cure and we can only manage it, I scroll down and 90% of the time it'll say mainly affects women and or people of colour. This also applies to the menopause which affects 50% of the population, ie women 50+. They say the treatment we have for this is good enough yet 25% of women (UK) have had to retire early because they suffered so much with symptoms and received no support. Then you've got female police with ill fitting stab vests because they only come in men's sizes. Look at those horrific stories coming out about female fire fighters - no idea why they were being harassed by male colleagues, must have been because they had small feet or something. Women are 47% more likely to get injured in car accidents because once again male is the default test dummy. The whole book said it best. Male is the default and when you actually try to speak from a female perspective it's treated like an ideology, because male is seen as universal and everyone just accepts it.

Another good book - why women are blamed for everything: exploring victim blaming of women subjected to violence and trauma. A good quote from this book:

"... the way we talk about victim blaming, sexual violence and abuse of women will shape the way we respond to it (individually and collectively). If our language minimises it, we will minimise it. If our language trivialises it, we will trivialise it. If our language constructs it as a hyperbolic issue that feminists moan about, we will treat it as a hyperbolic issue feminists moan about." By saying 'as a white woman I don't feel oppressed by my sex because being white means I have nothing to complain about,' they're making it so that the women who are oppressed based on their sex aren't taken seriously and that's a big problem. White women are still looked over and talked down to by male colleagues, are still raped and abused. Just because they haven't personally experienced this doesn't mean it doesn't happen (once again I think their experience probably includes their class privilege as well as their race). Look at Yeonmi Park (North Korean defector). She told the story of how she was robbed in NY, and when she tried to call the police, bystanders shouted abuse at her because the person who robbed her was a black man and her calling the police made her racist.

Then we have the book the authority gap: why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it. From the blurb alone:

"The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Would you believe that US Supreme Court Justices are interrupted four times more often than male ones... 96% of the time by men? Or that British parents, when asked to estimate their child's IQ will place their son at 115 and their daughter at 107?" Also from the blurb:

A woman is 30% less likely to be called for a job interview than an identically qualified man.

Male students consistently rate other male students as cleverer than better performing female ones.

Men are 4x more likely to read a book by a male author than a female one. Females are an even gender split.

The odds of recommending a woman rather than a man for a job is 38% lower if the job requires serious intelligence.

But no, sex based oppression doesn't exist. Or maybe the issue is, grey is so used to the world being this way they don't see what the problem is? Maybe because the issues above haven't affected them in their tiny insignificant patch of the world. I don't know. Just because you've got it better than someone else doesn't mean you have to put up with it. You don't tell a victim of a one time sa that they've got nothing to complain about because some girls experience it every day. This isn't the victim Olympics, both are bad. Both shouldn't happen. They are not 'lucky' that it only happened to them once. It shouldn't have happened at all.

Yes, exactly this.

[mrblazeflappybird]

Rant about my dad:

I live in a family where:

Me and all my siblings (I have 3 of them) are bi/pan

I am also demi/asexual and trans

My younger brother is still figuring stuff out gender-wise

My brothers (and probably me, still getting a diagnosis) are autistic, and my sister probably is too

I have dyslexia, and might have ADHD too

My mother has an underactive thyroid, and has a disabled parking pass thingy to help her with that

(Both my parents probably have autism, too, but my father refuses to admit his own (obvious) symptoms he passed to us kids and my mothers priorities are miles away from that right now.)

All the while, however, despite this, my father refuses to educate himself. At all. With anything. Apart from the specific things my brothers' autism affects them with (probably because it relates to him too)

He thinks that my dyslexia is something I can "work through" and if I read enough it disappears. He thinks that a men-run society isn't real because "men need woman just the same". He thinks that queer people are overdramatising our oppression and that there's no such thing as oppression against anyone anymore. He things transgender people are mentally ill because they are trans, and told me that. Looking me straight in the eye. Knowing that I, his son, is trans.

It sucks, and he won't change his mind because he's just so narrowminded. He's already lost two kids' because of it (they went no contact with my parents), and if he keeps this up he could lose two more. I wish he could change, but I don't know if he can.

[skiplo-wave]

When I tell you that I couldn't breathe this morning, like I legit could not breathe. I spent 2 hours thinking that somehow my virgin ass got pregnant. I started to believe that maybe swimming with men does get you knocked up. I know this sounds stupid. It's impossible. But legit... I did. I really thought for a second.

To make a long story short. I went swimming at a indoor park last month btw. This month I had just a regular doctors check up. They drew blood and what not like they always do because of my family history with thyroid and cancer. Well, I get call this morning from a nurse practitioner. It wasn't my regular doctor. She started congratulated me and told me I was pregnant. I told her that's impossible. There has to be a mistake. She read my chart. It was my name and age. I'm like wtf. She told me to wait for the doctor to call me back. 2 LONG FUCKING HOURS. I am starting to feel phantom pregnancy symptoms like sickness and tender tits lmfao. I know it's just from my period coming soon.

It turns out, there was another patient there with my name and age. Except her name spelling was a little different. My test results for thyroid and all that came back fine. I am drinking me a glass of moscato tonight.

Sorry to hear that :c