I have been having some issues lately that made me suspect my prolactin was too high, so I ran some labs. They’re not all back yet, so I’m jumping the gun a little, but here goes: Total test. is 367 (free + weakly bound aren’t back yet), estradiol is 23.9, LH is 2.6, and prolactin is 2.4. My difficulty is achieving orgasm. I can get an erection and maintain it until I start getting close to orgasm; the closer I get, the softer it goes, and I can’t “finish” (luckily my wife usually beats me).
Like I said, I suspected high prolactin, but this is too low. Does anybody have any useful input?
[quote]Dr J wrote:
I have been having some issues lately that made me suspect my prolactin was too high, so I ran some labs. They’re not all back yet, so I’m jumping the gun a little, but here goes: Total test. is 367 (free + weakly bound aren’t back yet), estradiol is 23.9, LH is 2.6, and prolactin is 2.4. My difficulty is achieving orgasm. I can get an erection and maintain it until I start getting close to orgasm; the closer I get, the softer it goes, and I can’t “finish” (luckily my wife usually beats me).
Like I said, I suspected high prolactin, but this is too low. Does anybody have any useful input?[/quote]
Prolactin isn’t well understood functionally speaking in men however there have been studies showing immune modulation (a higher than normal prolactin level helps your immune system while conversely too high or too low seems to be bad)…but other than that there is no real data on prolactin except perhaps a person emotionally speaking may have less of an ability to empathize or feel emotional when something ‘sad’ or ‘cute’ happens.
But this is hypothetical. If you barely orgasm, then this could contribute to low prolactin. Your T seems to be low, even with free T coming in normal, a total T of 300’s is usually not good and may explain your issues. The prolactin could be dopamine dominance and less serotonin. Do you sleep poorly? Get anxious or manic? Do you have a low appetite or do you emotionally eat?
Yeah, unfortunately I have figured out that prolactin is not understood well pertaining to men’s health. I bought a second business last year and am quite stressed. To help deal with this I have been taking l-tyrosine and 5-HTP to try and maximize both dopamine and seratonin. I don’t get quite enough sleep (6-7 hours/night), but what sleep I get is pretty good quality (I think). I don’t wake up often, I dream, and I generally feel “rested” in the morning. My two thoughts are that maybe I have overdone the l-tyrosine or this is just a function of the low T. If I had to guess right now, I’d guess the low T. Thanks for the input.
Speaking from personal experience, my prolactin levels are almost bottomed out from taking cabergoline and I have no issues achieving orgasms. I had issues prior to taking it when my prolactin levels were outrageous, but never since.
Prolactin isn’t well understood for males. My theory, as crass as it may sound, is that it’s so women don’t get angry after sex at men because prolactin stimulates the “cuddle response” for us. I haven’t been published for this theory…yet.
If you’ve ruled out all the other factors listed on that link, you can try cutting out one supplement at a time to do a trial and error.
Thanks for the input. The rest of my labs came back; my %free test is at the low end of normal (17.8), giving me a free test of 65.3. This being at the very low end of “normal” and your experience with low prolactin kind of confirm in my mind that this is a low-t issue and not a prolactin issue.