Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Causes of Sexual Dysfunction

[Moon Bee]

Sexual dyfunction might be cause by alcohol and drug abuse (barbiturates, narcotics)
I guess they give excessive control over the neuronal functions, but I don't see why it just won't get back to normal if long term use of too much alcohol and drugs is applied.

 

[Moon Bee]

In term of acute, chronic, how can I explain drug abuse to sexual dysfuntion ?
I tried this
"Drinking too much can damage the liver which is where human energy is mostly stored and blood filtering is carried out, leading to debilitating disease affection the reproduction system in general"



Thanks

 

[LukeS]

Sexual dysfunction can be caused by antipsychotic medication. Such medicines affect the dopamine pathways in the brain. They are the mesocortical, mesolimbic, the negrostriatic and the tuberoinfundibular. The first 2 are thought to be important in medical therapeutic effects of the medicines as they block dopamine receptors. If the fourth is influenced (thrugh blocking the effect of dopamine therein) the pituitary gland produces an excess of prolactin, resulting in lowered libido. The condition is called hyperprolactinemia. Generally it is not treated, though a class of drugs known as dopamine agonists, including bromocriptine and norprolac, could work. One problem could be that because bromocriptine is a D2 agonist, and not selective, it COULD interfere with the action of the antipsychotic medicine, as their value is thught to result from their action on D2 receptors. It should be noted that not all a/p meds effect the tuberoinfundibular pathway of the brain therefore causing lowered libido.