2.2 Yohimbe.

From _urban shaman_, reached over Carras.aol.com:

If people wanted to obtain a legal hyperalert sexually aroused state, they might find some yohimbe (Corynanthe yohimbe, Pausinystalia yohimbe) and brew it up by simmering a quart of water with 1 gm of ascorbic acid to 5 gm yohimbe until there's only 50% of the original water volume left. Add a lot of sugar afterward. Mixes synergistically with sassafras and Pau d'arco if you're adventurous and would like to cure your ills and get a hard-on at the same time. However, most people who have tried yohimbe have been disappointed. They didn't know you need to brew it 20 to 30 minutes at approx. 200x with an organic acid to release the alkaloid components.

The active alkaloid, yohimbine bitartrate, is the component of the only allopathic medicines known to cause erection in impotent males and approaches the concept of an aphrodisiac. Yohimbine bitartrate particularly affects nerves and changes blood flow regulators in the genital area. The medical texts never mention that it does the same thing to women, showing a typical disregard for female erection.

In the best case scenario this decoction will cause many users to get a melting spinal sensation and extreme epidermal sensitivity with high interpersonal perception and melding. It can be extremely sexually arousing...or at least all the signs and signals are there...

And the worst case scenario for yohimbe? - well, you have to remember ethnographic reports documenting cases of people drinking it in copious quantities in pre-raid rituals to suppress fear and jack up physical aggressiveness. After getting to the point where they were bouncing up and down so much they looked like a mosh pit full of spears, they'd run 10 miles over to the next village and kill off most of the neighboring people, stopping only to rape the dogs, cattle, women, children, surviving males, dead bodies, water jugs and tree holes before running back home. I'm not sure this is something we need downtown on Friday night.

Yohimbe Caution: it will keep both partners up all night. In the male of the species this becomes really inconvenient and irritating as after a few hours an erection becomes more of a liability than an asset - especially as this aspect continues long past the point - as long as 8 hours - where you'd like to go to sleep and there's this turgid log attached to you that won't go away and is just beginning to ache.

Note on the Caution: A warm bath can help with the log-on problem, as can gentle massage. However this should be avoided for at least four hours after ingestion because of the effect of raised body temperature on metabolism of the alkaloid - i.e., heat could intensify the stimulant effects.

Females are not exempt from this - it has the same effect on them, although it is easier to sleep on.

A possible downside of this erectile effect in high doses is the danger of blood vessel damage and gangrene in the penis resulting from the localized poor circulation condition known as penile erection.

More from _urban shaman_ on the subject:

There are a number of caveats re yohimbe - it shouldn't be taken with MAO inhibitors or by persons with high blood pressure, diabetes, glaucoma, or a history of mental disturbance, especially including bipolar disorder.

A good dose prepared using methods as I described can have profound psychological effects - enough so that 'set' and 'setting' can become issues if the concentration/quantity is sufficient. This condition can easily be entered into by simply acquiring relatively recently gathered/dried/imported specimens of the herb and using enough of it. Botanicals are very wiggly in the potency dept. - a primary breakdown in the process occurs when practitioners have never seen a 'good' specimen of the herb in question. There are no low cost analytical methods for determining the active compound density of herbal materials gathered in the wild. It totally depends on recognition by experts - and sometimes even the best of them may have to compromise, as there just may not be any high quality material to be had.

Still more from _urban shaman_ on the subject:

The "approved" alkaloid is yohimbine hydrochloride. Herbal Yohimbe extracts are sold by a number of health food companies including I believe Michaels and Herb Pharm. Yohimbe bark and powder may be available from "...of the Jungle" in Sebastopol CA. Please remember, if you're considering making extracts - Yohimbe is strongly synergized by alcohol. It is also easily extracted in alcohol/water - but the alcohol should be evaporated off after extraction unless you're looking for a real wow-wow effect. There could be high blood pressure complications from ingesting strong concentrations of Yohimbe. Dayton Laboratories sells the prescription preparation Dayto Himbin in tablet and liquid form. The tablets contain about 5.5 mg hydrochloride. The liquid contains phenylalanine as well and should be used with caution. Total daily doses run on average between 20-30 mg of the hydrochloride.

The medical action is to increase penile blood inflow and decrease penile blood outflow. The action is cited as having an erectile function without increase in libido. I have not taken the hydrochloride so don't speak from direct experience.

Although the caveats state that Yohimbine exerts no cardiac stimulation, it is later noted that Yohimbine is an unpredictable CNS stimulant and may cause elevated blood pressure and cardiac rates.
From this information I hazard we are to take it that in the same manner that yohimbine causes erections without raising libido, it also causes cardiac rate increase without stimulating the heart? (I love the guys who write this hype - they're so wise)

Buried deep in the caveats for the Dayto Himbin product is language saying you should not give this to people with a history of mental instability, and that it causes recipients to express a range of curious behaviors at doses lower than those required to cause erection - among which are tremors, irritation, dizziness, flushing (note that niacin causes a body flush at sites almost identical to those of a sexual flush).

Horse breeders administer large doses of niacin to both parties of a horse breeding "to get them in the mood". I would not suggest, however, that taking niacin along with yohimbe would have a parallel effect. If you don't know what a "sexual flush" is - take 200 mg of niacin and stand naked in front of a 3 panel mirror and watch your face, neck, "loins", and chest.

From Henriette:

If you have problems keeping it up, or are too dry, you might want to start with these:

• reduce your stress
• sleep enough and regularly
• change your contraceptive pills (if applicable)
• check your medication(s) for side effects (there's often surprises in the fine print)
• eat your vitamins
• if your partner's idea of foreplay is "Brace yerself, Sheila!" then you might benefit from some helpful books, imaginative games, or even from some softporn magazines.

If all that is OK, there are some herbs which remedy imbalances or work as aphrodisiacs, that aren't as quirky as yohimbe:

Try muira puama (Ptychopetalum), cotton root bark (Gossypium), or damiana (Turnera).
A nice wine will relax both partners - after you've tried and had problems there's psychological barriers, too, so you do need to relax. A romantic circumstance usually helps, too.

2.2.1 Yohimbe is a MAO inhibitor, yohimbine isn't

From Michael Moore:
The alkaloid yohimbine is NOT an MAO inhibitor. The herb yohimbe IS.

The whole plant is potentially so evil and insidious BECAUSE it's complex chemistry contains both adrenergics AND cholinergics...with effects that substantially mimic both sympathetic adrenergic, sympathetic cholinergic AND parasympathetic neuroreceptors all at the same time. It contains both yohimbine alkaloid groups (stimulating and hypertensive) and several potent reserpinoid (Rauwolfia) alkaloids (tranquilizing and hypotensive) ...a warlock's brew.

Consistent use will, because of it's wildly opposite effects, find and widen metabolic chinks in almost ANYBODY.