Is it possible that an otherwise undetected bacterial infection could lower libido?

[conkertheking]

This is going to sound a bit strange, but bear with me:

I had a serious bacterial infection this week (temperature spiked to just under 40 degrees) and I was prescribed penicillin for it. This is the first time in my life, at 28 years old, that I've ever been prescribed penicillin - I've been prescribed amoxicillin and augmentin in the distant past, for a total of only three courses of antibiotics in my entire life.

Almost immediately after I began taking it, my libido spiked. And I mean spiked. I'm hornier for longer and more intensely than I've been for years, excepting times when I've been taking moderate doses of AIs or L-DOPA based supplements which are known to cause one's libido to go through the roof. I'm now on day four of penicillin and I still feel like an excitable teenager, getting turned on by basically nothing and having dirty thoughts every few minutes.

I've scoured the internet and can't find any sources claiming that penicillin itself has libido-raising properties. So the only theory I can think of - besides this just being a random coincidence and the libido and penicillin treatment are totally unrelated (will update this post a few days after I finish taking it, if it drops back to sluggish), is that it's possible that I've had a long-lasting, festering bacterial infection / colonisation somewhere in my body, which has been suppressing my libido (and potentially doing other things which I have yet to realise) for quite some time, and the penicillin is, as well as fighting the acute infection I've had this week that gave me the nasty fever, also killing another bacteria which has been suppressing libido.

One part of my brain tells me that this is completely mad - I've never heard of a bacteria that can cause low libido and lethargy but have absolutely no other effects or acute symptoms (cough, congestion, etc), and therefore that this must be a coincidence or in my head. On the other hand, I can categorically say that my libido has been through the roof these last few days - that's definitely happening, the only question here is whether it's related to the penicillin or a quirky coincidence.

Anyone have any views on this? I know it sounds bizarre and I'm not nearly as much of a noob as I'm probably coming across, but the change in just a few days has been extraordinary and I literally haven't changed anything else about my lifestyle, or adjusted any other supplements or variables at all. This is the only thing that's different now to last week, when my libido was (and had been for months) a shadow of how it feels right now.

Thoughts?

 

[The Matrix]

Yes, I see this all the time
Infections are a huge hidden stressor on the HPTA any way you look at it
I am big on hidden infections with its effect on the immune system impacting HPTA
Doctor highly over looked them or labeled them as past infections when actually they are dormant ones becoming active.

 

[u_e_s_i]

It's plausible. Inflammation, infections and other bacteria related issues (incl. examples like having bad bacteria in your gi tract) are known to lower libido. Most likely down to them impacting your hpta as the matrix said

 

[conkertheking]

This is really interesting. Still on it, still crazy horny far more frequently than usual.

If this is the cause, I can only hope this ten day course is enough to kill whatever bacteria it is once and for all, so that it won't simply come back revitalised shortly after the end of the course. I mean, the course was based on getting rid of an acute infection which just sprung up last week - I wouldn't know whether a long, festering infection requires a longer or stronger dosage. Still, I'll definitely be bringing this up the next time I'm getting my hormone bloods done.

 

[The Matrix]

Been saying this for years about pathogen, but we all chase the hormone rabbit down the hole over and over not looking for underlying pathology...
Why antiaging and HRT only doctors are slowly dying out with people looking at bigger picture replacing them. Finally after 12 year of harping on this there is finally change ...

 

[cubsfan815]

Better gut health definitely seems to boost libido. That's why I stay on Gut Health Ultimate by Evomuse lol

 

[The Matrix]

I use black seed oil as my base with MMB750 along with saccromeyes B interchanging with Mega spore, probiotia 12 every 4 weeks.
One should not stay on the same probiotic as you need other strains to be rotated in every 4 years
I will recommend probiotics support based off specific criteria of what issue is being addressed or suspected according to symptom, history and clinical labs