What is Yohimbe?
Yohimbe is an evergreen tree native to western Africa. It has a compound called yohimbine in its bark. The bark is used to make extracts, tablets, and capsules. In parts of Africa, tea made from yohimbe bark has been used as an aphrodisiac (to increase sexual desire). Yohimbe is used as a dietary testosterone supplement for impotence, athletic performance, weight loss, chest pain, high blood pressure, diabetic neuropathy, and more. Yohimbine hydrochloride, a standardized form of yohimbine, is available in the United States as a prescription drug for erectile dysfunction. This is a different product than dietary supplements made from the bark of the tree.
From nccih.nih.gov
Benefits
“Yohimbine supplementation appears to be suitable as a fat loss strategy in elite athletes.”
“A double-blind, partial crossover study on the therapeutic effect of yohimbine hydrochloride on erectile dysfunction was done in 82 sexually impotent patients. All patients underwent a multifactorial evaluation, including determination of penile brachial blood pressure index, cavernosography, sacral evoked response, testosterone and prolactin determination, Derogatis sexual dysfunction inventory and daytime arousal test. After 1 month of treatment with a maximum of 42.0 mg. oral yohimbine hydrochloride daily 14 per cent of the patients experienced restoration of full and sustained erections, 20 per cent reported a partial response to the therapy and 65 per cent reported no improvement. Three patients reported a positive placebo effect. Maximum effect takes 2 to 3 weeks to manifest itself. Yohimbine was active in some patients with arterial insufficiency and a unilateral sacral reflex arc lesion, and in 1 with low serum testosterone levels. The 34 per cent response is encouraging, particularly in a Veterans Administration population presenting with a high incidence of diabetes and vascular pathological conditions not found in regular office patients. Only few and benign side effects were recorded, which makes this medication worth an attempt, often as a first line of treatment even at a dose of 8 tablets.”
“A study was done to determine Yohimbine effects on blood pressure and plasma catecholamines in human hypertension. The design of the study involved the oral administration of 10 mg yohimbine, an alpha 2-adrenergic antagonist, to 25 healthy volunteers and 29 sex- and age-matched untreated hypertensive patients. Volunteers and patients were studied twice in random order, after placebo or yohimbine treatment, in supine and upright positions. Arterial pressure and heart rate were monitored by servoplethysmomanometry, and venous plasma catecholamines were determined by HPLC with electrochemical detection. Yohimbine induced a significant increase in diastolic pressure only in the hypertensive patients.”
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17214405
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2657105
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7662240
Dosage
The usual recommended dose of purified yohimbine is 5 to 10 mg three times a day. (see this article on natural testosterone)
References
https://livertox.nih.gov/Yohimbine.htm
Side Effects
Side effects are usually mild and transient and are typical of alpha 2 adrenergic inhibition, including insomnia, anxiety, palpitations, chest pain, sweating, blurred vision and hypertension. Overdose can cause hypotension, tachycardia, seizures, paralysis and coma; deaths from overdose have been described.
References
https://livertox.nih.gov/Yohimbine.htm
From Wikipedia
Yohimbine (/joʊˈhɪmbiːn/)[2] is an indole alkaloid derived from the bark of the Pausinystalia yohimbe tree in Central Africa. It is a veterinary drug used to reverse sedation in dogs and deer. Yohimbine has been studied as a potential treatment for erectile dysfunction but there is insufficient evidence to rate its effectiveness.[3] Extracts from yohimbe have been marketed as dietary supplements for improving sexual function.
Yohimbine is a drug used in veterinary medicine to reverse the effects of xylazine in dogs and deer.[5]
Yohimbe extracts, which contain yohimbine, have been used in traditional medicine and marketed as dietary supplements.
Yohimbe (Pausinystalia johimbe) is a tree that grows in western and central Africa;[7] yohimbine was originally extracted from the bark of yohimbe in 1896 by Adolph Spiegel.[8] In 1943 the correct constitution of yohimbine was proposed by Witkop.[9] Fifteen years later, Van Tamelen used a 23-step synthesis to become the first person to achieve the synthesis of yohimbine.
