Ergot – a plant poison used for medications that enhance sexuality
Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye and other grasses and is pathogenic to its host as well as to humans and other animals that ingest it. Ergot is also a valuable source of medicines for the pharmaceutical industry.
Like most valuable pharmacological sources, ergot is a powerful poison. More specifically, many ergot alkaloids have a toxic effect on the central nervous system, interfering significantly with neurotransmitter function. And here also lies the great promise of ergot as medicine.
Ergot is an old member of the materia medica. It has been used in traditional medicine and has been scientifically studied for well over a century. Among those studying ergot and its derivatives was the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, whose experiments led to the discovery of LSD, an ergot derivative that strongly interferes with the neurotransmitter serotonin.
In the field of conventional medicine, ergot derivatives are nowadays mostly used for their potential to enhance dopamine activity. A dopamine deficiency is the underlying cause of a common and severe neurological condition, Parkinson’s disease.
While the ergot derivative LSD is used almost exclusively as a recreational drug with currently limited approved use in conventional medicine, dopamine-enhancing ergot derivatives are sold in pharmacies around the world. The most common ergot prescription drug is probably Parlodel (known generically as bromocriptine). Even though it’s very much a conventional medication, bromocriptine and other dopamine-enhancing ergot derivatives have a clear potential as lifestyle drugs. Not all, but many ergot-based medications for Parkinson’s disease have a profound sex-enhancing side effect.
All dopamine-enhancing medications can be used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, but not all forms of dopamine enhancement produce pro-sexual side effects. On a similar level, while many medications used for serotonin enhancement (in the treatment of clinical depression) have anti-sexual effects, this is not an unavoidable side effect of serotonin enhancement.
The answer to the puzzle lies in dopamine and serotonin receptor sites. Not all dopamine and serotonin receptors are alike. The effect of dopamine binding to specific receptor subtypes is pro-sexual, while its binding to other subtypes may be neutral at best, or even anti-sexual. The same holds true for serotonin-enhancing drugs and serotonin receptor subtypes.
Historically, many ergot derivatives have been considered “dirty” drugs. They are called this because their action lacks high specificity. They have the therapeutic effect for which they are prescribed, but they also have many other effects. From the perspective of conventional medicine, the pro-sexual effects are considered side effects.