An Unbiased Review of Yohimbe

Yohimbe is one of the most discussed, and most controversial, of the natural libido boosters. My search for unbiased reviews yielded mostly fake reviews, biased reviews by people who had a reason to promote it, or warnings against it that also seemed to have an agenda. So I decided to simply try it myself.

I purchased a bottle of 450mg Yohimbe, 2% extract (9mg) capsules from a popular supplement store. I won’t even say where so you won’t think I’m just trying to peddle a product to you. Below are the results of my initial trials with it.

The first night that I took one wasn’t the best of circumstances, so I can’t use that experience as a controlled test. I ended up being intimate with my girlfriend less than 30 minutes after taking it, which I don’t think was enough time for it to work. I did notice after “relations” that I couldn’t sleep and my mouth was very dry. I decided to wait a couple days and try a different experiment, which I will detail below.

I took one capsule at 6:30pm, about 90 minutes after eating dinner, but along with a little popcorn.

The first thing I noticed was my mouth feeling dry around 7:15pm. As the night wore on, I started doubting if this herb did anything at all because I felt nothing else besides the brief dry mouth session.

Around 10:30pm I was on the phone with my girlfriend. It wasn’t a sexual conversation, but soon had an erection and it was in fact firmer than usual. It also lasted a little longer than the typical spontaneous erection.

An hour later I decided to take my “test” further with self-stimulation. My erection was firmer than normal and maintained well throughout.

The next morning I had an erection when I woke up and felt a little more “stimulated” or “tingly” downstairs. I would say my first experiment was a success.

A week later, I wanted to test Yohimbe again. I took it at 5:45pm, 45 minutes after eating. I noticed the usual dry mouth appear about 45 minutes later, and went out for the night. The only other thing I noticed was that I wasn’t as sleepy as I had been earlier. When I got in bed that night, a firm spontaneous erection occurred and it lasted about 15 minutes. I sat there and wondered why it wasn’t so easy when the pressure was on to perform. I woke in the middle of the night and in the morning with erections.

Until this herb, the only thing that I felt worked for me was Cialis.

I’ve read a lot of warnings about Yohimbe, some of which are conflicting. Most of the warnings are about heart conditions and blood pressure. But I’ve read it’s bad for high blood pressure patients and I’ve read in other sources that it’s bad for low blood pressure patients. The woman at the supplement store even said, “You have to be careful with that because it can kill you if you take too much.”

She actually said that.

The first time I took Yohimbe, I had a very dry mouth, insomnia, and my stomach was upset. The second and third times I experienced dry mouth, slight insomnia once, but no stomach problems. Perhaps the little food in my stomach helped.

Some sources say to take it 1-3 hours before intimacy and that it the side effects and benefits last “a few hours.” Everyone seems to have a different reaction to it. Perhaps I’m one of the lucky ones because I’ve had few side effects and the benefits seem to last about 12 hours for me.

Your mileage may vary.

I have since tried Yohimbe 3 more times. The third and fifth times were almost exactly the same as the second – dry mouth 45 minutes later, slightly warm and alert feeling, and more easily sustained erections. The fourth try,  however yielded no results. No dry mouth, no benefits – nothing. I took that one closer to a big meal, so perhaps that was the problem. That meal also included cheese, which I have read is not good to eat with Yohimbe. Still, it seems like it has worked more often than not.

My next test will be several hours before intimacy with my girlfriend. But I am cautiously optimistic that Yohimbe might one missing piece of my ED puzzle. For more on supplements that might help you, see my article on Vitamins, Minerals, & Herbs For Erectile Dysfunction and also Overcoming Performance Anxiety.

I’m a healthy 41 year old. I live a healthy lifestyle including exercise 7 days a week, no known health problems, regular checkups, and a healthy diet of mostly raw fruits and vegetables. For those reasons, I felt comfortable trying Yohimbe. You must make such decisions at your own risk, and you shouldn’t take anything unless you check with your doctor first.